By Cecilia Nasmith
Four local cyclists and their support team received the congratulations of the Town of Cobourg at Monday's council meeting, as the Race Across America team described their experiences at last summer's race.
Cyclists Gord Ley, Gord Treasure, Brad West and Stephan Allan were the cycling team, with Chris Herten as emergency back-up in case any of the four could not go for any reason. Their support team consisted of 11 crew members, including drivers, navigators, nutritionists, a mechanic and a sports physiotherapist.
They dipped their back wheels in the Pacific Ocean at Oceanside, California, and – at the end - their front wheels into the Atlantic Ocean at Annapolis, Maryland.
West said it's the world's toughest bicycle race in terms of distance, terrain and weather – not to mention endurance, since it runs around the clock and the 3,000 miles must be completed within nine days.
It began in 1982 with four solos cyclists. A team option was added seven years later, and now you can race solo or in teams of two, four or more. In the 2019 race, they were one of 19 four-person teams, representing four different countries biking across terrain that included three mountain ranges as well as the Great Plains.
Their rotation called for the four to make up two different alternating two-rider teams (West and Ley, Allan and Treasure) who biked four hours and slept four hours. Over the course of the race, they changed places more than 350 times.
They started training a year in advance of the event, with both indoors and on-the-road training, as well as a practice 24-hr. ride followed a month later by a 36-hr. ride.
They entered the race with three goals – finish safely, finish with their friendship still intact and finish before the nine-day cutoff, after which one is no longer considered an official finisher.
Except for Allan's bad crash the first day, hitting a cement post at 55 km. an hour, they succeeded.
Ley's wife Patti described life as a crew member, ministering to the riders while also grocery-shopping for them, laundering their clothes and foregoing showers to keep the RV facilities free for the riders.
“In spite of all my misgivings, it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life because it was so engaging and challenging,” she said.
Her husband recalled the time they passed the American team for good in Wolf Creek Pass. In the end, their six days-20 hours-six minutes time made them first in the four-person men's 50-59 division.
The race lends itself to being a fundraising platform for participants to support their favourite charities and causes, and the local team was no exception. They used the event to raise more than $35,000 for Northumberland United Way.
Though many of the team members have other races and events coming up, Ley said he would never try this particular race again.
“It was once in a lifetime,” he declared.
Nevertheless, council was impressed.
“Congratulations on what really appears to be a tremendous team effort, a remarkable accomplishment,” Councillor Emily Chorley said.
