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[Cloe] In 2014, my dad, John Tarlton
competed in the toughest ultra-endurance bike race
in the world,
the Race Across America.
It's known as RAAM.
[John] There are approximately 300 people
who have ever completed RAAM.
This is not for everybody.
[Cloe] Unlike the Tour de France,
which has multiple stages, allowing riders
to rest and recover overnight,
in RAAM, the clock never stops.
The race starts in Oceanside, California
and finishes 3000 miles away
in Annapolis, Maryland.
[Jenny] Extreme heat, extreme climbing,
extreme everything.
[Cloe] Riders must pass through timed checkpoints
or they are disqualified.
That averages to ten and a half miles per hour
for 12 days without getting off the bike
for things like a bathroom break or sleep.
I can't understand or even comprehend
that somebody can ride their bike this far this fast.
[Cloe] All riders are fully supported
with a follow crew, providing food, liquids,
directions and a place to rest
for maybe two hours a day.
[Kevin] You may just be sleeping
on the side of the road, it's all dependent on
how far John goes that day.
[Cloe] My dad crossed the finish line in 2014,
but he was only a couple hours away from being disqualified.
[John] You don't want that DNF behind your name,
Did Not Finish.
[Cloe] This year, he's a lot stronger
and he has new ideas about nutrition and performance.
His goal is to reach the podium.
His support crew will have some veterans
from my dad's last race, like my brother, Jack.
-We will figure it out. - [Cloe] But this year,
there's one big difference.
Mom decided to join the crew...
I need my team in the car, let's go.
...and she convinced me and my little brother,
Cooke, to go too.
The whole family will be there
for every painful mile.
[suspenseful music]
[sea rumbling]
They'll be down there in about 40 minutes.
-It's-- it's just-- -Just making sure
we have all the pit stops ready.
Doing all that timing.
[cheering]
[announcer] Three, two, one.
[crowd clapping]
It's the 38th running of the Race Across America.
This morning's races will include racers
that are going just through Durango for RAW,
Race Across the West
and solo riders are going all the way to Annapolis.
[announcer] Next up is an all ladies team out of Texas.
[Gary] Today we're going to have a fairly cool start.
But when we get over Mount Palomar
and down into the valley, on the other side,
we'll be seeing temperatures of 100
and 110 degrees out there.
So it's really stressful for the riders.
Thinking about the heat.
I can't win the race in the desert,
but I can lose the race in the desert.
Try not to get burned.
[announcer] Next up, from Wisconsin
Mr. David Haase.
Four, three, two, one.
Good luck, Dave.
[John] RAAM, it's a bit of an adventure.
It's sometimes referred to as the Everest of cycling.
And I think that's an apt description.
Biking longer distances is a greater challenge,
but also has greater rewards.
[announcer] Three, two, one, good luck.
[crowd whistling and cheering]
So our goal is to podium
within my age group of 50 to 60.
And raising awareness and money for Stanford Cancer.
Fifty to fifty-nine is very strong.
There are several riders
who have second place finishes.
The classic is, like, Mark Pattinson.
He has more second place finishes
without a win than anybody.
I've come 4th once
and 2nd four times.
I dropped out twice,
everybody drops out at some point.
Christoph Strasser is obviously,
if he finishes the race, it's tough to beat.
Very tough to beat.
Every time it's-- it's a new challenge.
It's-- it's a new experience.
You have other people in your crew,
you have other racers, there's different weather.
Why does Roger Federer play Wimbledon every year?
Why does Dirk Nowitzki play the NBA season every year?
It's the same [indistinct], if you want to race
Ultra Races, RAAM is the biggest race possible,
so you want to do it every year.
[announcer] Five, four, three, two, one.
Good luck, Christoph!
[crowd cheering]
[Jenny] You said Oceanside to Durango,
I totally just focus inward.
I overheard you talking to Les or somebody today.
Yeah, yeah, I'm racing my own race to St. Louis.
I won't be specifically trying to race other people.
That's foolish.
I got to do my own thing.
It's a really long race.
You can't, like, start racing
from the start line.
It's just craziness.
You'll burn yourself out.
I want to do well in my category,
my-- in my age group.
That could be a win.
[Jack] You want to, I think we should go now.
Okay.
[Vic] More than anything, Tarlton is an unknown.
You know, he did RAAM a couple of years ago.
He didn't set the world on fire.
He got a respectful finish
with 11 days in change.
But in talking with John recently,
it's evident that he learned quite a bit
from that first experience, and he's coming here
with one of the most scientific approaches I've seen
and he could surprise people.
[woman cheering]
When we finished RAAM in 2014,
there was a general sense that
we could do it better and faster.
And that maybe if we really worked hard
and had a little bit of tailwind
that we might finish on the podium in Annapolis.
[woman] Go John!
[announcer] Next up, John Tarlton.
John finished RAAM in 2014 as a rookie.
We told him, you don't just do this race once
he didn't believe it.
Well, welcome back, John.
John is raising money
for the Stanford Cancer Institute.
Four, three, two, one.
Good luck, John!
[crowd cheering]
[Jenny] He just left the starting line.
All the racers took off with their follow vehicles.
John is going to go to mile--
What is it, guys, 28?
He's going to have a crew switch.
Getting to this point, it's just really nice.
I mean, we keep saying like, it's crazy now,
but it'll all come together.
And everyone will fall in line
and everybody will figure it out.
So what he's going to do, he's going to chuck,
he's literally just going to throw a water bottle
and then I'll pass on this.
[traffic noise]
[John] So the strategy is to keep temperature
under control through the desert.
To try and get to Durango in three days.
Try an average 300 miles a day...
225 watts,
keep it under 140 beats per minute, just...
boring.
That's the strategy, is boring.
It's actually hot down here.
We've got--
We've got the breeze off the ocean right now.
So it's just going to get hotter and hotter
as we go further inland.
We are at mile 42...
out of...
3071.
Yeah, crushing it.
[laughs]
[Jenny] It's not surprising that he does this
because it just fits so well with his personality.
He's very calm, he's introverted,
he's focused.
You know, every aspect of his life is about
conserving energy and pacing himself
so then he can get a ton of stuff done.
And it's very much at his temperament
all the time...
to be that way.
[Kevin] Hey, sorry, you were asking about elevation?
[John] My job is to execute on the bike.
And for me, what that means is holding this dynamic tension
between wanting to go all out
to get to Annapolis as fast as possible.
But knowing that you have to restrain in order to get there.
[Kevin] So, yeah, you'll peak at twenty-six,
you'll go down to twenty-three.
[John] Because if you burn matches
in Oceanside...
you're done, you're gonna be done
before you even get to the Arizona desert.
[Kevin] Okey-doke. Byeee.
You're welcome.
[man] Does he laugh when you like,
you know, say "byeee" like that?
Yeah, no, like, at first,
he's like, "Oh, okay, bye."
And then he started doing it back to me and now it's like,
we do it every time we see each other.
Okay, bye-byeee, you're welcome.
Okay, byeee.
[Paul] The way they tricked me into doing all of this was,
you know, I--
I had told John like, "Oh, yeah, oh,
I also want to start getting into like cycling.
Like, I think I want to do this race from San Francisco to LA."
Somebody grab a tail light and a head light.
And it took Jonathan like a third of a second
to be like, "Oh, I'll help you pay for a bike...
if you sign on to do RAAM."
And I was like, "I don't know what that is, but okay."
[man] Hey, there's John.
[Kevin] So like, that was like
the beginning of me realizing,
you know, who John is as a person.
John is the kind of person that you want to help.
How could someone be like that nice
and that grounded and that kind
and like that generous to people?
Just trying to plan ahead...
and see where the best spot
for the first crew stop is going to be.
[Kevin] You meet him, and you think, you know,
is that kind of like an act, is he really like that?
Or is it just kind of like some kind of front,
And you know, you get to know him
and you talk to him and you realize,
"Oh, okay, like, he's just that guy."
I'd do anything to support John.
[Jenny] Kevin is very much a member of our family.
He goes on vacations with us and he lives here
in a cottage in the back of our property.
You know, has dinner with us most nights.
Well, until he got a girlfriend, but--
Early on, if you mess up the shift times,
like all the numbers get screwy,
but it all averages out at the end.
So as long as it's all written down, we're fine.
[John] RAAM is a team sport and like a CEO,
I've got my vice presidents.
Allen,
Kevin.
And then Jack.
And they're-- they're working it out.
[Jenny] I thought Kevin was Crew Chief.
He-- he from the text-- Group text chat.
