"Honey, somebody named John Judd just called and asked if you would be willing to serve as a UMCA official at the BAM RAAM qualifier," my wife called out to the driveway where I was washing our van. And so it was that I arrived at the Doubletree Hotel in Chesterfield, MO on Friday afternoon of Labor Day weekend. I had completed BAM twice in the 80's, DNF'd twice in the 90's, and was excited to be back, even in a non-riding status.

I met John Judd, BAM co-director, who would serve as the second UMCA official. Five riders had preregistered for the RAAM qualifier, and a sixth, Mike Brady, from Columbia, MO changed his registration from BAM full tour to RAAM qualifier. Not until the next day would we know what a tragic change that would turn out to be.

The BAM half and full tour riders rolled out at 6:30 a.m, Saturday, September 2. The weather forecast called for extremely hot and humid weather. One preregistered rider had not shown, and at 7:32 a.m. five riders rolled out of the Doubletree parking lot in their quest to qualify for RAAM.

I was carrying a 10 gallon Igloo water cooler full of iced water. I was determined that no BAM rider would go without cold water if I was in the area, and I stopped many times that first day to help hot riders rehydrate.

The RAAM qualifier riders quickly established a pecking order on their way to the first checkpoint in Union. Wes Wilmer of Virginia took the lead, but was closely followed by Dan Jordan from Kansas. In Labadie, where the riders' crews could first meet their riders, Mike Brady was a solid third, about seven minutes back. Mike was being supported by his wife and two teen-aged daughters, and friend, Scott Sturtz, a former RAAM finisher. I watched as Mike's daughters wrote chalk messages on the road. "Go, Dad, Go!" "We love you, Dad."

Four minutes behind Mike were Jeff Price and Mike Morosso. Jeff had never ridden anything longer than an MS150. The evening before Mike's wife had told me, "We're not worried about the heat. We're from Arizona." Ironically, Mike was the first of the five to drop out, four miles before the second checkpoint in Hermann. Arizona may have heat, but not Missouri hills and humidity.

At the Union checkpoint Mike Morosso came in, and it took several minutes before I realized that Jeff Price was missing. He had been just ahead of Mike outside of Union. I left to try and find Jeff, but first had to chase down Mike who had turned back towards Chesterfield when leaving the checkpoint. The arrows were not too well done in this area. I found Jeff six miles west on the route heading towards Hermann. He'd missed the checkpoint entirely because there was no turn arrow to the road to the checkpoint. I drove Jeff back to the checkpoint, allowed him time to get food and water, and then transported him back to where I had originally picked him up. Along the way we picked up a BAM full tour rider who was dropping already due to mild heat exhaustion.

Upon leaving the Hermann checkpoint I began moving along the route a little faster in an effort to catch the front three RAAM qualifier riders. I never made it. About eight miles before the third checkpoint at Fulton I came upon a BAM sag driver using a sheet to shield a rider on the ground from the sun. The sag driver told me, "He's a little hot, and needs to rest some before he goes on to Fulton." Upon hearing my voice the rider spoke up, and I realized it was my good friend, Bill Schwarz, from Kinderhook, NY. As soon as I saw Bill I knew he at least had severe heat exhaustion and was maybe even in the early stages of heat stroke. Bill needed to be in the hospital fast. Before we could get Bill in my van he became violently sick. At the Fulton checkpoint Bill was transferred to another BAM vehicle, and was then taken to the hospital where he spent about four hours before being released. Several days after his return home Bill sent me a short e-mail: "You've crewed for me and helped me qualify for RAAM. This weekend you saved my life. The situation was very much out of control before you arrived on the scene. I feel lucky to call you friend." Thanks, Bill, and I feel the same way.

In Fulton I learned from John Judd that Mike Brady had been hit by a pickup while cycling on the shoulder of the road heading west out of Fulton. Mike was in second place at the time, and John told me Mike had been airlifted to a hospital in Columbia, MO because of the severity of his injuries. As I headed west out of Fulton towards the fourth checkpoint at Fayette I passed the accident scene. Emergency and official vehicles were still there, and Mike's crumpled bicycle lay on the shoulder where he had been hit. It was weeks later before I learned that the 33 year old driver of the pickup had veered onto the shoulder and struck Mike while reaching for a McDonalds bag on the floor of his truck.

John Judd came in while I was at the Fayette checkpoint and told us the sad news. Mike Brady had died of his injuries. Dan Jordan and Jeff Price had both dropped out, and Wes Wilmer was the only RAAM qualifier rider remaining. In fact, even though starting an hour behind the BAM tour riders, Wes was leading everybody except two teams. I headed west to try and find Wes. John Judd was going to resume other BAM duties.

A short distance west of the Higginsville checkpoint I came across Tom Buckley, a BAM full tour rider, and recent RAAM fifth place finisher. Tom's support was still back at Higginsville, so I dropped in behind him to provide light and play some oldies over my CB PA system. I've known Tom for some years. He's a top notch rider and down to earth kind of guy.

At the Grain Valley turnaround checkpoint I finally caught up with Wes and his crew. One of Wes' crew members was Susan Notorangelo's niece, Nicole - the family resemblance was striking. Wes knew he was the only RAAM qualifier rider left, and was taking a short break while checkpoint worker Robert Giacin worked on his bike. Wes told me that he didn't intend to cruise in. He wanted to win BAM completely.

The return trip was pretty anticlimactic. At the Fayette checkpoint I decided that I no longer needed to "keep an eye" on Wes Wilmer, and I informed his crew that I would be returning to BAM headquarters at the Doubletree.

Wes rolled in at 8:32 pm, taking 37 hours 2 minutes to complete the 592.5 mile hilly course. He didn't achieve his goal of winning BAM completely. Two of the three teams, one narrowly, beat Wes to the finish, but those were the only riders to finish ahead of Wes Wilmer on this hot, steamy Labor Day weekend. I had never met or heard of Wes prior to BAM, but went home the following day very impressed with Wes as a person and as a rider. I wish you well, Wes Wilmer, if you decide to do RAAM.