Channel 4's Heather Brown reports on Team Strong Heart!
Click here for the story
See the video here
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Party Time!
John, Amy, Melinda, & Jay -- We did it!Trailhead Cycling and Fitness, our sponsoring shop, will host an open house this Saturday (6/28) at 6PM. The TSH raffle drawing will also take place at this time. Last chance to buy tickets!
TSH will be at the shop beforehand (early afternoon) offering Raffle Tickets, TSH Tee-shirts, and TSH socks. If you are interested in Team Strong Heart cycling clothes - orders are still being taken.
Thanks again everyone for your support!
Team Strong Heart
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Pictures from the finish line
Please keep checking in for updatd posts, and look at Tim's personal page which you can click on the right as well.
Thanks again for your continued support!
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Postcard from the Edge, I mean, Annapolis
Here are some preliminary words from Tim, with much more to come....
Everything is sore. I imagine millions of micro tears, deep within my bones and connective tissu. My heart is slow, but pounding massively. As I lay here in bed, I can literally feel each pulse of the heart and legs and lungs that just somehow got me across the country, by bicycle, in a bit over 11 days. The Race Across America, solo, is a unique metaphor and analogy for life’s ups and downs. Climb to descend, thaw to freeze, death and rebirth, every single minute of every single day. I’ve hand plenty of time recently to consider these ideas and what follows are just a few ideas spurred on by a simple guy with a simple goal, a crew with goals, a bike race across the country and what you come to understand at 3am in the mountains of New Mexico. Everything is connected. My body is held together by what quite simply are a system of levers, surface area, engines and the like. When one part of the system begins to fail, chafe, or otherwise draw-down, the another steps in for relief. Saddle sores are the bane of existence and the tiniest of problems will soon open the gate to hell for the rider who chooses to deny or ignore. Nothing is alone. Companionship is surrendipitous and often times completely unexpected. I count the cattle, the stars, cliffs and painted highway lines as my friends. Jim and Ryan are also now very important and we have shown that the true team draws closer with adversity and keeps the light shining on the lonely rider at all hours of the day. First light of morning reminds me that the sun also rises and shines for me and for every one in my life. Fatigue is relative. My fatigue was driven by hundreds of hours perched on my bike. The kids I ride for are born into a life of fatigue and pain and these things aren’t in the same universe. Bless my fatigue so that others might live well. The only thing bad thing about adversity is how you choose to respond. RAAM is about conflict, survival and finding moments of peace surrounding a mass of riders, crew, weather, technology, hope and failure. How we roll with the punches is by answering another call. Fight to get knocked down to fight again. Quite yer’ whining. The only easy day was yesterday is only true if yesterday was easier. The only easy part of solo RAAM is that there is no easy part. There are no easy yesterdays in RAAM. There are days that work and then everything else. We define RAAM. The Race Across America is defined by the racers, RAAM volunteers, the crew of each racer and the American countryside. The definition of RAAM changes each year because we are always changing, hopefully becoming better and treating each other with respect, dignity and kindness. RAAM inspires. The RAAM brings people from all walks of life together on a world stage that millions of people pay attention to each year. I am inspired by the quick and the bold and then I enter the race to inspire others. The effect ripples out from the center. The great effect of RAAM is that each year there are hundreds of “centers” and the ripples keep getting wider, traveling farther. RAAM perspires. Yep, you’re gonna sweat. In my case I sweat, I bled, I burned, I chaffed, I cried, I mumbled incoherently, I had Technicolor hallucinations that only ended with some rest, only to return later, I yelled for the sun to come out and warm me up and I cursed the wind pummeling me from the side. My vision is to stick with this thing and see where it goes. As I lay here, I’m already beginning to look at next year and see what that may bring. When we get back to Colorado I’ll be updating this blog frequently with tons of comments, pictures and thoughts on the race past. Your support and encouragement inspired me to reach my goals when the cards were down. Your phone calls, blog comments, prayers and hopes fueled my fire that sometimes raged like an out of control wildfire and sometimes smoldered like a wet log. You and I and our crew got there TOGETHER and that means everything to me, at the end of it all.
