Well, I have been a bit MIA for a while but I wanted to give you a final recap on RAW. It was a great race. We had a great time as a team, worked very well together and had an amazing crew (thanks JJ & Lance for the ice cream at 8pm that I was really craving). Our overall finish time was 43hours 57min which brought us in as the first team and ultimately meant we set the new course record by nearly 4.5 hours and beat our own personal goal by over 4 hours. My legs held up very well throughout the entire race until about 39 hours in when Halsey and I came off of a 4 hour shift. I made the bad decision to take a nap and woke up with my legs feeling very heavy and stiff. Before that Halsey and I came off of a 4 hour leg where combined we average 25mph and were both feeling great. Below is a brief analysis of my data throughout the race. Unfortunately I am missing anywhere from 60-90 minutes of data because my PowerTap head unit went dead and I was without data for this time. So I believe total time would be closer to 12 hours of saddle time but I am not 100%. I do know that Avg speed would be higher because the portion that I did not have a system for was in the dessert and was pancake flat.

Halsey taking a quick cat nap. We had a great first leg and were first in time and 3rd on the road when we pulled off. 101 right now and we have 2hrs til we are on the bike again.
Brady Irwin

Team meeting this afternoon. Ready to go!
Brady Irwin

Alrighty, we are at one day before the final push out for Race Across the West. Yesterday was our van inspection, bike & gear inspection and our rider meeting. Today is quite a bit more relaxed with our own meeting to get the crew and the riders all on the same track for the start of tomorrows race and then Photos at 2:15.

Well, today we are in the car for day #2. Yesterday I drove fom COS to Duango to meet the rest of the team and once we were loaded up and swung by the local bike shop to pick up a new set of riding shoes (Halsey's check bag with his riding shoes was lost…) we were on the road. Our evenings goal was initially Flagstaff but the drive took a bit longer than expected and we ended up Just outside of Kayenta, AZ (all 3 hotels in Kayenta were full).

Today's drive has gone pretty well we arr about 3:30 out of Carlsbad, CA (final destination) and have been going since 8 this morning. We are still in AZ but have to be getting close to CA.

This morning we did get up a bit early and Austin, Halsey and I got a quick hourr ride in which was great and definitely good for stretching the legs. Halsey and Austin were definitely feeling the fact that they were at 5000ft though and I think are looking forward to being back down near sea level tonight.
Brady Irwin

Well, I got up early this morning and got an amazing ride in! 3 days completely off the bike always seems to do AMAZING things to my legs! I’ve got all sorts of snap right now and I think with the endurance block I got in the 2 weeks prior have given me a whole new gear. BRING IT ON!

Well, the past couple of mornings of sleeping in until 6:30 has been great! Unfortunately that ends tomorrow. I go back to the routine of getting up at 5 in order to get at least 2 hours of riding in before work and then the evening rides again. The one bonus is that this time is that I only have to do this through Saturday then it’s a couple of days off the bike again for some much needed vacation. Work has been busy for me since January with camps and a couple of days of R&R with my beautiful wife is greatly needed. My goal is 16hours in the next 4 days so let’s see how it goes! 🙂

Alright, so i’m going to have to side track here a bit from training because this is much more important! We had an appointment yesterday and Katelyn is growing quick! She is estimated to be 5lbs 11oz. and needless to say momma is beginning to FREAK out! I am keeping my fingers crossed that she does not come too early and that I will be back from RAW by the time she delivers. My birthday is on June 13th though which is the day I get back from the race and if Janelle were to deliver that day I think it would be the best birthday present EVER!

Well…today is the 2nd rest day and to be honest I feel SUPER tired! My legs feel a bit fatigued as I go up stairs but more than anything I am really dragging. I am so glad to have this day off but I just want to crawl back into bed…

Well, today is a rest day. After the last 13 days I have really been looking forward to this day. Yesterday morning my alarm went of at 5:30 and all I could think was that I wanted the next 5.5 hours to be over. I got up, had some breakfast, checked out the weather, applied the sunscreen and hit the road. Boy the weather man was right. It was a beautiful sunny day but at 6am the wind was already whipping. I had a tail wind all the way into downtown where I met a buddy and we headed up Ute Pass. Once in the pass the tailwind was no more. It was swirling and blowing so hard that my legs arms and face were sand blasted by the loose scree that was being blown around. I made it up to Divide and turned around to meet back up with my friend. Unfortunately he wanted to ride all the way up to Divide and I had to high tail it back to meet the group ride to drag my butt back out to the east side of town. I made it just as they were pulling out and was able to hide in the shelter of the group(The picture was taken shortly after I passed Green Mountain Falls). I was surprised at how great my legs felt though. I certainly had no snap in them, which was to be expected after logging 45 hours in 13 days (the most I’ve ever logged in that time frame), but anything at or below threshold I felt like I could hold for days and days.