A while back I blogged about a RadioLab episode called "Limits," which discussed the mental and physical limits of the human body and mind. One segment of the show profiled Jure Robic, a former Slovenian soldier and ultra-endurance cyclist. (On a sad note, Jure died last fall in - you guessed it - a car-on-bike collision. The New York Times did a nice piece in remembrance.)
During that RadioLab piece, they interviewed Stephen Auerbach, the maker of the movie Bicycle Dreams (trailer available here), which chronicles the 24th annual Race Across America (RAAM), a 3051.7-mile bike race from San Diego to Atlantic City. It's "the world's longest human-powered race," and unlike Le Tour de France, it is not measured out in stages. The clock begins at the starting gun, and doesn't end until a rider crosses the finish line. The first RAAM event was held in 1982; from then until the movie was filmed, 288 riders attempted the race, and just over half - 52% - finished.
While there are no stages, there are a few check points with the finish line cutoff time set at 12 days, 2 hours; winners usually finish in under nine days, riding an average of something like 375 miles per day.
The lead rider after a couple days on the bike was the esteemed Mr. Robic, who had gone 1071 miles on just 68 minutes of sleep; in six days of riding, he slept for seven hours. He did seem to have a lot of that self-flagellation, Eastern-European-punishment thing in his psyche, but it worked for him. As fellow RAAM racer, cover photo star, and former US national team rower Chris MacDonald said, "The rawest form of desire is just wanting to survive."
In addition to Robic and MacDonald, the filmmakers profile a number of other riders. There's Cat Berge, a vet from Sweden who happened into cycling thanks to a roommate; there's Marko Baloh, who returns to RAAM from Slovenia after an attempt in 2004 that nearly killed him; there's Bob Breedlove, the unassuming and forever optimistic surgeon from Des Moines; there's Patrick Autissier, the Frenchman who lives for riding, his family, and AIDS research; Brit Chris Hopkinson defied the odds when he got back to riding after a fall in 2001 that shattered his hip; and of course there's the Italian, Fabio Biasiolo, who looks like a Fabio and appears to love his wife like an Italian.
So those are the racers. But the race. The race. It's possibly the most punishing athletic endeavor one can attempt. But to call it just an athletic endeavor is to sell it short. In a funny way, the athleticism is the least of it. All of these people are great riders. It's more of an test of how well the rest of their body can stand up to the punishment of nearly-continuous 250 hours on a bike. Most riders get dizzy or hallucinate to the point that they can no longer safely ride; one rider had to duct tape the back of his helmet to his waist so that he could hold his head up, and was so weak he had to be dragged up the stairs of his support RV to take a rest. But it's also a test of emotion. How far can you push yourself past the limit of what your body says is possible? Can you keep going? What inspires you? What causes you to break down? Sometimes the thing that inspires one rider is the undoing of another. Each man or woman is on his or her own quest, and will fail or succeed alone.
Watching them make the attempt is inspiring and fascinating and terrifying.
Something to note about the film is that you really should give it your full attention. There is a fair amount of text that is printed on screen - where someone is, how long they've been riding, how much sleep they've had, what place they're in - which is not also narrated. If you're doing something else while watching the movie, you'll miss a lot of the detail.
Bottom line: totally, totally, totally crazy. (Have I mentioned that yet?) But also totally awesome to see what a person can accomplish. Oh, and the opening/closing number is a Bob Schneider song called "The Other Side," which I totally, totally, totally love (you can listen to it here). Anyway, if you've ever biked or wanted to or actually undertaken any physical endurance challenge at all, watch this. Totally.
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