• Participants will race for 12 consecutive days over faithful recreations of carefully chosen 40-mile sections of the real world RAAM route.
• Each day we will race a section from a different state. We should in fact, progress at roughly the same pace through the states as the top real world RAAM participants.
• And just like them, on the 12th day, we will finish at City Dock in Annapolis.
• The virtual courses have been selected to ensure they are challenging but realistically possible to be completed within the 4-hour server limit of WahooRGT.
• V-RAAM participants will take on some of the major challenges that RAAM participants must surmount, for instance, the infamous Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado and the Apalachians in the Eastern states. The difference being, V-RAAM participants don’t even need to leave their house!
• To accommodate the international draw of RAAM, each day, we will run 4 event start times to accommodate different time zones (6:00am, 10:00am, 6:30pm and Midnight BST).
• The racing will be conducted as a mass start individual time trial with drafting dynamics turned off. This reflects how the real world event operates and enables us to bring together a GC from the different time zones.
The best thing about virtual racing is the flexibility. For anyone that misses a stage, we will be running a catch-up day on the 25th of June when we will run every stage again at each of the normal event times (6:00am, 10:00am, 6:30pm and 12:00pm BST).
• The main competition will consist of a cumulative time based GC (the Overall GC).
• However, each 40-mile course contains a key timed segment. Therefore, if you are not confident in your ability to race over 40-miles day-in-day-out, you can concentrate on each day’s segment to challenge for the Segment GC. In effect, each day there is a race within a race!
• Prizes will be on offer for:
~ 1st – 3rd male and female in the Overall GC;
~ First male and female in the Segment GC; and
~ A general prize draw for all participants.
Result collection will be largely automated, so there is no need to send us .fit file etc.
However, if you would like to be elligible for the Overall GC and Segment GC, you will need to comply with certain verification criteria. At TOEC, we use our sister platform, eBioPassport to verify results.
For the V-RAAM. participants will need to follow the following verification steps:
1. Provide a weigh-in video taken within 24-hours of the start of the V-RAAM (only needs to be done once);
2. Upload a recalibration video each day before starting the stage; and
3. Upload the .fit file from each stage (just for verification, not for results purposes).
Virtual power is allowed, however, participants using virtual power will not be elligible for GC prizes.
RAAM only passes through Utah for a short while, following the course of the San Juan river into Colorado but it’s a beatiful stretch.
In Colarado, we have one thing on our minds, can we make it to the top of the infamous Wolf Creek Pass, which sits over 3000m above sea level.
Ohio sees the start of our attempted conquest of the Appalachians, begginning in the western foothills.
Now we’re really into the meaty climbing as we take on the Appalachians proper.
We only dip into Pennsylvania for about 40-miles, which makes our course choice very simple. With about 800m of climbing in that distance, the route itself is anything but!
On the final day, we drink in our accomplishment of surviving 12 hard days of racing and expect to finish in-time to see the top real world RAAM participants pull up at City Dock in Annapolis.
As always, our events are backed up by a stellar package of supporting services:
– live coached recce rides and group workouts, curteousy of our friends at RIAK Fitness
– live stream with commentary for every day of racing;
– expert analysis and check-ins with the real world RAAM hosts;
– in-race rider check-ins via the TOEC Zoom room;
– event specific training plans worth over $40;
– prizes not only for the Overall GC podium and Segment GC competition but a really cool open prize draw too!
– suite of help videos for those new to WahooRGT and our events; and
– an array of sponsor discounts.