Kevin Kaiser racing the Heart of the South 500

Solo Race
The race this year was graced with wonderful weather, with blooming dogwoods and azaleas but took a tough toll on the solo riders. The solo racers started at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 3 in Birmingham, AL. Of the five starters only one finished, Kevin Kaiser, in 35:41. Kaiser is racing solo RAAM this year on a multi-geared bike after blistering across the country last year with Jeff Bauer on fixed gears as the Gran Fondo Fixies. We all wish him well.

Three solo riders dropped out rather than risking further problems with minor injuries: David Goggins and Scott Luikart are both registered for solo RAAM and Lori Dailey. Best wishes to all for a speedy recovery!

Richard Sykes was proceeding smoothly but ran out of time to finish by 8 p.m. Sunday and decided to hang it up. Thanks for coming; hopefully next year will be your year! Afterward Kaiser said, "The Heart of the South has over 30,000 feet of vertical climbing crammed into 517 miles. There are three mountain passes to cross (Lookout Mountain, Fort Mountain, and Mount Cheaha). None of these are over 3,000 feet high, but they are long and stay on ridgelines that don't allow riders to get comfortable either going up or down. The mountains are tough, but it's the constant steep rollers in between that take their toll."

Despite the tough terrain Kaiser's splits were evenly spaced demonstrating his ability to turn the cranks in a consistent fashion. His goal was to finish under 36 hours; he did so by 19 minutes. He said, “Despite the fact that the course is 10 miles longer this year and I slept a little during the race, I beat my best time by about 1.5 hours.” Last year he and Bauer completed the 500 and then did it again backwards to get ready for Team RAAM. This year he felt once was enough. “It's the first time in my life that I've ever won anything, and I'm very happy.”

Team Race
Starting at midnight four teams left two minutes apart and raced neck to neck for the next 30 hours. At TS #1 (74 mi.) all four were within ten minutes with Gran Fondo in the lead. Gran Fondo was a four-person age 50+ team, who were crewing for themselves. At TS #2 (159 mi.) the teams were 30 minutes apart with the two-man Roadworx in the lead by two minutes. By TS #3 (219 mi.) Roadworx had built their lead to 15 minutes. After the long climb up Fort Mountain and over many sharp rolling hills Gran Fondo had moved in front of Roadworx at TS #4 (302 mi.) by five minutes and the teams' spread had increased to 40 minutes.

(L-R) Tom Robertshaw, Jennifer Schuble (Paralympic Gold Medalist), Florence Bradley & Rick Boethling

At TS #5 (378 mi.) after 76 mostly flat miles Gran Fondo had a 29 minutes lead over the four-man Georgia Chain Gang. The two-man team Get Bent, racing in Human Powered Vehicles (HPVs), was just three minutes behind the Chain Gang and Roadworx two minutes farther back. The second significant climbing section of the route came next with TS #6 (463 mi.) 25 miles after the last long climb. Gran Fondo maintained their lead but Roadworx climbed back into second place just nine minutes behind. Both Get Bent and Georgia Chain Gang fell back an hour after the climb over Cheaha, the highest point in Alabama. After TS# 6 the teams began passing Kevin Kaiser who had stopped to sleep.

The last 54 miles were a sprint to the finish with Roadworx claiming the victory with a time of 29:58, 24 minutes ahead of Gran Fondo. Georgia Chain Gang was seven minutes behind Fondo, Get Bent came in an hour later and Kaiser finished 18 minutes after them. Just ten minutes after the finish it started raining!

Jeff Bauer, Kaiser's teammate for the 2008 Heart of the South and RAAM, raced on the Gran Fondo team. Each pair of riders was assigned into four-hour shifts, with each rider taking a one-hour pull. The sequence was A-B-A-B, C-D-C-D, etc., which made it easier for the off-duty pair to crew for the other two. Afterwards Bauer said “The ride starts at midnight, so we didn't get much sleep going into HoS, but that's true for all the riders.

“The hardest part was probably driving at night on the second evening. Once you're off the bike and your body comes to a rest state, it's difficult to stay alert.”

Bauer estimated that crewing for themselves cost them about two mph. “Each transition was costing us time (and crew energy), especially at night, so we each went out at a pace that we could sustain for one hour.” They stayed with the one-hour pulls to reduce the number of rider exchanges except climbing Ft. Mountain. “Because the seven-mile climb occurred during daylight, we leapfrogged and traded off riders each mile. Robert and Vida's average never dropped below 10 mph during the climb.”

Scott Luikart & crew

Roadworx was Charles Comb, who is racing Team RAAM this summer with Robert Waugh, and Mark Pattinson. Combs was crew chief for Mark Pattinson's RAAM last year. “We raced this year to give Charlie some experience for RAAM. Being an early year race and a very tough course it's not a race to do solo unless you are in good shape. Competing in the race as a team is just way of turning up and racing plus it gets other friends involved who might not want to ride 500 miles solo.”

During the day the two riders alternated pulls about 12 miles and on the hills they switched every two miles or so. At night they did 20- to 30-mile pulls.

“I have done the race four times, it's the most local race to Tennessee and I like to support it as Tom has done a great job over the years putting it on.”

Each team set records. Get Bent set the record for a two-man team over 50 in HPVs; Roadworx set the record for a two-man team under 50; Georgia Chain Gang set the record for a four-man team over 50 and Gran Fondo set the record for a mixed team over 50! Congratulations to all!

All involved with the Heart of the South 500 appreciate the racers and crews making time to come south and be with us for the weekend! Safe riding in the future!

Next year's race is April 2, 2010.