He seems like he's the one that's like in charge
and giving orders.
To a very large extent, you're right, Jenny,
but they both want Allen to be Crew Chief, so...
I don't think we needed as much structure
as maybe everybody else needed.
[Kevin] I don't think it was important to have
the Crew Chief and the Assistant Crew Chief
and be, you know,
mini crew lead and another mini crew lead.
[Allen] In terms of Crew Chief or not or whatever,
we had to sign the papers at the beginning
and it says Crew Chief so we had to put names.
Yeah, during-- during the race, people we were like, well,
who's-- who's the Chief, it doesn't matter,
just do what we ask you to do.
It's just past seven o'clock.
So we are in direct follow mode.
Which means, now, this is our view
for the next twelve hours.
[Jenny] Kevin and Allen are the anchors
and then they...
went out and got their friends.
So the Corey and the Jonathan.
Kevin didn't even mention like a pretty ride.
He just said, "Hey, do you want to go ride
with us in a van for two weeks?
-And I said, no. -[both laugh]
[laughs]
-Your driving sucks. -[indistinct]
I know, but I am getting nauseous.
I think the thing I'm most worried about
is like having to go to the bathroom.
As a girl, that's just really weird, you know,
like, we got these
great pee sticks.
I did it, success. I peed.
-[Jonathan] How did you pee? -With my pee sticks.
[man] She still squatted.
It's just a little weird, never done that before.
[Jenny] What you guys doing?
Jenny, I peed.
[Jenny] Yay!
But I didn't do it right.
Still squatting.
Three of the crew are our kids.
Jack is our oldest son, he's twenty-one.
He's been on the crew before.
Cloe, who's eighteen
and Cooke, who is sixteen.
It'll be hard for them to see their dad go through
so much pain, go through so much discomfort.
I mean, just agony.
I don't really know what I'm doing.
I've never seen any of this before,
so I'm just taking orders
from the people who've done this before,
Kevin, Jack, Allen.
[Jenny] But it's also a good experience
and we want the kids to have that experience.
I would not go, like, I-- I don't.
People ask me all time, "Oh, are you going to go there?"
Like, absolutely not. Under no circumstances.
I do not want to see any of that.
It came as a bit of a surprise to all of us
that she wanted to have
a part in RAAM.
And her expression of interest and participation
came fairly late in the process.
You were the one that was telling me to go.
I-- The whole time before I was like, "I'm not going."
You were like, "You're going, Dearborn."
And I'm like, "I don't want to go."
Yeah, I mean, that was a very--
I wasn't going to tell my wife that she can't go.
You know-- you know, that was--
That was totally something you should have done.
I mean, it was very tough.
You know what I didn't like?
When they were announcing each of the riders...
they were saying like, and here's this guy
and he's done it nine years in a row.
Here's this other guy. He's done 15 different--
He's crewed, he rode,
he was part of a two person team.
Then he was a single team. All these things.
And I was like, oh my God, these peo--
This cult of people.
John is part of this cult.
and it is-- He'll never be finished.
This is-- This is not a hobby,
it's a lifestyle with all these nuts.
I don't know why people do it, honestly.
I can't quite-- It just doesn't seem normal.
Like I-- I can't imagine
why anybody would want to do this.
I mean, I love you and I'm doing this because
I'm, like, legally obligated to.
But-- but for other people, like, I don't--
Honestly, I don't get it.
[John] Competing in RAAM is like being
in the flow of this energy field
that has to be aligned to get to Annapolis.
You have to have equipment that's in alignment,
your training has to be in alignment,
your bikes have to be in alignment.
You got to have a dozen people completely in alignment.
We want everybody to know that I really appreciate you.
The sacrifice you're making.
We are all friends.
And it's super important to me
that we treat each other with kindness.
Just pace yourself and be super healthy
and make sure you--
Oh, bless your heart, sweetheart.
Vidya Mahalaxmi
is a Construction Project Manager
for my company, Tarlton Properties.
Come on, John.
To be honest, if someone else had asked me
to crew for them for a race like this,
I would have probably thought about it.
But just because it was John,
I just said yes without even thinking.
And you know, he treats me like I'm his family
and it works both ways.
[Jenny] Everyone's feeling good?
I-- I'll feel good after inspection.
For Paul, Paul was easy, I knew I wanted Paul to come
because Paul's one of those people that, like, if you
ask him to do something like, he'll do it, and he'll do it
the way you ask him to do it and he'll do it the right way.
[Corey] All right, straps are done, who needs them?
We have four support vehicles for the race.
And last is our Coach Captain.
Howard is our Assistant Coach Captain.
Scott helped to build out the vans.
He's a former professional cyclist
and he's joining us in Durango.
I'm honestly, I'm a little concerned about the crew,
just their readiness.
That's definitely something that I've thought about a lot.
You know, if anybody has a meltdown,
we can just put them on a plane and--
In St. Louis and just send them home.
Just say, you're done,
you're causing too much friction.
I have no problem with sending people home.
-"I have no problem--" -I'm in charge.
I am finding some irony in this conversation
coming from somebody who said, "I am never,
ever having anything to do with RAAM."
Yes, I know.
I need one more number on that media car.
That goes here.
There was a lot of crew tension,
even before we started.
When we were marking up vehicles
and when we were doing a lot of the pre-race logistics.
You could just sense the tension.
Do we have another number?
[Kevin] I don't know whether that's going to pass.
We have the RV, we got the sprinter.
We have the old RAAM van,
we have to put all the signage on all of them.
The whole time, you're just, like, "Who's in charge?"
Nobody really knows what they're doing.
Is someone going to tell me what to do?
Do I jump in and just start doing stuff?
And we're behind and I don't know
if we're going to make it on time
and I don't know for this vehicle where everything goes.
So anyway, we got to go.
[John] That experience for the crew was essentially
a microcosm of RAAM.
[Vidya] You know what you could do, how you can help?
[overlapping conversation]
The crew had to adapt.
Hey, we got 15 minutes.
It felt super chaotic.
It felt like a mad scramble.
It was incredibly stressful.
In about two miles,
he's going to start a pretty crazy downhill.
Known as a glass elevator
where he's just going to bomb by us,
like, it's going to be really hard for us to catch up to him.
[John] The glass elevator
is a very steep mountain road
where you're just taking every turn
at break neck speed.
And for us, it's just a stressful moment
because there's such a high risk of injury.
As you're going down the glass elevator,
there are gusts of wind as you come around a corner
that could veer you off into the other lane.
That's problematic.
If you're not careful on the glass elevator,
you can pick up speed 50 plus miles an hour.
It's very easy to develop a wobble.
[dramatic music]
[calming piano music]
And did we pass?
-Yeah! -No problems.
See you all later. Thanks for being prepared.
-Thank you. -Thank you so much.
We got it done, Kevin!
Of course we got it done.
[chatter]
[Jenny] There's so much invested.
All these people that are helping him on the crew,
they're so invested in his success.
All of these people took time off work.
And all these people have sacrificed so much
to be a part of his experience.
And like,
it would be just awful
if he crashed early
and was out and everyone was like,
"oh", you know, like?
Or if it doesn't somehow live up
to their expectations.
[cheering and clapping]
Keep it going! Yeah!
[John] We often think of nighttime
as being substantially cooler than daytime.
The reality is different.
We were looking at 115 degrees in the middle of the night.
It's just too freaking hot.
Okay, how are you doing?
So the plan is
to take a cold shower,
change into fresh TOGS,
stretch me and get on the road.
-Yeah. -Okay?
[John] The combination of the heat and the climbing,
you have to keep under control.
Otherwise, you're going to burn yourself out.
It's a no win situation.
It was getting hot enough that we were starting to worry
about him essentially passing out, it was so hot.
[John] Is my phone fixed?
[Jenny] So we're going to buy you a new phone.
So the phone that just-- That was just dead, I mean.
[Kevin] Like the salt really corroded it and it was dead.
I focus on getting, like, compression socks on.
-The toes are not coming up? -It's just hard to put on.
[Vidya] It was awful that night, it was so hot.
And just watching John roll in, it was--
I am like, "Oh, my gosh, this is just night one?"
Here, more energy to put your socks on.
I got two left feet here.
-I need the other socks. -No, I'll get it, I'll get it.
[Kevin] Being nice to John is not being nice to John.
Like giving him too many luxuries,
like letting him take a ten minute nap.
You know, asking him like, "Oh, what do you want to eat
when he's sitting right there and we're wasting time.
