2009 RAAM underway

At 2 p.m. Central time Tuesday, the 2009 Race Across America coast-to-coast bicycle race got underway as the women and the 60-and-older men's solo racers left the starting point at Oceanside, Calif.

Since 2003, the RAAM has placed one of its time stations in Fort Scott and will do so again this year. A time station is a place where riders must check in as their progress across the country is recorded.

There are several divisions in the race for women and men, solo riders and teams. Solo men are to start at noon today while teams are scheduled to start at 4 p.m. Central Saturday.

Even though the start times are wide apart, by the time the riders come though Fort Scott, the men's soloists will have nearly caught up to the women.

The racers will enter Kansas at Elkhart, in the extreme southwestern portion of the state, after coming through the deserts of California and Arizona and the Rocky Mountains as riders pass through portions of Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. The finish line is at Annapolis, Md.

Fort Scott is Time Station No. 29, 59 miles east of No. 28 at Yates Center and 66 miles east of No. 30, which is in Weaubleau, Mo. In general, time stations are about 45 to 70 miles apart.

Robic

The race attracts riders from around the world, such as four-time RAAM champion Jure Robic, 43, of Slovenia. Other countries represented include Spain, Switzerland, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Brazil, to name only a few.

Robic -- RAAM men's solo winner four of the last five years (2006 is the exception) -- stands out even though he does not enjoy the same degree of fame as Lance Armstrong. Winning the Tour de France, as Armstrong has done seven times, is an incredible achievement. But there is a major difference between the Tour de France and the Race Across America.

The Tour de France is run in stages. There is one segment per day with the riders able to rest in between each one. Think of it as a track meet, where one athlete might compete in three or four entirely different events spread out over hours or days.

The RAAM is a marathon. There are only short stops and no overnight rests. Even the team riders only catch a few hours of rest and the solo riders get what they can at each time station. It would be as if all the Tour de France stages were run back-to-back 24 hours a day over the course of a week instead of one a day over the course of a month. And with RAAM going coast-to-coast, over 3,000 miles, it's about 800 miles longer than the combined distance of the stages of the Tour de France.

Other differences between the events include the courses. Tour de France courses are set up so that no other traffic can use the roads while the race is going on. The RAAM riders ride on open roads and have to deal with traffic. In fact, two solo riders have been killed during this event when vehicles hit them.

The best solo riders in RAAM can finish in about eight to nine days, averaging about 22 hours on their bikes each day.

Information from RAAM indicates that the first women and male 60-plus riders through Fort Scott are expected to arrive around 2 a.m. Monday. The first male soloist is expected to check in about five hours later. Team riders could arrive as early as 8 p.m. Tuesday night.

Follow the race at http://www.raceacrossamerica.org