This is Adam. And he is about to embark on a gruelling journey, cycling through Southern California. The 2014 RAAM Cycling Challenge. 400 miles in under 24 hours.
The course starts in Oceanside (San Diego County), goes over one of the tallest mountains in San Diego, before circling back on itself to finish at Oceanside.
Here he is just reaching the top of Mt. Palomar, a 5000 foot climb just 60 miles into the race.
Adam still going as strong as he started 4 hours into the race.
There is a support car that follows Adam through the entire race. They are there to help with mechanical malfunctions and to do repairs on the bike. In this case, replacing a flat front tyre.
These are the sand dunes of Imperial Valley, around the 200 mile mark. This picture really puts the scale of his challenge into perspective.
Passing through a farm of date trees.
This is sunset at 7:00 PM, but the race started at 5:00 AM. At this point Adam had been cycling continuously for 14 hours.
He continued to ride through the night despite the temperatures dropping.
4:20 AM the next day and Adam hits mile 400, setting a new course record, 23 hours, 19 minutes and 30 seconds.
Still smiling, Adams next race is an 800+ mile race that starts in California and ends in California. What he achieved is almost beyond human, and he certainly lived up to his nickname of “Wildebeest”.
