Race Across America
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The Race Across America, or RAAM, is an ultra marathon bicycle race across the USA that started in 1982 as the Great American Bike Race. RAAM is arguably the best-known and longest annual endurance cycling event in the world.
The exact course of the race has varied substantially during its history, 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 of the race 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 one or more vehicles to provide food, water, and other supplies. A crew vehicle fitted with flashing lights is required to follow closely behind the rider at all times to ensure they are visible.
Having to ride continuously for days with little to no sleep places tremendous strain on RAAM's participants. As many as 50% of solo participants drop out of the race due to exhaustion or for medical reasons. The race takes place on open public roads, forcing its 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 of crash are sketchy because he was by himself (his support crew was a few miles behind him) and the only other witnesses were in the vehicle that collided with him. Outside investigated the crash in its November, 2006 issue.[1] Perhaps in response to this accident, in 2006 the race format changed slightly with the addition of a "Solo Enduro" division in which riders are required to rest (off the bike) for a total of forty hours at specified Control Points spread across the country. The forty hours are deducted from a rider's total elapsed time at the end of the race. These changes were intended to improve rider safety and shift the emphasis toward long-distance riding speed and away from the capacity to endure sleep deprivation. The "Solo Traditional" division remains as it was before; lowest elapsed time from West coast to East Coast. The official winner is the one in the "Solo Enduro" division. In 2008, the race will start on the 8th of June in Oceanside, CA, and the first solo is expected to arrive around the 17th of June in Annapolis, MD.
The race is held in several divisions. In 2006 those were:
- Men's Solo Traditional
- Men's Solo Enduro
- Female Solo Traditional
- Two Person Male
- Two Person Mixed
- Two Person Recumbent
- Four Person Male
- Four Person Male HPV
- Four Person Female
- Four Person Mixed
- Four Person Tandem
- Corporate Challenge
- 24 Hour Corporate Challenge
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[edit] 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 first race. The race was televised on ABC's Wide World of Sports through 1986.
The Results for the 1982 race were:
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Finish Winner Location Time Average Speed 1 Lon Haldeman Harvard, IL 9d 20h 02m 12.57 mph 2 John Howard Houston, TX 10d 10h 59m 11.83 mph 3 Michael Shermer Tustin, CA 10d 19h 54m 11.42 mph 4 John Marino Irvine, CA 12d 07h 37m 10.04 mph
[edit] Records
Because the course has varied in length and difficulty over the years, performances in different years are sometimes not comparable. Records are usually recorded in terms of average speed, not total time, to account in part for the different course lengths. The fastest men's average speed for a crossing was by Pete Penseyres in 1986, when he rode 3107 miles (5000 km) at 15.40 miles per hour (mph) (24.8 km/h) to finish in 8 days, 9 hours, and 47 minutes. The fastest woman to ride the race was Seana Hogan in 1995, who averaged 13.23 mph (21.3 km/h) to finish 2912 miles (4686 km) in 9 days, 4 hours, 2 minutes. The shortest elapsed time ever for a crossing was actually outside of an official RAAM, by Michael Secrest in 1990, when he finished in 7 days 23 hours.
[edit] List of overall winners
This is an all-time list of winners of Race Across America in Men's Solo category.
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Year Winner Nationality Route Miles Time 1982 Lon Haldeman 
United StatesSanta Monica Pier, CA to Empire State Building, NY 2968 9 days 20 h 02 min 1983 Lon Haldeman United StatesSanta Monica Pier, CA to Boardwalk, Atlantic City, NJ 3170 10 days 16 h 29 min 1984 Pete Penseyres United StatesHuntington Beach, CA to Boardwalk, Atlantic City, NJ 3047 9 days 13 h 13 min 1985 Jonathan Boyer United StatesHuntington Beach, CA to Boardwalk, Atlantic City, NJ 3120 9 days 02 h 06 min 1986 Pete Penseyres United StatesHuntington Beach, CA to Boardwalk, Atlantic City, NJ 3107 8 days 09 h 47 min 1987 Michael Secrest United StatesSan Francisco, CA to Washington Monument, D.C 3127 9 days 11 h 35 min 1988 Franz Spilauer 
AustriaSan Francisco, CA to Washington Monument, D.C 3073 9 days 07 h 09 min 1989 Paul Solon United StatesFairgrounds, Irvine, CA to Battery Park, NY City, NY 2911 8 days 08 h 45 min 1990 Bob Fourney United StatesHoliday Inn, Irvine, CA to Rousakis Plaza, Savannah, GA 2930 8 days 11 h 26 min 1991 Bob Fourney United StatesHoliday Inn, Irvine, CA to Rousakis Plaza, Savannah, GA 2930 8 days 16 h 44 min 1992 Rob Kish United StatesHoliday Inn, Irvine, CA to Rousakis Plaza, Savannah, GA 2911 8 days 03 h 11 min 1993 Gerry Tatrai 
AustraliaHoliday Inn, Irvine, CA to Rousakis Plaza, Savannah, GA 2910 8 days 20 h 19 min 1994 Rob Kish United StatesHoliday Inn, Irvine, CA to Rousakis Plaza, Savannah, GA 2901 8 days 14 h 25 min 1995 Rob Kish United StatesHoliday Inn, Irvine, CA to Rousakis Plaza, Savannah, GA 2912 8 days 19 h 59 min 1996 Daniel Chew United StatesHoliday Inn, Irvine, CA to Rousakis Plaza, Savannah, GA 2905 8 days 07 h 14 min 1997 Wolfgang Fasching AustriaHoliday Inn, Irvine, CA to Rousakis Plaza, Savannah, GA 3025 9 days 04 h 50 min 1998 Gerry Tatrai AustraliaHoliday Inn, Irvine, CA to Rousakis Plaza, Savannah, GA 2906 8 days 11 h 22 min 1999 Danny Chew United StatesHoliday Inn, Irvine, CA to Rousakis Plaza, Savannah, GA 2938 8 days 7 h 34 min 2000 Wolfgang Fasching AustriaPortland, Oregon to Pensacola Beach , Florida 2975.1 8 days 10 h 19 min 2001 Andrea Clavadetscher 
LiechtensteinPortland, Oregon to Pensacola Beach , Florida 2983.2 9 days 00 h 17 min 2002 Wolfgang Fasching AustriaPortland, Oregon to Pensacola Beach , Florida 2991.9 9 days 03 h 38 min 2003 Allen Larsen United StatesSan Diego, CA to Atlantic City, NJ 2921.7 8 days 23 h 36 min 2004 Jure Robič 
SloveniaSan Diego, CA to Atlantic City, NJ 2958.5 8 days 09 h 51 min 2005 Jure Robič SloveniaSan Diego, CA to Atlantic City, NJ 3051.7 9 days 8 h 48 min 2006 Solo Traditional Daniel Wyss 
SwitzerlandOceanside, CA to Atlantic City, NJ 3042.8 9 days 11 h 50 min 2006 Solo Enduro Jonathan Boyer United StatesOceanside, CA to Atlantic City, NJ 3042.8 10 days 0 h 52 min 2007 Jure Robič SloveniaOceanside, CA to Atlantic City, NJ 3042.8 8 days 19 h 33 min