Like those luxuries that we wanted to give him
because we all like John and we-- like
we're just hurting him in the end.
[Vidya] Do you want any reflective jackets?
[laughs]
I forgot it's hot, sorry.
It's got to be over 100 degrees.
-In the dark. -[Vidya laughs]
I do not want any jackets.
Sorry, I forgot, my bad.
[laughs]
I laughed about that for the next 100 miles.
Let's go, Johnny Tsunami.
He is riding 24 hours a day, except when he sleeps,
which is between like noon and two.
[Jenny] Okay, it's 90 degrees in the car,
it's 109 outside the car and it's quarter to noon.
You know, Kevin was texting that John was averaging
eighteen miles an hour and doing great and-- and--
So he'll end up going riding for twenty-four hours.
And we've just been seeing cyclists this whole time.
Here's one right now, here's a RAAM vehicle.
On this route you see
cyclists and follow vehicles.
[Gary] You got this heat coming across here,
100-110 degrees, you got 131 degrees
off the asphalt you're riding on.
Break up on you.
I'm on a motorcycle, so I feel the heat,
I feel the wind, but I don't have to pedal.
[laughs]
He's burning a lot of calories, he is pretty much burning
the whole way through.
So what we're trying to do is replenish his body
by the water, juice, carbohydrates, fats, protein,
which is the most important ones.
So he doesn't start eating up his muscles pretty much
and counterbalance things.
So we just got to keep feeding him
so he doesn't cramp up and start losing muscle mass.
During the racing, food intake is super important.
We've formulated a recipe
for John's granola that's exactly
the right nutritional balance and fiber
and protein and all of that for him.
Granola and the cookies.
And that's his rice cooker.
Fresh produce, we got peanut butter.
RAAM 2014 was Shot Bloks, Gu,
Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew,
like anything to give him sugar.
The racers in RAAM are going to be consuming
vast quantities of sugar every day.
And that-- If you were to track their blood sugar level,
it would be going up and down and up and down like this.
And you don't want that.
You want flatline glycemic index.
And so it's less fatigue on my whole body.
It's actually a huge process, you know,
putting fresh dates in a fruit processor
with coconut oil and honey and homemade vanilla.
You know, seven cups of pumpkin seeds
and all of that.
To make a huge batch that fills up this whole thing.
Seven...
What that granola does for me
is allows me to--
Totally fucking lost count.
[Vidya] These are the water that John drinks,
we don't get any other water for John,
this is all that he drinks.
Extra spare tires.
This one here is the freezer, put some ice in here
all of his drinks, his electrolytes-- berries.
Oh, my gosh, he loves Perfect Bars.
[Jenny] Crew is doing good.
Things are falling into place.
John's doing well, he's strong.
I know he's in great care.
He's in great condition.
He's totally passionate about this.
So I'm not worried about it at all.
It's really hard to eat in this heat.
I know, just, can you eat a little bit?
Just a little bit.
Just take another-- half way on that.
-That's enough. -Okay.
Well, I'm just giving him options.
Allen says, "We may need you,
John is having a rough time in the heat."
[Vidya] Just put these on.
[gagging]
It was awful to see him throw up and, you know,
you're trying to get all of this nutrition in him,
you're trying to get all this fluid in him
and here he is, he's throwing up...
and it was hard to watch him.
[gagging]
I was just trying to hold him.
You know, he's-- he's a big dude
and trying to hold-- hold his back.
And I was like, "what am I supposed to do?"
And I am trying to hold my tears back.
It was a tough one.
[throwing up]
[Jenny] "We need electrolytes in the RV.
John's throwing up from the heat."
[sighs]
Okay, that's where we are.
We've got to get through the heat.
I didn't-- I had no idea that it was going to be
so difficult so soon into the race.
I sort of anticipated it getting
incrementally more difficult as we went through.
I didn't realize it was going to--
We were going to hit the wall so quickly.
And you know, John can't drink enough
or eat enough because he's so hot.
you know, his body is rejecting it.
You know, all the fluids inside of him to help
cool him down are now gone.
But he actually did well after puking, though.
Gave him some electrolytes.
Salt tab in every bottle of water.
It was Allen's suggestion.
It's got magnesium, calcium,
all the electrolytes you need, it is called Salt Tabs,
but it's only nine percent sodium.
And slowly, he wanted more food,
which was a good sign.
It's too much to watch him ride in that hot weather.
-[woman] Yeah. -It's just-- I can't.
[woman] Yeah.
I mean, I was like in tears,
but I'm like, okay, don't cry,
John can see you, so I was just like,
kind of wearing my sunnies.
I don't know what I was doing, but--
-You were crying. -Shut up!
[Jack] What's he doing out here?
Why is he walking?
[Jenny] Honey, what's going on?
You need some space?
The logistics of the crew swaps...
fell apart immediately.
There's a miscommunication and so the team
that just finished is ready to go off their shift.
But the Relief Team is not here yet.
At first, it was supposed to help people sleep.
The problem is like, we don't know
how fast or slow John is riding.
So some days he's feeling really good...
and that crew that's sleeping might be over sleeping
and they might wake up and not be able
to make their shift.
[Jenny] Most important takeaway is,
no spouse should ever go with their spouse
on a race like this.
It was-- It was awful.
Crew is doing great.
[John] You guys got some rest?
Everybody's good, everybody's rested,
everybody's good.
-Kevin actually slept? -Kevin slept,
Kevin is rested and happy, he's totally good.
So he's always asking, how's the crew?
And so we're constantly put in a position of lying to him.
John doesn't want to know while he's riding
that the crew is melting down
and the disasters that other crews are having.
Or other riders that dropped out
or other accidents, I mean,
these are things that you deliberately keep from him.
How quickly does he get out of the heat?
I just need to get to 2000 feet.
-Thirty miles. -Thirty miles.
Okay.
John, are you ready?
We need ice. We need-- [indistinct]
back inside, or are they in?
[indistinct] are inside.
I think this is more of a frustration on the point
of part of the crew, I know some people,
some parties are frustrated that they--
And they feel like their message did not come across
in their expectations.
And so I think that's more
inner crew tension and drama.
[piano music]
Feels nice and cool out.
We are out of the worst part of the heat.
His toes are cramping.
But we're starting to get into the elevation now,
so it's going to be harder in terms of the climbing,
but not as hot.
Which is-- Which is going to be great
because he's a very strong climber.
So this is really his strength.
Pleasant day for a bike ride.
♪
[Cloe] You get off your shift, try to find a place to sleep.
If you can't find a hotel, you sleep in the car,
you sleep on the side of the road.
You don't know when you're going to sleep,
like what time of day.
It's like sometimes we were sleeping from
like 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
And sometimes you're sleeping from like
1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
When you wake up, you try to figure out where John is.
Most of the time, it's like 50 to 100 miles.
Everyone tries to meet up.
Then you get behind him in a van and you drive
for about 12 hours at 15-10 miles an hour.
And it is mind numbing.
And you have nothing to do but sit in that van
and think about all the things that could go wrong.
[Kevin] Jack and Cloe are on their way to mile 65
on page 71.
So it might be easier for you
to coordinate with them.
I don't-- I don't know where Allen's group is.
[John] We need to focus on
how do we set up the crew
so that I'm off the bike
and asleep in 30 minutes?
And how do we set up the crew so that I'm awake
and I'm back on the bike in 30 minutes.
Right.
These are recovery boots that are filling up with air.
Right now, we're trying to get him to speed up
the recovery process.
So pushing the blood out of my legs, basically.
Yeah, we are moving the blood around.
[Cloe] You sleep with these?
[Allen] He's going to sleep with them on.
[Kevin] Just checking out what we can push John to do
to make the cut off time.
[Allen] We have 382 miles
and 32 hours
to get to Durango, Colorado.
And there's a few breaks that he took unexpected.
So if he is going to sleep, we are going to wake him up...
early.
Usually when we do that, we lie to him.
We tell him he's had his three hours, it's time to go.
[John] To win we need to focus on
how do we set up the crew
so that if I ever get a flat,
I am rolling to a stop
as someone is leaping out of the sprinter
with-- with the next bike
or the wheel and changing it.
So you don't have to touch the chain.
So what you have to do is pull this back.
Okay.
I think there's just a certain part
of RAAM where you--
you learn on the fly.
-[Cloe] Yeah. -[John] You figure it out.
[Kevin] Yeah, so there's a deadline by now,
it's midnight, tomorrow is the deadline for us,
we have to be in Durango by then.
There he is.
