Soloists gone but teams passing through

The team of Michael Davies-Hughes (who himself is not pictured as he was resting) stops in for a rest at Time Station 30 Tuesday afternoon. The dragon perched on the roof of the follow van is a symbol representing Davies-Hughes’ home country of Wales.

Scott Nuzum/Tribune

Christmas in June? Actually, at the Hudicek-Ashwill house at 21 N. Caldwell, it’s RAAMmas.

The coast-to-coast bicycle race is making its annual pass through Fort Scott this week as the Hudicek-Ashwill family hosts a rest and information stop at Time Station 30. This year, it’s been set up with a “RAAMmas” theme, which includes an inflatable snowman in one part of the front yard, an inflatable Christmas dragon (yep, dragon) in another part, and other decorations.

Riders in the annual Race Across America coast-to-coast bicycle race began passing through early Saturday morning. Men’s individual leader Christoph Strasser passed through Fort Scott on a pace that will likely shatter records for an individual rider in the annual Race Across America.

Michael Conti, an American rider in the Race Across America Male solo 18-49 division, and his team is joined by Adam Ashwill of Fort Scott Time Station 30 as they arrive at the junction of U.S. 54 and 215th Street north of town early Monday afternoon. Conti was fourth in the division when he arrived.

Scott Nuzum/Tribune

Local supporters will line up along the 1100 block of East Wall Street when a competitor passes through, waving the flag of the country they are representing.

Local merchants, as they have for the past few years, have provided food. Monday was taco day. Tuesday was pizza day. One of the members of a support team was overheard joking that he wanted to come back on Tuesday for the pizza.

A few other individual riders passed through Fort Scott Saturday but the majority of solo male riders began to arrive Monday afternoon. Teams of two, four and eight riders were expected to begin arriving late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. Those teams are packed together and its expected that they’ll pass through in waves of three or four over the next few days.

The annual marathon race began a week ago in Riverside, Calif. The finish line is in Annapolis, Md.

Martin and Kristi Hudicek-Ashwill are the hosts at the time station, providing food, drinks, wi-fi, and race information to the competitors and their teams, which has earned them a great deal of admiration from race participants.

All of the solo racers will have passed through Fort Scott by the time this article is in the hands of readers. But teams will continued to pass through over the next few days with the last ones appearing late Friday or early Saturday. Because teams run relay style, the riders may not stop at the time station but their support teams may. Most support teams use two vehicles.

For those who follow events such as this, Race Across American has a leaderboard and updated live tracking on its website. There is also extensive coverage on Facebook (by RAAM and many of the individuals and teams), You Tube (Race Across America TV), Instagram (RAAMraces) and Twitter (@RAAMraces).

NOTES — As of Tuesday night, Strasser was in West Virginia about to cross into Maryland. He had traveled 2,793 miles of the 3,067-mile course. Fort Scott’s time station is 1,778 miles into the course....

Nichole Reist, the women’s solo leader, may also be on a record pace. She was nearing Time Station 39 at Bloomington, Ind., at about 8 p.m. Tuesday night. She was 2,316 miles in....