(Update: June 21 — RAAM cyclists roll to the finish)
I may be nothing more than a recreational bicycling hack, but my style of cycling has more in common with elite racers in the Tour de France than those competing in the Race Across America.
Basically, my rides begin and end on the same date and in the same time zone. Not so the RAAM, which is passing through Missouri and into Illinois on Saturday. Cyclists who started this race on Sunday in California stay on their bikes as long as possible without sleep on their way across the continent to Atlantic City, New Jersey.
They are a completely different breed. Race reports from RAAM writer Danny Chew are so bizarre they can't be fiction. Consider:
One cyclist — Jonathan Boyer — has been tucked into his aerobars so long that he can't hold his head up to see. His support crew duct-taped a cardboard column on his handlebar to support his chin. He wouldn't consider stopping.
Another — Kevin Wallace — can't talk because of a dry throat. Kenny Souza suffered “a bout with pneumonia” in Utah and Colorado. A member of one of the teams collided with a vehicle, got sewn up with 80 stitches, and is back in the race. Solo racer Guus Moonen slept a grand total of 30 minutes between Oceanside, California, and Durango, Colorado.
You want to hear more obstacles? All the racers are facing 35 to 40 mph winds as they pass through Kansas. It's the worst winds in the 25-year history of RAAM, race official Lon Haldeman, winner of the first RAAM, told VeloNews. It varies from a slight headwind to a direct sidewind that knocked riders all over the road. One rider lost control and fell because of the winds.
The cyclists aren't the only ones suffering. How about the support crews. One of Boyer's support vehicles crashed when the driver fell asleep. Another crew destroyed a bike on a van roof when it drove under low clearance; still another bicycle damaged when a crew vehicle ran over it.
The solo winner for the past two years, Jure Robic of Slovenia, dropped out of RAAM in Colorado when he started coughing up blood. Reports say Robic was not 100% prior to the race — what the hell, he's only going for a 3,000-mile bike ride — and the race may have exacerbated a viral infection.
Check in at the RAAM website as the race crosses the Mississippi River and enters the eastern US. In addition to Chew's Views RAAM reports, there is an animated progress map, and live streaming video from the ViaSat team.
Recent Comments