-He looks fine. -[Cloe] Yeah, he looks good.
[Kevin] But we'll make it
as long as nothing crazy comes up.
I'm not really worried about that at all.
[John] Corey, what does the gas gauge say?
[indistinct]
-Why don't we fill up? -[Kevin] Okay.
We were hoping to fill up at this gas station,
but they don't have diesel.
Are you guys set up to do follow?
[Corey] No, we don't have amber lights.
Shit. We need diesel.
-Can you guys get a gas can? -[Corey] Yeah.
And fill it with diesel for us?
-[Corey] Yes. -Okay, fine.
Because I don't think there's any diesel
for like 100 miles that we are going to have to take.
-[Corey] Okay. All right. -Okay.
-Right here, we're full, so-- -Okay.
Hey, no, fuck that, let's go, get out of the way.
[Jenny] Get out of the way. Go away.
The crew structure is falling apart.
They're not calculating
the math accurately.
They think they're doing great.
They're taking way too many breaks.
They're slow in the turnovers.
You know, if he's only sleeping for two hours,
why is the break four hours long?
Okay, so now I can settle down.
I don't understand how they let it get so low.
People aren't filling up the van and...
you know, John shouldn't have to ride up and say,
"Oh, I wonder if they have diesel?"
I mean, do they have diesel or not?
Should not be John's concern.
I called my mom on the phone
and I essentially said,
we are in over our heads, like, we need--
we need someone to take charge.
[Jenny] Is this us? That's us.
[Jack] And telling people where to be
and making reservations and you know, whatever.
Because I cannot stress enough
how hard it is to think...
when you are so sleep deprived.
[Jack] No one has been running point and so
when [indistinct]
someone is floating.
Right, Jack's right, we don't have a crew chief
in the RV running point,
you know, being the leader.
[Jack] No one's fault, it's just we need someone--
We need leadership, I get it.
They're communicating with each other,
but they're not communicating out to the whole crew.
And so you've got people that are kind of running rogue
and don't really know what's happening
because they're not in the communication loop
with the leaders.
[Jack] The main thing that is lost between 2014 RAAM
[indistinct] is that you don't have
a centralized leadership structure sitting in the RV,
pointing-- pointing people to go,
-right? -Yeah.
and it's awesome that people are having fun
and-- and you know, enjoy seeing the country.
But you know, we're going to lose a race
if we don't get to Durango in time.
We'll see you in Kayenta, bye.
[Jack] Bye.
What a clusterfuck that is.
[dramatic music]
♪
We are in Monument Valley.
We have to get to Durango, Colorado,
by midnight.
Or...
John is disqualified.
The text exchange with the crew is,
he may not make it.
Give him 15 minutes, that's it.
Tell him it was more. When he asks for breaks.
tell him, no, you can't, you got to keep going.
It feels like from following the crew text exchange,
it's a little bit of a scramble
and people are pretty concerned.
Why are you guys here?
To give them their food?
Oh, this is the lunch for the people in the--
Food and then they need bars and ice.
Takes a crew to support the crew.
[Vidya] You're killing it! Woo-hoo!
[Kevin] We have three groups.
So the crew just stop supporting John.
Is essentially just going to...
fly 300 miles down the route and just wait.
So the second one, the minivan
that will go to wherever we designate
-crew stop point is. -[Corey] Got it.
And then obviously these two
-just stay together. -Got it.
I don't really think there's anything else
I need to say about this.
Obviously, once you do the swap.
Both vehicles now just go
and we all meet up.
What happened was...
there is that part of me that was like...
logistics.
This is how this is going to be.
Everything's going to run, you know, like--
like the military, like clockwork.
And then there's a part of me that knows all these people
and is friends with all these people.
And all these people are asking,
"Oh, can I crew with this person next time?
Can I crew with you next time?
Oh, I want to do a shift with this person
or this person, this person."
And so then the whole thing blew up.
-This is getting tribal, yeah. -Yeah.
We have our names.
Every crew thinks the other crew
is completely messy and disorganized.
-These guys suck. -Yeah.
You know what, that's what Jonathan said.
They come to ours after and they're like,
"Oh, these guys fucked everything up."
And then we come in and be like,
"Oh, they fucked everything up."
You're not feeding him right.
No, you're not feeding him right.
The whole first part of the race is really hard
on John, because it's not just distance,
it's elevation.
So Dave was the Crew Chief in 2014.
And he made all the calls.
And you've got to make it to Durango,
Friday at midnight.
If you don't make it, it's DQ and it's all over.
[Kevin] There are some things
that Dave Johnson does really well.
Like reading the rule book, like, cover to cover.
Making sure everybody reads
his highlighted version of the rule book.
We got to have one of these in every car.
This is what the road book will look like
when you get your bound copy.
You know, the things that nobody wants to do.
Like nobody wants to read the route book,
nobody wants to do that.
And if we screw up, it costs John time.
It just seems like David Johnson
does a lot of administrative stuff that
actually needs to get done.
The other thing that we really got to talk about today
is all the people we have
and how this is all going to work with these cars
and these people.
[Jenny] That administrative stuff is not a strength
or an interest of Kevin and Allen.
I don't want to take anything away
from the success of 2014
and the people who were part of that success.
But extreme administrative efficiency
is not going to translate into a win.
I asked Dave Johnson to step out
of being a Co--
A Captain of the race and to stay behind
and... lead
the charge on raising funds.
Jack was genuinely worried that things were falling apart.
And he was genuinely worried that--
that Dad wasn't gonna make it.
And he was like, I need you to jump in
and use your leadership skills and just take over
and just start barking orders.
Yeah, that's what we started doing.
Good.
When anything was going wrong,
it was my-- It was my instinct to sort of jump in and,
you know, be a leader.
I've been an executive
in tech companies for about 20 years.
Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems.
I know everybody on the crew personally,
but they're also, you know,
self-employed folks
who are not accustomed
to running large organizations
or operational efficiency
or the contingency planning and things like that.
And as a business person, I'm very accustomed to that.
So you don't need me running point in the RV.
You don't-- We don't need Dave Johnson.
We're all good.
Dave Johnson?
Oh, okay.
Would have been useful to have David Johnson
during the--
the whole race, because he is trained by
the United States Military.
What-- what better organization to train someone
on the logistics of a stressful,
organized campaign?
When do you want to take a shift change?
I'll look at the book and I'll text you guys.
Extreme administrative efficiency translates into,
"Oh, we checked all the boxes."
That's good, but to win,
we need a different set of skills.
To win, we need focus on nutrition strategy.
How do we execute that nutrition?
Not just nutrition strategy, so that we finish.
But nutrition strategy so that we go fast.
[Jenny] Did we have some miscalculations?
My phone's not loading.
The last text I saw was, "We're not"-- From Kevin,
"We're not going to make it."
[Kevin] Hello, yeah, so I hate to say it,
but we're being too nice to you.
We're giving you too much rest stops and we're like,
when we are stopping, we're not being tight enough
on, like, hard stop at x minutes.
[Kevin] This morning, when we made the shift
at 6 a.m., he was a little tired,
-you could tell. -Yeah.
So then we just fed him a lot of food.
[Jenny] What did you feed him?
A lot of saltines and avocado.
-[Jenny] Not a lot of calories. -[Allen] Yeah.
[Vidya] He was like, I don't want potatoes.
-I don't want quiches. -[Allen] Threw the quiche out.
[Vidya] He threw the quiche out,
he was like, he can't digest food, either.
[Allen] He takes a bite and he just tossed it.
[Vidya] Yeah.
[Jenny] So he is not eating food.
[Vidya] The best thing for him right now
are the crackers and the avocados.
-[Allen] Yeah. -They're working the best.
-So we are feeling like-- -That's not enough calories.
[Allen] So, every ten minutes--
[Vidya] Yeah, every ten minutes we kept giving him,
avocados are pretty good.
I mean, they have a decent amount of fat.
And the crackers have salt.
I mean, it's better than nothing.
-Of course. -And then he had
-the Perfect Bar one time. -Perfect bar. Yeah.
And then he had granola.
[Jack] I don't know, but if he takes any more time off,
we are not going to-- We are not going to make it.
[Kevin] So I mean, should we just, like...
sneak him some, like, caffeine
and hopefully that perks him up?
[Jack] That would be the quickest way
to get some sugar to him, but--
[Kevin] Yeah, okay.
-[Jack] I don't know. -Yeah.
[Jack] If he takes too much time off,
we're running into the deadline.
[Kevin] Yeah.
Make a right, head that way.
