Four-time Race Across America winner Jure Robic, left, of Slovenia took off from Oceanside, California, on his bicycle at noon Wednesday to defend his title against 23 other men entered in the solo division of the 3,022-mile cross-country race.
He's expected to finish sometime on Friday, July June 26, when he pulls into City Dock in Annapolis, Maryland.
This is the 28th running of RAAM, the amazing uber-endurance bicycle race that's the longest, and probably the most difficult, bicycle race in the world.
Teams
Four solo women and one man over 60 started their trans-America uber-endurance bike race at noon Tuesday; the 2-person, 4-person and 8-person teams will leave Oceanside on Saturday.
Those teams include the Grand Pac Masters, a group of cyclists all over the age of 75.
Early route
The cyclists will leave the pleasant marine temperatures of Oceanside and almost immediately begin climbing into the dry grasslands and hot mountains of southern California.
The first of 53 time stations is Lake Henshaw where the route tends downhill and into the deserts of eastern California, Arizona and New Mexico. Most of the solo riders will hit the third time station in Blythe, California, after 8 to 10 hours, as they head into the desert at night.
Among the first group of cyclists who left at noon on Tuesday, Paul Danhaus, 60, was the first to arrive at time station 5 in Congress, Arizona, Wednesday morning, averaging 16.5 mph over his first 346 miles. Next stop for Danhaus was the much cooler Prescott.
(Update: Woman solo racer Janet Christiansen leads that category going into Prescott.)
Robic
Of all the RAAM competitors, 49-year-old has the best-ever record with four wins. While being a strong cyclist, his strategy seems basically to keep his butt on the saddle.
Winning four of the past five years, Robic is expected to be the first solo cyclist to reach Annapolis again this year.
(Interesting side note: If you check out his helmet in the picture here, you'll see that it says “I Feel Slovenia” with the S and NIA rubbed out so it reads, “I Feel love”.)
Following RAAM
RAAM is a 24-7 race with more than 59 solo and team entries competing over a 3,000-mile course.
Here are some ways to check the progress of the cyclists at the RAAM website:
Rank report, where time station reports are given by category
Also follow RAAM on Twitter at RAAMrace, the official site, or #RAAM.
Team and individual blogs, websites
Team Osprey — Janet Christiansen
Photo above from Roberto63 at flickr.com
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