From Sea to Shining Sea, Riders Face Long Road Across America : Cycling: Competitors subsist on little sleep and a liquid diet while trying to finish the 2,922-mile race.
Long-distance bicycling’s annual ode to the open road, the Race Across America, begins today.
The ninth annual race will take 45 riders of varying ability and motivation 2,922 miles from the start at the Holiday Inn in Irvine to Rousakis Plaza in downtown Savannah, Ga.
Thirty-three men, six women and three tandem teams will pass through 10 states, traveling from sea level to more than 10,000 feet in elevation on the nation’s back roads. They’ll ride through the dry southwestern heat and the humidity of the Southeast.
Along the way they’ll pass through Monument Valley in Arizona and later ride along the Civil Rights route from Selma to Montgomery, Ala.
The riders, accompanied by family and friends in support vans or recreational vehicles, will begin in a pack at 9 a.m. today. When they finish eight to 11 days later, they will be spread out over several states.
The field includes a 58-year-old from Miami, a surgeon from Des Moines, Iowa, who set a double transcontinental record in last year’s race, and a Vietnam veteran from San Juan Capistrano with an artificial leg. Fifteen riders, including four women, are riding in their first RAAM.
Each hopes to cover the 2,922-mile route, finishing less than 48 hours behind the winner in their division.
Those who do will win a $400 RAAM ring, a slap on the back, and a good night’s sleep. Nothing more. To that end, the riders will forgo sleep, dozing for less than two hours a night. You snooze, you lose.
They’ll average 300 miles or more a day, subsisting on a high-calorie, high carbohydrate nutritional drink.
Those who fall more than 48 hours off the pace can continue to the finish line, but their finish will be considered unofficial.
And speaking of winners, there are no former RAAM champions in the individual field. Last year’s winner Paul Solon of Tiburon, Calif., broke his thumb and injured his shoulder avoiding a cattle truck on a training ride last week and will not compete.
Last year, Solon set a RAAM record by riding from Costa Mesa to New York City in 8 days 8 hours 45 minutes. It has since been broken by Mike Secrest, who last month pedaled 2,916 miles from Huntington Beach to Atlantic City in 7 days 23 hours 16 minutes to raise money for the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra.
Seven past finishers will be chasing Secrest’s record, including Bob Fourney of Denver and Jim Penseyres of San Juan Capistrano. Penseyres lost his left leg four inches below the knee when he stepped on a land mine during the Vietnam War.
Fourney is the Albuquerque-to-Denver record-holder and last year teamed with Penseyres and two others to win the human-powered vehicle race. Penseyres, 43, was an unofficial finisher in 1985 and was 13th in the 1987 RAAM. This is his first RAAM since ’87.
They will be joined by Victor Gallo, 58, the record-holder in the Miami-to-Portland (Me.) ride and the oldest rider to attempt RAAM.
The women’s record also was set in last year’s race. It took Susan Notorangelo of Harvard, Ill., 9 days 9 hours 9 minutes to finish. But she is riding with the support crew of her husband, Lon Haldeman.
Cheryl Marek of Seattle and Nancy Raposo of Newport, R.I., are the only two veteran riders in the six-woman field.
The tandem racers, competing in RAAM for the first time, will be trying to better the cross-country record of 7 days 14 hours 55 minutes.
Pete Penseyres, Jim’s older brother and a Fallbrook resident, and Haldeman, both two-time RAAM winners, will face a tough challenge from Bob Breedlove of Des Moines, Iowa, and Roger Charleville of Cincinnati, past RAAM finishers. Haldeman won the first two RAAMs, in 1982 and ’83.