Park City resident Michael Conti finished 4th in the Race Across America, dubbed "the world's toughest race", he also was the first American across the finish line. Conti says achieving these accolades wasn’t his goal however, his goal was simply to finish.
“The race across America is one of the hardest cycling events in the world, you have to cover 3,070 miles in under 12 days, there’s a 12-day cut off on it” Conti said, “we had some other goals of top five and top American but main goal was just to finish.”
The race started on June 12 in Oceanside, California and finished in Annapolis, Maryland. Conti finished the 3,069-mile course in 11 days, 5 hours and 59 minutes. The race is continuous meaning the clock runs the whole time.
“some people have very little sleep, some have a little more, it’s kind of up to you” Conti explained “In the first three days I might’ve slept five hours.”
Conti had a support team with him in a shuttle van where he would sleep. In 2016 his attempt was cut short when a semi-truck hit his support van. Conti was able to avoid any accidents or bicycle crashes this time.
“No crashes thankfully, I stayed awake. I only fell asleep once on the bike” Conti said “When that happened they put me to sleep for a mandatory 20-minute nap. (…) No real other issues my crew pretty much took care of everything, so I could just ride my bike.”
Conti says the first five days he covered about 300 miles a day, that slowed down to 250 miles a day in the second half of the race. He said the hardest part came near the end.
“The Appalachian Mountains towards the end of the race was definitely the toughest. The last 600 miles has a ton of climbing.” Conti said “Being from Park City it didn’t bother me too much. I was just dealing with some hand issues and saddle issues that were giving me a little bit of a problem.”
“My crew just worked through every issue that came up and we kept racing, that was the key”
Riding a bicycle across the U.S. meant Conti was able to take in the scenery.
“It’s amazing how the scenery changes across the U.S.” Conti said “the whole thing was pretty cool just seeing how the country changes over those 11 days. It was amazing, this country is amazing”
Conti said when he finished the race he hugged his fiancé and got a beer.
“It was weird finishing because this has been a 30-year goal of mine, when I finished it was almost bitter-sweet.”
“We won the Ian Sandbach award for the spirit of RAAM, we made sure to talk to people along the way.” Conti said “I really wanted to enjoy my journey across the U.S."
