It was eight o’clock on April 22, 1884, when Thomas Stevens started off on his “Penny Farthing” bike to travel across America. Along the way, on the old California Trail across the plains and the mountains, his big front-wheeled bicycle would astonish strangers who had never seen such a mechanical contraption. One hundred and three days later, on August 4, 1884, after following wagon trails, railways, canal towpaths, and public roads, Stevens arrived in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the first person to accomplish a transcontinental bike ride. The 3,700-mile trip was, according to Harper’s Magazine, interrupted by 20 days of stoppage for wet weather.
Stevens would go on to bike around the world on his “Penny Farthing” high-wheeler, another first, ending in Yokohama, Japan, 13,500 miles later on December 17, 1886. He shared his stories of the people he met and the adventures he experienced with local bicycle clubs, and in letters with Harper’s and in a book Around the World on Bicycle. He became known as the “Jules Verne of bicycling” for exploring the marvels of the world.
Since 1817, when Baron Karl von Drais invented the first two-wheeled vehicle, cycling had become a craze among wealthy and competitive-minded men. Englishman James Moore, riding a wooden bicycle with solid rubber tires would win the first bicycle (a term created by the French) race of 1,200 meters in Parc de Saint Cloud, Paris, on May 31, 1868. And from then on, bicycle clubs grew and flourished worldwide, establishing 100-mile century rides in timed trials. In 1890, the safety bicycle—the look we enjoy today—changed the nature of bike racing as well as leisurely fun.
Left: In the late-1800s through early-1900s, Madison Square Garden in New York (pictured here in 1908) was the site of many famed indoor cycling races. Right: Marshall “Major” Taylor (foreground) races Léon Hourlier in a race held at Buffalo, New York, in 1909. Taylor is considered greatest American sprinter of all time
In 1896, bicycling competition became a summer Olympic sport. In America, Marshall “Major” Taylor was setting seven world records in 1898 and 1899. Turning professional at age 18, his mile speed record lasted for 28 years. Nicknamed “the Worcester Whirlwind,” Taylor is considered the greatest American sprinter of all time. He won the World Championship in 1899 for America, the second black athlete to win a world championship in any sport. In New York City, Madison Square Garden featured a six-day, nonstop race event on its indoor track. Taylor started, then dropped out after riding 1,732 miles. He would never do long-distance racing again. The winner of that event, Terry Hale, won the $5,000 prize, going 1,910 miles around and around the track.
The interest in long-distance racing was set. In 1903, France initiated the Tour de France, now a 23-day internationally sanctioned race over hill and dale around France, and one of the most popular annual sporting events. The Tour de France is tame, however, when compared to the 3,000-mile nonstop Race Across America (RAAM).
RAAM is the world’s toughest bicycle race. It starts in Oceanside, California, and ends in Annapolis, Maryland, each June. Along the route, it crosses 12 states, covers 170,000 vertical feet of climbs (that’s five times the height of Mount Everest), and many weather changes. The route crosses the Pacific coastal range, follows the deserts of the southwest around the Salton Sea (255 feet below sea level), through the Imperial Valley climbing to Flagstaff and through Monument Valley and the Four Corners, through the Rocky Mountains, and across 700 miles of Great Plains to the Appalachians and the Atlantic Coastal plains. The route between Cumberland and Hancock, Maryland, is described as the most difficult with endless up and down steep climbs and high humidity. Race officials meet the competing cyclists to escort them into Annapolis’ City Dock, the finish line. The solo race record for this 3,000-mile journey is seven days, 15 hours, and 56 minutes. Racing teams have completed the journey in as short as five days, three hours, and 43 minutes—a far cry from that first 103-day transcontinental venture across America.
Prior to the start of the solo division of the 2011 Race Across America, the original four competitors from 1982 were recognized and given special awards. From left to right: Lon Haldeman, John Howard, Michael Shermer, and founder John Marino. Photo by Rick Kent.
RAAM was founded in 1982 as the Great American Bike Race by John Marino. He was joined by three professional bicycle racers on the inaugural journey: Lon Haldeman, John Howard, and Michael Sherman. They left Santa Monica, California, and finished at the Empire State Building in NYC, with Haldeman the winner. Changing the name to Race Across America, this annual event was established, settling into its permanent route from Oceanside to Annapolis in 2008.
Securing the finish line in Annapolis confirmed in a resolution of the City Council sponsored by Mayor Ellen Moyer was the work of Steve Carr and Parker Jones, then owner of Capital Cycle. Fred Boethling, RAAM owner, was looking for a town with a strong environmental ethic. Annapolis had that reputation. Carr met and sold him on the city and then engaged the merchants around Dock Street, who would be impacted by the race with the loss of parking. By the time the resolution was introduced, it was approved unanimously with not a single public objection. Annapolis receives the racers and awards them at City Dock over five days, when racers arrive bit by bit.
The finish line of Race Across America at Annapolis’ Susan Campbell Park at City Dock. Photo by Don Logan.
Over the decade, approximately $1.5M per year has been contributed to charities selected by the teams participating in this grueling event, which tests the endurance of body and soul. Support cars provide food, water, medical, and repair assistance for the 300 cyclists. About 50 percent of the solo racers drop out along the way.
Winners in the early years were Americans, but Europeans have captured the winning spots since becoming an internationally popular event. Participants must qualify with participation in other sanctioned events such as the Race Across Italy (482 miles), Race Around Denmark (994 miles), or the Race Across the West (930 miles). When arriving in Annapolis, participants enjoy the hospitality and restaurants of our colonial city, reminiscent of the European towns they left behind to race this event. This year’s RAAM begins June 14 and the first finishers are expected to arrive in City Dock as early as June 18. So, mosey down to City Dock in Annapolis to greet and meet those who Race Across America by the seat of their pants on a bicycle not built for two.
