McIntosh reaches finish line in 6th

Photo credit: RAAM blog

Just a quick update: congratulations to Scott McIntosh for completing the 2008 RAAM Men's Solo Division race. Scott took 6th place. He completed the race in 10 days, 22 hours, and 53 minutes. Amazing!

The RAAM blog should have more coverage soon, so keep an eye there. I'll post a more complete update after I hear back from Scott and crew. Update: here's one that was just posted as I was writing this.

Again, CONGRATULATIONS SCOTT AND CREW! Way to tough it out and come in 6th! That's a tremendous accomplishment and you should be proud, particularly of the way you persevered toward the end of the race.

93 to go!

Scott is currently in 6th, 7th or 8th place, pending his arrival at time station 51, which should be any time. Dr. Michael Nehls is making a push at the end and has passed Scott, although Scott's time credit still has him ahead.


As yesterday, Scott has slowed off the pace a bit. But now he's out of all the elevation, so hopefully that will help. Check out this new article on the RAAM blog about Scott and the inspiration he gets from his sister, Michelle -- it's great. There's a video there too.

Go Scott go!

RAAM post featuring Scott

Just saw this on the RAAM blog. Check it out.

Exhausted McIntosh battles elevation

Scott last night before taking a rest.

I just got off the phone with Bryce Walsh, Scott's crew chief. "Scott's battling exhaustion," he said. "He's taking more sleep than we'd like -- basically now we're doing twice the rest that we should be doing." Keep in mind that means Scott had about four hours off-bike last night, instead of two. What a lightweight.

"The good news is, he's riding really well right now, " said Walsh. "And soon we'll be out of the climbing, so we'll see what happens then."

But the climbing isn't over yet. Here's what Scott has ahead of him:


"At this point, Scott just wants this over. But he's hanging tough and I expect we'll be at the finish line tomorrow sometime," said Walsh. "It's actually really interesting to see this part of the race from a crew perspective, because to tell you the truth, I don't remember much past Ohio." Bryce took 5th in the 2006 RAAM Men's Solo Division.

Right now, Scott's in 6th place. He's listed 7th on the roster, but he's ahead of Garcia once you account for penalties and credits. 224 miles to go!

McIntosh grinds through W. Virginia, Appalachians

Scott's now in the middle of his final test: the grueling Appalachian Mountains. Yes, they're not as bad as the rockies overall, but they're definitely nothing to sneeze at. Particularly when you're 2700 miles into a 3014-mile race. Take a look at these elevations. The first one shows the elevations he just endured, and the next one the elevations he faces now:

Scott is currently in 7th place, but things are a little complicated because Scott has finally been given 1 hour and 40 minutes of time credit for the delays he faced in New Mexico. After factoring in Scott's credit and other rider's credits and penalties, Scott's still in 7th as of this writing, but things are close. Scott could still advance to 6th or even 5th place if things go his way.

Franz Preihs has pulled away from the middle of the pack, and now rides safely in 4th. Barring some sort of catastrophe, that's where he should finish.

Also, congratulations to Jure Robic, the 2008 RAAM Solo Male Champion. Jure finished the race in 8 days, 23 hours, 33 minutes.

YouTube video featuring Scott

Please don't miss my earlier update talking about Scott's position, but yesterday I neglected to post this video of Scott on YouTube, courtesy of RAAM. (don't forget to check out their blog). Enjoy.

McIntosh, riding well, spars for position

Scott takes a short break in Indiana on Monday.

Scott entered Ohio earlier this morning. He's currently in 7th place, but the race is still tight. Yesterday, Scott's position changed between from 5th to 7th a couple of times, and you can expect more of the same today.

The crew seems happy with Scott's progress so far, but that's not preventing even higher expectations. "The whole race Scott has been pretty insistent upon not knowing what place he's in, or how the other riders are faring, but today he accidentally found out and seemed surprised, " said Mike Feirstein, part of Scott's crew. "So hopefully he'll try to ramp it up and make a move in these last few days."

I asked Bryce why Scott wants to be left in the dark about the race details. "This is a strategy Scott adopted from the start. He wants to focus on running his race, and keeping his tempo where he knows he needs to be."

"When you are at this point in the race, you aren't mentally capable of making good race decisions. You let your crew do that for you, and you focus on the things you can control." Bryce speaks from experience: he came in 5th in the 2006 RAAM Men's solo division.

In addition to a new state and new scenery, Scott has some new faces to look at as well. Mike Feirstein reports, "Two crew members left (Sandy Chung and Dave Rosenblum ) and two more were added (Roger and Ken Polson). Scott's mom also drove down from Indianapolis and saw Scott at the checkpoint. Spirits are high, crew morale is also high and Scott looked good."