Words and photos by Vic Armijo.
All but one of the top ten solo men are beyond the half-way point of the 2011 Race Across America. This second half of RAAM has a distinctly different flavor than the first. By this time the early mile enthusiasm has waned for many as miles and fatigue take their toll and our leader board could change drastically by Annapolos, In the 30 year history of RAAM huge leads have disappeared over the course of a day. Put another way, a RAAM adage is “The race begins at the Mississippi,” and that’s still an entire state away for most of these riders.
Christoph Strasser maintains his lead and is currently somewhere between Camdenton and Jefferson Cityy, Missouri and tenth place Claudio Clarindo should be to about Pratt, Kansas by now (Hey Claudio, be sure to visit Starvin’ Marvin!). Our top ten are spread out over about 250 miles of Kansas and Missouri, which by RAAM standards is practically a peleton.
TOP THREE SOLO MALE
Christoph Strasser
1st. CHRISTOPH STRASSER (Austria): 1821.40 miles, 4 days, 18 hours, 17 minutes, average speed 15.94 mph
This guy is the real deal. He’s been at the front of the back since California where he and 2nd place Marko Baloh began a 36 hour game of cat-and-mouse that lasted until Mexican Hat, Utah. Strasser hasn’t given up the lead since, nearly 1200 miles later. While he’s young by RAAM standards (29 years old) he has plenty of experience. He set a fast pace at RAAM 2009 before DNF-ing with lung issues He’s gotten stronger since that RAAM disappointment, “I had very good races, he said of his 2010 season, “I won the World Championship title in Ultra Bike and was second place in Race Around Slovenia behind Jure Robic. And I set a new record for crossing Austria” He credits his successes to a slight change in his training; “I pushed down the hours of training and pushed up the intensity.”
Marko Baloh
2nd. MARKO BALOH (Slovenia): 1706 miles, 4 days, 15 hours, 15 minutes, average speed 15.25 mph
The 44 year old is currently about one time station behind Strasser. He’s one of the most experienced racers in the field. He’s had a second place and third place as a RAAM solo, and a second place on a 2-rider team. Yesterday (Sunday) Baloh’s crew member, Anze Baselu remarked, “He’s having no problems. He is a bit sleepy. But they are always sleepy on RAAM. Yesterday (Saturday) there was a lot of headwind so he was maybe a little bit slower. But today (before Greensbug, KS) he was very good; his average speed was 20 miles per hour.”
Alberto Blanco
3rd. ALBERTO BLANCO (USA): 1706 miles, 4 days, 17 hours, 55 minutes, average speed 14.98 mph
The 29 year old RAAM rookie continues to impress. By the end of day one he established himself as a front runner and hasn’t been out of the top five since. And despite a case of Shermer’s Neck (severe fatigue of the neck muscles) that’s had him wearing a neck support device since Sunday morning, he and Gerhard Gulewicz have been battling over third place since yesterday morning. Don’t give up on Blanco—Alan Larson also battled Shermer’s neck in 2004, resorted to a similar support device and went on to win. Yesterday we in the Mighty RAAM Media 1 van found Blanco and crew stopped alongside some Kansas corn fields. We’d hoped to talk with Alberto or crew chief Robert Hernandez, but we were waved off, apparently having enough on their plate without having to put up with pesky media. Perhaps today we can get some comments.
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Race Across America
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