Minnesota Trails Magazine Article

Kate Havelin a writer for Minnesota Trails Magazine interviewed Neil and I shortly after we got back from RAAM. Thanks for the great write up!

CLICK THE ARTICLE TO READ IT FULL SIZE

What a ride!!

Check out Neil's post on last weeks TSH ride!

QCTV Interview!

Neil and I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Jayne Ubl-Johnson the host of Suburban Mix last month. They did a fantastic job putting this together and wow, how about those guests!?! I would have loved to pack the studio with everyone though!

It was nice doing this interview after we had a month relive the stories of the race and crew. It still amazes me what a phenominal accomplishment it was for everyone and everything involved.

CLICK HERE FOR THE QCTV INTERVIEW

Representin' at RAGBRAI

Carol and Paul were representin' Team Strong Heart at RAGBRAI. Looking good Team!

"I am sending a couple of strongheart pictures from RAGBRAI. Carol and I wanted to represent Team StrongHeart on Iowa’s greatest bike ride. We wore our Jersey’s on two separate days. The Jersey’s really stand out and we received some nice compliments. I have included a few of the pictures that were taken while we were showing our support for StrongHeart. Use them as you will but if you need to scare the mice out of the outhouse, maybe a picture of neil from headwaters would be better suited."

Paul

Aren's Epic Ride!

Hey all!

Just wanted to share a great story of our youngest Team Strong Heart Rider, Aren Passenheim. He put together an epic ride with his Boy Scout Troop that most people could never imagine!

"Hello, I’m Aren Passenheim, I am a 14 year old boy from Coon Rapids, MN. Last year I was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopothy.

I went on a 225-mile bike trip with my Boy Scout troop. There were 5 scouts and 3 adults riding. There were also 2 support vehicles that allowed us to rest during the ride when needed. We started in Coon Rapids, MN and rode to Many Point Scout camp which is between Park Rapids and Detroit Lakes, MN. The first day we went about 90 miles and rode to Camp Riply, where we set up tents and spent the night. The second day we rode to Osage, which was another 110 miles. We again set up tents and camped for the night. Our last day we finished the ride to Many Point where we then spent a week camping with the rest of our troop.

No one on the trip was injured, although we were all tired and sore when we were done."

From all of us on Team Strong Heart: Congratulations Aren!

Team Strong Heart is proud to continue our support for Camp Odayin, a camp for kids with heart disease in 2008!

Timothy Case goes Solo RAAM in 2008!!!

Posted by Tim Case

After having been a part of the successful Team Strong Heart effort in the 2007 Race Across America, I have decided to push the edge of physical and mental endurance and race in the 2008 Race Across America as a solo racer.

The ultimate goal of this new effort will be to continue to raise funds for Camp Odayin while demonstrating that the ordinary, every day bicycle rider/racer can achieve the extraordinary through dedication, perseverance and heart.

I continue to be inspired by the efforts of every single person involved with Team Strong Heart. The courage of the children and staff at Camp Odayin, the fortitude of the 2007 and 2008 Team Strong Heart crew and racers and the countless supporters and sponsors of our mission is simply magical and should serve as an inspiration to bicycle racers and non-racers alike.

2008 will be a great year for cycling and an even greater year for Team Strong Heart. My sincere hope is that my 2008 solo Race Across America effort will be an integral part of this process.

Laurentian Divide Challenge Mt. Bike Race/Tour

Hey all! Rainbow Resort is hosting a fun mountain bike race and tour on Sunday, September 23rd 2007 on their world class cross country ski trails. The event is sponsored by Team Strong Heart and all proceeds go to Camp Odayin! Special thanks to Amy Xu for putting this event together.

Rainbow resort is also offering special rates on their gorgeous cabins on Lower Bemidji Lake so make plans to come up for the weekend and ride/race the Headwaters 100, ride/race the Laurentian Divide Challenge or just come up and hang in the north country and Itasca State Park!

Click on the links below for info and registration for the Headwaters 100 and Laurentian Divide Challenge. Team Strong Heart and Loon State Cyclists will be out in force for both of these great events!

Headwaters 100 Info and Registration

Laurentian Divide Challenge Info and Registration

We had a great time last year...check out these great photos!

Champlin Dayton Press Article

Thanks for the great story Wendy! I particularly like the Greg was the "fearless decender" part!

Read the entire article by clicking the link below.

http://www.pressnews.com/articles/2007/08/03/champlin-dayton_press/news/1chraceamerica.txt

Busy media week!

Neil and I just finished three interviews with the local media. Thanks to Minnesota Trails magazine, the Champlin-Dayton Press and QCTV for their interest in the TSH mission and the 2007 RAAM. I'll get these up on the blog as soon as they are published/air!

