Coast-to-Coast Bicycle Race Begins Today in San Francisco

Race Across America (RAAM), a coast-to-coast, 3,117-mile bicycle race in which several Orange County riders will participate, starts today at 11 a.m. from Crissy Field in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park and will finish at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.

After leaving San Francisco, the 27 men and seven women cyclists will wind their way up to Sacramento, over to Carson City, Nev., on to Provo, Utah, through Denver; Topeka, Kan.; Indianapolis; Columbus, Ohio; West Virginia; Virginia, and on to Washington.

Most of the riders will take breaks of less than two hours per day for sleep and massage.

Last year’s RAAM champion, Pete Penseyres, 43, of Fallbrook, finished the 1986 course (3,120 miles) in 8 days, 9 hours and 47 minutes. Penseyres was followed by Lon Haldeman of Harvard, Ill., and Matt Beerer of Garden Grove. Penseyres also won the 1984 RAMM.

Beerer, 24, a computer technician, is the only top racer returning this year. Penseyres will serve as the support crew captain for his brother, James K. Penseyres, 39, a machinist for a Huntington Beach-based utilities company.

The younger Penseyres, who must wear a prosthetic from the knee down because of a Vietnam War injury, finished the 1985 RAAM and hopes to place in the top 10 this week.

Other Orange County competitors include UC Berkeley student Chris Kostman, 20, of La Habra and Dennis Bock, 39, an electrical engineer from Costa Mesa.

Curt Eury, 38, of Huntington Beach, a finisher in last year’s RAAM, scratched from the race last week because of time and financial constraints. Each entrant needs an estimated $10,000 worth of equipment and supplies to finish the race.