ADAM BICKETT: From RAW to RAAM By Vic Armijo Prior to this - TopicsExpress



          

ADAM BICKETT: From RAW to RAAM By Vic Armijo Prior to this year’s Race Across the West Californian Adam Bickett had declared, “RAW is a stepping stone to RAAM.” The 30 year old did well in RAW, sticking with Marko Baloh for most of the race before RAAM veteran Baloh. Simply being in the race was a feat—Bickett had broken a vertebrae just six weeks prior. “Given my broken back on May 1 and my worries about the heat and riding through a second night,” he said. “I was very happy how it turned out. Broke my main bike at Valley Center + Wohlford ~mi 33. We had several other mechanical issues with my remaining bikes that took more time. After the stress of the mechanicals I lapsed on calories a bit and let Marko ahead on the climb to Prescott. I struggled with staying awake over that night and lost lots of time instead I finally took a quick power nap (in Kayenta, AZ.) to refresh. From there I was feeling stronger and stronger and look to have gained quite a bit on Marko, but Durango was too close.” Baloh reached the finish first with Bickett arriving about an hour and 20 minutes later. But true to his word Bickett has just signed up for RAAM 2015. It takes just a few moments of talking with Adam Bickett to realize that this is a guy with a lot of energy and enthusiasm—you don’t earn a masters degree in computer science or a job as project manager for a high profile company like Qualcom without a good measure of both. But as rightfully proud as he is of his academic accomplishments his excitement gets turned up a notch when the topic turns to UltraCycling where his results have drawn attention. Earlier this year he shattered the 400-mile record in the RAAM SoCal Challenge, finishing that event in 23 hours, 19 minutes and 30 seconds (17.22mph average). “It was a bit of of a surprise,” Bickett said after that event, “Andrew Danelly and I had been planning to do a 2-rider team but he wasn’t able to race, but I had a ready-made crew so we made it happen solo. It was harder than I expected but it went really well. The big issue was the cold! It was in the low 30’s at the top of Palomar and it was a 20-minute descent and I was pretty cold! While he now has 10 years of UltraCycling experience, the Solano Beach, California rider also has a traditional road racing background. He explained, “I rode some in high school and then I was an undergrad at UC Santa Cruz which has perfect road riding. But thought ‘I’ll never be as fast as those racer guys,’ so I never joined the undergrad collegiate race team. But I did like to go longer. I started doing organized centuries and I did the Death Ride, working up. Ten years ago my first double century was the Davis Double. I thought ‘Wow, 200-miles!’ because I knew that after a hundred miles I was always wrecked. Long rides always appealed to me. I liked the sense of adventure. “I first did the Davis 24-Hour and did around 400 miles. Michael Emde edged me out. But I knew that he was an awesome (Furnace Creek) 508 racer so I knew that I was up there and that this type of racing could go well for me—I could do this.” So Bickett took on the 508 and initially was keeping a great pace, “I was among the first to reach Town Pass, not far behind Chris Ragsdale and Emde. It was a tough year and it was pretty warm during the day and I got sick. My stomach got queasy and I was feeling terrible and ended up spending about six or seven hours on top of Town Pass throwing up but trying to take in fluids and food but just having it all come back up again. Eventually I got back on the bike. This was a year that was famous for incredibly harsh headwinds all through Death Valley but I felt good and rejuvenated—of course I’d been off the bike for so long—but I felt my strength come back I got back rolling. I think I ended up with the fastest time for the second half. I was at least right there with Emde and Ragsdale. That feeling of coming back and going through those ridiculous conditions of going only 4 or 5 mph while working as hard as I could go, that was my introduction to the longer distance events. That was a key moment in solidifying my desire to keep doing these things.” After having suffered through that ordeal and after having gone head-to-head in RAW 2014 with one of the sport’s biggest names Bickett is ready to take on UltraCycling’s biggest challenge. He’ll be a welcome addition to the line-up in Oceanside on June 16, 2015.
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 16:04:13 +0000

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