Race Across America

The Race Across America, or RAAM, is an ultra marathon bicycle race across the United States that started in 1982 as the Great American Bike Race. RAAM is among the best-known and longest annual endurance cycling events in the world.

The course has varied but has always been from the West Coast to East Coast of the United States, approximately 3,000 miles (4800 km). In 2007, the course was from Oceanside, California, to Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Unlike most multi-day bicycle races, RAAM has no stages or designated rest periods. Instead, the clock runs continuously from start to finish. The winner usually finishes in eight to nine days, after riding approximately 22 hours per day through the varied terrain of the US. Each racer has a crew that follows in vehicles to provide food, water, and other supplies. During the night, a vehicle with flashing lights is required to follow the rider to ensure safety.

Having to ride continuously for days with little to no sleep places strain on participants. As many as 50% of solo participants drop due to exhaustion or for medical reasons. The race takes place on open roads, forcing participants to deal with traffic. Since 1982, there were two fatalities in the race. In 2005, solo participant Bob Breedlove was killed in a collision with an oncoming vehicle. Details are sketchy because he was by himself (his support crew was a few miles behind) and the only witnesses were in the vehicle that collided with him. "Outside" investigated the crash in its November, 2006 issue. [http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200611/bob-breedlove-biking-death-7.html] In 2006 the race format changed with the addition of a Solo Enduro division in which riders rest off the bike for a total of 40 hours at specified points across the country. The 40 hours are deducted from a rider's total time at the end of the race. These changes were to improve safety and shift the emphasis to long-distance riding speed and away from the capacity to endure sleep deprivation. The Solo Traditional division remains lowest elapsed time from west coast to east coast. The official winner is the one in the Solo Enduro. In 2008, the race started on 8 June in Oceanside, CA, and the first solo was expected to arrive around 17 June in Annapolis, MD.

The race is held in several divisions. In 2008 those were:
* RAAM: Solo Female
* RAAM: Solo Male
* RAAM: Solo Male (50-59)
* RAAM: Solo Male (60-69)
* RAAM: Solo Male - Recumbent (50-59)
* RAAM: Two Person Male
* RAAM: Two Person Male (50-59)
* RAAM: Two Person Mixed
* RAAM: Four Person Male
* RAAM: Four Person Male (50-59)
* RAAM: Four Person Male (60-69)
* RAAM: Four Person Female
* RAAM: Four Person Female (50-59)
* RAAM: Four Person Mixed
* RAAM: Four Person Mixed (50-59)
* RAAM: Eight Person
* Race Across the West: Solo Male
* Race Across the West: Solo Male (50-59)
* Race Across the West: Solo Female
* Race Across the West: Two Person Mixed (50-59)
* Race Across the West: Four Person Male
* 24 Hour: Four Person Female
* 24 Hour: Eight Person

Great American Bike Race

The Great American Bike Race was originally organized by John Marino in 1982. There were four competitors, John Marino, John Howard, Michael Shermer, and Lon Haldeman. The course started in Santa Monica, California and finished at the Empire State Building in New York City. Haldeman won. The race was televised on ABC's "Wide World of Sports" through 1986.

1982 race: :

Records

Because the course has varied, performances are not comparable. Records are usually recorded in average speed, not total time, to account in part for the different course lengths. The fastest men's speed was by Pete Penseyres in 1986, when he rode 3107 miles (5000 km) at 15.40mph (24.8 km/h) in 8 days, 9 hours, and 47 minutes. The fastest woman was Seana Hogan in 1995, who averaged 13.23mph (21.3 km/h) to finish 2912 miles (4686 km) in 9 days, 4 hours, 2 minutes. The shortest elapsed time for a crossing was outside an official RAAM, by Michael Secrest in 1990, in 7 days 23 hours.

List of overall winners

This is an all-time list of winners of Race Across America in Men's Solo category.

:

External links

* [http://www.raceacrossamerica.org Race Across America]
* [http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/files/raaminformation/RAAMrecords.html Race Across America records]