Oceanside CA- Just about 45 hours after leaving the start line of the Race Across America, in Oceanside, Austrian, Christoph Strasser has reached Durango, Colorado, 880 miles away. Strassers support team reported a scare for the rider when he crashed, Tuesday afternoon. Strasser was riding down the hill into Borrego Springs and he misjudged a turn putting his bike on the pavement. Strasser has had only one 12 minute sleep break during the race so far with about one-third of the Race Across America, for Strasser, complete.
Strasser is a solo competitor in RAAM and had stayed in front of the four person, Race Across the West relay team of “Three Feet for Pete” since reaching Borrego Spring on Tuesday afternoon. The Three Feet for Pete team caught up to and passed Strasser about 16 miles west of Durango. His closest RAAM solo competitor, Gerhard Gulewicz is over 125 miles behind, just passing through Monument Valley in Arizona.
While Durango is the finish line for the majority of the riders that began on Tuesday in the Race Across the West, the 49 riders in RAAM still have over 2,000 miles to go to reach Annapolis, Maryland.
Team “Three Feet for Pete” consisting of Jerry MacDonald, Andy Bestwick, Matt Shackley and Addison Fuller is the first team to complete the Race Across the West. The team reached Durango shortly after 9:20 AM (PDT) Thursday. Three Feet for Pete is raising money and awareness for cycling safety after the death of their close friend and teammate Pete Makowski, a great bike racer and motocross racer who was tragically killed by a vehicle, a year ago in June.
The top 10 RAAM Riders (18-49) are:
- Christoph Strasser
- Gerhard Gulewicz
- Mark Pattinson
- Andres Tesgaard
- Team Hoppo
- Nico Valsesia
- Stephan Schlagel
- John Bergen
- Aske Soby
- Ares Bursic