RAW & RAAM 2p

Chris Graetz

I can say that this is a story about a little engine that could or I can tell you that this is a story about David and Golliath (race and the road) but I’m not. This story is an original about sheer courage and determination.

Leslie Holton competed in this year’s RAW in the Under 50 Solo Division. And Leslie was not a quitter. Far from it! Many people can learn from her courage and determination throughout all of RAW. Unfortunately, the result of her journey was that she missed the time cut off, but that didn’t stop her.

Leslie reached the time cut off just after Pagosa Springs. She was so close. With only 160 miles to go until Taos, she hit a wall, the time limit; set at 92 hrs. When she reached Pagosa Springs, she rode in a time of 91 hours and 46 minutes and averaged 9.7mph along the way.

Leslie had a choice. Was she going to quit there at this time wall or keep riding through to the finish of RAW? Leslie’s words gave us the answer.

“Never, at any stage, until we actually got up the rock step, was I confident that we were going to be successful. My feeling was that we would give it everything we had, but we had no surety that we were going to reach the top. In fact, I believe that if someone starts out on a challenging activity, completely confident that they're going to succeed, why bother starting? It's not much of a challenge. - Sir Edmund Hillary”

She turned to her coach and they made the decision to continue. They worked out that it would be a great experience for Leslie and her crew if she finished the course, crossed the line and showed herself she wasn’t a quitter. They contacted the officials at every time station she passed through on her way to the finish line to let them know what was going on.

Throughout the race, Leslie, like all other riders suffered the horrible conditions. Extreme climbs, extreme heat and blinding exhaustion. But Leslie kept smiling. In fact, she was always smiling and enjoying the racing. She questioned her motivations but always continued on.
She was averaging 11.02mph until she reach Tuba City. She was riding well and knew it. Between time station 9, located at Tuba City and time station 10, located at Kayenta, disaster nearly happened. Their SUV got hit by another vehicle. The accident took out the mirror but thankfully did not take out the rider. She continued on with a smile on her face as her crew kept the incident to themselves.

She enjoyed riding through the colder wet weather on the way to Cortez after the blistering of the desert. Soon after she that she realized that the cut off was quickly approaching. Still, one thing she never lost was her smile and determination to finish the race.

This story about Leslie should inspire many people. It’s a story of a cyclist’s commitment to not give up under any circumstances and to show yourself that you can finish the race. If we all can make a commitment to ourselves to the same degree that Leslie did to finish RAW, imagine how far we can reach as a global community. This race will enable her to be successful in RAW 2010.

Leslie expects nothing for this effort but for her family, supporters and fans to know she did everything in her power to finish.

Congratulations Leslie!