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Join us at TS 52, Mt Airy Maryland, to see these phenominal athletes. Time Station 52, at Mt Airy Bicycles, is also the location of the RAAM 2008 Penalty Station, which makes this the best location to see these racers.

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Bicyclists race across the United States in 8 days!

RAAM 2008 Penalty Station is in Mt Airy Maryland.

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You may know a cyclist or two who has bicycled coast to coast across the United States. Imagine racing on a bicycle, pedaling from the Pacific Coast to the Atlantic Coast in only eight (8) days. RAAM bicycle racers who do not reach the 3,008 mile Atlantic destination twelve (12) days after their Pacific start are listed DNF (Did Not Finish). Those racers who do complete within the 12 days will have pedaled an average of 250 miles EVERY Day, continuously. They pedal day and night! By the time they reach the end of the race, they are sleep deprived. To be a qualified solo cyclist finisher of the 12 day coast to coast bicycle race, time allows an average of less than 4 hours of sleep per day. Racers hallucinate. Their reality shifts. They have been known to be 'sleeping,' yet still pedaling forward on their bikes. For some of them, their bodies are consuming more energy than they are able to nutritionally replenish. For them, their bodies have begun depleting the very muscle mass they so vitally need.

Unlike cycling stage races, as is the Tour de France, RAAM is an Ultra Endurance Cycling Event. The governing body for the RAAM event is the Ultra Marathon Cycling Association (UMCA). These bicycle racers have no rest days. They will sleep a few hours as needed. The first solo cylists, to arrive at the finish line, sleep as little as 90 minutes a day. They are extremely driven to their goal of winning the race and sleep interfers with that goal.

Cyclists race 3,000 miles from the Pacific Coast arriving in Maryland June 16 through June 20.