Randonneurs Ontario member Vaune Davis recently completed the Race Across the West. The following article appears courtesy of Race Across the West and Vic Armijo.<\/p>\n
VAUNE DAVIS: \u201cIf you had asked me five years ago if I\u2019d be doing this, I would have said you were crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
At age 54 Canadian Vaune Davis became the oldest woman to finish the Race Across the West, completing the 878 miles in 3 days, 14 hours and 26 minutes. \u201cI’m thrilled to have set the record as the oldest woman to ever finish that race,\u201d she wrote in a recent e-mail to RAAM Media, \u201cThat was my goal. And doing that while also getting Rookie of the Year is kind of cute!\u201d<\/p>\n
Since age 19 Davis suffered joint pain that was diagnosed as psoriatic arthritis: her body\u2019s immune system was literally attacking her joints. She endured decades of pain and extreme fatigue and her feet, hands, elbows, shoulders and neck were all severely damaged. Thankfully a then new biological type of drug was approved 12 years ago that helped her condition, \u201cI went into full remission and within five weeks I had energy spilling out of every pore and no pain,\u201d she said in a pre-race interview with the Toronto Star. Sadly many of her joints were already badly damaged through the years, but her hips and knees still functioned reasonably. So at age 42 she took up cycling and eventually joined a local bike club, \u201cI would go ride with them for an hour and I\u2019d get dropped in the middle of nowhere by myself,\u201d she said. \u201cBut that didn\u2019t bother me. I would just continue riding. If they were doing a 75-km ride, I\u2019d do 150. I found I didn\u2019t get tired and I enjoyed getting lost in the ride.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since then Davis has become quite the UltraCyclist. A notable recent result came in this year\u2019s 24 Hours of Sebring where she surpassed her previous 24-hour personal best (333 miles) by racking up 353 miles. She\u2019s also earned Ultra Marathon Cycling Association (UMCA) World Cup and Ultra Cup age group championships.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year she began experiencing knee pain which unfortunately led to a sad realization, \u201cThe MRI and blood test results were a shocker: my arthritis had not only figured out how to outwit the $22K-a-year miracle drug, but it was chewing up my knees. I had severe cartilage loss in both, inflammation in my hips and elbows, and a double-knee replacement instead of a double-century in my future.\u201d So far she\u2019s avoided that drastic surgery and instead has relied on biweekly physiotherapy, acupuncture, cortisone shots, synthetic joint fluid, anti-inflammatory drugs, a new drug combo: Humira (an immunosuppressive drug) and a chemotherapy drug called Methotrexate, plus knee and glute-strengthening exercises.<\/p>\n
With the help of all that treatment and her coach Peter Oyler (a RAAM and RAW finisher himself) Davis arrived at the RAW start in Oceanside, California fit and ready. \u201cShe\u2019s an average person going to do something pretty extraordinary,\u201d Oyler said. She was aided by being as she describes, \u201cOne of the best-crewed racers in the field… you’d never know it from my speed.\u201d That crew included Oyler, his 2013 RAAM crew chief Janet Wilson and Team Hoodoo finisher Suzy Nelson, who has also crewed RAW before. \u201cI had an A-Team behind me.\u201d They assured that Davis stuck to her simple plan in Durango, Colorado, \u201cAlways stay on the bike, keep moving, don\u2019t stop, whatever you do.\u201d As extraordinary as her story is to others, Davis can\u2019t quite grasp its enormity herself, \u201cIf you had asked me five years ago if I\u2019d be doing this, I would have said you were crazy,\u201d Davis said. But in the end, she not only overcame the pain and the challenges of riding across deserts and mountains to reach Durango, she did so with smiles and a cheerful attitude despite the pain and a demeanor that endeared her to the whole RAW and RAAM family, many of whom remember her from back in Oceanside where she had as many riders as she could autograph her white cycling shorts.<\/p>\n
She sums up her effort with this, \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be the fastest or the strongest but you can compete against yourself and achieve amazing results as long as you focus on what you can do versus what you can\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thank you Vaune. Some of us, I feel, must now put aside whatever excuses we\u2019ve been making and go ride our bikes.<\/p>\n
Photos can be found at https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Race-Across-the-West\/162127126721 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Randonneurs Ontario member Vaune Davis recently completed the Race Across the West. The following article appears courtesy of Race Across the West and Vic Armijo. VAUNE DAVIS: \u201cIf you had asked me five years ago if I\u2019d be doing this, … Continue reading