Four fit 80-year-olds and the race of their lives across the US

When they were born, World War II was raging in their homeland. More than eight decades later, Paul Thelen, Dr. Horst Luckey, prof.dr. Roland Fuchs and Friedrich Hager on Saturday at the start of a cycling race that takes more than 5000 kilometers and through different climate zones from the American west to the east coast.

The four Germans form the oldest quartet in the history of the Race Across America (RAAM), which has existed since 1982 and is regarded as the toughest endurance competition for cyclists. With their participation, the top fit pensioners want to show “that you can have more goals in old age than walking to the bakery in the morning”.

With a positive attitude and a lot of zest for life, they take the long road under their wheels to reach their destination in Annapolis, Maryland. The team has set itself the goal of making it in eight days.

All four riders have tens of thousands, no, probably hundreds of thousands of kilometers on the clock. If you look at their resumes, you will see previous participations in the RAAM or in the mountain bike race “Desert Dash” in Namibia. One stood on Mount Everest, another paddled 500 miles in a canoe through the Yukon. «System, discipline, perseverance, willpower. Those are the four ingredients for the success of any project,” says retired dentist Horst Luckey. “Together we have so much of it that we can rise to the challenge.”

Six-time RAAM winner Christoph Strasser from Austria is impressed by his mature teammates. “It is an absolute inspiration to me when you see what achievements are still possible at this age if you look after your health, keep moving and think ‘young and active’ and don’t shy away from challenges,” said Strasser. He himself will not play in the United States this year.

The special thing about races like the RAAM is that there are no stages and time just keeps ticking. It ticks from the moment the starting gun is fired and only stops again at the finish.

How often and how long you sleep is up to the participants themselves. It is a decision that should be carefully considered. Whoever stops loses time. But if you lie down and give your body a short break, you can regain your strength and eventually make faster progress.

The support team usually decides on the breaks, as most athletes eventually end up in a state where they can no longer think clearly. Christoph Strasser was at his wit’s end Gains about 8 days and 6 hours in the saddle. During this time, he took only five sleep breaks and seven short power naps. His total sleep time during the race was less than ten hours.

In the team category, one cyclist pedals and the other three can relax. This doesn’t really stop it. The team is always on the road, they sleep in the moving mobile home.

Like most teams of four, the German Ü80 quartet is split internally into two teams of two. “One duo has an eight-hour shift in which the other duo can relax,” Roland Fuchs describes the tactic on WDR. “Those who are on the street alternate every hour. You give everything for an hour, then you can take an hour break in the support vehicle.”

The seniors do not allow themselves much time to acclimatize. Tomorrow they will only travel to the USA, where they will be in the saddle from Saturday.

The three-time winner Nicole Reis not defend the title this year. “The budget for the RAAM is very high and so I can’t afford to participate every year,” she says when asked by Watson. In addition, preparation takes a lot of time “and when I’m at the start, I want to be stronger than when I last competed”. The preparation time was not enough for this, so she set herself other goals for this season.

Due to the fact that the 38-year-old from Weisslingen near Winterthur crashed twice in the closing stages of the competition last year, she was unable to put her plan to set a new women’s record into practice. Despite the victory, a certain dissatisfaction remained with Reist. “Of course I’m thinking about finishing the story that didn’t end the way I hoped it would in 2022. But whether I go through with it, I’ll decide with my team at the end of this season.”

Of Isaac Pulver there is another former winner at the start. The Zurich native, who lives in the canton of Bern, won the RAAM in 2015 and placed third in 2019.

The 52-year-old is aiming for her second victory in the US and is relying, among other things, on a new sleep strategy and permanent monitoring of her body with new measurement methods. This should ensure that changes are recognized quickly and can be responded to. “We were even more targeted and sensitive in the preparation than in previous years,” reports Pulver.

For men, Switzerland is close to Valais Lionel Poggio stand for. His childhood dream was to win the Tour de France, he writes on his website. “The only major obstacle I saw was having to learn to ride hands-free to celebrate the finish.” A few other pursuits would have distracted him from this goal, but the now 53-year-old is long back in the saddle.

Last year, Poggio had to give up the RAAM after about 3,200 of the 5,000 kilometers. “I’m frustrated that I didn’t make it, but I’m also proud that I’ve come this far,” he said afterwards in the “Nouvelliste”.