Tuesday, June 15, 2004 | 9:17 a.m.
WHAT: 23rd annual Insight Race Across America, a 2,958.6-mile bicycle race from San Diego to Atlantic City.
WHEN: Race begins Sunday at 7 a.m. at North Harbor Drive and Ash Street adjacent to the Star of India sailing ship. Lead riders are expected to begin finishing Sunday, June 27, at Kennedy Plaza on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City.
COMPETITORS: There are 20 solo riders, 5 two-person teams, 10 four-person teams and 3 eight-person corporate teams.
DEFENDING CHAMPION: Allen Larsen of Che Elum, Wash., covered 2003's 2,921.7-mile course in 215 hours, 36 minutes. He averaged 13.55 mph and beat second-place finisher Jure Robic of Jesenice, Slovenia, by almost 15 hours.
PRIZES: The total possible purse is $130,000, plus an additional $40,000 in merchandise awards. With a potential total of $75,000 in the cash pool, the winning solo rider could win as much as $50,000.
TELEVISION: Outdoor Life Network will broadcast a one-hour special on the race in August or September.
According to a government study in the 1990s, the average American bicyclist spends 134 hours a year on a bike.
Scott Dakus plans on nearly doubling that over a 10-day stretch starting Sunday.
Dakus, a 39-year-old fireman, husband and father of three from Henderson, will leave San Diego on Sunday and plans to trek the 2,958 sweltering, seemingly endless miles of the Insight Race Across America (RAAM) that he plans to finish June 30 in Atlantic City.
It's a cruel task for a cruel route. In the heat of the summer, Dakus will spend 21 hours a day on the seat of his bike, nearly diagonally across the United States in a race more than 800 miles longer than the Tour de France.
And with Dakus spending up to $20,000 of his own money on the race, some would find it fitting that Dakus' team's name is "Team Loon."
But the loon isn't because of any insanity. The loon-acy started in Canada, where Dakus got into bicycling as part of an Ironman triathlon he competed in: a 2.4-mile swim, 112 miles on the bike, and a full 26-mile marathon to top it off.
In 1990, Dakus returned to Las Vegas -- he graduated from Valley High School in 1982 -- to work in the family laundry business. He was more or less done with competitive biking -- or so he thought -- and settled down with his wife Cynthia, eventually going into firefighting in the Henderson department.
Last year, while working 24-on, 24-off shifts at the fire department, Dakus had an urge to get back into biking.
And if you're going to bike competitively, why not go all-out?
"I always wanted to ride cross-country. ... It's one of those Mount Everest things -- you do it because it's there," Dakus said. "Plus, it's as big as it gets and everything depends on the weather."
To get into the field of 20 solo entries into this year's RAAM, Dakus had to start with a qualifier.
That qualifier was the 2003 Furnace Creek 508, an October trek from the High Desert suburbs of Los Angeles, up to Death Valley, then back across the Mojave Desert to Twentynine Palms. Dakus finished eighth in the race, crossing the finish line in just under 35 hours -- 10 minutes under his goal and good enough for the berth in the RAAM.
But Dakus still needed some convincing to actually go for it. His colleagues at work finally dared him into competing, and earlier this year, he sent in his entry and began training.
To get set for what he expects to be 10 days of 300 miles each, Dakus has intermittently been biking up to 200 miles a day, around town, running errands, whenever -- getting his body ready for the RAAM. Last week, he toned it down to 100 miles so as not to over-exert himself in preparation for the big one.
Team effort
Dakus will not be alone. A crew of four, plus his family, will accompany him on the journey. They'll have a motorhome acting as a moving hotel room, and a van serving as a base of operations.
The van crew keeps track of the rest of the race, may spy on other racers under certain circumstance, checks in at various time stations along the way, serves as a shuttle for supplies along the route and escorts Dakus the rest of the way, particularly at night when the course is most dangerous.
At a recent lunch with some of the greener members his crew, he detailed his needs for the ride. He asked his team to prepare music to play for him on the course, and explained to massage therapist Dianne Maston what his therapeutic needs will be on the road.
The crew includes chief Kevin Walsh, Dakus' brother Jeff, and Maston's husband Pat.
Pat Maston, the Division Chief of Special Operations at the Henderson Fire Department, got involved after seeing Dakus' e-mail asking for help.
"We were planning on going on a vacation anyway; we were going to wind up in Florida," Maston said. "How often do you get to participate in something like this?"
But the lighthearted Dakus also warned them of what riding 300 miles over 21 hours can do to a person.
"People can be stripped down to their base personality," Dakus said. "It's like 'Survivor,' your real personality starts to come out."
Grueling route
On a map, it's tough to pinpoint the toughest part of the 2,958 miles between San Diego and Atlantic City.
There's the 5,000-foot elevation climb out of San Diego, followed by a 5,000-foot descent into the sweltering Imperial Valley. There's the climb back up the Colorado Plateau in central Arizona and New Mexico, where the course climbs to an elevation of more than 7,800 feet. The Great Plains and Midwest states test a rider's patience with miles of straight, flat roads, and when that's done, the rolling hills of West Virginia and Pennsylvania taunt riders over the last few hundred miles of the race.
All the while, Dakus will hope for sunny skies and even more importantly, favorable winds -- preferably tailwinds.
Suffice to say, it's nothing like the Nike commercial where Lance Armstrong peddles across idyllic America.
Racers will have to brave interstate traffic, low railroad bridges and have a police escort at one point. Never will riders be allowed to ride in a vehicle, except when crossing the Delaware River on the homestretch into New Jersey.
"There's some suck in this course," Dakus said. "The first day, over 100-degree temperatures, that's not what I'm worried about. The part that's bad, Pennsylvania, a couple hundred miles of rolling hills -- a half mile up, a half mile down.
"Through the desert, I don't want to ride through 110-degree weather, but I think I'll do better relative to the competition. The more climbs, the better."
The voyage is so challenging, only 13 individuals even finished it last year. The winner completed the race in 8 days, 23 hours, 36 minutes at an average speed of 13.5 miles per hour.
The fun part
Dakus isn't in this race to just finish, though. Dakus is in it to win, and collect back some of the $20,000 he has invested out of his own pocket in competing.
"It's not a great big thing in the world of sports, but it's a huge thing in the world of cycling," he said.
But even if he doesn't win, he says he'll enjoy riding across America.
"It's going to be very nice, I'm going to be doing what I love to do best," he said. "I look at it as a chance of a lifetime, I shouldn't be in a hurry to be done."
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