The annual Race Across America bicycle race began on Tuesday. Last year an Austrian, Christoph Strasser, broke the speed record when he finished in 7 day, 22 hours and 11 minutes. He is ahead of that time already and is riding a great race. To put it into perspective, on his first 24 hours, Christoph had rode his bike over 520 miles! They started on Tuesday afternoon in Oceanside, CA. This afternoon he crossed the Kansas state line and at present is near Dodge City, KS, having ridden just shy of 1400 miles already. At this pace he will probably be around the half way point sometime tonight. The race is right around 3,000 miles total and the clock runs once the rider leaves the starting gate so sleep time, potty time, food, clothes change, bike change, tire change, etc, all combine to make the rider's average speed a bit lower. Since he got into Kansas his speed has been around 20-26 mph but that has to be tough because there is a strong cross wind with the wind gusting to 39 mph. However, he has a lead of 285 miles over second place. That can vary as riders stop for sleep or other things. Also, when the racers were crossing the desert in CA, the temperatures reached 126 degrees. Last night some riders saw 30's. So far not much rain, which is unusual. After the riders reach Missouri, then the humidity really picks up as do the insects, especially mosquitoes. I've never crossed Missouri without seeing rain either so no doubt they will also be riding in rain. Some riders don't even stop for that. They simply put on their rain gear while still riding the bike!! That can be interesting too. A couple years ago one rider was doing just that and got some clothing stuck in the front spokes and over he went. Ended up in the hospital pretty beaten up. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this race turns out. On the female side, we have a rookie, a doctor from Alaska who is tearing up the course. She is ahead of some very strong male riders and doing very well. This race was one of my dreams that has not came true. From the very first race, I wanted to ride in it. However, time and injuries have taken their toll so I'm just happy now that I was able to be on several crews and have met many of the riders both from our country and many from other countries.
How do you keep track of the race? Is there a web-site? You've probably posted before, but that was somewhere else.
http://tractalis.com/raam2014/ They all have GPS on the bikes and this program updates really often. Let me know if you have problems with it.
Hope you can get it. There have been 3 reports from RAAM headquarters. They aren't much but do give some of the flavor of the race and what it is all about. In the second video, around 1 minute in, there is a good video of a crash. The guy was going downhill and had a blowout on his front tire. Ouch!
I went over the handlebars of my Schwinn back in the day. Not fun, but no serious pain......that I remember. I don't like seeing crashes. A little sand, or water, or gravel, and down you go under the right conditions.
A little bit of interesting data. Strasser set a new record for the first 3 days averaging 453 miles per day and almost 19 mph. He is presently in Missouri. Looks like the weather may be turning wet soon. They've battled some pretty good wind in KS but most seem to be taking it well.
Doesn't he sleep? 453 miles/day @ that speed would take almost 24 hours. I'm confused. Did I screw up the calcs?
Yes, he does sleep, but not much. He did not sleep in the first 2 days though. After that he probably gets about 90 minutes per day, give or take. Ya, that is tough. For sure this race is not for the weak! That is why I am not riding. Actually, it is very typical for most to go the first 500 miles without any sleep. I recall one rider going down for sleep around 500 miles and after 35 or 40 minutes, he was not able to sleep so got up and rode another 150 miles before laying down again. Like I stated, these guys are animals....but tough ones.
Was only part of the ride that day but , I rode a Harley up Palomar Mtn. , It's 9 miles up IIRC, was fun , It was 101 degrees that day though. At that time my daughter lived in De Anza Cove, she's in La Jolla now Edit, many curves on the Mtn. don't have any rails at all, you screw up your gone
Lead rider is still in Ohio but will be in WV soon. That starts one of the worst parts of the race for the riders. The eastern mountains much different from the western mountains. Out west, the climbs are long and tall. Out east, they are not as tall but are steeper and more numerous. Just get down from one and there is another climb ahead of you. This is after 2600-2800 miles already rode. It is tough for sure. Strasser should be arriving in Annapolis, MD some time tomorrow night. If so, he will shatter his record that he set last year. My hat is off to him.
When you were talking about bike I thought you mean motorcycle, not bicycle! Those guys much have legs the sizes of fridges to pedal 3000 miles in a go!
You can tell looking at his legs that they are not oversized but very lean. He is also on a 100% liquid diet through the race which helps the digestive so that energy goes to the legs rather than the guts. Crews sometimes have a job keeping the rider motivated and awake. Here one is having some fun and giving him a laugh. This was on an 8% grade in WV today. As of right now he has 179 miles to the finish.
