From a track & field and cross-country running background, including being a part of the Pennsylvania State Championship Cross-Country Team, Greg Sherman turned to cycling as the call of the road and the speed of road cycling attracted him to the sport.

Greg’s humble beginnings in the world of cycling started in college with his first bicycle, a $100 Schwinn that he managed to ride centuries (100-mile rides) and 150-mile-plus rides on. But these were not enough. With the advances of bicycle technology, Greg found himself on the latest and greatest equipment, allowing him to ride progressively harder and faster.

In recent years, Greg combined cycling with running and began to compete in triathlons and Ironman triathlon competitions, honing his skills on the bike while maintaining his running and swimming fitness.

In 2007, Greg met Kenny Souza, a Race Across America competitor, who introduced him to the idea of the Race Across the West (RAW).

RAW is a nonstop 860-mile race. Unlike other well-known road races, like the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia or the Tour of California, all of which are stage races, RAW is not a stage race. You do not race during the day for five or six hours and rest until the next stage the following day. RAW is a single stage. Once the clock starts in Oceanside, California, it doesn’t stop until the racer reaches the finish line in Durango, Colorado.

RAW is the second-longest endurance cycling race in the United States and is essentially an 860-mile time trial– a race against the clock, sometimes referred to as “the race of truth.” Unlike the Tour de France, solo racers are not allowed to draft other racers or their support vehicles to take shelter from the wind. So, regardless of tailwind or headwind, the race is a great equalizer.

Asked how he prepares for such a race, Greg told us about the brevets (French for “long journey”) that he does as training rides. A brevet rider follows a designated but unmarked route (usually 200 km to 1,400 km), passing through checkpoint controls, and must complete the course within specified time limits. Brevets are timed rides with cutoffs. Although more relaxed than races, they are challenging, self-supported rides with times that need to be met to officially complete and to qualify for the longer legendary rides.

Brevets are organized around set distances of 200, 300, 400, 600, 1,000 and 1,200 kilometers. And these are the types of rides that Greg uses for training for RAW. Any ride beyond 300 km will take you past the daylight hours, so these rides are a huge test of endurance and self-sufficiency, as well as bicycle handling and navigating skills.

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This year, Greg has successfully completed three 600-kilometer brevets and, as a result, has qualified for the 1,000-kilometer brevet distance and the 1,200-kilometer brevet distance.

When asked what his training plan is like, Greg said, “I don’t really follow a written plan. I am more of an intuitive rider and train according to how my body feels, pushing myself while allowing for enough recovery to progress to the next level. I also like variety and do not like riding over the same terrain repetitively. This variety really makes a difference in motivation and my morale. In this respect, the Southern California train system is such a blessing. I can hop on a train with my bike and go north and get off a few hundred miles away from home, and ride home without covering the same road twice.”

Greg also told us about his experience with our nutritional products. “I recently had the opportunity to test Natural Vitality’s Energy 28 product during the last of the three 600-kilometer brevets (approximately 375 miles) that I rode this year. I normally don’t try a new product during such an intense ride, but in this case, I threw caution to the wind. I divided one liquid packet of Energy 28 between two water bottles, and ended up using a total of four packets throughout the ride. I really noticed a difference in my climbing strength and my overall performance.

“After 200 miles of cycling, when you hit a steep and long hill climb, you need all of the energy you can muster, and I recall this same climb that I had done in previous rides I had really struggled with. With Energy 28, I was able to climb steadily and comfortably and, in fact, the whole ride was my strongest of the season – so a big thumbs up for this product.

“I also use the Natural Calm Plus Calcium product, which based on everything that I have read about the importance of magnesium, I know is doing my body a lot of good and is certainly helping prevent any cramping on my long rides.”

We will be following Greg’s endurance rides and racing events in the weeks and months to come as he prepares to compete in the Race Across the West, and plan to be at the start line of this exciting and epic event. Hope to see you there!

With renewed energy and sense of purpose, John headed off for the Arizona Divide. The Arizona Divide is the highest point in the state, topping out at 7,335 feet. This is where the watershed (an area or ridge of land that separates waters flowing to different rivers, basins, or seas) changes the direction of the flow of water from east to west.

Straight into the Arizona monsoon season, John literally ran through buckets of rain and hail, spectacular lightning storms and horrendous thunder claps, supported by passing motorists and truckers who blared their horns and waved in support.

John continued right up Route 66 through neighborhoods surrounded by Ponderosa Pine forests, leading him into big and busy Flagstaff, AZ, a real mountain town, logging in 35 more miles for the day.

