RAAM 2016

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Sister Hospices & ready to ROLL

We are getting ready to roll out of Oceanside, CA today at 12:21. The team will ride together "parade-style" as we head out of town with all of the other teams. At around mile 10 Chip AKA, Ginger, and Becky will pull off and head to the RV. Charles, AKA, Chuckie, and I will ride the next 70 or so miles as we will not have access to the support vehicles until we are outside of Oceanside. If one of us then has a mechanical issue, the other can continue roll toward the rider exchange vehicle and we will not lose time.
Below is a list of our sister hospice along the route. We are proud and honored to be partnering with these wonderful organizations!

California
The Elizabeth Hospice
Lisa Marcolongo
Media Relations & Veterans Specialist
The Elizabeth Hospice

Arizona
Hospice of Havasu

Hospice of Montezuma
Wendy Weygandt
Executive Director
1345 S. Broadway
PO Drawer 740
 Phone: 970-565-4400
Fax:     970-565-9543

Colorado #2
Sangre de Cristo Hospice and Palliative Care
Kansas
Hospice of the Prairie   
Contact name is their CEO -  Julie Pinkerton

Illinois 
Lincolnland Hospice of Sarah Bush Lincoln
Indiana 
Our Hospice of South Central Indiana
Suzie Singer
Manager of Marketing and Planning

Ohio
FairHoPe Hospice and Palliative Care Inc.  
(pay attention to capitals!)
740-654-7077 Home Care (on-Call Services 24/7)
740-475-0699 Pickering House
800-994-7077 Toll-free

Pennsylvania
Hospice and Community Care
Amy Lewis – Director of Annual Giving – alewis@hospicecommunity.org


Maryland
Hospice of the Chesapeake
phone: 410.987.2003


Missouri -  
Benton  County Hospice  
Debbie Joy 660-4382876  

WV
Hospice Care Corp







14 comments:

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  2. Karen and Charles are well into their first 5-hour shift, with about 3 hours left (they will turn the work over to Chip and Becky at @ 8:30 pm EST). They had a bit of mechanical trouble early on (Karen flatted and Charles had a chain-ring issue), but they are firing on all 8 cylinders now. Becky and Chip are resting in the RV up the road, awaiting the changing of the guard.

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  3. The team went through the first time-station in 4th place - 30 mins. back of the lead team, but only 16 mins. out of 2nd. They are in the Palomar Mountains and the temperature is cooling off. Chip and Becky have taken over the riding and are gaining on the 3rd-place team (actually on all three teams ahead of them). Sadly,the team's bike mechanic Ben Parson's mother passed away unexpectedly today, and he is now on his way back to Greensboro. The team's thoughts are with Ben and his family, and they are now riding with extra purpose.

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  4. Now over 15 hours into the race, each team pair has been through at least one full 5-hour pull-set with the intricacies of van management, road exchanges and riding at night. Karen and Charles are sleeping (hopefully) now, while Becky and Chip are moving through their second 5-hr. cycling session (only 15 or so left!). The team is currently holding its 4th position, about 25 miles behind the leaders, as they move through the Mojave Desert toward the Arizona border.

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  5. Karen and Charles are on the road, just approaching the 400-mile mark and Prescott National Forest north of Phoenix. It's 109 degrees there, and so hydration is key! Team is still in 4th place, but they are less than 25 miles behind the leaders. So far, spirits are high and all are healthy. So, shut up and pedal!

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  6. The Team is working well. Karen and Charles just rocked two of the steepest climbs west of Maryland, in desert heat topping 113 degrees; and the team registered the two fastest time-station sections in their division. So, while still in fourth, they are beginning to gain on the leaders. Becky and Chip are now on the road and speeding toward Camp Verde, AZ (just south of Flagstaff). Send cool thoughts their way!

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  7. Charles and Karen are rolling on toward Monument Valley, UT and the next time station in Mexican Hat, UT. They are just 27 miles behind the 3rd place team, and the day is heating up. As a break in the monotony of the desert landscape, they are back and forth on the road with an 8-person team called Antonia's Friends. It's nice to have some competitive company; however, you can rest assured that Team Tri for Hospice riders are shut up and pedaling.

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  8. Karen and Charles are climbing toward Alamosa, CO, in the Rocky Mountains. Tough sledding, as they say, but we've got the right team to face these challenges. Right now (1,050 miles into the race) they are still in fourth, 35 miles behind a tandem team in 3rd and 100 miles behind the awesome German team in first. It looks as if the fifth place team has either stopped for a major emergency or dropped out, as their data stream has paused at mile 600 for a full day now. Karen assures me that, as the going gets tougher, the team just goes harder.

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  9. Becky and Chip are on the road, as the team has now covered over 40% of the course. Kim, CO is the next time station, and the weather has cooled a bit and is breezy and over-cast. Karen is having issues with her bottom bracket on her road bike; and they are trying to locate either another team's mechanic or a bike shop. There has been a lot of climbing (one pass topped out at 9,900 feet), but whatever goes up must also come down. Charles reports going over 57 mphs on one descent -- which is crazy fast! So, the team pushes on toward the plains of Kansas.

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  10. The team is clipping through Kansas, about 20 miles from the Maize time station and over halfway to the finish line! With a fairly flat road and a bit of a tail wind, their current speed is over 25 mphs; and the time-trial bikes are made to order for this section. Still holding onto 4th place, and spirits are high!

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  11. Charles and Karen have taken over for Chip and Becky; and they are heading for the Missouri border and the 60% mark of the race. The RV ran into a woman named Bunny at a gas station, and she shared a hospice-appreciation story and donated on the spot -- so heart-warming! The riders are still in fourth, riding with a tail wind in hot temperatures across rolling terrain, about 45 miles from MO.

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  12. As the team approaches Illinois, they have picked up their overall pace (moving from 16.6 mphs to 17.4), and they are now on track to arrive in MD in a bit more than 7 days. They have recently been challenged by riding on an interstate highway, where they were required (for safety) to ride off at every exit so as not to cross traffic lines. And they report that the speed and size of traffic is a new stress to deal with. However, as always, they will just shut up and ride.

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  13. They are rolling through Ohio, with just over 500 miles to the finish line. It's a beautiful evening and the team is neck-and-neck with an 8-person British team -- friendly competition (no Brexit talk!). If they can keep this same pace up, they should be arriving in MD around 2 AM on Sunday.

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  14. Chip and Charles climbed over 11,000 feet last night and have turned the handlebars over to Becky and Karen, as the team sets its sights on Grafton, WV. They have less than 360 miles to go and are looking at an early morning arrival on Sunday. Then it will be: Shut up and smile! And "More champagne, please...."

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