FEATURES

RAAM Odyssey...

Saturday, 26 July 2014 00:10

ED. We got this email last weej from Dan Gruhlke:

Dear MTN Guys,
.... I wanted to pass along some tidbits about a local boy (well, young man), Luke Kocher, who’s preparing for the MN RAAM ride July 25th. I know it’s not a tri, but his story speaks to those who are in it for health, with a competition kicker.

I first met Luke as a kindergarten student of mine. Well, now he’s grown (in his mid-20’s), and has competed in the MN RAAM 120 (2013) and is presently preparing for the MN RAAM 400 that may qualify him for the big Kahuna itself (RAAM 2016). ....

In the meantime, here’s some background info. that I asked Luke for my own edification:  ...

DG - Which ride you doin' (60, 100, 200, 400)?

LL - 400...did the 120 last year
DG - What's drivin' you to do it?

LL - That is a really good question. When I first decided to train for this back in December I
approached Gary Schnabel and asked if he would be interested in training me for something like this. My drive then was to build a better life and just to be healthier. Little did I know how much training for this ride would really change my life and perspective on so many things. There is a certain discipline that comes along with training for a ride like this. It has taught me a lot about how that discipline should reach into every part of my life...mainly being my faith life. Gary has been an amazing trainer and mentor during this time and I have been
doing a bible study on prayer with him and his wife. So what drives me now is my faith and the people that surround me. My parents are a big part of that and the Schnabels as well.
DG -  Are you plannin' to do the Big Kahuna (RAAM)?

LL - If I complete this ride within 34 hours then I qualify for the RAAM and have 2 years to do
it. I would take a year to train and yes the main goal is to do the Big Kahuna!
DG -  What's been your longest training ride?

LL- My longest ride was a 12 hour ride I did on my indoor trainer. It was all about learning more
about myself and how my mind will be during the big race. Riding indoors for twelve hours was probably the hardest ride of my life...so far. I learned a lot about the struggle that happens in my mind of convincing myself to keep pedaling. I ended up doing 180 miles.
DG -  Shortest ride?

LL - My shortest training rides only last an hour. I will do anywhere from 16-18 miles in this time frame.
DG -  Do you have to ride everyday?

LL - Gary has helped me set up a good training schedule and that consists of riding 5 out of the 7
days every week. It is important to have rest days and easy ride weeks to give the muscles and cartilage time to repair.
DG -  Do you use Training Peaks or any type of electronic training program? I do not use any electronic training programs. What I actually have is a
pamphlet from Cycling magazine and it has a few different training schedules in it geared towards endurance, lactate acid threshold, and beginners training. I use a Garmin bike computer which is GPS. The main reason for using this is it will also tell me my RPM's and heart rate among many other things. When I ride I strictly ride by RPM and heart rate. I do not focus on time or mph.
DG -  Do you love wind? Rain? heat?

LL - I love tailwinds and despise headwinds. The rain is alright and I actually really like the
heat. When it is cold my heart rate drops and I do not get the same performance out of myself.
DG -  Do you drive with a different perspective?

LL - I do drive with a different perspective now because I would definitely rather be biking
everywhere. I have biked to work a few times when it fits into my training schedule...it is a 50 mile ride round trip.
DG - How many water bottles do you think you'll go through? power bars?

LL - On nice warm day I will put down two water bottles every hour and will hopefully be going
through 60 during the race. I stay away from power bars and anything processed. We have been focused on getting my nutrients from pure ingredients and homemade goods.    We recently bought a cookbook made for bikers called Feed Zone Portables. It has a lot of good
recipes but also has a lot of information about why they use the ingredients in each recipe and what our body needs when we are training or doing long rides.
DG -  I could go on and on, but is there anything else you'd like to tell me?

LL - Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share all of this. If you have any more questions off of what I have written please feel free to ask away. I really enjoy sharing about it because biking is a passion and joy of mine. I have always been a biker since I was a kid but never as serious as I am now.

- Dan Gruhlke