I'll keep this one short and sweet. A couple weeks ago I was gifted a
book entitled "Hell on Two Wheels" from my friends Mark and Ellen and I
just finished reading it a little bit ago but since I'm on the road and
in and out of the woods I'm finally getting around to writing my
thoughts. This book is a non-fiction narrative chronicling the 12 days
of the 2009 RAAM (Race Across America) and some of the athletes who
attempt to endure the pain that accompanies this race. The RAAM is a
race covering 3000 miles from Oceanside, California to Annapolis,
Maryland where the clock never stops and neither do most of the racers
except for 1-2 hour sleep breaks a day. These ultracycling monsters push
to the farthest reaches of their selves spanning the country between 8
and 12 days some with less then 9 hours of sleep. They are faced not
only with the course in front of them which already puts them through
deserts and mountain passes but also sleep fatigue, hallucinations,
neck-muscle failures, pneumonia, heat-stroke, etc., etc and Amy Snyder
is there to document the whole thing. The fact that this is a nonfiction
book was a little hard for me to get around right away because although
I have had my stints with nonfiction in the past - "Into Thin Air,"
"The Last River," and other adventure documentary writings - but had
stopped searching them out. But I am glad this book was brought to my
attention because the writing flows incredibly well, keeping me turning
the pages not unlike a good suspenseful fiction tale. Snyder's attention
to who the riders are and what drives them not just what they are
physically doing is well-wrought and allows you to feel like you are
struggling along with the riders and their crews cheering them on
through 110+ heat and massive thunderstorms. This book is well worth the
read cyclist or not but a word of warning to the cyclists because this
book will make you want to attempt this race. And on another note if
anyone out there wants to put together a four-man team for this event
I'm game, let's start training and getting qualified to race.
