Check out sights and sounds from the finish line.
Race Across America (RAAM) may be the coolest sporting event that no one knows about.
I'm not lecturing, here, either. I just learned about it at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, when cyclists began staggering across the finish line at City Dock, 8 days after setting out across the country from Oceanside, CA.
Consider this: Jure Robic, for his 4th consecutive RAAM victory, traveled 3,000 miles in 8 days, 23 hours, and 33 minutes. That's an average of 400 miles per day. On a bike. I don't even like to travel 400 miles a day in my car (even before gas rates escalated to the alarming price of one first-born-child per gallon).
He slept an average of 90 minutes a night. That's roughly the same amount of sleep I got when my girlfriend forced me into the
Sex and the City movie
.
Unlike the Tour de France, RAAM does not consist of any rest days. When a cyclist (or team of cyclists) starts the race, the timer doesn't stop until they cross the finish line. The race is 30% longer than the Tour de France and racers finish in half the time. Half the racers who begin RAAM on the West Coast will never make it to the East Coast.
"It is insane that no one knows about this race," one RAAM crew member told me. "There's all this craziness, all this history, and no one knows about it."
You've got me convinced.
After three years finishing in Atlantic City, this is RAAM's first year concluding in Annapolis. The race would like to establish a permanent home.
Perry Stone, VP of Publicity, Sales, and Marketing, said of Annapolis "It's a beautiful place for an amazing journey to come to an end."
Here here.
Mayor Ellen Moyer agreed.
"We certainly hope it comes back," she said. "The ability to get out and walk around, it really is like a European city that way."