Everything is sore. I imagine millions of micro tears, deep within my bones and connective tissu. My heart is slow, but pounding massively. As I lay here in bed, I can literally feel each pulse of the heart and legs and lungs that just somehow got me across the country, by bicycle, in a bit over 11 days. The Race Across America, solo, is a unique metaphor and analogy for life’s ups and downs. Climb to descend, thaw to freeze, death and rebirth, every single minute of every single day. I’ve hand plenty of time recently to consider these ideas and what follows are just a few ideas spurred on by a simple guy with a simple goal, a crew with goals, a bike race across the country and what you come to understand at 3am in the mountains of New Mexico. Everything is connected. My body is held together by what quite simply are a system of levers, surface area, engines and the like. When one part of the system begins to fail, chafe, or otherwise draw-down, the another steps in for relief. Saddle sores are the bane of existence and the tiniest of problems will soon open the gate to hell for the rider who chooses to deny or ignore. Nothing is alone. Companionship is surrendipitous and often times completely unexpected. I count the cattle, the stars, cliffs and painted highway lines as my friends. Jim and Ryan are also now very important and we have shown that the true team draws closer with adversity and keeps the light shining on the lonely rider at all hours of the day. First light of morning reminds me that the sun also rises and shines for me and for every one in my life. Fatigue is relative. My fatigue was driven by hundreds of hours perched on my bike. The kids I ride for are born into a life of fatigue and pain and these things aren’t in the same universe. Bless my fatigue so that others might live well. The only thing bad thing about adversity is how you choose to respond. RAAM is about conflict, survival and finding moments of peace surrounding a mass of riders, crew, weather, technology, hope and failure. How we roll with the punches is by answering another call. Fight to get knocked down to fight again. Quite yer’ whining. The only easy day was yesterday is only true if yesterday was easier. The only easy part of solo RAAM is that there is no easy part. There are no easy yesterdays in RAAM. There are days that work and then everything else. We define RAAM. The Race Across America is defined by the racers, RAAM volunteers, the crew of each racer and the American countryside. The definition of RAAM changes each year because we are always changing, hopefully becoming better and treating each other with respect, dignity and kindness. RAAM inspires. The RAAM brings people from all walks of life together on a world stage that millions of people pay attention to each year. I am inspired by the quick and the bold and then I enter the race to inspire others. The effect ripples out from the center. The great effect of RAAM is that each year there are hundreds of “centers” and the ripples keep getting wider, traveling farther. RAAM perspires. Yep, you’re gonna sweat. In my case I sweat, I bled, I burned, I chaffed, I cried, I mumbled incoherently, I had Technicolor hallucinations that only ended with some rest, only to return later, I yelled for the sun to come out and warm me up and I cursed the wind pummeling me from the side. My vision is to stick with this thing and see where it goes. As I lay here, I’m already beginning to look at next year and see what that may bring. When we get back to Colorado I’ll be updating this blog frequently with tons of comments, pictures and thoughts on the race past. Your support and encouragement inspired me to reach my goals when the cards were down. Your phone calls, blog comments, prayers and hopes fueled my fire that sometimes raged like an out of control wildfire and sometimes smoldered like a wet log. You and I and our crew got there TOGETHER and that means everything to me, at the end of it all.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Wow
I am moved by this last update from Michelle. Thanks everybody, it made a difference. What an amazing thing.
From Yellow Scene blog:
Once again, the night was so difficult. The most difficult moment came around one in the morning. He just stopped.
“I can’t do it, I have nothing left in me in,” he said. “I have just no strength.”
In reality he was riding really well. He just hit a mental wall.
“Maybe I just need to sleep.” With that, he laid down.
While he was resting, I checked the Team Strong Heart blog. Neil had called for people to send their thoughts to help Tim.
I was amazed that there were 11 comments. I read every single comment to Tim that was on that one page.
That is what gave him the motivation to keep going. I told him, you owe it to them.
This is a blessing that these 11 comments came in at this time. It is so surreal to him. He just doesn’t believe it that so many people are looking after him. He doesn’t comprehend how big of a deal it is.
