Although only 18, Ben has 10 years of ultra cycling experience in his home state of Alaska. This year he'll put that on the line, racing against about 20 other solo men in RAAM. If he succeeds, he'll become the youngest finisher in RAAM history. I'm the current holder of that record, as I placed ninth at age 20 in RAAM 1987, the year Couturier was born.

Is he tough enough? At age 14 he and his Dad raced the 350-mile Iditasport Extreme. "I pushed the bike literally for the first 140 miles, got a little riding, then pushed again for 60 miles and then finally got a good trail. The first five days were spent hiking a bike. It was a fight of survival but it was great. The places I saw were great, the people I met along the way amazing, and the things I learned about my self - about the body, and about a person's mind - were impossible to obtain any way except going through it." They placed third bike overall in this winter endurance race held on the fabled Iditarod trail. It's a race so tough that I dropped out at the halfway mark with an injured Achilles tendon when it was first held in 1997.

Racing the Fireweed 400

A veteran of over 40 mountain bike races with the Arctic Bike Club in the Junior Expert division, Ben tied for last place in the inaugural Fireweed 400 RAAM qualifier in 2003. The next year, at age 17, he won the race in 21:39, only 10 minutes off Reed Finfrock's winning time in 2003. His road bike? A 1974 Eisentraut, a custom, steel road bike. Who says you need the latest technology to win?

Ben's exuberance and mountain biking skills were evident in Fireweed. The officials had changed the turnaround location in Valdez so "I ended up hopping a curb, riding through some grass and jumping the other side of the trench a little for kicks."

Ben loves hill climbing and on Thompson Pass "I knew it was my chance to make time so I threw it in mid-cluster and stood. As I caressed the top I saw my good friend Jeremiah Bell who I work and ride with, did a wheelie for the cameras and was rewarded with a nice long downhill and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches."

At the Fireweed 400 a quick stop with his crew.

Ben graduated high school a semester early so that he could move to Fredericksburg, TX to live and train this winter with Peter Lekisch, the Alaskan who completed solo RAAM in 2003 at age 60 and is the race director of the Fireweed 400. During high school, Ben worked as a bike and ski mechanic at REI and also took an EMT course and earned six college credits

In Texas he's just finished the second phase of his training. Now a normal training week is three days on, one day off, three days on, one day off, etc. It will usually go four hours, three hours then 6 to 14 hours. The middle day is high intensity. "I'll start a taper three weeks before the race that will keep the intensity but less hours."

"In a few weeks I'll be leaving Fredericksburg with Shauna, my girl. We are going to tour the Rockies and train there for a while. We'll just be living out of a tent and being cycling bums."

Ben started with "BMX riding: grinding, jumping, being the young hoodlum, you know. Then I learned that it was softer to land with suspension so I took up free riding . . . I still race mostly cross country mountain biking."

Ben got hooked on ultra when, at age 10, he and his Dad did a 360 mile unsupported tour from Eagle River, AK to Fairbanks. At 11 he tried to enter Iditasport, but was turned down because he didn't have any experience. So he raced cross-country the next summer and at 12 entered his first Iditasport. He has finished five Iditasports (later called Susitna 100), taking second overall when he was 16.

Pizza at the finish!

He says "The thing I like most about ultras or cycling in general is the people. It's hard to find a lemon in the group. Besides that, I like going downhill, fast, of course."

He says "It seems like ultramarathoners are the nicest breed of people. They don't have that always competitive feel where you're the enemy; it's more like a gathering of friends out on a hard ride."

When he's not riding "I ice climb and rock climb with my two climbing partners Jory and Jose. I spend a lot of time with Shauna finding places to hike or kayak and until recent I played competitive hockey."

Ben definitely seems tough enough to finish RAAM, but that's not all he has going for him. Racing through the Alaskan wilderness in the dead of winter takes enormous resilience, composure, and the ability to self-motivate. It also takes an enormous amount of adventurous spirit and enthusiasm for getting "out there."

Ben and his girlfriend Shauna Severson crewed at the Fireweed 200 in 2005. George Stransky photo.

For the past 18 years since I completed RAAM at age 20, I've told people that I was able to do the race because the right people took me under their wing, taught me the things I needed to know, and supported me along the way. Importantly, I also had an inordinate desire to finish the race. Honestly, though it was tough at times, racing RAAM was the most fun thing I'd ever done.

With enormous personal talent, RAAM veteran Peter Lekisch as his mentor, his family, friends, and girlfriend at his side, the free time to train and focus, and even a new TitanFlex bicycle to ride, Ben has everything he needs to make his RAAM dream come true. I wish him all the best and I look forward to seeing him cross the finish line.