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“The folks are so friendly and supportive out here,” said John. He had just finished a nice breakfast at the local café, which was offered at no charge by the owner, a Greek gentleman who took a real interest in John’s run. It didn’t hurt to mention that John had run through Greece in 1999—from Athens to Hamburg, Germany, an exciting cross–European-continent run that John accomplished.

John continues on with his journey and will soon reach New Mexico. More news to follow!

John is running the reverse path of the migrants who travelled west along Route 66 during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, of which Steinbeck wrote in his book The Grapes of Wrath.

Route 66 goes through eight states—Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California—and symbolized the renewed spirit of optimism that pervaded the country after the Great Depression and World War II. Also known as “The Main Street of America,” it linked a remote and under-populated region with two vital 20th century cities: Chicago and Los Angeles.

With a good start and with terrific support from his crew and team captain, Judy Maguire, also an ultramarathon runner, John was able to reach San Bernardino, CA on July 6, with 75 miles behind him.

“It will take me two months to reach Chicago and then on to Atlantic City to dip my toes in the ocean as I did at the start of this run in the Pacific. From Atlantic City, it will be on to New York and then, if I still have some juice left in me, I will end up in Washington at the Vietnam Memorial,” John said.

“If everything goes well, it will take three-and-a-half to four months. I expect to average 35 to 40 miles a day,” the ultramarathon runner estimated.

John is running across America to raise awareness for alternative choices to youth violence and gangs. With over 628,200 acts of violence per year in our nation’s schools, John felt he had to do something about this worsening situation. His run will include contacts with youth groups, media coverage, fundraising and sponsorships for needed programs that help young people make better choices in life.

Wed July 7

On Wednesday, John started much earlier than on previous days, as he was meeting a group of runners (called the San Bernardino Pacers), who paced him along a difficult and tricky stretch of highway called the Cajon Pass, which reaches over 3,800 feet in elevation. The leader of this group had already read some press John had received, and five runners came out to support John and his cause. After running about 15 miles, John stopped for breakfast at the Summit Inn, a very classic Route 66 diner-type place, where John met a 92-year-old man named Enrique Barrios, a competitive runner back in the 1930s, who wished John well.

Through the Cajon Pass, John pushed on to Victorville, CA and made approximately 30 miles of progress for the day.

Thursday, July 8

John started the day with an in-person interview with the Victorville Daily Press and was back on the road by 11:15 a.m.—running through scorching heat with a long stretch of desert ahead of him. Throughout the afternoon, temperatures stayed at around 104 degrees, reminding John of his many grueling races through Death Valley. Stocked up on water and ice, Natural Vitality’s Natural Calm Plus Calcium and a long-sleeved white shirt to dissipate the heat, John made it to Barstow, CA by 8:00 p.m. that night, for a total of 34 miles. A graciously donated room at the local Holiday Inn Express by the general manager was a welcome relief from the blistering heat.

Wednesday, July 21

Crossing the Mojave in a car is challenging enough in July, but doing it on foot!?!? “Downright CRAZY!” as a local resident told John and his crew. And that is how John started his crossing of the Mojave Desert. Running in high temps makes Natural Calm Plus Calcium invaluable. It mixes easily in water and provides a highly absorbable, muscle-cramping-prevention remedy that also supports the absorption of potassium and sodium, two additionally vital electrolytes, which, in combination, keep your muscles firing properly and make rehydration possible.

There is no avoiding camping out in the Mojave when you are traveling by foot. John’s first night of camping was a far cry from the room at the Holiday Inn Express in Barstow, but he made do with what appeared to be an abandoned train or bus station. Between the relentless heat and trains going by every hour or two, John didn’t get much sleep and was up and running by 6:00 a.m. After putting in 10 to15 miles, John and his crew stopped at the “Bagdad Café” for a nice breakfast . This is the cafe where the actual movie by the same name was filmed.

By day’s end, John ended up spending the night in the town of Ludlow and its only motel.

John did 36 to 37 miles the next day—and was  determined to make it to the town of  “Amboy or Bust.” He did not want another night of somewhere between “anywhere” and  “nowhere” again, so he pushed on. As John arrived in Amboy, the sheriff of the town greeted him and kindly gave John and his crew a free camping spot since the motel there was being remodeled and wouldn’t be open for another couple of years. Fresh water for a shower was a luxury that the sheriff also provided, since the tap water was completely salinated.

