Don’t look now…. (RAAM)

[creadinger]

but Christoph Strasser has just entered Maryland and has less than 90 miles to go to win the solo category. He’s slowing down a little bit, but I think he’s going to break some records this year.

These people are insane. The numbers don’t even make sense sometimes. He’s averaging 380 miles/day, for 8 days straight.

Topic

[NicDiesel]

@creadinger 55616 wrote:

These people are insane. The numbers don’t even make sense sometimes. He’s averaging 380 miles/day, for 8 days straight.

That’s totally insane. Does he have a feeding tube of peanut butter and GU?

[creadinger]

@4st7lbs 55621 wrote:

That’s totally insane. Does he have a feeding tube of peanut butter and GU?

I know right? That’s why I’m so infatuated with these racers. How is it even possible? You just brought up caloric intake. That’s an issue. Sleep is the other one. When? Obviously not very much… they must be in a zombified state right now. I saw the movie Bicycle Dreams and it was interesting, but didn’t show as much of the logistics or hour-hour things like I would have wanted.

I’d like to see these guys’ strava pages. A month or two ago during one of the Strava challenges, the guy that won was doing the Aussie Challenge and he was riding 250 miles/day. That was crazy to track too.
https://www.challengeforchange.org.au/events/past-events/aussie-challenge.

[dasgeh]

@creadinger 55625 wrote:

Sleep is the other one. When? Obviously not very much… they must be in a zombified state right now.

I’m in a zombified state right now (damn you, 7 month old, and your teeth cutting). Does that mean I’m doing RAAM?

[creadinger]

@dasgeh 55627 wrote:

I’m in a zombified state right now (damn you, 7 month old, and your teeth cutting). Does that mean I’m doing RAAM?

RRGPHBs? = Race to Raise Good, Productive Human Beings? The RRGPHB is probably the most important race on Earth. If there was a Strava page for raising kids I’d give you some kudos.

[dasgeh]

@creadinger 55630 wrote:

RRGPHBs? = Race to Raise Good, Productive Human Beings? The RRGPHB is probably the most important race on Earth. If there was a Strava page for raising kids I’d give you some kudos.

Thanks. I needed that.

[NicDiesel]

The other thing that I really wonder about is what shape their kidneys and livers are in after multiple days of 300+ mile rides. I mean, you can go ahead and assume that they’re losing TONS of muscle riding that much but their kidneys and livers have got to be screaming in pain after day four.

[KayakCyndi]

I’ve been watching the RAAM reports and Ride the Line videos on http://www.ridefarther.com/every night. And the live tracking feature is super cool. These people are absolutely insane … in a good way I think. Christoph Strasser is flying. Less than an hour from Annapolis now!

[creadinger]

It’s probably unofficial still, but this is the info on the website for this year’s winner Christophe Strasser.
Ctry TS Miles Arrival date Time Avg Spd.
Austria Christoph Strasser S 55 2989.50 06/19/2013 15:01 7 d 22 h 52 m 15.66

I believe that shatters the previous records of speed and time, and he’s the first one to ever break the 8 day mark. Wow….. I would love to be able to complete a 600K brevet some day and do what he does in 1 day, in 2 days, but I don’t know if I could even do that. Depends on how much pizza was waiting at the finish line.

[PotomacCyclist]

I saw “Bicycle Dreams” too. It made me feel very uneasy about the basic concept of the solo race. It’s just as much a sleep deprivation contest as it is a cycling contest. It seems very reckless to me, when even the top competitors (of a very small group) are hallucinating badly in the last days of the race because of extreme sleep deprivation. How is this safe, for the cyclists and for others on the roads?

The team competition seems more reasonable. It’s still very challenging but the participants get a chance to rest and take naps between each of their relay rides.

[TwoWheelsDC]

Jeebus…I can do a century in relative comfort, but my ass starts to get pretty tender after about 7 hours. These guys must have some pretty fun painkillers.

[Author]

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