Records
Because the course has varied, performances are not comparable. Records are usually recorded in average speed, not total time, to account in part for the different course lengths. The fastest men's speed was by Pete Penseyres in 1986, when he rode 3107 miles (5000 km) at 15.40 mph (24.8 km/h) in 8 days, 9 hours, and 47 minutes. The fastest woman was Seana Hogan in 1995, who averaged 13.23 mph (21.3 km/h) to finish 2912 miles (4686 km) in 9 days, 4 hours, 2 minutes. The fastest eight-person team was established by Team Type 1 in 2009. The squad of riders who all have type 1 diabetes completed 3,021 miles in 5 days, 9 hours and 5 minutes. The shortest elapsed time for a crossing was outside an official RAAM, by Michael Secrest in 1990, in 7 days 23 hours.
Traditionally RAAM is a solo competitor event – a non-stop individual time trial. In 1989 for the first time, teams were allowed to enter in a new HPV (Human Powered Vehicle) category. Race organizers called it the Human Powered Vehicle Race Across America. HPV RAAM was slated as a platform for technology advancement in cycling aerodynamics and human powered propulsion, but it also paved the way for team competition thereafter. Favored to win, Team Gold Rush led most of the way but did not finish. First, second and third places went to Team Lightning, Team Cronos and Team Strawberry respectively. Team Lightning set the overall fastest RAAM time of 5 days, 1 hour, 8 minutes, and average speed of 24.1 mph, records which still stand over 2 decades later. In later years team members could ride together to take advantage of drafting, so times improved, but in the 1989 race there could only be one rider on the bike at a time.
The all-time record holder is the late Jure Robič of Slovenia who won the race five times. He was killed in September 2010 in a collision with a car while training for the Crocodile Trophy, the endurance mountain bike race held annually in Australia. He was the RAAM title-holder at the time of his death.
Read more about this topic: Race Across America
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