Racing

Did anyone else follow this? makes the Tour De France look like an evening 10

Ann Wooldridge from Gloucester City CC set a new ladies 50+record despite being over the alloted time limit, this was because she had a nasty crash half way through and needed hospital treatment.Have a look at the exploits and the average speeds of  ultra distance racers.They must be mentally as well as physically hard as nails

One thing is for sure - they are crazy. Doing that sort of distance non-stop, tiredness causing hallucinations, falls and crashes and so on. Fair enough if it is a closed or marshalled course but it really is irresponsible towards other road users.

They all have permanent crews backing them up at all times#

And what exactly does that change?

What are you getting at read the website they are followed by their team car all the time who evaluate their well being is much worse  than being knackered at the end of a 24, im a wreck at the end of a 12 hour or are you being contentious for the sake of it?

I have read their websites, and watched some docu's and clips on the net in the past. They may well be followed by a team car but this still doesn't change their going loopy while doing the ride. And as the team car only checks up on them on an interval basis and are not holding on to the bike throughout they are quite powerless to do anything if something goes wrong. I am not being facetious for the sake of it - I just think doing such a ride is irresponsible. But hey - each to their own! At least the US has enough space to do something like this.

Well I was going to say half the route has no traffic anyway,they may hit a stray redkneck but thats about it!!

its not unusual for riders and their team cars to collide - both of them are so sleep deprived.
they do actually get penalties for holding up traffic as well. IN reality "race" is a misnomer - slog would be more accurate.

Indeed. Thanks for that nugget James.

YOU GUYS WANT A REAL RACE? TRY THE TOUR D'AFRIQUE!!!

and one fine day when I don't have to worry about taking that much time off work I will ride it. I am already dreaming about it!

Ed Hobbs wrote (see)

Did anyone else follow this? makes the Tour De France look like an evening 10

Not really. The TdF is fast and there's a reason why so many fail to finish it;  in comparison RAAM is a slog.

Having ridden Paris-Brest-Paris I'd have to say that riding a 12 properly - ie. going for the maximum distance you can achieve - is way harder. Adding the challenge of staying awake and keeping your wits about you at the expense of speed does not seem to me to be the point of cycle competition.

Surely RAAM is the same as any other timetrial the object being to cover the distance as quickly as possible.I have ridden 12s not PBP but cant imagine even training to do RAAM

Richard ,much as I admire anyone who completes PBPas several friends have you have to average about 8mph ?720 miles in 90 hours correct me if im wrong here ? RAAM female finishers need to average  9.8 ish and the men over 10mph and thats over 4 times the distance of PBP

My point is that it is effectively a fight against the need to fall asleep. Riding speed after a while gets to be some kind of minimum. Great.

BTW, the top riders really race in PBP and finish in well under 48 hrs.

PBP in 48 hours about 15 mph about the same as Dani Wyss averaged in RAAM then!!

Isnt a 24 hour or an attempt on the end to end record or a 24 hour mtb marathon a fight against sleep as well I dont hear people denegrating them

If you start a thread by comparing the TdF to an evening 10 you will get short thrift. I can think of nobody in the world of sport who would agree that RAAM poses as significant an athletic challenge. It does pose a greater challenge when it comes to staying awake.

Athletic challenge = exactly that. Fun, exciting and demanding. Requires hard training and competition with other participants.

Staying awake challenge = no fun whatsoever and really bad for mental and physical health.

I think it is clear I have 0 interest in staying awake challenges so hence my complete disregard for RAAM, PBP or similar rides. TdF - TdA - ToC etc - just tell me where to sign...

Why should I get short shrift the bold statement was to highlight how impressive a feat I think it is to cycle that far in that time at a decent average speed.Of course RAAM is a significant athletic challenge especially at the front most of the world cant average 15mph full stop and they probably take less drugs!!

and they probably take less drugs!!

FFS, they're Americans and there's no dope test.

Jorrin I think hard training may be required for RAAM as there are many qualifying events and the competition is intense there were small time gaps across the field for certain plasces given the distance involved.I take it noone was impressed by the guy who cycled round the world unsupportyred in a record time either?

I  think endurance events  are brilliant and sort the men from the boys when it comes to physical and mental toughness especially when compared with mainstream sport where a kick on the leg results in tears (prem football)