Facebook Post: Race Across America April 1, 2018

TEAM SKIPPER: Going for the 8-Person 60-69 Record

Just as it wouldn’t be June without RAAM, it almost wouldn’t be RAAM without Tim Skipper fielding some kind of team. Over the years the Los Angeles, California software consultant has fielded RAAM teams of varying sizes and even tandem and fixed gear teams. He told us, “It’s all part of my goal to be the guy that’s completed the most RAAM’s. Even though in my mind it’s not even comparable to Rob Kish, he completed 19 RAAM’s solo. So it’s just amazing what that guy did. From a team perspective, I want to be the guy with the most finishes. I think from a team perspective I’ve done that already. I have 17 finishes.”

If Skipper has his way, he’ll get his 18th finish in June along with the 8-person 60-69 record. The current record was set in 2007 by Team Santa Barbara Bank & Trust at 7 days, 7 hours and 40 minutes 17.32 mph average. “I think we’ve got a really decent chance of blowing that record away,” Skipper said, but acknowledged, “But it’s RAAM, so you never know.”

“My core team and crew are composed of my sons Matt and Scott Skipper, Bernie Barge, my faithful crew chief, and Louie Diaz, my primary navigator who is blind,” Skipper explained. “The riders will be a bunch of the usual suspects. I’m teaming up with Joe Peterson again. We’ll have Bill Elrich, Richard Hoff, Clay Sharp is on the team and some other guys that I don’t really know; Joe is getting them together. So we’ll have a couple of newbies.”

What brings Skipper back, year after year? “It’s a great challenge, so it’s a very good way to get myself into shape and to have a goal to satisfy my passion for cycling. Often it means teaming up with non-profit organizations—though I don’t have anything set up this year yet. I like building the team. That’s really fun for me—working to get the team to the starting line and sorting through the people’s difficulty in getting them all set and ready to go to execute the race. They don’t always know what they’re getting themselves into. But we have a way to do it that usually brings people along pretty well.”

While he’s certainly a strong rider, Skipper said, “I’m decent, but I’m not a fast cyclist like some of the people who are so amazing and have the natural talent and genes.” Nonetheless, he’s amassed an impressive list of RAAM results, “I’ve got the most records in RAAM,” he declared. “I’ve got six records from various aspects, from tandem and different categories. I’ve got 13 category wins and I think the most team RAAM finishes. I don’t know that for a fact, but I’m fairly certain. And I’m in the RAAM Hall of Fame, and that’s really really cool to me.”

Not all of his 17 RAAM’s to date have been consecutive, “I’ve skipped years here and there and I hated it! Every year RAAM is the Superbowl of the family of RAAM—the people that come from all over the world. To me, if I can do RAAM when I feel like I’m having a hard day in regular life, I think, ‘Well, if I can do RAAM, I can do anything, I can solve this problem or deal with this situation.’ That’s another reason I love doing RAAM, it helps me set my mind for dealing with things, it helps me grow.”

In closing, Skipper offered an observation that any RAAM racer or crew member would do well to embrace, “I feel that a week’s worth of RAAM is equal to one year of life experience. Each day so much happens. When I’m talking to new teams I tell them, ‘Just think of all that you experience in a year. Well in RAAM that all happens in a week. You have to be able to keep your sense of humor to be able to get through it and not worry too much. Focus on doing it in an efficient, fast and safe manner and we’ll get there.”