Snyder - Hell on two wheels: an astonishing story of suffering, triumph, and the most extreme endurance race in the world

Contents

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Prologue

La Vale, Maryland, June 25, 2009, 5:30 am

His legs were churning the pedals like massive pistons, pushing him along a quiet country road as the sun began to rise. His puffy, sun-scorched face was expressionless, and his lips were cracked and bleeding. He simply squinted down at the road through almost-shut eyes, barely able to turn his head as the pavement curved before him. There was nothing left physically. He was driving himself forward on sheer willpower. His crew chief radioed navigation instructions to him along with words of encouragement.

Left at the stop. Looking good.

He was digging so deeply he could taste his own bile. Hed been racing for almost eight days and nights with only a couple hours of sleep since leaving the Pacific coast on his transcontinental odyssey. Despite his staggering exhaustion he was managing a steady pace over rolling terrain approaching the exurbs of BaltimoreWashington, D.C. Hed already covered 2,800 miles; only 230 to go. Hed see the finish line in less than 15 hours. He was leading the race, but he was being hunted by a determined adversary, and his lead was shrinking.

A small climb ahead. Stay focused.

It was impossible to know what he was thinking. Was he present in the moment, or had his mind gone blank? Maybe he was somewhere elseperhaps in the mountains near his home, or playing a game with his young son. He turned a huge gear, and his slow cadence seemed poorly matched to the frantic mood out on the course. Through his radio came one more command, the only one that mattered now.

Go, go, go.

Introduction

The Race Across America (RAAM) is the most brutal organized sporting event youve never heard of and one of the best-kept secrets in the sports world. The scope of this epic event spans the continent, starting at the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, California, and ending at the Atlantic near Washington, D.C. It takes the winners about nine days to finish and the rest a couple of days more. The conditions are extreme and unpredictable, and nobody finishes the race unscathed.

Called the toughest test of endurance in the world by Outside magazine, RAAM is a bicycle race like no other. Once the starting gun goes off, the clock doesnt stop, so if you sleep, you lose. The first rider to complete the prescribed 3,000-mile route is the victor. A distance thats almost impossible to imagine traveling under ones own power, 3,000 miles is the equivalent of 114 marathon routes laid out end to end. Or 21 Ironman triathlon routes. Or the distance the average American will drive in two and a half months. During the race contestants climb more than 100,000 feet (nearly 20 miles straight upthree and a half times the height of Mount Everest), taking on the Rockies, the Ozarks, and the Appalachians in the process. Temperatures range from 125 degrees in the desert to 30 degrees atop mountain passes. Exposed to the elements day and night, racers must average between 230 and 250 miles every day just to make the time cutoffs placed every 1,000 miles along the course. The winners cover 350 miles each day and most survive on about an hour of sleep during each 24-hour cycle.

This race is nothing like its more famous cousin, the Tour de France. It offers none of the made-for-TV splendor of that grand European stage race. RAAM is decidedly less glamorous and far more savage. It takes participants to the limits of their physical and mental endurance, and in contrast to the compelling visuals of the Tour, its often not a pretty sight.

As a lifelong cyclist and three-time Ironman finisher, even I was aghast when I first learned about RAAM. With a little bit of luck, a reasonably fit and determined person can finish an Ironman-length triathlon in less than three-quarters of a day. I knew I could never push myself beyond this, and that compelled me to discover how other athletes can and why they choose to do so. Then I learned that my friend George Vargas was preparing to compete in RAAM as part of a two-man team. After following Georges progress across the continent and discussing his experience afterward, I realized that RAAM is much more than a race. I became convinced that this monsterthis crucibleheld lessons for us all.

Even with its stringent qualifying standards, I learned that half of all solo starters fail to finish RAAM. All are plagued by ghastly problems, including life-threatening respiratory emergencies, muscle and joint failure, nerve damage, heat stroke, and crashes caused by lack of sleep. Most racers get less than three hours of sleep during each day; those aspiring to win the race usually permit themselves only a brief power nap here and there. Sleep deprivation leads most racers to hallucinate, sometimes for hours on end.

So who are these people, and what drives them to endure such staggering amounts of punishment? To find the answers I spent time with a handful of contestants prior to the 2009 race. I got to know them and their families, then followed the race for two weeks in a minivan along with Les Handy, a longtime RAAM aficionado and an accomplished amateur bike racer. Watching this relentless contest unfold was considerably more disturbing than I expected. As it dragged on, I saw how RAAM transformed my new friends, brutalized them, and at times broke their spirits. I bore witness to their suffering, but it was their passion and grit that stuck with me most.

After two amazing weeks traveling the back roads of America from one coast to the other, I was forever changed by my experience of this race and its contestants. Everyone who encounters RAAM says it changes their own limiting thoughts and feelings. This is more than just a raceits an allegory about overcoming personal limitations, self-discovery, and the power of the human spirit. And its a story that needs to be told.

But I soon discovered that telling the story of RAAM wouldnt be easy.

For one thing, its almost impossible to comprehend what it feels like to propel oneself over a distance of 3,000 miles in a matter of days. Heres one way to think about it: it would take the average jogger who runs three miles a day, five days a week, nearly four years to cover this distance.

Another reason its difficult conveying the monstrous nature of RAAM is because it shares little in common with some better-known extreme sporting challenges. Take the Tour de France. RAAM is half as long as that 23-day-long spectacle, but its condensed into a far shorter time frame. Each of the Tour de Frances daily stages calls for about five hours of racing, much of that time spent riding in a group sheltered from the wind in a 200-strong peloton of riders. At night, Tour contestants enjoy gourmet meals, physical therapy, and a decent nights sleep. RAAM cyclists, on the other hand, average 22 hours of racing each day. Unlike their ProTour brethren, they are forbidden from taking shelter behind their fellow racers or support vehicles. They ride alone. RAAM finishers proudly wear T-shirts proclaiming, This Aint No Tour.

How about Mount Everest? Three-time RAAM winner Wolfgang Fasching also climbed the worlds highest mountain and said, Everest is more dangerous, but the Race Across America is harder. True, theres one fatality for every 60 or so successful Everest summits, and Summit Day is a grueling 15-hour affair. But thanks to modern technology, as long as you avoid the most dangerous weather and catastrophic accidents, Everest isnt the torture chamber it once was. (K2 is actually twice as deadly.) The numbers tell the story: more than 3,000 people have stood on the roof of the world at the Everest summit, but only 200 men and women own a RAAM finishers medal.