Story and Photos by Rob Lucas
June 17th, Oceanside, California – June 29th, Annapolis, Maryland
The Race Across America (RAAM) has been called the world’s toughest sporting event. So what’s so tough about this event? The competitors ride their bikes from Oceanside, CA to Annapolis. MD which is just over 3,000 miles. The time cut-off is 12 days. This is equivalent to riding the Tour de France 1.5 times in less than half the time.
In addition to the solo division, there are several different team divisions. There are 2 person, 4 person, 8 person and open number of riders. Also last year the Race Across the West was started which covers the first 1,000 miles of the race.
Unlike most races, RAAM doesn’t have stages and no mandatory rest time. The top riders will ride across California and a good ways of Arizona before they first sleep for a couple hours. Top riders are on the bike 22 hours or more a day and cover over 300 miles day after day. Those that don’t average 250 miles a day are pulled from the race.
Strange things happen when racers push their bodies so hard and are so sleep deprived. Feet swell and riders often cut parts of their shoes out. Hallucinations are common. Racers have thought their crews had them riding in circles.
The first couple days the racers are baked in the desert heat of California and Arizona. The Rockies of Colorado and New Mexico bring cooler temperatures but tough mountain climbs and thin air. From there the flats of Kansas give relief from climbing but the boredom can challenging. Missouri brings a lot of little climbs that take their toll. The flats across Illinois and Indiana are a nice reprieve before tough climbing in Ohio and West Virginia.
This week 24 solo men and 4 solo women will line up for the 28th edition of RAAM. Odds are almost half of them will not make it to Annapolis.
Jure Robic from Slovenia has won RAAM a record 4 times and is back for a 5th win. He’ll have some tough competition though. Dani Wyss won in 2006 when Robic dropped out with pneumonia. Wyss is the only other former winner racing but Marko Baloh finished 2nd in 2006. Last year veteran Gerhard Gulewicz stayed within minutes of Robic before crashing in Colorado.
In the 2 person team category, the E-HUB TEAM is the favorite. Slovenian Tomaz Percic from last year’s winning 2 man team has teamed up with Erik Rosenstein. In the 4 person category, the Austrian Triathlon Team and Team Strong Heart are 2 teams to watch. In the 8 person category, returning teams Team Type 1 and Team ViaSat should do well.
In a change this year, the solo racers are not starting on the weekend. Instead solo women are starting Tuesday, June 14th, and solo men and Race Across the West competitors start Wednesday, June 15th. Relay teams will start on Saturday June 20th. The goal is to have several racers finishing on the weekend instead of during the week.
Send you race and event reports to andrew@missingsaddle.com
