Rocky Mountain Cycling Club
The Club for People Who Love to Ride!

Boethling Finishes RAAM

by Danny Chew

61 year old Fred Boethling finished his first solo RAAM in 12 days, 7 hours, 3 minutes.  He was 7th in the Enduro race, and was the 17th and final solo rider to reach Atlantic City.  He logged 50 hours, 27 minutes off-bike time at the Enduro control checkpoints, and he estimated his total off bike time to be about 57 hours of which he slept about 75% of the time.  Fred became the oldest solo RAAM finisher (Peter Lekisch was 60 when he finished in 2001), and set the new 60+ speed record of 10.31 mph beating Lekisch's old record of 9.66 mph.  Fred held the last position in the solo field for the last 850 miles from TS #39 in Putnamville, IN to the finish.

The last solo finisher usually receives my Most Tired Award (MTA), but Fred looked too fresh up on the finishing stage to be worthy of it.  His left arm was bandaged from a crash he had just 20 miles from the finish, and there were bloodstains on his jersey.  The Boethling Crew Chief Rick (Fred's 36 year old son) was very proud of his father - just like 14 year old Dalton was very proud of his father Kenny Souza.  RAAM headquarters director Jason Kornetsky (acting as MC in Atlantic City) gave Fred a compliment when he told him, "You're the most mentally acute person we've had on this stage for a long time."

A cancer survivor for almost eight years now, Fred said that he never felt so bad that he wanted to quit or stop, though he would ask his crew, "Can I sleep just a little bit longer?" Fred also stressed the same thing he said in my pre-race interview with him in Oceanside about older RAAM riders, "Older guys are staying fitter longer.  You're going to see a bunch of older guys applying their knowledge to get them to the finish line." He added, "You can't finish this race just on athletic ability.  Half is fitness and training, and half is crew, race management, and planning."

Fred's partner (from his two man Team 60+ last year) Dan Crain rode the parade start in Oceanside with Boethling. In comparing the two person team RAAM to solo, Fred said, "It is five times harder to go from two person to solo RAAM." Fred estimated that his diet was 70% solid food, and 30% liquid.  He enjoyed a sit down meal of two egg McMuffins, two cheeseburgers, French fries, and coffee at the Pratt McDonalds in the middle of the night.

Since Fred doesn't ride well at night, he took sleep stops to break up the nights.  He told me, "There's a common bond between RAAM finishers that just can't be experienced until you are a RAAM finisher yourself." With that, I walked Fred to the bathroom in the old Atlantic City Convention Hall (RAAM headquarters), and then went with him and two crew members in their minivan to O'Grady's Restaurant for the final awards banquet (already in progress).