You don't have to make any turns for 42 miles.
-It's just, go. -Okay.
-How are you doing? -Good.
I'm on a roll.
Took a short break and pretty much just ran errands
the whole time and drove.
And now we're back on.
So we're yeah, we're tired.
You know, it's-- It was-- this is definitely
difficult, but it's not impossible.
And you know, as much as we can complain, like,
he's the one out here the whole time.
Well, while we still get to go into a hotel
and get eight hours, sometimes five hours.
♪ So I pick myself up ♪
♪ And I push to move on ♪
♪ Like a mountain to the sky ♪
♪ Yes, I will stand tall ♪
♪ Oh I'll pick myself up ♪
♪ And I push to move on ♪
♪ Like a mountain to the sky ♪
♪ Yes, I will stand tall ♪
♪ I'll stand tall ♪
[indistinct]
[sighs]
I know.
-Oh, oh my goodness. -Almost.
[Vidya] You're almost there, okay?
Stay safe, see you soon.
[Kevin] Hi John, you see the--
the top of that hill.
You're going to descend for about 10 miles.
You know what to do after that.
Get to the bottom.
[laughs]
♪ But I can see the light ♪
[train bells ringing]
♪ To fight the good fight ♪
He'll make it.
[clapping and cheering]
Right.
[overlapping conversation]
♪ Pick myself up ♪
♪ And I push to move on ♪
♪ Like a mountain to the sky ♪
♪ Yes, I will stand tall ♪
♪ I'll pick myself up ♪
I'm worried about the hands and the feet
getting in the way of my
laying down power on the pedals.
-Yeah. -[Jenny] Oh, honey bear, bear,
you're going to be just fine.
-[Vidya] Sorry. -[Jenny] That's okay.
[Vidya] I can't believe he's doing this to himself.
[Jenny] I know.
Well, he is lucky to have you on his team.
Time? Last time?
Fourteen minutes.
[Vidya] I didn't anticipate how bad it was going to be.
I mean, that was my emotion throughout.
I was like, I just couldn't believe he was doing this race.
Where is his glove?
[Kevin] All right, who's on?
[woman] Scott is.
[John] See you on the other side.
[cheering and clapping]
"This is Cloe, Cooke and Jack.
We have decided no media in the Sprinter tonight
as our top priority is to be very efficient
with zero distractions.
I'm sorry if this is not good news,
but our decision is final.
We love you. Sincerely, your children."
I think it's awesome.
Decisive, clear leadership.
You don't criticize the person,
you-- you talk about the problem,
It's unemotional.
"Excellent."
Kevin and Allen,
they're going to get together and sync up.
And everybody's got to be
on the same page about no hard feelings
and you know, it's nothing personal.
And you know.
People have to understand, you know,
what's at stake and that they can't take offense.
[loud clattering]
[John] Virtually all of the racers
in RAAM are raising money
for a non-profit of some kind.
The purpose of our ride is to raise money
for Stanford Cancer Institute.
The discovery fund that funds
new primary research
into cancer therapies.
We raise money from sponsors.
So we've raised about $150,000.
We're hoping to raise another $250,000 for--
for this race.
[Jenny] John has been very touched by tragedy.
His mom died of cancer, his sister died of cancer
and he spends his professional life
building research facilities,
buildings where scientific companies
are housed that do cancer research.
[Jack] Our entire family has been affected by cancer
and my grandmother passed from cancer.
And so obviously there's--
The whole point of doing this race
is raising...
awareness and funding.
But I mean, when you
look at the values working for others,
doing your best to better your community,
having faith in the people around you,
building friendships.
And those are the values which my father tries to live,
which is, you know, stressful for the rest of us,
because how can you-- How can you live up to that?
But doing RAAM and raising money is--
is just a physical expression
of that way of life.
-Honey, honey, are you okay? -I'm fine.
-Are you sure? -Yes.
Okay.
I was thinking about the inspirational story
that we saw last night.
Yeah, I know, I know that's what you were thinking about.
So Jenny and I were
privileged to be invited
to Stanford Cancer Institute Discussion
last night and they showed a video.
You're gonna have to--
No, no, it's your story, babe, you do it.
This young man...
developed...
incredibly rare...
metastatic cancer
and--
He was part of a clinical trial
that was-- That Stanford Cancer put together.
-And he's cured now. -And he's completely cured.
So not just in remission,
but he's completely cured
and he's a young man and he's, you know--
-[John] He has kids now. -[Jenny] Yes, little kids now.
And so...
[Jack] Cycling for him is like meditation, I think.
I mean, he's never told me this, but I think
this is how he...
sorts his thoughts and escapes from,
like the chaos of his day.
This is how being able to get away on the bike
and just put all of his focus
and energy into riding.
Like, that's how he gets out, his energy,
his frustrations, his everything.
And then that kind of catharsis
that, like, release
translates into sleeping better,
eating better, you know,
improving mental health, all these other things.
[Les] It was a very cold run over the top, I'm sure.
But I think this is great weather for him to ride in,
he's been killing it.
He's been killing it on his speed.
Today, I think he was upwards of 17.
Yeah, he's been killing it.
Trying to get this organized real quick.
Each time we change crews,
it's just crap everywhere.
[laughs]
That's right.
It's hard to see him like in pain
and, like-- like, when he's like swerving and like,
I can't give you extra sleep
because we don't have time.
Like, stuff like that.
[Jenny] Did you-- What did you see?
Like, what was the hardest part?
Like, sometimes he's like, he swerves close to the--
And then a big semi
goes by and I'm like--
Have you guys been honking at him
when he starts swerving?
That's what we do, We honk and he knows
it means, like, get over.
[John] I listen to children's books.
I'm going to start with the Harry Potter series.
It was soothing to me to read to the kids.
It was soothing to me to have
books read to me by mom.
So the key for me
is a story that is interesting enough
to keep my mind from
falling into the misery pit
and to pull my mind away
from the mild pain that's going on.
But not so engaging that it's actually burning energy...
through mental processing.
[Cloe] "Harry ignored her,
blood was pounding in his ears.
He mounted the broom and kicked hard against
the ground and up, up he soared.
Air rushed through his hair
and his robes whipped out behind him.
In a rush of fierce joy,
he realized he'd found something
he could do without being taught.
This was easy.
This was wonderful.
He pulled his broomstick up
a little to take it even higher and heard screams
and gasps of girls back on the ground
and an admiring woop from Ron."
He started mixing-- he's listening to Harry Potter,
and he was mixing reality with Harry Potter.
What?
He pulls over to the side
and he'd unclip and I'm calling him, like,
"Hey, what's up? Why did you stop?"
He would be like, "I don't know."
And then I got to the point where I was like,
"Why-- why are you stopping?" and he said,
I'm conflating the book and reality.
So he'd be riding
and the thought would come into his head.
I need to give...
Jack a broomstick
so that he can fix the broomstick
for the Quidditch match.
Because he's listening to Harry Potter.
And then he would unclip to, like,
give me the broomstick.
And then he realized...
-I don't have a b-- Like-- -I don't have a broomstick.
I don't have a broomstick, I'm on a bike race right now.
And then he'd re-clip and keep going.
[soothing music playing]
[Jack] We can't be directly behind him
protecting him from oncoming traffic.
And so if he's stuck,
he swerves and stops in the middle of a road,
we can't protect him.
So I was like, you know what? I'm calling it.
We are just going to put you down for a nap.
Yeah, if he just keeps unclipping.
Yeah, so we just put him down for a nap
and he got back up and he was a lot better.
But it was just getting to the point where he is a little.
[Cloe] It was also like when you wake him up from his nap,
he's like, "What time is it, what day is it?
Where am I?" Like--
It would be my responsibility
to honk the horn any time he fell asleep on the bike.
You can see him...
kind of drift off and swerve.
And then he'll catch himself and he'll wake up.
And he does these little micro naps
because he just can't help himself.
He's so exhausted, he'll just fall asleep and wake up.
But sometimes the-- the micro naps
get a little longer than a millisecond
and so I had to honk the horn.
And towards the end I was honking the horn...
pretty often.
I think that was super scary.
John.
John, how are you feeling?
Pretty good today, we're going to crush Kansas.
All right.
[Jenny] It's hot, it's going to be hot in Kansas.
[Jack] It's hot. And it's really flat.
-Yes. -Flat and [indistinct]
[Jack] Kansas will be a challenge.
Really?
I thought Kansas was going to be easy.
Kansas is gonna be a challenge?
Boring, but hard.
