Congratulations to Byggkjøp / BMC Cycling Team!

Greg got the chance to meet the captain of the Norwegian team, Pål Rygg. He's also the owner of Norway's answer to Home Depot. He got started cycling a few years ago in order to get back in shape. Once the idea to compete in RAAM was hatched, he decided to go all out and shoot for the stars. He talked to BMC and Zipp and got usage donations of the bikes and the wheels for his team. All equipment must be returned at the end of the year. All team riders are 40+ year old men who are members of a "local cycling club" in Norway.

None of these riders are current pro racers, which has been erroneously reported here and the team is not made up entirely of former pro racers, as has been reported elsewhere (on another competitor's blog). They are definitely elite level cyclists and athletes, but each rider has a day job that does not involve pedaling. It's also been reported that the team brought their own media crew, which is a mischaracterization. The team captain, Rygg, contacted Norwegian television media and pitched the idea of doing a documentary about this team's "Grand Adventure". The tv station thought this was a compelling story, and from there the dream was launched.

So they are well funded, but the bottom line is that these guys are high performance weekend Viking warriors, and need to be congratulated as such. They crossed the country in five days, nine hours and 43 minutes, which crushed Team Type 1's record finish last year. Congratulations on a job well done, guys!