Some bits and pieces….

We might write a book  - “5 minutes”

Rusty…”It doesn’t get any better than this”….”And we don’t want that”….

Stan….”Mickey said…”…..”Mickey wants…”

Roger and Stan’s mystery bus tour. Roger and Stan caught a shuttle bus thinking it would take them to the finish line, only to find it was the tourist shuttle showing them the sights of Annapolis.

Dave learned to try on jeans and look at the length, he now has jeans that come halfway up his shins….

Mickey stating….”Everest will be easy compared to this”

Instead of taking his turn to pump out the RV after the ride (like everyone else has had to do), Mickey takes the lazy option and pays $50 instead!

Yes Vera, we looked after your Rusty.

We did a good thing and gave all our leftover and unwanted items to local charities  - well done team!

A Happy Ending

Well, at 8:12am this morning, The Mickroo Crew touched-down in Sydney's Kingsford Smith International Airport. There was tears, laughs and an overwhelming number of bear-hugs as Greg, Stan, Russel and Dave arrived. Tension filled the air as we awaited The Flying Sctsman's arrival-and then Mickey rounded the corner and into a frenzy of activity. Ladies and Gentlemen, Mickey The Great has landed. There were even more tears this time; 4828 kilometers across America, enduring chest infection, tiredness, pain and mental breakdowns. But the positives far out-weighed the negatives. There was light-hearted mocking that went as far as this blog, the sights were beyond anything The Man had seen before and the fact that he had successfully cycled across America and won the RAAM citizenship award made everything a blur. But most importantly was the support. Both Mickey and The Mickroo Crew couldn't have done it without your support. All of your blog posts, texts and donations mean more than a gigantic lump of gold to Mickey. And even better, all of this has totalled up to $25,375 for the CPA (Cerebal Palsey Alliance)! Thankyou so much for your donations, all of you.
And now, a light breakfast at a little cafe...

RAAM 2011!

The Final Blog...

Hey Everyone, for the last time. Well, what a roller coaster it's been! For those of you who weren't aware, last night and earlier today was nail-biting material. Yesterday, every follower of "The Nutter" and the MickRooCrew were handed a seed of doubt when we were told Mickey might not make the cut-off time for the end of the race, meaning none of his RAAM achievements would be recognised. But we all had faith in Mickey's abilities, feeling that he had beaten the odds before so why not again? Messages of support and motivation flooded in, in a last desperate attempt to spur Mickey on. My message told him to channel Pat Farmer but instead of one foot in front of the other, one pedal in front of the other. The sense of worry that I felt for Mickey as I travelled to Acer Arena to see Miley Cyrus was almost overwhelming. Today I didn't go to school as I was too wrecked from the night before and I was in bed until after 9:00. I was quite sleepy and had trouble getting my brain to function. Suddenly in my state of sleepiness, one thought was crystal clear - what was the story with Mickey? Yelling for my mum to come upstairs and help  me out of bed, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. My mum's face was grave as she entered the room having just got off the phone with member of the ShaCrew (Julie Wallace). With a sinking feeling in my stomach and fearing the worst, I asked the inevitable question - "What happened" My mum then informed me that Mickey had missed the cutoff time by a mere 5 minutes. It felt as if a weight had been hurled at my chest as I tried to absorb what had happened. Tears were ready to fall when I realised Mickey's online status was DNF (Did Not Finish) but those tears turned to cries of joy as  we received news that his status had changed to Unofficially Finished due to a successful appeal made by the crew. To  top it all off Mickey and the gang won "Sportsmanship Award for RAAM 2011 because of their honesty. All in all a sensational and inspirational effort by the MickRooCrew and my hero Mickey Campbell.
Hannah

The Final Days Blur Part 3 – Rouzerville to the Finish Line – 131.5 miles and 5 minutes.

Mickey was not in a good way after Rouzerville, requiring frequent stops. The pressure was on and Mickey appeared to be fighting his own internal demons. A phone call to Sharon sparked him up and gave him the will to go on.  At his next stop Celine put the hard word on him – stop fecking around  - shape up and finish or go home now.  Within minutes the zombie was gone and an angry Scotsman was on his way to the next stage. Mentally Mickey was switched on and his pace kept lifting as the roads became flatter and better surfaced.

Going through Gettysburg was a highlight of the trip, with a number of memorials by the roadside and in fields at specific points, most probably the scenes of particular battles or gallantry. The roads were lined with log fences from the civil war period.  Gettysburg was a very moving place, a very solemn quiet place.

As Mickey left Gettysburg and steamed on at a good pace, we calculated, re-calculated and re-calculated the speed he need to get to the finish line on time. When we least expected it, another rider, the Indian rider came from behind and went past Mickey and out of sight.  This was timely as he became a target for Mickey to reel in, just like Mickey needed to reel in the miles to the finish. It now became a time trial as Mickey went past the remaining time stations.