A note from Bernie Kaeferlein - Team Director

THIS is Team Strong Heart. Ten outstanding and dedicated crew members who put so much of their hearts and souls into the mission that mere thanks can't seem to cover the sacrifices that they made. Four slightly mental, but passionate, cyclists who love the sport so much that they would gratefully tackle the world's toughest bicycle race. Dozens of family and friends who gave up their time with us and supported our efforts as we prepared and competed, we are lucky to have you all in our lives. All of you have been an inspiration!

YOU are Team Strong Heart. I've been overwhelmed with heartfelt gratitude for all of our corporate sponsors who donated funding and services and to all of our supporters who donated funding and bought TSH t-shirts and jerseys in support of our mission. I am in awe that orders and donations are still rolling in!

It's been a dream that so many joined us to sponsor campers, expand programs and generate awareness for Camp Odayin! There are well over 200 kids who will attend camp this summer and will have a wonderful experience in part due to YOUR generosity and support!

Thank you all so much! You've helped make a bunch of dreams come true!

Bernie

A note from Neil Eerdmans - Racer

Dear Crew,
The more I think about this race, the more impressed I am with our crew. Why the crew doesn’t get a medal is beyond me. Can you imagine driving across the country at 20 mph? The bike was a time of peace and enjoying the trip. If you couldn’t ride during this, well, I don’t know what I would do. Many of the you were not cyclists and yet you were there for us every step of the way, simply incredible. Thank you to all the crew members who made this possible; you did an incredible job!!
The crew allowed the cyclists to live a sort of dream life on the road. It is the closest thing I will ever get to in terns of stage racing or understanding what that is like. I never thought I would be at dinners celebrating a race that I had participated in. I never thought I would be able to relate to racing or an event where so few have finished. I am not a racer but I love to ride my bike. This made me feel like a racer, I even shaved my legs!? I can’t thank you all enough for providing this opportunity and putting up with so much and keeping a level head!
Sorry about the night I was so cranky. I hadn’t slept for two days and I was mad at myself and took it out on you. That was entirely inappropriate. In fact, I wish I would have understood what an incredible job you were doing at the time. I should have been praising you from beginning to end for even making the adventure possible.
Without the crew I would have never had this "once in a lifetime" experience. There was talk of doing another one and my wife reminded me that it was a "once in a lifetime" experience. I still think I might be able to slip away when the kids are older! If I do, I hope I have the same crew. A crew that did the job no matter how filthy the task might be or how tired the crew member might be.
To Bill and Bernie, thanks for all of your work on this too. This wouldn’t have happened without your endless hours of sacrifice. I know that a lot of your equipment and personal capital went into this trip and I appreciate it. Thanks Bernie for letting me in on this adventure and for training with me through the winter. The training was fun and necessary to do as well as we did and for me to actually feel like I had a part in our third place finish. Greg, it was great riding with you and getting to know you! Thanks! And Tim, I will never forget our last night together!
A week out from this trip and I am simply thrilled I got to do it. I have all of you to thank and I sincerely can not thank you enough. I will never forget your sacrifice for this mission and I want you to know just how important you were to our accomplishing this goal. You, the crew, were the reason this worked at all.
THANKS!
Neil
P.S. A special thanks to Camp Odayin and a note that we are not done working for you. There are a number of people that want Team Strong Heart to grow and do other events to support Camp Odayin. There is an energy here that is real and we are working on ideas to ride for Camp Odayin and to spread the word! Team Strong Heart is growing as we speak!

A note from Tim Case - Racer

Hi all,
My last day in Minnesota has been very low key and has afforded some time for reflection about our team and the essence of what got us all to the finish line in "beautiful" Atlantic City.
I want each of you to understand that I am forever indebted to you for your tenacity, kindness and respect as we rolled across the country. I've been a part of some high performing teams (on and off the
bike) and some low performing teams and trust me when I tell you that at the end of the day, being a part of Team Strong Heart was the number one experience I've had in my short 30 years.
Returning to Colorado tomorrow will be
semi-bittersweet as the past three weeks have renewed my love for the people and places of the Twin Cities.
Since returning to the area I've reconnected with so many close friends that I'd long since lost track of, have rediscovered a true passion for cycling and have come back with a whole RV full of road-weary people who I now count amongst my core group of friends.
Each of you have made a vital impact in my life at a time when prior to the race I was already pinching myself about how good things had gotten for me. I just want to echo Bill's thoughts and thank you for shining yet another beam of light into my crazy little world.
See you out on the road...
Tim