[Jenny] The challenges of the first
third of the race, you know,
extreme heat, extreme climbing,
extreme everything.
It's almost easier to tackle all that stuff
because it takes so much mental focus
and so much effort.
But when you get to Kansas,
it's just so-- feels like this endless,
monotonous, you know...
off into the horizon that never, never ends.
And so a lot of people drop out
because of the mental aspects of it.
Okay, well, I'll let you guys go get some food.
Today's Father's Day.
Be sure and...
catch your dad say
good stuff.
Hello, hello, sir.
We're marking the turn, we're right here.
You're going to take this, right?
[exclaims]
Like when-- when he--
When we put him down for a nap
or when he's, you know, like,
when people are doing body work on him,
screaming, so much pain and all this stuff.
I feel so bad for him, he'll hop on the bike
and be like, "You guys getting enough sleep?
Are you guys eating?"
What are you talking about, like?
What are you--
How can you be asking us these things?
Like, you're doing this shit, you focus on you, man.
But that's like-- That's where he gets his energy, right?
He gets-- He gets his energy from--
from helping, supporting other people.
Because he is so,
like, authentically-- He does that so authentically
and so honestly and he genuinely wants to help others.
Everyone, we all want to help them, so.
-It's uh-- oh! -What?
You were about to hit that car.
I wasn't about to hit the car.
Just calm your face.
[Vidya] Dude, look at Jenny.
[laughs]
And I'm sure he loves it.
Got to see his reaction.
Fuck, he's smiling.
Yeah, I mean, I think
if--
if John finished the race in six days.
But every time he, like, he got on the comm,
I got on the comms with him
he lost his mind and he started screaming at us
and cussing us out and flipping out.
That wouldn't be, he wouldn't be winning the race.
He might be setting a record, he might be
an incredible athlete, he is an incredible athlete,
but that wouldn't be winning, right?
Winning is achieving your goals...
but also staying true to who you are.
-[Vidya] Jack, Jack? -[Jack] Yeah, what's up?
You're the best.
-Why am I the best? -You are like your dad.
Thank you, it's-- It really is a compliment.
-Appreciate that. -You seriously are.
It's fucking junior John.
He's-- he's my role model.
He's the person, I look up to the most.
[Vidya] Yeah.
Don't tell him that.
It will make him sob his eyes out.
Oh, oh my God, he would,
if I told him that, he would not stop crying for a week.
He would combust in tears.
[Jack] He would just sob.
[Jack] Do you know what my favorite part of Kansas is?
All the roadkill.
Oh, look, speak of the devil, there's a deer right there.
-[Cloe] Oh, my God. -Dead deer.
Get used to it, this is the name of the game now.
Well, now that your appetite is all riled up
with the carcass, you want something to eat?
[Jenny] He's feeling strong,
I think the crew is really starting to gel.
Yesterday, during the turndown,
they had the clock running.
They know exactly who's supposed to do what.
I saw Kevin saying to Corey, okay, you were-- You know,
you've got three minutes, work on his neck.
And to Jonathan, you've got three minutes, work on his leg.
You do this, you do that.
You know, everybody sort of getting ready to go,
wake him up and have ten minutes for--
Before he's back on the bike.
So it's really starting to sort of click into gear.
[Jack] You know, sometimes
you can't crew as efficiently as you'd want to.
Because you got to do those pesky things, like,
go to the bathroom.
It works, it's working, see?
Be strong. Keep it up.
And let us know if, like, the road kill
starts, like, talking to you.
So we had some mechanical issues with the RV last night
where the generator died.
We couldn't get the RV repaired fast enough
to be assured that it wasn't time for him to go down.
So arrangements have already been made
to put him down in a hotel.
[Brett] How are you doing, sir?
My name is Brett, I'm from London, England
and I'm a chiropractor.
Flew into St. Louis, obviously,
a little bit more frenetic than I'm used to.
But it was good, it was all-hands-on-deck.
Corey and Jonathan were doing the cupping
and then some soft tissue work.
[Vidya] And his back was completely bruised.
[Jenny] Yeah, black and blue.
Yeah, and it was an emotional
-roller coaster. -Yeah, yeah.
I came in just basically grabbed whatever I could get
hold of and just started working-- Did hands
and then started doing the quads as well.
Oh, yeah.
Everybody took a little role in whatever they had to do.
-Kevin, are you doing the hip? -[Kevin] Yeah.
The right hip.
Yeah, it was an interesting procedure
of how you actually treat somebody.
But obviously, time is of the essence.
And we need to get everything done as quickly as possible.
He's up.
Eighteen minutes.
You're incredible. You are incredible.
You guys are amazing.
[overlapping conversation]
Just straight, right on this road, okay?
[Jack] He's doing good.
His-- his feet are hurting a lot.
So we're working on solutions for that.
So we've got-- We already do ice baths and toe separators
to help increase the blood circulation.
But he's been putting pressure on his feet pretty,
pretty consistently for the last few days.
So he's-- he's hurting.
But you know, this is--
It's part of the-- part of the game.
[Jenny] It's Wednesday.
We are in Missouri
on our way to cross the Mississippi River.
[Jack] And I'll give you a juice.
There you go, all right.
[Jenny] How much-- how much sleep have you been getting?
I got-- Cook and I in that one room got three hours.
I can't complain about my sleep
when he's getting less than I am and peddling.
You're both a driver or feeder or navigator?
Yeah, I pretty much always drive,
and that's kind of the way I like it,
I don't really want to navigate.
I would be so mad at myself if I...
had John steering off in the wrong direction
for even ten minutes.
Somebody else can do that,
hopefully, a family member, I will drive.
You know, point me where to go.
[Jenny] John is number four, in his category.
[Cloe] He is ahead of Geoff.
[overlapping conversation]
So we're in number four.
This is so beautiful.
We want it to be like, okay, John, like, you're-- you know,
you're in third place right now
and you've got-- you're like two miles off second place.
Now's the time, like, freaking JT and The Flats.
Hammer time, baby, let's go.
You know?
But then, like, we want him to, like,
overtake this guy just at like, his natural pace and his speed
and what he feels comfortable doing.
And not try to push him to, like,
completely smash the rider in front of him,
because that might not work out for us
in the long run, you know?
Yes, it's not like, mean-spirited in any way.
Like we see Geoff's crew, we're like, hey, guys,
how's it going?
Like, you know, it's not like,
we're not like, yes, we passed him.
But it's like--
But at the same time, it is a little bit like this.
[Cloe] But like, it's so long.
[Jack] I think passing peak riders in rounds
is kind of like a dance
because like, you're not seeing the same people
over and over again.
It's like, you passed them, they pass you.
You pass them and then they like,
take a little bit longer to pass you and then you pass them
and they take a little bit more time to pass you.
You pass them and then they have a target.
And so they ride harder to chase you down.
[Cloe] And then you ride harder to stay in front of them.
[Jack] You ride harder to stay in front of them, it's just--
At the end of the day, like everyone who finishes
is a winner in a way.
These-- these late stages,
it's just about like, maintaining
and not like, letting other riders get in your head.
[Cloe] I think he's pretty good about that.
[Jack] He is very good about it, he's very zen, yeah.
[Jenny] Martin.
[honking]
I think there has been four DNFs.
We talked to the one rider who passed out
because of the heat and had internal bleeding.
And there was one bad accident
descending the glass elevator.
We know one rider
that was hit by a semi-truck on the freeway.
Thankfully, he lived.
There's somebody else that--
that didn't make it because of the heat.
Yeah, I mean, you come to terms with it, I guess.
I mean, I think about widowhood a lot.
What would it be like if John was killed, and...
How would I tell my kids, and...
So I guess, it's just something you kind of come to terms with
because it's, you know,
it's not a zero chance for sure.
We are going to get your rain gear prepped
and will potentially pull you from the bike
if-- if the weather gets too bad, okay?
We'll give him rain gear so that his feet can stay dry.
And then if there's a tornado
or if there's lightning within two seconds of thunder,
then we pull him from the bike.
But everything else, we push through, persevere.
[cheering & loud clattering]
At that point in the race,
it started to feel
like our race strategy was really clicking.
And that third place was--
likely second place was within reach.
It felt like this is-- this is awesome.
Jack says, "John wants Kevin, Allen and Brett to note
that he has periodic loss of control of his arms
when going to get off the bike or other basic motions.
Sometimes the arms don't respond."
Kevin says, "Fuck." Yeah.
Jack says, "He says, it's only annoying at the moment."
