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patrickautissier.org |
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SPONSORS 2005 |
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San Diego, CA, June 18th, 2005 (Day - 1)
Good evening,
You should know an old Chinese quote, adapted by a famous French humorist that says: “It’s at the bottom of the wall that we see the best…. the wall!” Well, that’s it. I’m at the bottom of my wall, and I can tell you that it is gigantic. The banquet just finished. There were more than 400 people. And after talking about RAAM and introduced the main sponsor Insight, Jim Pitre, the RAAM organizer, introduced on stage all the solo riders. I was really scared waiting for my turn, and so when we were all on stage, I realized that I’m going to do this crazy race. Earlier in the day, there was an interview. Olivier put on me the holter, device which record the heart rate constantly. And the journalist was really impressed by the electrodes, and all the scientific aspect of our journey. Steve finally came from LA in the afternoon, and immediately felt good in the team.
This newsletter is my last one, because tomorrow I will be a little busy riding my bike! You will still receive newsletters in French and in English written by 2 crew members.
Finally, I’d like to finish by a favorite quote of my friend John McClellan which summarizes my state of mind just few hours before the greatest challenge I’ve ever participated:
“The credit in life goes not to the critic who stands on the sideline and points out where the strong stumble, but rather, the real credit in life goes to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face may get marred by sweat and dust, who knows great enthusiasm and great devotion and learns to spend himself in a worthy cause, who at best if he wins knows the thrill of high achievement and if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that in life his place will never be with those very cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”.
Teddy Roosevelt President of the United States from 1901 to 1909
Thank you all for your support.
Patrick
ps: You will find tons of information about the race on the RAAM website at www.raceacrossamerica.org
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