How 7sherpas helped Jeff Koontz conquer the Race Across America.
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
The world's toughest ultra-endurance race with 3,066 miles in 12 days. And a crew that never let him down
Every great summit has a story. And behind every climber who reaches the top of Everest, there are the sherpas — the unsung professionals who carry the load, know the mountain, manage the danger, and make sure their athlete gets home alive.
That's exactly what happened when Jeff Koontz crossed the finish line at Atlantic City's Boardwalk on June 28, 2026 — an Official RAAM Finisher. He didn't do it alone. He did it with his sherpas.
RAAM - The Everest of Cycling
The RAAM - Race Across America - is not a regular bike race. There is no peloton, no flat stages, no rest days. Solo racers start in Oceanside, California, and must ride continuously — through the Sonoran Desert, over Wolf Creek Pass in the Colorado Rockies, across 800 miles of Kansas flatlands, through the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia and Maryland — all the way to the Atlantic Ocean in New Jersey.
3,066 miles. 116,449 feet of climbing. One continuous clock that never stops.
For solo riders, the hard cutoff is 288 hours — 12 days. There are no extensions, no exceptions. Miss it by one minute, and you are not a RAAM Finisher. Period.
Jeff Koontz set out from Oceanside at noon on June 16, 2026. Twelve days later, with under an hour to spare, he rolled onto the Boardwalk in Atlantic City and became an Official RAAM Finisher. This is the story of how it happened — and the team that made it possible.
A Seven Person Machine
Crewing RAAM is its own extreme sport.
A solo RAAM racer cannot stop the clock — ever. While Jeff was on the bike, someone had to be in the follow vehicle behind him at all times, within 30 feet after dark. Someone had to be logging every Time Station check-in, monitoring the GPS tracker, prepping nutrition, managing hydration, planning the next hotel, forecasting the finish time against the cutoff, and communicating with Race HQ.
The 7sherpas crew was seven people — six on the road and one holding everything together from HQ. Leticia Militz, General Project Manager, never set foot on the route but her fingerprints were on every detail. Before the race even started, Leticia made sure nothing was left to chance — every logistics piece, every preparation task, every loose end. And throughout the twelve days, she remained on standby from 7sherpas HQ as the team's backup, ready to step in whenever the road crew needed support. The kind of person you never see in the finish line photo, but without whom the finish line doesn't happen.
Team A — Day Anchored
Chris Kittler, Crew Chief & Race Director, handled race strategy, all communications with Race HQ, hotel logistics, and served as the official spokesperson to race officials. JT, Logistics Lead & Navigator, owned food preparation, hydration, van organization, and the route book. Devin Corboy, Mechanic, Medical Backup & Media, kept the bikes and vehicles running, managed all charging systems, and documented the journey.
Team B — Night Anchored
Santiago Mendonça, Acting Crew Chief on the night shift, drove the follow vehicle and kept a constant eye on the GPS tracker, stepping up as the team's decision-maker while Chris rested. Lucélia Santos, Logistics Lead & Navigator, owned every Time Station check-in through the night — a responsibility with zero margin for error — while also managing food, hydration, and navigation. Eric Machado, Medical & Recovery Lead, delivered physiotherapy before every sleep stop, ran the laundry, and handled supply runs to keep Jeff ready to roll out every single morning.
Two teams. One mission. Zero gaps.
The Road Jeff Rode
To understand what the crew managed across those twelve days, you have to understand what Jeff was riding through.
Days 1–2: The Desert.
The race opens with 600 miles of heat — the Sonoran Desert, the Colorado Desert, the
blast-furnace corridor through Arizona. Temperatures above 40°C / 104°F. The crew's entire focus during this stretch was thermoregulation: ice-cold bottles, neck wraps, constant hydration monitoring, weight checks at every stop. Getting into Colorado even slightly dehydrated was not an option.
Days 3–4: The Rockies.
From Cortez to Durango to Wolf Creek Pass — over 10,800 feet, the true high point of the race — the road climbs relentlessly.
The first soft cutoff at Durango (TS 15) came at 81 hours. Jeff cleared it. The crew managed altitude, cold nights, and legs that had already logged 1,000 miles.
Days 5–7: The Plains.
Kansas is the psychological battlefield of RAAM. Eight hundred miles of flat highway, wind, heat, and sameness. No dramatic climbs to break the monotony. Just miles. Crew fatigue peaks here. The 7sherpas team had war-gamed this stretch in advance — morale management was as important as nutrition management. The second soft cutoff at the Mississippi River (TS 35) came at 192 hours. Jeff cleared it.
Days 8–11: The Appalachians and the Final Push.
The last cruel trick RAAM plays on its racers: after 2,800
miles of riding, the Appalachians deliver one final wall. The climb into McHenry, Maryland — nearly 1,400 feet in the final stretch — comes at mile 2,958. With a tired body and a ticking clock, it is the race's last test of character. Jeff climbed it. The crew was right behind him.
On June 28, with under an hour to spare before the hard cutoff, Jeff Koontz crossed the finish line in Atlantic City. Official RAAM Finisher.
TEAM.
The Word That Changed Everything.
When Jeff crossed that finish line, six crew members crossed it with him.
That is one of the things RAAM teaches you that no other race can: you cannot do great things alone.
For the 7sherpas crew, those twelve days were also twelve days of building something — trust forged at 3 AM in rural Missouri, resilience tested by a mechanical issue in Kansas, camaraderie shared over gas station coffee somewhere in Ohio. You learn who people really are in those moments. And you come out the other side knowing that you can trust them with anything.
This is what 7sherpas builds. Not just trips, but stories that last a lifetime.
This Is What We Do
7sherpas was built on a simple belief: sport is one of the most powerful forces in human life for building character, connection, and meaning. We design experiences around that belief — from guided cycling tours along the Pacific Coast to crew support at the most extreme endurance events.
If you have a summit in mind — whatever it looks like — we would love to be your sherpas.
Why sherpas?
When we named our company 7sherpas, it was not by accident.
The sherpas of the Himalayas are among the most extraordinary people on earth. Deeply knowledgeable about the mountain, extraordinarily capable at altitude, and utterly committed to the success of those they guide — they are the reason most Everest summits happen at all. The climber gets the photograph at the top. The sherpas makes sure the climber gets there and comes back.
At 7sherpas, that is our philosophy in everything we do.
Whether we are designing a cycling tour through the California coast or crewing a solo athlete across an entire continent, our job is the same: carry the weight so the athlete can perform. Handle the logistics so they can focus on the road ahead. Be the steady, professional presence that transforms an enormous challenge into an achievable one.
RAAM is the Everest of cycling. Jeff Koontz was the climber. We were his sherpas.
7sherpas is a California-based sports travel company designing iconic endurance experiences. From guided cycling tours to full RAAM crew support, we bring elite-level expertise, flawless logistics, and genuine passion to every journey.
Photos by: Chris Kittler Photography & 7sherpas RAAM 2026 Crew
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