Swami's RAAM History

Hi Dave-- here is the answer to your questions. Let me know if you need anything else. Here it is, near as I can remember.

There was an e-mail from Beast (Kam) to everyone on the mass email list about RAAM and the 24 Hour event. He was looking for teammates for this thing. I have organized 24 hour running events, but the thought of doing a moving one through the desert intriqued me. I have never been fast on the bike, but do love riding, and I called Kam and explained this. He explained that he was looking to put a fun team together, have a great time, and go for speed as we could. As I got to know Kam more, he started commenting that I harrassed him like no one else in his life. Apparently, Kam doesn't have a lot of people who spar with him verballly. He kept making comment on this until, in the middle of a radio interview, on air, he introduced me as "the Jackal". The name just stuck.

I helped him a little with organizing the first year, but that was mostly him bearing the work load; I helped where I could. I enlisted Fred Muir to ride with us after I met the rest of the squad. I asked Muir to come along because I was a little worried about the group Kam had gathered. We had a friefighter who had lit his own house on fire, a guy who was living in a trailer with plans to move to a "natural area" in Fiji, a clothing manufacturing rep. who cursed more than any marine I had EVER heard, and me, a school teacher. I figured I needed to bring Muir along for a little sanity in this group. Our crew consisted of GucciGirl/The Frau, Dawn Metrisin, Tinker/my dad, eHarmony/ Dave Callendar and Allhands, one of the greatest massage therapist/girlfriends a guy could have. We found out later that Allhands had a fever the whole race and never let on, kept feeding us, as well as get the kinks out of the muscles. The rest of us took turns driving. Crewing four yourself in on of these 24 hour races is crazy-- can't see how we thought that was going to be a good idea.

We raced, and raced hard. Far and away the worst road I have EVER encountered was the highway past Plaster City in El Centro. The cracks were 2-5 inches wide, and unevenly spaced 5-22 inches apart. With the spacing you could never really get a smooth cadence going. The temperature out past Glamis was 116 f., and in Prescott that year at 2 int he morning it got down to 46 f. We ended up with one guy in the hospital taking in bags and bags of fluid through the vein, and one guy delusional in the back of the follow vehicle. We also accrued a record number of time penalties for a wide variety of rule infractions. Still not sure what many of them were, but I do remember there were a lot. I mean, a lot.

The party that year in Flagstaff was at a place called the Beaver. The Clif Bar team took first from us, but we weren't far behind for a second place finish. Everyone rode strong, left what they had out on the road, and we partied in Flagstaff. I am not sure the management of the Beaver wants to see us in their establishment again. And fortunately for us we had a "get out of jail free" card in one of our crew members.

The next few years were much smoother because the learning curve ont hat first route was HUGE. There

The subsequent years have been spent reclaiming Swami's good name with the referees out on the road in this event. They love us now, but wer enot happy with us after that first year. Soemthing about some record set for time penalties. Anyway, the next two years I put together a different group of riders, placed second, one time tot he other Swami's team. I am perpetually second plac ein this race, arrggghhh! Have made some great friends, gained some good memories and got to see some STUNNING parts of California and Arizona by bike. The logistics of setting up a squad of people to do this is crazy, but worth it. I hope the fun my teammates have had is worth the energy they put into it. I think it is. Biek racing is such a solitary sport most of the time, this is one race where you really rely on others to motivate you, keep you going at top speed and going and going. This is one place where we can be ourselves, not little clods of suffering ailments convinced that the world won't go the way we want it to. There are no excuses out here, just your squad, suffering with you. The desert doesn't care what kind of car you drive and the mountains don't care what your income is-- they just let you be.

My favorite part is after the race. Some of us ride part way home. We roll out of Flagstaff the next morning and head down hwy. 89. We ride downt o Sedona, then eat something and get back into the car. There is just something about that relaxed ride with the squad. Like returning home form battle. Win or lose, we were in the fight.- few people these days can say they gave something there all. I got to ride with some of those few, and I am a better person for it.

Erik Conklin (Jackal)