The next day after running on for a bit, John found a “shoe tree, literally, a tree on which many a traveler passing through had hung their old shoes by flinging a pair connected with shoe strings up onto a branch of the tree. Further down the road John spotted a “sock tree,” which just didn’t have the same glamour and romance of the road as an intrepid traveler’s shoe-tree memorial. John put in 30 miles that day and ended up camping at the High Desert Oasis, which it truly was: a small truck stop in the middle of the desert, which had warning signs posted admonishing customers to not complain about their high prices. (They have heard this complaint far too often and have stopped trying to explain the cost of getting petrol suppliers to come out here.)

Back at it the next morning, John’s destination that day was Goffs, a tiny yet historic railroad town near Needles, CA with a population of 12. Arriving there at 2:30 p.m. gave him time to visit a rest stop and take a real shower, hand wash some clothes—and even experience a little bit of A/C in the middle of the Mojave Desert. For a change of pace before hitting the road, John made a quick visit to the Heritage and Cultural Association of Goffs, which turned out to be a veritable outdoor Wild West museum with all sorts antiques, relics and cars, from an age long swept away by the sands and the desert sun.

The next day was a straight shot to Needles, for a total of about 31 miles. Although the run was mostly downhill, the temperature was going purely uphill and peaked at around 120 degrees as John arrived in Needles, just a stone’s throw away from the Arizona state line.

John has made it to Kingman, AZ! After a long climb out of Oatman, with wild burros roaming the town and all shops closed up by 5:00 p.m., Oatman was a surreal place to run through, but the reward was worth it. Beautiful panoramic vistas stretching into Kingman made the run into this much more populated town a wonderful experience.

Thirty miles out of Kingman, John said, “It felt a lot cooler at only 104 degrees today! With high desert elevations ahead, there will be even cooler temperatures to look forward to.” People honk as they drive by John, with their curiosity piqued. They must wonder why he is running and where he is going, which reminds John of another ultrarunner named Norm Haines, who said, “Run long and not hard.” Sooo true with a trans-USA run.

John made it past Peach Springs, AZ today at 4,800 feet, with the long-awaited cooler temps that were more than welcomed! He encountered fantastic open scenery and the huge Hualapai Indian Reservation, which stretches for a hundred miles along the pine-tree ridges of the southern side of the Grand Canyon. The Hualapai are literally, “people of the tall pine,” and Peach Springs is their tribal capital.

John’s shoes are starting to show mileage wear as he leaves the town of Seligman, AZ, elevation 5,000 feet. Soon he will be leaving the solitude of Route 66 and entering the higher-traffic land of I-40 and the rains of the Arizona monsoon season.

Stay tuned for further updates on John’s epic run.

Pre-Race Preps

After spending 2 weeks in rainy Spokane, Washington, readying myself for the heat by performing jumping jacks and step-ups in the YMCA dry heat room and steam room, I stepped off the plane in Hawaii ready to rumble.

My nutrition protocol leading up to this race was very precise and calculated. I followed the recommendations of Dr. Richard Cohen precisely—limiting my omega-6 fatty acids while taking omega-3 fatty acids and using magnesium regularly. I use Natural Vitality’s OsteoCalm^®, skewing my diet towards higher protein intake and whole-amino-acid supplementation and elevating my testosterone levels. I also supplemented with hydration tablets and liquid trace minerals during my stay in Hawaii leading up to the race, to replace lost electrolytes, and I used Natural Vitality’s liquid NutraRev! ^® super antioxidant product as a natural energy booster.

My workouts consisted of 9 to12 training hours each week along with some gear modifications, including upgrading my wheels from Specialized Transition Pros to Gray 9.5 Wheels and Vittoria 320 Clincher tires.

During this training, I also kept my body as non-acidic and non-inflammatory as possible, and the OsteoCalm along with other supplements helped with this.

The tricky part about Hawaii is that your eyes pop open at about 4 every morning if you’re from the Pacific time zone. I went to bed at about 8 every night.

Race Day

Here is the beach line-up on race day. I started as far left as possible, floating in the water behind the pros. Heck, I figured even if I wasn’t as fast, I should still line up where they were going and try to hop on somebody’s feet. Yes, drafting is legal in the swim.

If you’re looking for race day tips, then here they are:

• Start far left, out in the water.
• Don’t really sweat the first buoy, which is a gradual right, but be ready for flying elbows at the second buoy, a sharp right turn.
• There is poor visibility, you must swim into a current, and there’s lots of choppiness during the entire middle section of the swim that cuts across Hapuna Bay.
• There’s a fast final 500 yards.