A note from Bill Nicholson - Crew Chief

Friends!
I hope you all have had some down-time to rest and recover from our trip. I don't think this email will be a summary for my experience, as that may be months simmering in my mind. I do want to convey my sincere gratitude to each of you for providing me with a wake-up call for my life.
After our return on Thursday, I have been back to work on all of my various projects, including bicycle races, my daily job, and other things. At every turn I am reminded of what I learned about myself during our adventure.
This was especially clarified for me on Sunday evening, when I attended a reunion of friends from a job I did for 8 summers during my teenage and college years. It was a summer camp for urban kids. Most of the staff that I worked with were not outdoorsmen, but were often like myself: had some experience in the outdoor arts, but were committed to a single purpose of giving city kids a chance to do things that are foreign to the 20th century experience. We were, for the most part, successful.
Our Team Strong Heart adventure and the crew I worked with reminds me of that crew: we took a group of comparative strangers and worked towards something larger and grander than any of us could have attained as a solo effort. And, as time unfolds before us, I will come to think of the grand time we had and the tales we will tell of the outlandish story of fourteen strangers helping one another across the continent twice in 2 weeks.
Each of you accomplished more than you can imagine, and I applaud the efforts you made for the Team and Camp Odayin. I hope that as time gives you perspective, you can apply the experience and spirit of our quest to your daily lives, and search for new pinnacles to summit. All of us were there at Wolf Creek Pass, and on Greg's shoulders as he made his amazing descent. And the weeks of work came together in the 'rollers (hah)' of West Virginia and Maryland; we truly became parts of a cycling machine that brought all of us home.
Thanks to you all,
Bill Nicholson
Crew member, Team Strong Heart 2007

Mission Accomplished!

They finished! Six days 15 hours and 13 minutes, what an amazing time. I think Team Strongheart has exceeded all expectations, averaging 19.11 mph across the country and finishing 3rd is an excellent result. What a team and what a crew! The most important part of this endeavor isn't the results but the fact that it was done to raise awareness and funds for Camp Odayin. This is the real mission, this is what is important. This is why I'm proud to be associated with such a great group of people. Here's to the kids, parents and staff at Camp Odayin, you rock!

Signing out now, thanks for reading the past week, I'll let the heroes take back this blog...

Skibtastic

Plus 45 minutes...

Bernie just called, they have their 45 minutes back on VMG, there may have been some mistakes in the posting of the times on the internet, but Team Strongheart's strategy in the hills is paying off. Tim and Bernie started it out when they attacked a 3-4 mile long 8% hill with a hard tempo, the excitement is definitely back in Bernie's voice, as he stated that was fun! Today has been the hardest day of the tour, but it's almost payday as they are expecting to be done in a little over 12 hours. After they get through the hills of West Virginny, the roads flatten out some, and they expect to cruise in. The first 2 4-man teams have already finished, so the race is on for third. GO TEAM STRONGHEART!!!

Almost heaven, West Virginia…. NOT!

350 Miles to go and Team Strong Heart has found themselves in a race for third place! Today has been hot hard and hilly in the Appalachians of West Virginia. Greg and Neil pulled an overnight 7 hour shift with Tim/Bernie now on the road. Neil and Greg are prepping to get back on the road. The lead they had over VMG has shrunk since they got to the hills. The Strong Heart guys are big flatlanders, for example they smoked through Kansas, but the VMG guys are smaller and better climbers. So this is making it interesting. Strong Heart has decided to fight for third and are changing their strategy. They are going to put the teams out for shorter intervals to try and make it quicker through the hills.

I finally got the interview I have been waiting for, I finally talked to Neil! He said it has been an amazing journey. He said RAAM actually stands for "Racing Across Americas' Worse Roads". Before RAAM started, he saw a statistic that said 95% of this years participants were rookies, and now he knows why. Do it once and you aint coming back. He said the one word that describes the trip is "Filth". It's the most filthy thing he has ever seen. The RV is a total mess, with no time to clean it. The riders go through 2-3 kits per day, so they are washed and hanging all over. And the high carb diets aren't friendly to the gastro-intestinal system. The four riders are like out of a Dr. Seuss cartoon "Horns out of a_ _ es"! Thus causing a strange mix of nauseus odors!

He said the crew has been amazing the way they have come together. Greg's friends Mike/Rick have been especially entertaining on the night shifts. The race itself is very "manic" you can go from it feeling like the best day of your life to man this totally (expletive deleted) in about 30 minutes. It is a physical and emotional rollercoaster. I asked Neil if he was going to keep his legs shaved, and he thinks so! His wife was initially against it, but right before he left, it was hmmm, not bad. And from the narcissistic cyclist view-point, it makes one feel stronger, to look down and see the muscles, I told Neil that the only reason I continue to cycle is so I have an excuse to keep my legs shaved!

