For most cycling from coast to coast in six and half days seems like an impossible and even insane task.
Morgan Hill resident Shawn Warthen agrees, but that’s not going to stop him from trying to do it anyway.
Warthen, a 44-year-old senior financial advisor for Merrill Lynch, is about to embark on a grueling test of physical and mental will as part of a four-man team participating in the 32nd Race Across America. The team will begin its 3,000-mile journey from Oceanside to Annapolis, Md. on June 15.
“In cycling you have the Tour de France, the Tour of California and all these things,” Warthen said. “The Race Across America is considered the most insane endurance event.”
Warthen and his teammates will each cycle 120 miles a day through the mountains, deserts and plains facing blistering sun, wind, rain and whatever else Mother Nature has in store for them. The event is just one stage — meaning you go and don’t stop until you get there.
Participants can ride in two-man, four-man and eight-man teams. Some extreme cyclists even attempt RAAM as a solo ride.
This is more than just a personal challenge for Warthen and his teammates — Dave O’Mara, Greg Bertuccio and Ryan Ivers. The group is cycling to raise money for Real Options for City Kids (R.O.C.K), an organization that awards scholarships to at-risk sixth graders in San Francisco. The scholarships are awarded to students who have excelled in school despite their difficult circumstances and backgrounds. The money will be applied to their college tuition if they can stay on their current path toward a bright future.
The group is aiming to raise $80,000, enough for eight scholarships for R.O.C.K, by the time their journey is complete.
“What I’ve learned is, using it (cycling) as an excuse to raise money is something that I haven’t been involved with that much. I’m usually worried about me,” Warthen said. “That’s (fundraising) become something that has been very rewarding.
“I’ve put a little bit of effort into raising awareness for what I’m doing and tying the charity into the event. It’s been really inspiring to see the response.”
Getting in shape
As the race draws closer, Warthen is still in disbelief he’s about to take on a challenge of this magnitude.
Ten years ago, he was just beginning his life as a cyclist, inspired by the birth of his son Harlen to get in shape and become a healthy role model.
“When Harlen was born, I got this ah-ha feeling,” Warthen said. “It was like ‘I need to be a role model. I need to be better. I need to get in shape just to keep up with this kid.’ So I did.”
At the time, Warthen weighed 260 pounds and was dealing with the stress of life and work poorly. He has since lost 60 pounds, largely due to his commitment to cycling six days a week.
“I work in downtown San Jose and I thought wouldn’t it be smart if I could just commute to work and kill two birds?” he said. “The drive is no fun and I thought I would just aim towards taking advantage of that commute and ride up Monterey Highway — my office is literally on Monterey. It’s about as straight as shot as you can get.”
Although Warthen tends to cycle more for personal reasons, RAAM isn’t the first organized event he’s participated in.
He’s done local races such as San Jose’s Tierra Bella, as well as the intimidating Death Ride in Markleeville, Calif. — twice.
The Death Ride, up until now, was the most challenging race that Warthen had come into contact with. It’s a 120-mile course consiting of five mountain passes — all in the blistering July heat. The course starts at an elevation of 5,501 feet and reaches 8,730 feet at it’s peak. Riders conquer almost 16,000 feet of vertical climbing throughout the duration of the course.
“I saw the posters for this event all over town and I’m like ‘Are you kidding? That’s impossible,’” Warthen said. “But years go by, and I started riding and I thought ‘That’s what I want to do.’ I wanted to prove to myself what I’m made of, kind of how tough are you? It goes way past physically strong.”
The next challenge
After completing the Death Ride twice, Warthen found himself searching for his next challenge. A few years had passed between his second Death Ride and the time that he was approached by work colleague O’Mara about taking part in RAAM.
“A couple years go by and you get to thinking that you need that thing,” Warthen said. “After you do the Death Ride — twice — you start to look for things that are bigger. So when Dave said ‘Race Across America, have you heard of it?’ I was like ‘OK, that’s that thing I was looking for.’ … It’s ridiculous, it’s impossible. But I’m not going to let that beat me.”
O’Mara originally approached Warthen because he knew about his interest in cycling. O’Mara had the idea to quit his job and cycle across the country in order to raise money for his own charity called Following Claire (followingclaire.rocksf.org). But at the time, he didn’t even own a bike.
“I was like ‘Perfect! You’re so naive, that’s your biggest asset,’” Warthen said. “(I told him) ‘Just do it. Quit your job, find a good bike shop — he’s from San Francisco — find some support, people with know-how and you’ll figure it out. Through many, many, many rotations of the pedal you’ll get in shape.’ He raised a ton of money for Following Claire.”
It was during O’Mara’s own journey across the country that he ran into cyclists participating in RAAM. He was so impressed by the event that he asked Warthen if he’d consider doing it with him. He said he never would’ve thought so, but he welcomed the challenge.
A year passed before O’Mara approached Warthen about RAAM again. It was during one of his 20-mile rides home that he received a text message from O’Mara saying he entered the fees for the race and asking if he’d join his team as a rider.
“I was like ‘That is so ostentatious, it’s so out there. It’s so stupid.
It’s so ridiculous. Yeah, I’ll do that,’” he said. “That was basically about a year ago and I just took my routine and I kind of amplified it, turned up the volume and intensity of riding to try and take some of the sting out of it.”
The physical challenge is the most commonly questioned aspect, Warthen said, but it’s not the part he’s worried about — he already knows that will be brutal. He has been training himself to ride 60 miles a day — half the distance he’ll undertake — and the other half will be come from mental perseverance.
The logistics, on the other hand, are worrisome he said.
The team will travel with four crew members who will man an RV and van for the duration of the journey. At any given time, there will be two riders inside the RV resting and eating during an 8-hour period, while two riders take turns cycling every 30 minutes.
“We have four riders. There’s the potential for failure; any one of us might poop out, or get hurt,” Warthen said. “There’s mechanical failure whether it’s from the bicycles or vehicles. Then there’s our crew. We have four guys who are supporting us. I think they are honestly, truly the real heroes.”
The two best days of this year, Warthen said, will be the day RAAM begins and the day it ends. He’s ready to get the event started but knows it will over just as quickly as it began. But if all goes according to plan, Warthen and his teammates will be pulling into Annapolis at exactly the right time to celebrate.
“One of our goals is to get there at an average pace of 20 miles an hour, which will get us there coincidentally at Happy Hour on Friday night,” Warthen said. “A lot of people say when they go to a buffet that they will eat this place bankrupt. We will definitely try to drink the town dry when we get there on Friday night.
“We’re not looking to be first, we can’t. … It’s an achievable goal but it will be a miracle if we do it.”