I drafted like a gold-digger the whole swim on some huge guy with big feet, so it felt pretty leisurely, but my watch read 29:02 as I was coming out of the water. Perfect!

A couple other tips: Don’t hit the rocks and don’t touch the turtles.

There is a fairly steep hill coming out of transition. Aside from dropping my bike shoe off a pedal as it scraped on the pavement, I had a pretty smooth transition. This is a good race to make sure your bike is in the proper gear coming out of transition, because it does go uphill immediately.

I had a very precise strategy for the bike split on this course, and after driving the course and doing a couple short test rides in the days leading up to the race, I figured I had the wind and hills figured out.

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By the 30-mile mark, I had ridden into 7th place overall, with a sizeable 2-and-a-half-minute gap between me and the guy behind me.

My bike split was 2:21, so now I had a 6-minute “cushion” for a hot and hilly half-marathon that promised to pepper us through a winding golf course, multiple blacktop out and backs, and a final “Road to Hell” 5-mile slog.

I hung on to my position as 7th overall and 2nd place amateur until the 3-mile mark, where the eventual amateur winner passed me.

If you’re looking for run-course tips, here are a few:

• It’s hard to get your rhythm. Focus, watch where you’re stepping, and maintain a high cadence.
• Aid stations rock with cold water and ice. Use these liberally, especially on your thighs to cool off those femoral arteries.
• If you start to overheat, take a short walk break. I did this myself for 60 seconds and it saved me as I started to burn up and really lose it just after the 10K mark.
• Don’t eat much. Your body has a hard time cooling and digesting. I had a couple of banana halves and one gel on the run.
• Don’t wear a big shoe that will get wet, hot and soggy running on golf course grass. I used the Avia Bolts and they were perfect. Do wear socks.

Once we entered the “Road to Hell,” I found my rhythm again, but at this point (about mile I was passed a few times and knew I’d have to hold on hard if I wanted my slot.

I have to say that I really did suffer those last couple miles and looked behind me multiple times, expecting to see somebody running me down, but anybody who was going to do any damage had already passed me between miles 8 and 10.

That finish line sure looked good!

When the smoke cleared, it turned out that I ran a 1:33—not bad, considering I felt like I was crawling for a good 2 miles of the run. That was good enough for a 4:29…

• 1 minute faster than planned…
• 12th place overall…
• and good enough for a Kona qualification!

So it’s off to the Big Island in October—which means I’ll start Ironman training sometime in August. And between now and then? Maybe a few small races or local half-Ironman events, but mostly I need to teach my kids how to ride a bike. I’m going to need some company during those long runs this fall.

This was my first time racing on the new clincher-style Gray Wheels, so I was pretty excited to be trying out their equivalent of the high-end, aerodynamic Zipp 808 wheels, along with a new SRAM Red 11-23 cassette gearing. The one element that is always present at Onion Man is occasional big gusts of crosswind, so I knew this would be a great chance to see how these wheels performed in Hawaii-like conditions.

Onion Man has never been without its share of “hiccups” for me. The first year I raced, my water bottle and fuel bottle flew off my bike on the first speed bump coming out of transition, and spilled my nutrition all over the road. The next year, I fought pre-race diarrhea that left me standing in a porta-potty with a wetsuit around my ankles just a few minutes before the race start. That year, I just did not feel right, and came in seventh overall. Here were my splits for that year:

• Swim: 0:21:36
• T1: 1:03
• Bike: 1:03:19
• T2: 0:36
• Run: 0:39:35
• Time: 2:06:09

So this year, I was anxious to see what would be in store. And sure enough, just as the race announcer said, “Ten minutes to swim start, everybody down to the water!” I heard a loud sound, like a gunshot – BOOM. Somebody’s tire blew. Poor sucker, I thought to myself.

As I adjusted my wetsuit and headed down to the water, I happened to glance at my bike. The rear wheel visibly flat. MY tube had blown.

I sprinted to my bike and whipped out my flat change kit, and at the same time, a race official showed up and said, “Just go down and swim, man, I got it.”

Seriously? ROCK ON. I was a bit apprehensive about him getting adequate pressure and leaving my rear derailleur in the proper gear, but what could I do? You can’t pass up an offer like that. I didn’t see him again after the race, so I guess he was probably my heavenly triathlon angel, with huge feathered wings tucked under his bright orange official vest.

The swim here was cold. Headache cold. And dirty. You should not open your mouth and swallow any water if you value the health of your gut flora. Incentive to swim fast! I wore my neoprene cap, but about 200 yards in, I felt like it was choking me, so I tore it off and kept swimming. So some fisherman is going to find himself a nice little $30 piece of floating headgear…

My swim split was a 21:35. One second faster than last year. I’ll take it.