Amazingly this journey is about over, and right now they are experiencing the toughest day of the whole journey. Neil said that the Appalachian climbs aren't as long as in Colorado but much steeper. It would be nice to finish on the podium in 3rd place, but it's not a motivator to Neil. As always he just wants to ride his bike and share with others the beauty of his personality. He really can't wait to get home, and he will be coming home to a hero's welcome, as we are all extremely proud of these guys! GO TEAM STRONGHEART!!!

1800 miles only 1 flat?

Talked to Nuxie again today. He had just finished taking care of the only flat they've had (as far as he knows). That's some pretty good fortune, I typically flat about every other ride... Bill echoed what Tess said in her previous post about the free McDonalds food, it was like a banquet! They passed the halfway point last night in Pratt Kansas, today they are in Missouri. I checked the weather forecast it looks like they are going to be in hot weather for the remainder of the trip. I asked Bill how the riders were coping with soreness and Bill gave a shout out to Linda Bergstrom and Tess for the excellent jobs they have been doing in massaging the riders. That really helps. Bill said that they weigh the riders before and after they get on the bikes, recording their fluid intake, electrolyte intake and food intakes to keep them properly maintained. In the picture above from the start with Greg being massaged by his wife Angie, look to the left (or greg's right). There's Tim with his goofy silver aero helmet on, Zukko and I had commented to each other that Tim looks like he's ready to do a tour prologue of 4k rather than a 3,000 bike race! There's no much ventilation in that lid! Bill verified that Tim has been wearing the helmet at night, it's actually warmer and does provide some aero benefits. During the day it would be pretty hot. All the riders besides Bernie have a bike with aero-bars on as well. The aero-bars not only put the rider in more of an aerodynamic position but it is also used for resting in an event like a RAAM. Apparently Bernie was unable to get comfortable with them, so decided to go without. Well, I've got to go race at the track, SHORT, fast, no hills! Ciao!

ps. Tess, if you give the photographer my email I could post some photos.
pps. If anyone has any burning questions you could also e-mail me and I'll get the answer for you.
schaefku2@comcast.net

The Kindness of Others

I woke up at seven this morning to the sound of Tim, Bernie, Brendon and Gary making extremely crass innuendo (and some rather blatantly unwholesome statements besides) at each other. This is actually one of the best parts of this trip; even though I wake up tired, I wake up laughing.

I can't speak for everyone, but I feel like I've gotten more into the swing of this. Like there's an actual pattern, so that even when we're still tweaking the details, we're not all feeling clueless or anxious.

We had our Pratt, KS stop last night. Pratt was the town with the McDonald's giving out free food to the RAAM participants (crew and cyclists!), and since none of us turn our noses up at free food, we all got a meal. Even Kristy, who hadn't touched McDonald's in four years. It was appreciated by everyone.

Warren Fairleigh is the fellow who set up the McDonald's stop. He is currently serving in the army over in the Middle East. He couldn't even be here to receive our gratitude in person. The people working at that particular McD's gave out loads of cookies with tags featuring Warren's name and his email address; if those of you reading would also send him an email to thank him for caring about your loved ones, we would appreciate it. He's Warren.Fairleigh@usarmy.mil or WFairleigh@yahoo.com. Thanks, everyone.

The sunsets in Kansas are beautiful, for the record. Also, Kansas is full of fireflies.

There was a route alteration in Wichita last night that no one knew about until Gary and I turned onto 119th and encountered a road block. I called in, got the right directions, returned to the course… and discovered the GPS was playing silly-buggers with us. Cue ten minutes of confusion, followed by shutting off the laptop completely and relying solely on the 'RAAM Bible' for directions.

It figures that the GPS would act up when I'm the only one using it. Everyone else was going out of the book.

At some point while I was sleeping this morning, we crossed into Missouri. Missouri -- at least, in this part -- is significantly less flat than Kansas is, and has more trees and water, and bright orange lilies growing wild along the side of the road.

I don't really have much else to observe right now. Everyone in the RV is sleeping except for Brendon (who is driving) and me (who is navigating and, at the moment, taking the time out to blog).

Oh, a good thing to note: Team Strong Heart is definitely in third place right now, after some back-and-forth "Are we, or aren't we?" "By a lot" is all I know about the specifics (check the RAAM website for details). We're slowly gaining on second, though I think we'll all be thrilled just to keep third.

Ooh, breaking news! A photographer fellow by the name of Eric who appears to be from Team Donate Life (Team 605) just came over to visit and request an email address. He and his group saw Team Strong Heart burnin' rubber last night, and he got some pictures. The race will probably be over before we can post any photos, but he's got my email.

