The Race Across America started this week. It’s a 3,000 mile non-stop race across the US that has interested me for over 20 years. The course currently starts in Oceanside, CA and finishes in Annapolis, MD.

The long distance with little sleep is made tougher by tight time cut-offs across the country. In a typical year about half the racers that start make it to the finish. In 29 years, fewer than 200 have finished. My 2006 solo RAAM attempt ended at the Mississippi River after 2,000 miles of riding.

The solo women and Dex Tooke in the 60+ solo men category started on Tuesday at noon Pacific and the rest of the solo men started at noon on Wednesday. The relay teams will start on Saturday afternoon at 2 PM.

Once again 4 timer winner Jure Robic has opened up a good lead over his closest competitor. He has almost caught all of the women that started a day ahead. Robic said last year he wouldn’t race again after dropping out after claiming an unfair advantage was given to winner Dani Wyss.

Interestingly the solo womens class is lead by Barbara Buatois on a recumbent bike. Although a recumbent bike can be an disadvantage with lots of climbing, she has made it into Colorado and only has a couple big climbs before hitting the flat lands for many miles.

You can follow the race on the Race Across America website, the RAAM Facebook page or the #raam2010 hashtag on twitter.

In addition to RAAM, there’s also the Race Across the West (RAW). It covers the first 860 miles of RAAM from Oceanside, CA to Durango, CO.

Also check out my Race Across America FAQ.

Current Solo RAAM Standings After Almost 48 Hours

Solo Men

1. Jure Robic – 814.03 miles – 18.82 mph
2. Gulewicz Gerhard – 763.89 miles – 17.61 mph
3. Mark Pattinson – 724.30 miles – 16.27 mph
4. Rob Morlock – 679.68 miles – 15.64 mph
5. Matthew Warner-Smith – 679.68 miles – 15.39 mph
6. Georg Payer – 607.86 miles – 14.57 mph
7. Tony O’Keeffe – 607.86 miles – 14.32 mph
8. Julian Sanz – 607.86 miles – 14.31 mph
9. Ian Fillinger – 607.86 miles – 13.83 mph
10. Dr. Michael Nehls – 607.86 miles – 13.82 mph
11. Ferenc Szonyi – 607.86 miles – 13.63 mph
12. Ross Muecke – 607.86 miles – 13.38 mph
13. Kevin Kaiser – 607.86 miles – 13.31 mph
14. Thomas Strebel – 536.11 miles – 13.32 mph
15. Samim Rizvi – 536.11 miles – 11.72 mph
16. Holger Roethig – 536.11 miles – 11.62 mph
17. Eric Dufor – 441.65 miles – 9.98 mph
18. Scott Dakus (DNF) – 441.65 – 14.19 mph

Solo Men 50-59

1. Timothy Woudenberg – 607.86 miles – 13.18 mph
2. Team AFU/Rex Racing – 536.11 miles – 12.02 mph
3. Paul Carpenter – 536.11 miles – 11.08 mph
4. Gregor Komescher – 536.11 miles – 11.75 mph
5. Michael Dunlap – 482.88 miles- 11.01 mph
6. Valerio Zamboni – 441.65 miles – 10.03 mph

Solo Men 60+

1. Dex Tooke – 763.89 miles – 11.58 mph

Solo Women

1. Barbara Buatois – 857.68 miles – 12.61 mph
2. Michele Santilhano – 857.68 miles – 12.39 mph
3. Sandy Earl – 763.89 miles – 11.49 mph
4. Amy Xu – 763.89 miles – 11.19 mph
5. Sabrina Bianchi – 763.89 miles – 11.18 mph

See the latest standings on the 2010 RAAM Leaderboard.

- UltraRob

Zipp Speed Weaponry 101 Clincher Wheel Set FREE Zipp Wheel Bag Price: $1300.00

Zipp Speed Weaponry 202 Tubular Wheel Set FREE Zipp Wheel Bag Price: $2300.00

Zipp Speed Weaponry 303 Wheel Set FREE Zipp Wheel Bag Price: $2300.00

Wyss has won the 2009 solo RAAM. He raced 3021 miles in a time of 8 days 5 hours 45 minutes. His average speed of 15.28 mph wasn’t much slower than the record of 15.4 mph. Pete Penseyres set the speed record in 1986 and no one has been able to break it.

In a very disappointing end to the extremely close battle between Wyss and Robic the last couple days, Robic dropped out of RAAM with 54 miles to go. Here’s what’s posted on Robic’s blog

Jure was the fastest cyclist on this years RAAM. On the last time check TS51, he came few minutes before Dani Wyss. Because of the penalties, issued controversially, because of the rules not aplied always in the same manner and because of not issuing penalties to others, Jure and his crew decided not to finish the race as 2nd, but step out of it on TS51.