I hopped on the bike in sixth place. Everything, including the tire, appeared to be set up perfectly. My only errors were

1. I forgot my aero tube bottle, so I rode with my downtube Gatorade bottle full of tasty GU Brew;
2. I forgot my sweet Zeal Optics sunglasses, so I had to use some old generic glasses that fogged a bit, but it wasn’t really a big deal.

Bike split on my Specialized Transition felt great. I hammered into the headwind going out, knowing it would be an easy ride coming back. I rode a 1:00:11, 3 minutes and 8 seconds faster than last year. For a 40K bike ride, that is a seriously sweet improvement. With an extra gear, I could have ridden under an hour.

With that bike split, I was in first place by the turnaround point.

Coming off the bike in first place, you feel like the rabbit— with all those hungry dogs chasing. I slipped into my Avia Bolts (running shoes) and took off for the 6.4-mile run, running scared. At mile 1, I looked back. Nobody.

At mile 2, I looked back. Nobody.

At mile 2.5, I checked again, and this time, saw Michael Gordon about 100 yards back. Knowing he could hammer out a 34-minute 10K, I knew I could be in trouble.

He passed me at the 5K mark, and I thought about trying to run with him, but I can’t move that fast—I was feeling pushed to the limit running 6:15s (6 minutes, 15 seconds per mile on average).

As Michael opened a big gap, my strategy moved toward holding off third place and finishing strong.

I managed to keep a large gap between myself and third place, and came across 38:42, about 45 seconds faster than last year, and good enough for a second place finish, and my own age group first place win, a little bit of cash, and a 2:02:09 overall, EXACTLY 4 minutes faster than last year, which I’m very happy with for an Olympic distance race!

Ultimately, it looks like (despite the last-minute tire blow!) those Gray Wheels turned out pretty well! Thanks to Synergy Sports, I’m looking forward to racing a great bike split in Hawaii, and feeling very good about my fitness.

With the Hawaii race so close, this will be the first time I’ve raced Onion Man without planning a stagger-fest of red wine tasting in downtown Walla Walla after the race. Somehow, I didn’t imagine a few barrels of ethanol to be conducive to recovery. But a Mexican restaurant stop at Caseula’s in good ol’ Ritzville, Washington was the next best thing.

I was recently asked: “Ben, do you honestly feel that long-distance triathlon (70.3 and Ironman) are healthy endeavors? I haven’t met a triathlete who isn’t either injured or just getting over an injury. Divorce rate and immune deficiency issues also are the tip of the iceberg.’

My reply is a definite “yes,” but only if you train smart. Junk miles = family problems, lots of time training, injuries and immune suppression. Probably 80% of people do this sport wrong, and it’s sad because I hear horror stories from spouses and kids. One of the things I recommend that helps support immune health is Natural Vitality’s magnesium products.  Magnesium is one of the most critical elements in the human body and the single most important mineral in sports nutrition. Sleep levels, hydration, metabolic efficiency, oxygen consumption, muscle function and heart rate, are all critically dependent on adequate magnesium levels.

Americans do not consume the recommended daily intake of magnesium, that’s a fact. Another fact is that athletes lose magnesium through sweating at a rate much faster than the average person. This gives them even a higher risk factor for magnesium deficiency. That’s why I recommend a liquid calcium magnesium sports product from Natural Vitality called Osteo Calm^®. As a liquid product, it is easily absorbed, has the correct proportion of magnesium to calcium and includes vitamin D, which is critical to athletic performance. For those women athletes who are especially concerned with bone density and osteoporosis, I highly recommend it, and have introduced it to my wife, who is a runner.

The food you eat does not give you all of the nutrients you need. That’s why I now tell all of my coached athletes, including my wife, to supplement their diets with nutritional magnesium and antioxidant products.

One of the other Natural Vitality sports products I use is Natural Calm Bath, which is a magnesium bath salt formula. This product relaxes my muscles and is a natural detoxifier, eliminating toxins out of my body that have accumulated with intense training and competition. Toxins that accumulate in the body weaken your immune system. You need to get them out as fast as possible, and magnesium helps with that.

I also use liquid NutraRev^® in the afternoon for a natural energy boost. This is a great antioxidant that further helps me slow down the oxidation process during my workouts and competition. Oxidation is yet another enemy of the immune system. Train smart, eat right, but always supplement.