We're currently stopped at Time Station 32, over halfway across the country. They're offering free food here, too, so I'm off to dig in!

EDIT: Huge thanks to Lena and Eric (I hope I spelled his name correctly) for providing food for us. The home made beef brisket and chili was delicious!

Kansas!

Neil clicked his ruby red slippers and the next thing you know they're in Kansas! Today's call was special for me because it was Nuxie! Nuxie is the nickname I gave to Bill Nicholson last year at the Opus Race Series. Bill is an USCF official and with me being a race promoter, him and I would go at it from time to time. Bill wasn't attached to a club so I urged him to become part of Loon State. He's a self-admitted geek and is invaluable to the team with his logistical and technical knowledge and connections. He's been wanting to be part of RAAM for 3-4 years now and when Bernie posted on the Loon State web site that he was looking for a crew chief Bill had heard I was interested and he was all over it. Then I back out and leave him high and dry! He reminded me of that today!

I don't think Bill has talked to anyone in a while because he talked my ear off. They had just hit the first time check in Kansas and Neil and Greg were finishing up their pull with Tim and Bernie itching to get back on the road. With Bernie back almost at full strength and everyone getting into the routine things have been going great lately. The only hiccup was when the RV got lost in Colorado and forced Tim and Bernie to ride an hour and a half longer than planned. So I was wrong in yesterday's post, the riders did not ride any extra miles, just extra time. Bill took the blame for that one. Bill said that the Wolf Creek pass was miraculous. They tackled the 4,000 foot climb with all four riders doing 1 mile pulls, then Greg won the lottery and got to do the downhill. Bill was driving the support car at the legal speed limit and Greg got a good mile and a half lead on him, now that sounds like fun! The team is now in 3rd place again, they've been hopping back and forth with Team VMG and the Austrian team. Bill said they run into those guys all the time at the rest stops. Seems like there is a lot of carmaraderie between the teams crews, they cover each others meals and do some smack talking as well. Bill said the one teams crew is subsisting on gas station hot-dogs. Ok, this may not be family friendly but I found it funny, Bill has been subsisting on bagels and peanut-butter because he wants to limit his bowel movements. He's proud of the fact that he is yet to use the RV biffy!

As for the 10 member crew, they have been stellar. Being around bike racing Bill knew what he was getting himself into, but many of the crew members were new to all of this. When asked how they spend their time, the jobs don't sound very romantic. It's mainly driving, cleaning biffies, draining septic tanks, preparing drinks and food for the riders and living on very little sleep. Bill got 5 hours of sleep in the subaru last night, doubling his sleep intake for the trip. They are "only" 3 days into the trip, but it seems like a lot longer.

I made the mistake of asking Bill what technical gadgets he had, and most of it went over my head, but they've got 3 gps units, one for each vehicle. His boss at Change Masters provided him with some gadgets that enable them to have a rolling internet cafe. They've had difficulties getting online because of the remote areas they've been through but he anticipates that soon they'll be hitting civilization and be online. Civilization -Kansas? (I can make cracks like this, my mom's from Kansas). I told Bill to have Neil call me next, I can't wait to hear what's going on in his head! Thanks for reading, they appreciate all the support and well wishes!

in ur Kansas, rockin ur osm!11!!! (hahaha)

We've almost made it to the half-way point, and I think it's fair to say the crew is handling it a lot better than we expected. No one has attempted homicide, nor has anyone seriously declared they were defecting to another team (though we've joked about it; Team NUBS might appreciate an extra hand, after all...)

For a bunch of rookies, we're kickin' butt. In spite of losing about two hours of racing time, we're in third place. We didn't really start out to compete, but the competitive streak has been surfacing in the racers and in the crew.

You're probably wondering about those two hours. About an hour and a half of it was due to an RV navigational error early yesterday morning (...Yeah, my bad. Though I hear the van missed the turn, too; Kristy was the only one paying attention to the GPS, and thus the only one to tell the rest of us where we messed up). We had a very irate pair of cyclists and an agitated crew chief as a result of that one, though Bernie and Tim were patient enough to not strangle anyone for it. The remaining time was due to a bike problem last night/v. v. early this morning. I don't know the specifics; something about the wheel wobbling in a dangerous way while Bernie was descending.

Otherwise, things are amazing. The crew has been getting along fabulously well, and no one has threatened to kill each other (except me and Kristy, but this is normal.) I keep forgetting I'm crossing the country with -- quite literally -- a bunch of strangers.

Tell everybody: Team Strong Heart is rockin' hardcore.