He’ll get one day.
The real news is that we crossed the finish line at 7:38 local time this morning.
He is sound asleep right now. He had four slices of pizza, a shower and he passed out.
It was an amazing night, and an amazing ceremony.
He was riding really strong, we were feeling really good about the night. He was amazing in the hills, but as the night fell that was our difficult time.
Behind the messages, we motivated him with the competition. Basically one rider ahead of us, Julio Paterlini, had time penalties.
And we thought we could catch him. We used that as his incentive. We knew that was a good motivator for him even though he said that he didn’t care.
Once we realized that catching Julio was out of the question, we just wanted to give Tim an enjoyable finish to the race. The last 100 miles were the toughest of the race. We kept telling him the quicker you get through it, the quicker it will be over.
The crews kept leap frogging him through the night to keep Tim motivated. He rode the final 26 hours with only four or five 15-minute breaks.
But by early morning the sun was rising, and we needed one last push from Time Station 52, just 54 miles from the finish. Kevin, Tim’s brother and crew member, got word we had one more surprise waiting for us.
Tim’s Grandma, Nan, drove up from St. Augustine, Fla., to meet him at the finish line. She’s 85!
We had to find something else to get him to go on; that was the last piece of motivation.
Then we got a call from Annapolis. The fire department was there waiting for Tim (we didn’t set this up). They had two engines waiting for him at the finish. They gave him a huge salute as he pulled in.
When he pulled in to the finish, Tim was crying.
Everybody was cheering for him. He did tons of interviews. We felt like superstars, like NBA players showing up. The fact is, Tim is a superstar. In the history of RAAM only 200 or so of the solo riders have finished. He is one of those.
Of course, our bike seat awed the RAAM museum people, and they want it for a display. They were so impressed with our creative—that is what the RAAM is about.
Tim was so gracious, so happy as everybody talked with him. We started kidding him: You ready for your 15-minute nap? How about an energy bar?
He was so happy.
We hung around for a little bit; some people just off the streets were congratulating him. His Grandma had already booked a hotel room for us; she paid for everything. She is just so amazing.
Tim took a shower, when he got out there were two big pizza pies waiting. He is fast asleep right now. He’ll wake up in a few hours for the awards ceremony tonight.
He is a huge success. It’s going to take his body two months to heal from this. It is massive trauma to the body.
I am completely exhausted right now and trying to keep my eyes open. Tim wants to write something for everybody. We’ll get that up soon.
He says that now, but who knows if he’ll even wake up for the ceremony tonight. Thanks again for all your support!
—Michelle Pearl, Tim’s girlfriend and crew member. Dictated to Jacob Harkins.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
I have a favor to ask...
Tim is closing in on the finish and I am going to make a kind of weird request but this whole race is a weird thing... Send positive thoughts to him today, seriously. I know that I can clown around but this time I am totally serious. He is close to the finish and if you can find time in your day to just take a second to send him your energy and thoughts, he will feel it. I realize that many of you have already been doing this but I am asking this of anyone tuning in, take a second to think about Tim and his crew. Thanks! Neil
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
What makes RAAM work?
The crew, they are the dynamic part of RAAM that is behind the scenes making it work. They are incredible and have been incredible for Team Strong Heart. Way to go!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
and the race goes on...
So yesterday was a hit for Tim having his parents show up in Effingham. He was really surprised. I know it gave him deep motivation, but more importantly calmed them of their fears of what may be going on. Tim's parents are such amazing people, and to drive 4 hours just to see thier son for 10 minutes shows their dedication to his dream.
Last night Tim road strong into the early morning when he went down for a short sleep in the truck. In the mean time, Gordon and I drove ahead with hope of getting some sleep. On the way we got a phone call that Tim was expressing boredom. We immediately pulled off to a McDonalds for some Wifi, and downloaded some audiobooks and podcast of his favorite comedian Brian Regan. He really loved it. Unfortunately as Gordon and I thought we were being prodctive towards our sleep location, we realized that we made a wrong turn somewhere, and were lost. This became so frustrating as every moment for sleep is prescious, and now we were wasting this opportunity by trying to get back where we needed to meet Tim and the crew. After some amazing GPS and map reading skills by Gordon, who at the same time was trying to calm my frustrations we made it back. It was shift change and we dozed for 2 hours until we were off again.
