The 29-year-old Strasser had failed to finish the event in his only previous participation two years ago, but this time around he put in the third fastest average speed ever of 14.94mph, completing the coast-to-coast ride from Oceanside, California to Annapolis, Maryland, in 8 days, 8 hours and 6 minutes.
Speaking at the start of this year’s race, the Austrian rider had said: “Two years ago I was really fast in the beginning. I had a good start and a good first three days. Then in Colorado entering the Rocky Mountains I got problems with my lungs. I got pneumonia and had to quit the race. My oxygen intake was very low and I spent four days in the hospital in intensive care. Now I am back to get to the finish. I am very focused and very motivated.”
So motivated, in fact, that until he hit the Appalachians, the last mountains before the finish on the Eastern Seaboard, the rider who had distanced himself from previous second placed rider Marko Baloh in Utah had looked set to break the all-time fastest average speed of 15.4mph set by Pete Penseyres back in 1986.
Speaking at the finish, he said: “We knew that it was very close. My crew chief did some calculations about the record, but then we did not want to stress ourselves in the finish.”
He added; “When you see the pictures on our home page you will see that we had a lot of fun. But still we can be a hundred percent professional and serious about getting the job done. It is an honour to be here and a rider should push as much as possible.”
Amercian rider Mark Pattinson came home in second place with a time of 9 days 41 minutes. He’d claimed the same position in his maiden RAAM in 2007.
Last year’s race marked the fifth and final victory of the Slovenian rider Jure Robič, killed last September while training in his native country.
Only two riders entered the women’s under-50 category, won by Israel’s Leah Goldstein, who completed the 2,989.5-mile journey in 11 days 4 hours 41 minutes, with Canada’s Caroline van den Bulk failing to finish.
There were no British riders in the male under-50 category, but Brian Welsh from York is still out on the road in the over-50s category, which has already been won by Italy’s Alessandro Colo in a time of 9 days, 11 hours 2 minutes.
Three British teams competed in the 4-man team under-50 category, Team Feat-Data Techniques finishing second, a little over two hours behind the winners, the American team Allegiant Air Cycling. The other two British outfits, Crank Addicts and Norton Rose, came sixth and tenth respectively from 19 entries.
British teams Swift and Bold and RAAM Roses came second and third respectively out of the four entries in the 4-person Mixed under-50 category, won by Germany’s Sparkassen Racer by just 19 minutes.
There was a British victory, however, in the 8-person under-50 Open category, Strategic Lions, looking to raise money for the charity Help for Heroes, beating off competition from 12 other entries to win in 5 days, 9 hours and 14 minutes. The other British entry, Bike Mad, came sixth.
Full details of this year's race can be found on the RAAM website.
Help us to fund our site
We’ve noticed you’re using an ad blocker. If you like road.cc, but you don’t like ads, please consider subscribing to the site to support us directly. As a subscriber you can read road.cc ad-free, from as little as £1.99.
If you don’t want to subscribe, please turn your ad blocker off. The revenue from adverts helps to fund our site.
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £1.99. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Cycling infrastructure does not force drivers to break the law, drivers are the reason they break the law, no one else.
Ah but taking pictures of things to defy the man (avoid a fine) is righteous. Taking pictures of people to grass on them to the cops (perhaps...
But getting paid for it is the very definition of professional....
Never had a Shimano QR fail on me. They just work. And the top end ones look good too....
If you're only looking at the guy in front of you then you're going to crash whatever brakes you have, you need to look beyond them to anticipate...
As a woman, this works great for me! My chain broke once, and a kind guy stopped with a chain breaker and sorted it all out for me. We stopped at a...
Same. I also have gone through a bunch of their tyres, and only the extralight disappointed (torn sidewall) but the standards are fantastic....
thanks for the ideas....
Indeed - but it's no more inconsistent than our current road design - very often UK high streets are "for shopping" and also a busy through route....
If you ask the world's leading economic commentators how many people have been rescued from abject poverty by capitalism the average answer would...