Gorgeous evening for a ride to Swan Harbor. Thanks James Pou for leading tonight's ride.
Hot today, but what a great ride!! This route is definitely a keeper.
Great Job!!
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Bucket List?ZAMBONI ON TRACK FOR 8TH RAAM FINISH
12:29 PM Tuesday, June 21, 2022 Eastern Time (ET)
Yates Center, Kansas
Riding as the last rider pedaling in the Solo Male 60-69 category is 68-year-old Valerio Zamboni (Monaco). The other two men who also departed Oceanside back on June 14, Kari Rouvinen (Finland) and Rupert Guinness (Australia) both dropped out days ago. Zamboni is currently on his way to Yates Center, Kansas, with 1,742 miles of course already behind him.
That Zamboni has been able to press on in this year fraught with heat and wind should come as no surprise—the’s the most experienced rider in this year’s race by a long shot. This is his 11th RAAM, he’s missed only two RAAMs since 2010—there was the Covid-Cancellation of 2020, and in 2015 when while heat-acclimating in the California desert just prior to that year’s race, he crashed and broke some ribs.
Last year Zamboni earned his 7th RAAM finish, reaching Annapolis in 12 days, 12 hours and 24 minutes, well below the cut-off of 12 days and 21 hours that a rider in the 60-69s has to beat to earn an official finish. He’s currently on track to earn his 8th finish. Earlier today he reached El Dorado, Kansas after 6 days, 14 hours and 51 minutes of riding. While last year he hit that point about 3 hours earlier, he and his expert crew are master time-managers. Our bet is he’ll make it all the way yet again.
How many more RAAMs will Zamboni do? Herve Talabardon (France), RAAM’s oldest finisher at age 69, had two unsuccessful attempts after age 70. We have a strong suspicion that he has his thoughts on becoming the first RAAM finisher over the age of 70—just two years away. At the finish of RAAM 2019 Zamboni spoke of how his life and annual schedule revolves around RAAM. “We never stop. We don’t stop. We keep going on. Circumstances in the future may dictate that eventually, we’ll stop. But it’s not going to be that we’ll voluntarily stop. Absolutely.”
Hervé Talabardon Valerio Zamboni Kari Rouvinen Rupert Guinness
Um… no, I don’t think so…