We will officially switch to race time when we hit the line. Race time is Eastern Standard as everything RAAM runs relative to Atlantic City.

Sam and I went out for dinner last night to stay away from the last minute stuff. We poured over the route book and made a decision that has me giddy and nauseous: I will be on the starting line. We had originally wanted Sam there but because of how we're splitting stuff up over the next few days - until we get to Colorado and the race's high point, Wolf's Creek Pass. The way we had it would have meant a rather large first stage for him. So I'll start.

Things are good and custom built for us over the first 6 or 7 Time Stations. We're splitting it into climbs for Sam and descents/flats for me. When we took delivery of our TT bikes our strengths really came into focus and we've tweaked our game plan a little to accomodate. I love being in the aero position and I love going downhill fast. Sam loves turning his little compact crank over quickly and climbing up up. It may sound a bit unfair - Sam climbing and me descending but going downhill on these roads is different than what you might think; because it's full of switchbacks there is lots of accelerating/decelerating. It will be a challenge for me to keep my heart rate where I need to be while keeping my speed up while going down. There will be some very very fast sections and I'm eager to put my focus to work there.

The flats are different. Our TT bikes are fantastically quick and very comfortable for my small frame. The TT position makes you very compact and my body relishes that. It focuses the power into a little space - like a cherry bomb - and explodes it into the legs and the cranks. I will take it up to where I need it to be - just under my AT - or Anaerobic Threshold - where I get the most power without producing the poisonous and painful Lactic Acid. People ask constantly how one trains for this kind of race. One of the answers is by maximizing your power output at or under your threshold by increasing your workload at that level incrementally over time. As your body gets stronger and used to the effort you are able to produce the same power at a lower heart rate. This is key to RAAM. In contrast, traditional road racing requires sustainable effort at your Maximum Heart Rate but for much shorter periods of time.

After dinner we returned to the hotel. I had hoped to get another massage and a stretch before bed but when I turned in at 8:15 it was quickly apparent that it was for the night. I was out cold by 8:30 and I didn't budge until 0530 this morning. My eyeshades went on and my earbuds went in and I was catatonic. I needed it.

When I returned from coffee this morning Lissy came and joined me in the follow van and we chatted for a bit. It's nice to get the little, very personal time-outs from the hive of preparation. We talked about Sam and about our crew and about what we hoped to achieve from this. It's clear that everyone here is on a path of self discovery and that it's feeding each and every one of us.

As this is the last time I'll really get to blog before the end I want to share a story that has been coming up over and over again on this journey. It's about....well, it's about a lot of things but mostly it's about a word. The word is 'hero'.

On September 11th, 2001 my best friend, Kenton, and I got in a car and drove to New York with two other friends. Circumstance saw to it that we ended up on a bus with a bunch of steelworkers driving a cleared path down the west side highway towards Ground Zero. We were buzzing scared and giddy and anxious.

Then things went a little slow-mo as we came to a throng of people holding placards, jumping up and down, clapping for their 'heroes'. I very nearly puked. Seriously. I felt like a total impostor. What in god's name was I doing here? I was about to see stuff, feel stuff, that was totally out of my realm of experience and I had no way to process that.

I was scared.

And would have preferred, at that moment, to return to the normalcy of my life and not face my fears.

I didn't turn around though. Instead I drew breath. I sat there with my eyes closed and watched the air go in my nose to my lungs and back out my mouth. I did that for about 10 breaths.

When I opened my eyes something was different. I felt settled.

I realize now that those people weren't impressed by us. They were thankful for the help. 'You are my hero' actually means thank you for facing a fear, a fear I couldn't face, and making it count for something. The other morning Sam and I ran into a man on his bike towing his child down the highway. We chatted for a while, told him what we were up to, and he said 'you guys are giants to me'. What he meant, I'm sure, is thanks for doing what you're doing. Thanks for using your skill set to help this kid in my trailer behind me or thanks for living a dream I might of liked to if circumstances were different. Later we ran upon another guy who was overweight. He said that he found himself on his couch a year ago realizing that his life was going one of two ways; he could continue on his path and get bigger and less healthy and less moyivated and less interested or he could get up and do something about the thing he didn't want to have happen to him.

You know how hard it is to get off that couch? You know how hard it is to make that decision? Really really really hard, way harder than it was for Sam or I to make the decision to race RAAM because our road was shorter. Extraordinary is when ordinary people make 'extra' decisions to change things - doesn't matter if it's their own life or the lives of the people around them.

Sam and I are heroes but only because we made a choice and now we're taking responsibility for it. That guy who got off the couch and has shed 60 pounds and will shed another 60 and feels good about the choice he's made despite how hard it was is a hero. The parent who gets up in the morning to give the child they chose to have the best day they can is a hero.

According to Joseph Campbell we are all heroes or, at the very least, we all have it in us to be one. The way you get to that is by facing the fears that prevent most of us from accessing it. There are a thousand reasons not to do something but you only need one to do something. I want to know who I am and that's why I'm doing RAAM. Helping my community is my obligation, my duty, and that's why I'm doing RAAM for Sick Kids. It's not the latter that makes me a hero - that just makes me human. It's the former that makes me one. I'm facing up to something that scares the living shit out of me and the only thing that separates me from the next guy who might have done this is that I was lucky enough to have the opportunity.

It'll be important for me to remember this over the next eight days.

I want to thank you all for giving me this opportunity. To our families, our colleagues, our sponsors and our bike shops and, most immediately, our team - thank you from the very bottom of me for the opportunity to face a fear. Thank you for the opportunity to get to know myself - there is no greater gift and you have all given it to me.

You are my heroes.