Cooke, "Brett says, remove the tape from the shoulders."
Jack, "This feeling can happen, especially during handoffs,
apparently, so you have to be very careful."
It's not insignificant, you know, the danger.
We have...
friends in our social circle
who have been killed.
You know, there are ghost bikes around in our community.
A ghost bike is a bike that's painted white
and is a permanent memorial
on the side of the road strapped to a tree or something
of where the accident was,
where that cyclist was killed.
Cooke, "Brett says, keep the tape on,
if that's the case.
Ask-- and ask if the tape is helping.
It's easy for him to talk
about the pains he's currently feeling.
So I don't think we should completely dismiss this.
He says the tape is helping."
I don't-- I don't give a shit about the tape.
If he can't control his arms,
how can he avoid a semi-truck
if he can't control his arms?
How are they going to know when it's too much?
You know, it-- Every day just gets worse.
He can't control his arms.
It's kind of important.
I just-- I just want him to finish.
I don't care if he wins.
There's no prize money to offset anything.
It's like a mistress in your marriage that you,
you know, you're not allowed to get mad at.
I mean, everything's fine until the accident
and then it's too late.
I just feel like I'm holding my breath all the time.
[Les] He's four hours ahead
of where he was five years ago.
And when we hit Durango,
he was almost eight hours behind
where he was five years ago.
So he's made up about a 13 hour swing.
Hey, is Brett ready to go?
So do we know, he's working on second?
Where is he in his age group?
Though he was trying to be first in his age group?
Is that a reality?
[Jack] No, he's not going to chase down Marko,
that guy that's in first, that guy is,
like, hundreds of miles ahead.
Second place, is striking distance.
-[cracking] Oh. Wow.
The get good news about thinking about the arrow
for today was that I had a tail wind.
-Yay! -That was lovely.
So I was like, "Oh, well, I'll just sit up in the hood."
-[laughs] -There you go.
[Jack] The guy that was in second place
completely blew himself up
and he's now, like,
-in six or seven -Oh.
And so we need to make sure we don't fuck this up
-the last little bit. -Okay.
[Corey] When you're in the shower,
you're going to move your neck around,
just tiny, tiny movements, not big ones.
He's doing it.
[Jenny] So he can't-- he can't pick up his head.
[Jack] He can, he just can't hold it.
Those muscles are just fried.
He can't go down into arrow
because he can't pick his head up to look where he's going
-[indistinct]? -Yes, I do.
We're currently 50 miles
from you being in second place, okay?
Everything we wanted to do, okay?
[John] Yeah.
And so as much as you
want to go Johnny Tsunami on this thing,
we got to wait. -[John] No, I understand.
Until the last minute
and then we fucking take this thing, okay?
[John] Yeah.
[Jack] So we built a bike, a hybrid bike,
So that his neck isn't under too much load.
And so, like, the only comfortable position
is him looking straight down like,
you know, four feet in front of his front tire.
which is a bad... thing
when you're going 25,
30 miles an hour on a downhill.
[Jenny] Right.
His neck blowing up is...
It's-- it's a huge issue.
For him to be an arrow which is more efficient
and then also looking up like this,
puts a ton of strain on the muscles in his neck
and upper back, I imagine.
And then that combined with the jittering.
His neck collapsed from the strain
the muscles gave out.
And from that point on, he had to sit up in the saddle.
Not only was he sitting up,
he was sitting up more than he normally would.
He was touching the handlebars
with the tips of his fingers to keep him straight
and making himself as tall as possible.
It's inefficient from an aerodynamic perspective.
It's mechanically inefficient
for applying force to the pedals.
So it was a big deal.
Give me your hands, John, give me your hands.
-[man] Chap stick! -[woman] Chap stick!
Glasses?
Get the chapstick on his lips,
get somebody to do the chapstick for him.
I'm excited that John is still in it
and you know,
he hasn't had a major-major accident or crash.
I mean, he's got a lot of things that are, you know,
the wheels are starting to come off the wagon,
but you know, nothing is totally irreparable,
you know, irreparable harm.
Is there ever a time that I would call it?
Yeah. I mean, yeah. I absolutely would.
I would. I would.
Step in and say, he's done.
Don't wake him up, let him sleep.
He's going to sleep for 14 hours
and he's going to miss the end of the race
and that's just my decision
and I'll take the consequences.
I would do that.
I super, super trust everyone here
and I think he's okay.
I mean, there was a couple of days ago when that--
When they were saying he was weaving quite a bit.
I got pretty scared.
[dramatic music]
So I just want to stay super close to him.
But yeah, I definitely would if it came to that.
But he would kill me.
But I would-- I'd do it.
[Brett] In about 12 minutes, we'll do direct follow,
-anyway. -[Jenny] Okay.
[Brett] So we'll be right behind the whole way,
watching out for his neck.
[Jenny] Okay, okay, okay.
Oh, look at that. That's insane.
This thing to hold his neck up?
Well, no.
Brett said that in the long term,
it causes more damage to his--
to his neck, long term neck.
So it's like, cross the finish line,
have neck issues for the rest of your life.
What do you want to do?
It's insane.
These are insane choices.
Corey and Jonathan are just beating
the hell out of him every turn down,
getting his muscles to let go.
And the chiropractor loosening him up
at each go-down is really helping him
stretching him and getting the things to let go.
I am a bit tired.
How many consecutive hours did Jack work?
[Brett] I think about 16.
He just told-- he just told us he's just been sleeping
at least five to six hours per day.
So he said he could do a little bit longer shift.
[Brett] It's not good for him.
I know, it's not good for him.
[Jenny] So Jack did three shifts?
-[Cloe] Yeah. -[Jenny] Oh, my God. Why?
What's happening?
[Cloe] Everyone's upset with Kevin.
[Jenny] Why?
[Cloe] They feel like he's--
[Jenny] Like, messed up the schedule or what?
[Cloe] Yeah, he's got too much on his shoulders
and for him, it's different compared to the others.
[Jenny] Yeah.
-Where is he? -In the restroom.
[Jenny] Will he talk to me, do you think?
What's going on?
What's happening?
[Kevin] I don't know, trying to make the right choices.
[Jenny] You know, I was thinking about
how the beginning of this process,
John is like the adult.
And we're all looking at John saying, John is amazing,
take care of us, John, be our leader, be our boss.
Be our husband, be our father, be our employer,
be our landlord, be our whatever.
And then at the end of this,
It's switched.
He's like-- like a baby.
And we're all taking care of him.
[Kevin] Yeah.
[Jenny] And when I saw you taking care of him,
it was like a role reversal,
father-son role reversal.
Like here you are changing his diapers.
[Kevin] Yeah.
That's pretty incredible.
That's a pretty incredible gift
that you're giving him this experience.
Come on, let's go.
So you said he's going to do this again in five years?
What did he say? Did you ask him?
Well, Kevin asked him.
He said yeah, maybe, like in five years.
Oh, good.
With his next wife maybe, but not me.
[Les] I know that a lot of people
did not truly have an appreciation
of just how hard this race is.
Watching him day by day deteriorate
and yet still have to keep pushing him
because he's got a time deadline.
The past few days have been like crunch time, I guess.
I've been doing a lot of different roles,
so like either driving or feeding
or navigating in the follow van.
But I mean, it's been tough
just because he's in so much pain.
And like, it's-- it's really hard to watch.
There's only like maybe...
200-150 miles left.
Yeah, we just need him to wake up.
He's really, really tired right now.
And his neck is giving out.
Part of why he's not drinking any water
is because it's hard for him to lean down to get the bottle
and that he can't tilt his head back to actually drink it.
So he's becoming dehydrated.
Yeah, it's been hard.
[Jack] Go on, dad.
[clapping]
It's just, rough,
I've been trying to hold it together
so that he can hold it together, but...
It's fine-- I mean, like-- like, I'm fine.
But yeah, it's just like, why did you do this?
I ran side of him a little bit today, and he said,
"How are you doing Jenny bear?"
It's, like, "I'm fine, John."
"You getting enough sleep?"
"Yes, John, I'm fine."
Madness.
He's so selfless, it's frustrating.
I know! Exactly.
Thank you for articulating that.
[Cloe] Yeah, exactly.
[cheering & loud clattering]
[Jack] We are in the homestretch.
So he's got you know, a lot of neck pain.
He is having trouble keeping his head up
and his feet and ass, and hands hurt.
I am sure the rest of him doesn't feel great.
But I think at this point,
it's like he's come so far
and he's not going to not finish.
[Jenny] Oh, my God, we're so close.