Today it was written the history of RAAM. Jure and Dani staged the toughest fight ever and on the end the fastest didn’t won.

Robic’s 2 penalties on the road seemed legitimate. My RAAM update yesterday has more details on the penalty Robic received yesterday. The only thing I’ve found about the one at the start was that someone saw him urinate at the side of the stage and thought he might have gotten a penalty for it. I don’t know for sure.

His crew claimed that Wyss ran a stop sign and didn’t get a penalty. Of course when Mike Trevino was close to Robic in 2004, they accused him of cheating. Trevino actually stopped but finally was convinced to continue but never was close to Robic again.

Whether or not the penalties were fair, I think it’s poor sportsmanship to just quit. Still no official word from RAAM so there may be more to the story.

Update
Robic didn’t change his mind and received a DNF. Jure Robics crew has posted a few videos that they claim show reasons Wyss should have been penalized and wasn’t. Because of the way he feels he was treated this year, he says he won’t be back to RAAM.

In the video I’ve embedded below, it does seem that Wyss made a right turn at a red light, did a u-turn and then turned right to avoid the red light. This is against the rules. I had to watch it a couple times but then it seemed clear what he had done. RAAM officials thought it may have been accidental and gave a warning instead of a penalty.

They have a video showing Wyss over the double yellow line. From what I can see, he’s staying in the center out of the way of traffic when he pulls out until his follow van comes in behind. It seems like a safe thing to do and no penalty should have been given.

In another video he grabs the butt of a girl cheering him on. You can argue about tastefulness of it but I don’t know of any RAAM rule against it.

Spinergy Xyclone Disc Wheelset Price: $699.99

Spinergy Xyclone Race Wheelset Price: $615.00

Spinergy Xyclone Disc Leftie Wheelset Price: $779.00

Update: Wyss Wins, Robic Quits!

The last couple years, Jure Robic has dominated the Race Across America. Robic has won 4 out of the last 5 years.

Robic didn’t win in 2006. That year Dani Wyss won. Robic was taken off the course by ambulance in Pagosa, CO with respiratory problems.

2006 was the year I raced and I remember RAAM legend, Danny Chew, telling me all I had to do to be one of the few to beat Robic was to finish. I ended up dropping out at the Mississippi due to a leg injury though.

This year Robic and Wyss are locked in battle. It was long been said that the race doesn’t really start until the Mississippi. In the race from the Mississippi to the finish, Robic started with about an hour lead over Wyss.

Now 2500 miles into the race, Wyss has closed the gap and Robic and Wyss are trading the lead on the road. In reality Wyss has the lead. Robic has 1 hour of time penalties and Wyss has none.

Robic’s latest time penalty was from taking the wrong route to time station 40. There was difference between the GPS file and the route book. RAAM rules state that the route book is the official route and GPS is only provided to assist crews.

If a racer goes off course, they must go back to where they went off course and continue riding the course. They can be shuttled back to that point by vehicle. Apparently it was quite a ways back to where Robic went off course and his crew chose to take a 30 minute penalty instead.

Robic wasn’t the only one to have route issues yesterday. Earlier in the day, Wyss rode 9 miles off course before being taken back to the course. His crew estimated he lost 45 minutes from the route mistake.

With 500 miles left to race, both riders and their crews will have to manage their sleep breaks very carefully. Sleep too much and they could lose the race. Not sleep enough and they could crack and lose the race.

It seems that Wyss has been riding faster the last couple days but also taking longer sleep breaks. Maybe he’s more rested. Robic though is known for not needing much sleep.

Dani Wyss’ blog (Google translation) has interesting graphs comparing the average speeds between time stations 24 and 40

The solo women’s race is also close. Janet Christiansen and Daniela Figueiredo Genovesi are about 30 minutes apart a few miles past the Mississippi. The have a little over 900 miles left to race.

In the women’s race, Christiansen has no penalties and Genovesi has 30 minutes so that extends Christiansen’s lead. It does seem though that Genovesi has been riding better the last day so it’ll be interesting to see how the race plays out.

Update: Wyss Wins, Robic Quits!

Related Links:

• RAAM FAQ
• Robic’s blog
• Wyss’ blog
• Janet Christiansen’s twitter

Pinarello FP2 Carbon Road Bike Price: $2599.95

Pinarello FP3 Ultegra Road Bike Women's Price: $3799.95

Pinarello Paris Road Frameset Regular Price: $3249.95 $1787.49 on sale