|
 RAAM Weather Forecastby Dave Speelman, Meteorologist KAMR NBC Channel 4, Amarillo TX Another typical summer day in the southeast: sunny, hot, and humid, with highs of 90 or above, and scattered thunderstorms.
The 1998 Ensure Race Across America moved into the home stretch by late Thursday, with the Georgia state line greeting leader Gerry Tatrai in the twilight's last gleaming. Savannah lay only another 400 miles to the southeast separated from Tennessee by hundreds more hills, and anothyer day of stifling heat and humidity.
 After 2500 miles, Gerry is still clowning around on the bike and ready to flash a smile. It's fun to be first!
Tatrai has proven himself to be a worthy leader of RAAM, holding on to a lead he established back on the first night of RAAM in the deserts of southern California. Across barren southwest Arizona, mountainous eastern Arizona, the mountains and high plains of New Mexico, the prairies and then piney woods of Texas, the delta region of Arkansas, and the kudzu-covered hills of Tennessee, Tatrai has maintained an impressive lead over what is undoubtedly one of the most talented RAAM rosters ever.
When the race left Irvine last Thursday, there, assembled before the podium, were six former RAAM winners, the most ever to appear in the same race. As Day 8 came to a close, the top four positions were occupied by past winners, showing the extreme level of competition in this year's race.
The pack of racers still competing (a remarkable 20 of the original 22 solo riders remain, an unheard of feat!), riders are spread out from east Texas to northern Georgia. Most of the riders pedalled the day away in various parts of Tennessee.
 Tatrai crossed the placid waters of Nickajack Lake late Thursday afternoon as he neared Chattanooga.
While there have been countless scenic vistas to view along the route, Tennessee is probably the most scenic of all. Especially conducive to good cycling is the area from Lewisburg to Winchester. There, many twisting, winding roads sweep through the hills and dense vegetation, up and down some very challenging grades.
 The Little Country Church: An anchor in the Deep South
Tennessee must be experienced by day, for at night the high humidity often causes fog to form, and the abrupt hills are tough to navigate when they cannot be seen in advance. Furthermore, the sheer beauty is not to be missed. Tatrai remarked how the last two days had provided splendid cycling, a pretty remarkable comment for someone who must be feeling the fatigue from riding 2500 miles.
 Believe it or not, this building is still a functioning general store. It was like going through a time warp.
Tatrai's lead has fluctuated widely throughout the past two days, from as low as four hours, to as many as 10 hours. As Day 8 wound down, his lead over second-place Rob Kish was about 6.5 hours. In fact, unless Gerry has a complete meltdown before Savannah, the "race" in RAAM's final miles will be between Kish and Wolfgang Fasching.
 Tatrai was poetry in motion on the many short, steep hills in central Tennessee.
During the night, Fasching put the hammer down, catching a storm-induced tailwind between Brinkley and West Memphis AR to average over 21 mph for some 60 miles. He moved ahead of a sleeping Kish during the wee hours of the day, but Kish reclaimed his lead over the Austrian by late afternoon.
Among the relay teams, Team Gustavo RMO Franca was nearly to Savannah. The two-man team from Brazil had broken awy from Tatrai in western Arizona, never to be seen again. Their finishing time will be about two days faster than the first two-man record established in 1997.
Team Secure Horizons continues to roll along at a brisk pace, and will likely break the old 70-up record handily. In fact, Team 70+ will probably also come in under the record, but will then have to settle for 2nd place and the second-fastest time.
Teams Action Sports and Pacificare continue to gallop away from the other relay teams, with Action Sports padding a slim lead to 44 minutes (which is a huge lead by relay team standards). Both teams are long-time Team Veterans, and know full well the intricacies of relay team racing. Not a second is lost to exchanges, and hopefully none are lost to navigational errors (which can occur more easily with the teams than with the solos because the entourage is moving along so much more quickly).
Check in late tomorrow for photos and stories on the first riders to make it to Savannah, as well as photos from the Relay Team race, and those of riders farther back in the pack.
Thursday evening stats, with rider name, last time station in (), and time of arrival.
Solo Riders:
Relay Teams That Started Last Thursday:
Relay Teams That Started Last Sunday:
Use the menu below to check the updates posted each night during the race!
|
