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Thomas is the top American in RAAM!
Keep it up buddy. You’re doing awesome!
And watch out for those snakes. Your ConnectAbility crew is cheering for you!THOMAS ODOM: He’s Top American & Probably Having The Most Fun
June 18, 2019, 6:07 pm, EDT
St. Peters, Missouri

Thomas Odom (USA), the always-smiling ultra-cyclist from Georgia, is having a grand time in his rookie RAAM. He’s been through Time Station #35, St. Peters, Missouri and is currently 5th in the Under 50 age category. Earlier in the race, RAAM Media joked with him that he was top American in his age category—but of course, he was the ONLY American in the category. Now, after age 50-59 racer Dave Haase withdrawing from the race yesterday, Odom really is top American.

Last night, Odom LiveStreamed from the bike and told of his experiences so far and how he was on his 18th hour on the bike after getting 3 hours sleep. “I’m getting my tail whipped by the top woman. She’s dropping me right now on this hill. We’ve been going back and forth since day two. She’s a legend. It’s been fun.”

Back in Kansas, he told RAAM Media that he hadn’t experienced any hallucinations as RAAM riders sometimes do, but perhaps that’s changed, “I haven’t hallucinated yet,” he said last night, “The crew would say I’m a liar. But last night we had a rough ride. I could have sworn I kept seeing snakes in the road and I tried to dodge ‘em. I said I ran over a snake. Turns out it was definitely sticks. There were a couple of dead snakes—I’ll admit that—but most of them were sticks. I knew that I was hallucinating, but kept talking myself out of it.”

Being from Georgia, he’s ridden many miles on steep back road, “West Virginia is supposed to have very similar stuff to what I’m used to climbing. So I’m actually excited about that. It’s actually going to be slower riding, but it’s what I do. A lot of these backroads that we’ve ridden are absolutely gorgeous. And you’d never get to see them unless you’re going something like this. What I would love to do with my fam, is to take a road trip and come back and do the RAAM route in an RV.”

He has quite the following on social media, “I’m loving the support. They (his crew) read me a lot of the comments, which definitely keeps the energy high. There’s been a ton of positive things happening with the Kyle Piece foundation. So I appreciate all of the folks that have gone to my page and donated because that IS the purpose of this and the main thing I wanted to get out of it.”

He concluded his chat to his fans by talking about The Kyle Pease Foundation, the organization he’s raising money for, which promotes success for persons with disabilities by providing assistance to meet their individual needs through sports. “We’ve raised $60,000, which is really exciting,” he said, “Since I started the race we’ve raised another 3 or 4 grand. What I’d really like, is if everyone who’s already given, if you would go and match what your gift from 2018. A ton of people gave when I first launched this, I think we could hit $100,000 easily—the math is there. What that would do is help more people get into races with wheelchairs, and it would help a lot more families get connected so that they can thrive. That’s motivating to me.”

Follow his and the rest of the racers' progress here trackleaders.com/raam19 ...

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