Tim got back on the road at 4 a.m and was looking strong. Our new sleep plan seems to be working, He isn't getting double vision, or going in this weird mental state as he was before. On the other hand, Gordon and I were in oversleep heaven, and thats when the giggles came out. It didn't matter what was said, and giggle away. This was when I opted to try my first redbull, and WOW that stuff works.
Tim rode hard, and made it to Bloomington,Indiana by mid morning, which he was excited about. He took a short nap, we switched crew, and he was on his way towards Ohio. Gordon and I moved ahead to try and get sleep as usual. We drove 150 miles forward with a great game plan for the team and of course there was no hotels. So in a pinch we back tracked on the route and found this true dive of a place that after checking in we immdeiately checked out due to the horrid smell and conditions. Once again we just couldn't find a moment to sleep. We have now moved much more forward on the route so we can rest and be preparred for Tim soon.
Today he and Ryan Corry road together for a little bit going towards time station 40. I haven't talked to Tim personally about it, but it sounds like there might a little motivation in the air for each of the riders.
For me I am feeling a little emotional challenges as I watch Tim push the pedals. I see his struggles, his gains, his pain, and his push, and it all amazes me. I have moments where I can't understand why someone would push their body to thse limits, and then I have other moments where I just can't stop watching his beautiful style and grace on the bike, and amazing drive that inspires me in too many ways to describe.
We only have a little over 500 miles to go, and I am confident Tim will make it. It is just up to him what the game plan will be. His crew will be behind him every step of the way!
Last night Tim road strong into the early morning when he went down for a short sleep in the truck. In the mean time, Gordon and I drove ahead with hope of getting some sleep. On the way we got a phone call that Tim was expressing boredom. We immediately pulled off to a McDonalds for some Wifi, and downloaded some audiobooks and podcast of his favorite comedian Brian Regan. He really loved it. Unfortunately as Gordon and I thought we were being prodctive towards our sleep location, we realized that we made a wrong turn somewhere, and were lost. This became so frustrating as every moment for sleep is prescious, and now we were wasting this opportunity by trying to get back where we needed to meet Tim and the crew. After some amazing GPS and map reading skills by Gordon, who at the same time was trying to calm my frustrations we made it back. It was shift change and we dozed for 2 hours until we were off again.
Tim got back on the road at 4 a.m and was looking strong. Our new sleep plan seems to be working, He isn't getting double vision, or going in this weird mental state as he was before. On the other hand, Gordon and I were in oversleep heaven, and thats when the giggles came out. It didn't matter what was said, and giggle away. This was when I opted to try my first redbull, and WOW that stuff works.
Tim rode hard, and made it to Bloomington,Indiana by mid morning, which he was excited about. He took a short nap, we switched crew, and he was on his way towards Ohio. Gordon and I moved ahead to try and get sleep as usual. We drove 150 miles forward with a great game plan for the team and of course there was no hotels. So in a pinch we back tracked on the route and found this true dive of a place that after checking in we immdeiately checked out due to the horrid smell and conditions. Once again we just couldn't find a moment to sleep. We have now moved much more forward on the route so we can rest and be preparred for Tim soon.
Today he and Ryan Corry road together for a little bit going towards time station 40. I haven't talked to Tim personally about it, but it sounds like there might a little motivation in the air for each of the riders.
For me I am feeling a little emotional challenges as I watch Tim push the pedals. I see his struggles, his gains, his pain, and his push, and it all amazes me. I have moments where I can't understand why someone would push their body to thse limits, and then I have other moments where I just can't stop watching his beautiful style and grace on the bike, and amazing drive that inspires me in too many ways to describe.
We only have a little over 500 miles to go, and I am confident Tim will make it. It is just up to him what the game plan will be. His crew will be behind him every step of the way!
Smelling the Barn
The team is within 24 hours make that 20 hours if everything goes just right. This time will fly for them; they are almost in!
