Cycling

RAAM – RACE ACROSS AMERICA

The Race Across America (RAAM), an annual ultra-marathon cycling race that has been running between the West and East coasts of the USA since 1982 over a course length of approximately 4,800 km and a duration of approximately one week, is one of the most respected and longest cycling endurance sports events in the world. RAAM is the pinnacle of sports achievements not only in cycling circles, but also in the wider sports community, the highest rung of the sports endurance ladder.

The Race Across America, or RAAM, is a race that began in 1982 as the Great American Bike Race. The route has changed over the years, but the direction has always been from the west to the east coast of the USA.

In recent years, the route runs from the start in the city of Oceanside near San Diego on the Pacific coast to the city of Annapolis on the Atlantic coast. At first it runs through the desert regions of California, Arizona, Utah, climbs into the mountains of Colorado, and flows on through the flat prairie states of the Midwest, to the largest American rivers Missouri and Mississippi and towards the capital of the United States, Washington.

The race is extreme in all respects, both in the length of the route that must be covered and in the altitude; over three days, it first descends 52 meters below sea level, from where it climbs into the Colorado mountains to its highest point, the 3,300m high Wolf Creek Pass. The temperature differences are also extreme, changing during the first three days from the hellish 45 degrees Celsius in the desert to the scorching 5 degrees Celsius in the mountain areas of the route.

It differs from normal stage cycling races in that it is not divided into individual stages, but runs throughout, and the racers set their own time for rest and food. It takes place in more than twenty competition classes, of which the most important and high-profile is the men’s solo. Solo racers have a maximum of 12 days until the end of the race, the fastest finish in just over eight days, and team racers have a maximum of nine days, with most finishing in around seven and a half days.

The special feature of the race is not in its competitiveness, because usually in a race between about 150 participants and 30 riders on the most difficult, “solo” test, only a handful of those can actually fight for the win. For the vast majority of others, it is a competition with themselves, with their limitations. An average race is successfully completed by 40% of registered cyclists, which means between 10 and 15 competitors in solo categories. In recent years, the best has been Austrian Christoph Strasser. With his latest victory, he improved the record of Jure Robič, who won five times.

What it means to reach the destination in 8 to 12 days, to cycle a route more than 4,800 kilometers long with more than 52,000 meters of altitude difference and pass 55 time points, practically without major stops, is known only to those who overcome it.
Good luck!