# RAAM story in Feb. 2012 Road Bike Action



## Big-foot (Dec 14, 2002)

My friends at RBA have (finally) run my story and photos from RAAM 2011. They cut the text in half and only ran about a third of the photo that I submitted, but hey, it's the most coverage that RAAM has gotten in the main-stream cycling press in a while. :thumbsup:


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## stover (Apr 24, 2010)

So what's the story with the guy with the neck brace/duct tape/coat rack thing on his head in the middle shot?


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## MarkZeus (Jun 12, 2008)

Yeah I read that article, awesome job. Would love to do a monumental event or something similar in the future for my bucket list, but I heard the cost is extravagant :


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## SolidSnake03 (Jun 22, 2011)

stover said:


> So what's the story with the guy with the neck brace/duct tape/coat rack thing on his head in the middle shot?


The guys neck gave out so they rigged up that contraption to keep his head up/facing forward so he could still keep going


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## Big-foot (Dec 14, 2002)

stover said:


> So what's the story with the guy with the neck brace/duct tape/coat rack thing on his head in the middle shot?



That's Alberto Blanco. Other than his neck muscles giving out he was doing fine. It was his rookie RAAM and his crew didn't have a head support already made as some crews do. They cobbled together what you see out of a back-pack frame, a Yakima wheel holder and lots and lots of duct tape. They lost a lot of time from constantly fussing with it.

He was up as far as second in the last quarter of the race and eventually finished fourth. I hope that he'll be back in 2012.


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## Big-foot (Dec 14, 2002)

MarkZeus said:


> Yeah I read that article, awesome job.:


Thanks. I felt like it lost so much in editing it down. :cryin:
What I'd submitted gave much more of the play-by-play on the tightest RAAM I've ever seen (this was my 7th). Strasser's lead was firm but the positions of the remaining top six were constantly changing all the way to the end. Fun stuff!


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## neoprocyclist (Feb 6, 2012)

Big-foot said:


> My friends at RBA have (finally) run my story and photos from RAAM 2011. They cut the text in half and only ran about a third of the photo that I submitted, but hey, it's the most coverage that RAAM has gotten in the main-stream cycling press in a while. :thumbsup:


Awesome, can't wait to get a copy. Huge effort


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