We're 180 miles.
I think we're in Maryland.
And then we go in and out of Maryland and Pennsylvania
and like in and out of Pennsylvania.
Today, they're not going to put John down for a
turn down for a long sleep.
They're only going to let him
get ten minutes at a time.
The crews are absolutely exhausted
and fried.
We're actually really impressed by Cooke.
-Yeah. -Everything he does.
[Corey] He has definitely stepped up, he can feed.
-He can navigate. -[Jonathan] He does everything.
Only thing he can't really do is drive at the moment.
But you know--
[overlapping conversation]
[Corey] Going from like just kind of
mope around on his phone,
like, he's definitely stepped up his game.
Calculating like, "Oh, where am I,
where are we supposed to be?"
Like, he's on top of that, yeah.
The cutoff is at...
at 3:00 p.m.
Race time.
Just 15 until 3:00 p.m.
[Jack] So definitely going to make it, but--
Frickin G off.
You know, when he went down last?
-Geoff? -[Cooke] When did
Geoff go down?
[indistinct conversation]
[Paul] So we haven't gone down in 20 hours.
Yeah, so, that's not. great, I guess, but.
Geoff is in 4th place
and he is quickly,
rapidly coming closer and closer to John
and probably overtake him soon, it seems like.
A lot can happen still, but this is kind of the--
the crunch time, for sure.
So...
Seeing all this coming together
and then coming down to this crunch time,
it's like a Tour de France or something.
You know, pretty exciting.
-Except harder. -Except harder.
Passed the Tour de France mile marker like three days ago.
Yeah.
Plus, they get to sleep every night.
And they get to eat a good meal.
Lance Armstrong is such a wimp.
[Cooke] Yeah, what a wimp.
Geoff just passed John,
Geoff is looking pretty healthy.
Geoff's follow van stopped and spoke to Jack,
offering help for John's neck.
Jack declined.
But said that was really nice of them.
And then Geoff's team said
it's really hard to watch John suffer.
And Jack said, yeah, it's hard for us too.
I mean, it's hard, it's really hard for him.
Because like for the past few days,
we're in the part of the race
where all the teams are going by.
And so they're like four, eight person teams
and they-- they get,
like hours and hours of sleep.
They're well rested, they're staying,
they're showered, they're clean.
And they just like ride on by going,
you know, 20 miles an hour, like, hey, John, hang in there.
[Kevin] He was falling back in a bad way.
Whoever was in fourth and even in fifth,
they were just gaining on us.
[Ken] How are you guys doing?
Not great.
Yeah, he looks like, he's suffering, but good God.
You know, one thing this has taught me
is I don't want to do it by myself.
I mean, it's-- it's crazy and it's all mental, you know?
Even if physically, I think,
could get through it, but mentally, I don't know.
Well, I mean, you know, like when you're really tired,
you just close your eyes for a second
and then, like, wake up,
he does that on the bike and you can tell.
Oh, that's when he's swerving, that's what's happening.
Yeah, so he's taking little micro sleeps.
[Jenny] I got a Starbucks order
from the people in the van.
-[Jack] Oh, God, oh God. -[Jenny] John!
[Paul] I think it's a little bit warm out
there's a lot of crazy hills
and John's going to be up longer than usual today,
So they're going to try
and dunk him in ice water in some form.
I don't know if it's going to be--
Just like pour it over him
or put him inside some kind of a big container.
Well, yeah, so I guess we're going to meet.
It's call it "operation chunky dunk."
[clapping]
[Kevin] Like everything was starting to fall apart.
It was definitely-- We needed to do something different.
One, we were trying to, like, shock him to wake him up,
two, like everything was getting really hard for him.
Like physically, just because,
like, his body was just breaking down.
We talked about it before hand, like,
is this smart thing to do?
You know, is-- At this stage in the race, you know,
can we risk taking this chance?
[dramatic music]
♪
Are you ready?
[John gasping]
Breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe.
Ice bags, ice bags on his legs, somebody.
[Jenny sobbing]
[man] John, keep breathing. Keep breathing, John.
Keep breathing.
[John whimpering]
-John, are you okay? -This is freaking cold.
[overlapping chatter]
Oh, my God.
Okay.
[overlapping conversation]
Put a towel around his legs! Don't let his socks get wet!
[Vidya] That ice bucket thing was...
I was sort of intellectually counting on the fact
that the trainers knew him really well,
but at the same time, the trainers are very stoic.
And so no matter what happens,
they're going to say it's fine.
When do you not trust that right?
You say it's not fine.
You know, you just never know.
Look how swollen his face is?
[Cloe] He had lost 20 pounds.
He was sunburned all over.
He basically couldn't lift his head.
He couldn't move.
He was limping and walking
and he was honestly destroyed.
[cheering & clapping]
[Jack] Knowing he's tired, knowing he's hurting,
and then just kind of "Get out there, Champ,
get back on the bike."
I-- it's a...
it's a tough thing to do.
He was in a bad way already, didn't know where he was,
couldn't see, things were like, things are bad.
And I remember we had just, we were, like, 20 minutes out
from that pit stop.
Whatever we say, like, you know, John,
just turn off to use the bathroom.
He always just pulled off to the right.
And for some reason, like in his state of...
just total, like not being there,
there is like a wide open field on the left.
A truck comes behind us
and like, I've never seen John do this,
like he cuts across
right as this truck is passing the sprinter
and like, luckily, the truck stopped.
Like, we all just ran out and like I remember,
like we just grabbed John.
We're like, "What are you thinking?"
Like, "We don't do that.
We don't cut across, you know,
you don't cross the double yellow line man."
I think that was super scary
to see him... lose control like that.
[Kevin] You know, he literally told me, like,
I see three lines down there in front my wheel.
You got to tell it like,
I can't look more than 20 yards past the bike.
You got to aim me.
We're not-- we're not going to get the podium.
Let's get them off the bike, get him some rest.
See what we can salvage.
[Jenny] And I knew
that it was an excruciating decision for them.
[Cloe] So what happened? You eventually lost the bike?
What happened?
Just wasn't worth it anymore.
I'm not going to watch my friend get hit by a truck.
-[Jenny] Thank you. -Yeah.
[Jenny] Is he going to finish?
[Kevin] Yes, he'll finish. 100 percent.
[Jenny] He has until 4:00 p.m. Sunday at 3:00 p.m.
18 hours and eight minutes.
You know, he was his brain was so foggy.
They were, like. "He didn't even recognize the danger
-of what had just happened." -I'm, like, so pissed.
Well, before when you-- when I was giving you a hug
and you were crying and I said, "It's okay,
he's going to be fine."
You're like, "I know, but now he's not going to be third."
I was like, "Whoa, when did you get competitive?"
Hey.
[John] The back of my mind,
I'm thinking finishing is an accomplishment.
I really don't like failing to finish.
Hi. Just-- just checking in with you.
What do you guys think?
[Kevin] I mean, he's like old John right now.
Well, he like-- he looks like he did day one .
He was like super talkative.
He's like cruising at 16, 17 miles at times.
He even dropped into arrow a few times
I don't think he's done that in, like, three days
Asking for music. We're good.
He's asking for music.
He's talking--
[Kevin] If anything changes we're going to,
like, we're not messing around,
the second anything starts to deteriorate
we're gonna, we're gonna act.
[Jenny] You're going to pull him.
-[Kevin] Yeah. -[Jenny] Okay.
[triumphant music]
[applause and honking]
It was an incredibly proud moment,
I mean it was a very emotional moment
for me as a mom to see,
you know, my kids be able to experience this
with their dad.
[crowd cheering]
I don't think I felt, like, relief...
for like a week or something.
-[applause] -[laughter]
Wasn't the ending we wanted,
but I wasn't really disappointed
with how the race ended.
♪
[crowd whistling & clapping]
The experience of RAAM from the rider's perspective
is a journey of gratitude,
and that gratitude reaches a crescendo at the finish line.
And I think that's how I felt.
[Jack] It's a defining-- not just for my dad,
but for I think for all of us--
it's a defining life experience.
[cheering]
[Cloe] It wasn't for a few months
until he kind of regained some semblance of himself
That I said, "Okay, that was a good experience.
Let's not do that again for a while, please."
[Kevin] Like, we were already talking about like, "Okay,
what's the first thing you want
when we're done this damn thing?"
He's like "Ice cream, just give the ice cream?"
-[Allen] Yeah. -[Kevin] It's...
[Corey] Oh, you want another?
[laughter]
[relaxing piano music]