Searing desert heat; stiff Kansas winds; long grades and steep hills; and night after day after night cycling is coming to an end for the bicyclists in the Race Across America.
The RAAM teams started rolling across the finish line at the Boardwalk in Atlantic City on Monday, 3,042 miles and about 5 1/2 days after leaving Oceanside, California. The solo riders began coasting across the finish line last night, nine days after leaving the West Coast.
The fastest solo rider, Daniel Wyss, finished in 9 days, 11 hours and 50 minutes, averaging 13.36 mph. The Swiss cyclist first caught the lead in Utah, but would slip behind and have to recapture as the cyclists passed through Colorado, Illinois and Ohio.
The 36-year-old got by on 80 minutes of sleep a night and a 15-minute nap during the day (many of us would consider 80 minutes a night merely a nap).
In passing Italian Fabio Biasiolo in Illinois, rookie RAAM rider Wyss realized the danger of pushing too hard. “I went harder than I was comfortable with, and then I realized how hard the RAAM is to people who do this,” VeloNews quotes Wyss at the finish line. Three other solo riders arrived within 10 hours of Wyss.
As Wyss won the traditional solo men's division, the enduro solo division is still on the course. This year, RAAM instituted a race that required cyclists to get at least 40 hours of sleep throughout the race. The idea was that perhaps the enduro riders could beat the traditional riders because they were more rested. (More about enduro vs. traditional at RAAM.)
Not so, as four of the traditional solo racers are in and no enduro riders have crossed the finish line. The fastest of the enduros, Jonathan Boyer, has been riding 12.59 mph. (Boyer is a former RAAM winner; he's also the first American in the Tour de France.) However, when the off-bike time is computed, Marko Baloh is leading that division.
A member of a Swiss cycling team is recovering in a St. Louis area hospital after he was struck by a truck near Alton, Illinois, Saturday night. Daniel Maegerle was a member of the Swiss team Damovo. He's suffering from broken ribs, broken bones in his back, and lung and liver trauma. More at St. Louis Today.
Check back with the RAAM website for more winners.
Earlier RAAM coverage:
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