Just as our confidence was building Mickey started to flag and began making a number of stops, complaining of “Dertigo”. The support car decided on tough love, vowing not to stop the next time Mickey did, in order to push him along. Our tactic failed as he stopped, the support car sped past, and then Mickey laid down – the bugger! We went back for him and after a quick rest and some ice he came good – thankfully! Mickey realised it was just fatigue and the Flying Scotsman was back for the second time today, and now really lifted for the final few miles home to the finish.

The final 20-30 miles was electrifying as Mickey raced the clock, raced traffic and raced the Indian rider.  The support car had hurled messages of support, abuse and love all morning but then took it to another level on the run home. You’ve never heard so many fecks, up your kilts, go go go etc in your life.  Celine was even able to patch Sharon, Molly and Paddy over the loud speaker to spur him on further.

Frank Fumich surprised Mickey by the side of the road and helped out with lots of local knowledge of the best way to stop and beat the traffic lights and even fire engines, sending Stan and Roger into apoplexy in the process! Mickey got caught as the lights changed and unfortunately went through a red light. This was spotted by officials, but thankfully the penalty would not be applied.

Mickey’s average speed to the finish was the fastest of the trip, despite being sleep deprived and exhausted. It just shows what the man, and the mind and body is capable of. Mickey steamed to the finish, with the clock eventually beating him by 5 minutes…..and the rest is history.

The Final Days Blur Part 2 – Ellenboro to Rouzerville – 248.1 miles.

Ellenboro was a whistle stop  - well a little more than that. It was cold and foggy but we all knew we had to keep at it. Dave nearly “picked up” at the service station when we went in search of food.  The lady behind the counter found Dave pretty attractive in his school PE outfit when he did a little dance to keep warm. She offered to keep him warm and dance with him. Dave was playing along until she offered to lend Dave her bodysuit at home to keep him warm. Only problem was it was covered in deer-blood and was in the wash. Alarm bells rang for Dave and he sprinted to the safety of the RV – we’ve never seen him move so fast! Roger drove us onwards to Grafton as the sun came up.

We waited in the KFC carpark for Mickey to come in. We stocked up on ice, ice and ice! Mickey arrived for breakfast and a massage before heading back out onto the next timestage about an hour later. The intervening time gave us a chance to sort his washing out, and chat to a couple of the officials in the car-park. The KFC was full of senior citizens, all having lunch on their way home from church.

The afternoon leg to Keyser went through the rolling mountains of the Appalachians. Unfortunately on one downhill leg Mickey came upon a motorcyclist that had just crashed and was in a bad way, and this may have effected him later that night.  We went through some interesting country, with lots of little shacks tucked in the bush just off the road. We thought we could hear the strains of Duelling Banjoes….. it sure made Rusty nervous. We also saw a giant truck motor-wreckers, although the trucks were mostly in good condition. Rusty was curious what happened to all their owners…..Just before Keyser we went past the “Honeymooners Gun Shop”. It made Rusty even more nervous. Rusty won’t be going back to the Appalachians!

Keyser was our last Walmart stop for the trip and if we’d known this we may have had a celebration! As darkness fell Mickey headed off to Cumberland, with undulating road with a lot more traffic.  Cumberland was great as we had mobile coverage for the first time in quite a while…and our phones went nuts! It gave us the chance to call Australia, and thanks to Marg and Sharon, re-organise our flights and travel home.

Cumberland also gave Mickey the chance to mentally prep for the stage to Hancock. This stage had 3 steep climbs, the steepest of the Race. They weren’t long but they were steep with the last hill recognised as “A Walker” where it’s common for the racers to walk this hill.  After the first climb Mickey had a 5 minute nap – he’s good at these – and recouped for the next climbs. He kept changing clothes every 5 mins – rug up then de robe, rug up, then derobe. Mickey couldn’t seem to control his body temperature.  He made the second climb and whilst stating the third climb, a butterfly floated past us – at night – quite prophetic for Mickey. He nailed the climb – no walking for Mickey Campbell.  It was quite cold as we made the descent into Hancock.

We rotated teams at Hancock and tried to solve Mickey’s temperature issues with some help from home,  and get him out quickly and on the way to Rouzerville. This next leg was extremely challenging as Mickey had a number of hallucinations. He went past a graveyard where the gravestones were playing chess – perhaps a subconscious impact of the motorbike accident he saw earlier. Mickey also asked why all the Chinese people were out lining the streets for him. No-one had any idea what he was on about as there was just Mickey and us at 3am on the streets!