Tim continues to ride toward his goal... amazing!!
In a rhythm
The four person team has a great rhythm going and has managed to pull away from the third place team. If they keep a steady pace they should have second place locked up. The spirit of the team is calm and happy. They have a good thing going and hope to keep it up until the finish.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Only 1000 miles to go!
We reached the Mississippi three-and-a-half hours early. We were really excited; that was a big deal for him.
We are just so exciting getting to the Mississippi; this is a really big deal. This was part of the disagreement we had with the two team members who left us. They never thought he could get there. We knew all along he was going to get there.
It still was tough, though. Tim had a little bit of an emotional breakdown last night. He was confused. There are always these ebbs and flows. But we got him back to healthy by the morning, and that was our goal.
And yet again, we have come up with a new game plan for his sleep plan, but it is a secret. We have been doing these long days, 18 hours or so. It gets really dangerous toward the end. The new plan is awesome, but it’s a secret.
It isn’t nearly as exciting as our seat, which Tim says over and over; “Saved my life, the seat has saved my race.” Part of it is he forgets he already told us that, but he says it’s like riding on a sofa.
Beyond tweaking schedules and the seat, we are always looking for new ways to find motivation for Tim to help him along. Earlier today, we were going from time station 35 to 36, and I was looking at the race stats on Tim’s iPhone, because I am constantly checking the stats … I thought “oh my god, the Team Strong Heart relay team should be really close.
Literally two seconds later, they were right there. The RV saw us, passed by and got out and clapped. Tim got off his bike for a minute and everybody said hi. It was really good to have that sense of team. This helped him more than they know.
Then we have this other exciting thing he doesn’t know about. Gordon and I are heading to the next check point while the other support vehicle is with Tim. Tim’s parents are driving down and are going to be there at the checkpoint.
He may think he is hallucinating when he sees them.We’ll even give him a few minutes off the bike to hang out with him.
We are going to also ask another local fire department to pull out the engines and give him a little support (he’s a Boulder firefighter). Hopefully they won’t get a call this time.
Basically, this is a really exciting time station. The distractions are going to slow Tim a little, but we have that factored in.
We have to balance time off the bike with giving him motivation. Seeing his parents is well worth the few minutes it will slow him.
That’s it for now.
We are just so exciting getting to the Mississippi; this is a really big deal. This was part of the disagreement we had with the two team members who left us. They never thought he could get there. We knew all along he was going to get there.
It still was tough, though. Tim had a little bit of an emotional breakdown last night. He was confused. There are always these ebbs and flows. But we got him back to healthy by the morning, and that was our goal.
And yet again, we have come up with a new game plan for his sleep plan, but it is a secret. We have been doing these long days, 18 hours or so. It gets really dangerous toward the end. The new plan is awesome, but it’s a secret.
It isn’t nearly as exciting as our seat, which Tim says over and over; “Saved my life, the seat has saved my race.” Part of it is he forgets he already told us that, but he says it’s like riding on a sofa.
Beyond tweaking schedules and the seat, we are always looking for new ways to find motivation for Tim to help him along. Earlier today, we were going from time station 35 to 36, and I was looking at the race stats on Tim’s iPhone, because I am constantly checking the stats … I thought “oh my god, the Team Strong Heart relay team should be really close.
Literally two seconds later, they were right there. The RV saw us, passed by and got out and clapped. Tim got off his bike for a minute and everybody said hi. It was really good to have that sense of team. This helped him more than they know.
Then we have this other exciting thing he doesn’t know about. Gordon and I are heading to the next check point while the other support vehicle is with Tim. Tim’s parents are driving down and are going to be there at the checkpoint.
He may think he is hallucinating when he sees them.We’ll even give him a few minutes off the bike to hang out with him.
We are going to also ask another local fire department to pull out the engines and give him a little support (he’s a Boulder firefighter). Hopefully they won’t get a call this time.
Basically, this is a really exciting time station. The distractions are going to slow Tim a little, but we have that factored in.
We have to balance time off the bike with giving him motivation. Seeing his parents is well worth the few minutes it will slow him.
That’s it for now.
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