Race Across America – 2023

I did RAAM in 2013 in a 4 man team and we had a blast! I was only 22 at the time and I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. 10 years later and I live in Hawaii, retired from pro sports and learned a ton. A decade worth of stuff if not more. Anyway I started a run group and one day one of the members said: Do you know Chris DeMarchi? Nope I don’t! Well you’ll love him. Next time he showed to our little hill sprint workout group and we battled it our over the course of 12x300m hill sprints. We started talking and I realized how similar we are. He’s a former pro cyclist and has it’s own share of RAAM experience. Well that’s an understatement. He is the world record holder on the 4- & 8-man team. That’s nuts! Long story short besides the 20+ year age difference we are 2 peas in a pot and he invited me to help support one of his buddy’s at a solo RAAM effort. No question I’m in!

Thanks to this cool moment I was part of the Jonathan Moore Raam team. What a blast it was! I documented everyday on YouTube and I highly recommend watching the whole thing.

RAAM 23 D1-4: I don’t know what day it is or where I am right now, but I definitely feel alive again. This race will teach you a ton about yourself and the people around you. The good, the bad and that the only way in life is moving forward. Growing and overcoming obstacles. I love to be the problem solver who comes up with a solution on the spot when the pressure is on. Yes applied first principles thinking is the best! On top of feeling the rush of the race and the edge of living on 3-4h of sleep a day, this race couldn’t have come at a better time in my life. I got too comfortable with the status quo. Never stop growing. Life is too short to waste it! 🔥🚀

RAAM D4-7: This race will bring out the best and worst in everyone and this ultimately will tell you who you are once the mask is off. Life is nothing without the ups and downs. In that sense RAAM is like a little journey through life. Love it! 

After all the crazy Race Across America adventures this summer. Chris and I decided to start a new business together as 50:50 partners: @hawaiiepiccycling 

We offer high end bike tours with pro class connoisseur service. We’ll go up to all the beautiful spots and the most epic, hardest climbs. And we will have an ebike fleet for you here in Kona. For the IRONMAN race week we only have 6 bikes left. But if you check our homepage soon – you might be able to get one. We will pick you up from the airport and drop you and your bike off at your air bnb or hotel. You won’t need a rental car! www.hawaiiepiccycling.com – we are on it. Chris has been doing the high end bike tours alone for a while now, so I’m new on board but already got a hang of it. My job will be to help scale the business and to open up some new doors. Plus I get to do my favorite activity next to coaching: videography. This goes hand in hand with @konaendurance and to make sure that my athletes always stay priority number 1 we have tour guides that work for us. Make sure to always invent your dream job. And this concludes my USA appreciation post. Why? Because all of this is only possible in the greatest country of the world 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