Here it is Thursday evening, four days after Sunday's start of the Race Across America for solo cyclists, and Jure Robic has passed the halfway point in the 3,000-mile race.
Robic is the 43-year-old ultra-endurance athlete from Slovenia who is attempting his fourth solo win at RAAM. Early estimates put him across the finish line in Annapolis, Maryland, sometime on Monday afternoon or evening.
The live coverage of RAAM notes that Robic had been bucking stiff winds in western Kansas overnight, yet he's still some 180 miles ahead of the closest three solo men trailing him — David Haase, Mark Pattinson, Julian Sanz Garcia. From the start in Oceanside on Sunday, Robic is averaging 15.2 mph, including catnaps.
DNFs
Sadly, several cyclists have had to drop out. One is David Holt, who I've been closely following via a Twitter feed set up by crewmember Rob Lucas of UltraRob Adventures.
About two days ago, Rob sent out a couple of queries from New Mexico regarding where Holt's team might find some Assos chamois creme. It doesn't take much imagination to figure out what was happening there.
Holt, riding in the 50- to 59-year-old class, was in so much pain that he stopped eating and that made it difficult to ride through the frigid night in the mountains. He had to quit at the time station in Antonito, Colorado.
Crash
Among the other riders to DNF is Richard Rupp in the 60-69 category, who suffered a crash coming down Hesperas Mountain near Durango. The wind caught his bike and he lost control. In an interview at the RAAM website:
“I was going 45 or 50 miles an hour and went into a wobble and went down and broke my fall with my hand. I ground the first and second joints of my left index down to the bone. My face was the other point of contact. I got sort of a major Dermabrasion. I ground my left eyebrow off. My lip is pretty beat up and I broke off a tooth.”
He expects to be riding again soon.
Teams
Although Robic leads the solo race, there is a two-man fixie team just ahead of him — the Gran Fondo Fixies. Jeff Bauer and Kevin Kaiser are riding relay fashion. Their blog, which reminds readers they're riding “coast to coast without coasting,” mentions a strange race within the race near Clayton, New Mexico:
“(Kevin) was cruising along when he came upon and startled an antelope. (This is where they, and the deer, play, if you didn't know.) So, anyhow, the antelope starts running along, pacing Kevin. Kevin starts to sprint, and the antelope picks it up to keep pace. Then, the antelope starts to come over on Kevin, when a jackrabbit from the other side of the road starts into the race. Finally, the other animals give up and Kevin rides on, alone again.”
Plugged in
This race is certainly plugged in. The official RAAM website features a stats report that lists riders locations, mph, and more by time station, and a race animation that shows the race progressing across a map of the US. The live coverage blog features video, photos and text updates from RAAM correspondents and volunteers.
The Jure Robic blog features a live webcam of him cycling down the road, just in case you're homesick for Kansas or wherever he might be next.
All the teams started off on Wednesday. Many of them are raising funds for worthwhile causes. You can browse the list of teams at RAAM racers, or check a story I did in March about some of the charities that are benefiting from their efforts.
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