Mickey eventually hit Rouzerville just after dawn, he was tired but ready to plow on. We fed him again, fuelled up with sweet coffee, ice and water and started the final day into the finish.

The Final Days Blur Part 1 – Greensburg to Ellenboro – 284 miles.

The last 3 days of the Race (plus 5 minutes) really were a blur after the call was made to go around the clock for 24 hours and then assess where we were relative to the finish line after each 24hours.  It seemed like a succession of small towns, checkpoints, Wal-Marts and service stations, with the only differentiator being whether it was daylight, or whether it was dark.

The Mickey Campbell juggernaut rolled on stopping only for nature calls, an occasional check of directions, and of course for more ice and food. We were singlehandedly keeping the North American ice industry afloat going through a dozen or more bags a day. How much ice can one cyclist eat??? At each servo, the call was fill-up with ice and water  and  oh better check the petrol.

We left Greensburg in darkness, just like we arrived – like thieves in the night even though we didn’t take anything – except ice! Navigation challenges hit us early as we hit the back roads, and were a feature of each stage of the day, the only day we had issues with directions. Still in darkness we had to go through a town that has street signs in German with English subtitles – strange days indeed in Indiana.

As the sun rose we found ourselves in farmlands as we crossed into Ohio. Roger was disappointed as the CD player in the RV had jammed and instead of cranking out Charley Pride and “Banks of the Ohio”, he had to settle for the Beach Boys on repeat at 6am in rural Ohio, as we passed pick-up trucks, cowboy hats and flannelette shirts galore!

Mickey made good progress and hit the Oxford time-station in good form. A quick break and we were on our way again, passing through Miami University in Oxford (yes  - Miami – in Oxford).  The buildings and frat houses (Delta, Gamma, Pi) were classic movie material, really pretty but almost too neat and orderly.  The town made a big mark on Rusty whom marked it on the map as a “must see again”.

Mickey made good pace on the roads and seemed great, getting stronger as the morning wore on, wolfing down lots of bacon sandwiches and condensed milk – the breakfast of champions! Mickey’s beard was now looking pretty good. Any efficiency savings he was getting from shaved legs were now being lost due to the Grizzly Adams beard. Roger was also on fire, showing his ability to multi-task, being able to eat pretzels, take photo’s out the side window, and drive – all at the same time!

Dave had his best shoes back on after finally getting around to cleaning the coyote poo out that he walked in days before. He’d hoped the team might clean them for him given his status of Crew Chief – he was dreaming.

We were quickly through Blanchester and hit Chillicothe in stifling heart. Yes more ice and more water! Greg and Roger made the mistake of falling asleep in the car and running the risk of being photographed with unusual  objects about their person. Celine visited the nearby Choir of Hard Knocks Church and generated a fair bit of interest from the homeless blokes at the church when she did her calisthenics on the front lawn! Celine’s second close escape was when she parked the RV under the powerlines – literally - with Dave later finding out as he drove off that the powerlines were actually on the RV and hanging down to the ground. Thankfully no blackouts, sparks or fried MickRooCrew members as we headed out of town and into the woods.

We made Athens by nightfall after being through Londonderry and every other European Union town on the way.  Athens also has quite a pretty town centre with some cobblestone areas. Surprisingly the time station was at a Wal-Mart – it was like seeing an old friend.

As we went later into the cold night, Mickey then got the chance to ride on a big long stretch of freeway as we headed towards West Virginia.  We were itching to stop in Guysville, and Coolsville (especially Dave) as they had to be great places for a bunch of blokes in an RV – even in the middle of the night. The road was good with little traffic and this gave Mickey the chance to make 1-2 calls home for the first time in a while. There continued to be lots of wildlife, and it was still surreal to see deer close by looking at us as Mickey answered the call of nature.

As we rounded out the 24hrs at Ellenboro, Mickey had knocked over about 284 miles of solid riding, with the 24hour clock about to start again.



Parts 2 and 3 of the Final Days Blur coming soon.......

Estimated Time of Completion for a big bottle of wine!

If you are a wine drinker (or not) you may want to consider laying a bet of $20 to estimate Mickey's finish time for RAAM? Place your bid in Days, Hours & Mins; eg. 11 Days, 2 hours, and 2 Minutes.
Please note that the cut of time to qualify in in the race is exactly 12 days so no bids beyond will have any chance of winnning! The closest bid will win this boxed signed magnum (1.5ltr) of Draytons Maxwell Shiraz, kindly dinated by Sue and Grant who have one of the finest wine cellars in the Hunter! This offer is only open to Aussie residents although courier to England can be made available in October! So, come on, raise your glasses and lay your bets to raise money for CerebraL Palsy at http://www.gofundraise.com.au/page/RideAcrossAmerica
All bids close at the penultimate time station......good luck!