The Race Across the East with Ryan Collins

The Feed got the chance to both support and debrief Ryan's Race Across the East (RAE) endeavor. This unique event was unveiled for the first time this year and Ryan took it by the horns.

The Race across the East is across the eastern portion of the [route] for Race Across America (RAM). This race started in Ohio and finished in Atlantic City, New Jersey and it was about 641 miles – it was just a nonstop race.

It was a time trial start in the sense that we were each given a start time. So my time was at 10:00AM while the next team that started was like 10:05. So there were time gaps separating us and we had carrots, if you will, placed along the route along the way with the riders ahead of us. We were able to chase people down as we progressed forward.

We had all different extremes from the crazy elevation in West Virginia to the flats in Ohio. The temperature swings from the heat bubble that we had, some humidity thrown in there. At night, you've got all the animals around you and peace and quiet at two in the morning going through college towns. Then you've got the hustle and bustle to Atlantic City at two in the afternoon when everybody's out.

You just kind of had a bit of everything.

Ryan did the RAE in the “team of two” format. So, he and one other rider traded off for the entirety of the 641 miles across the East.

I had one teammate. We alternated back and forth and we had a unique strategy where we looked at the course and we just decided the optimal place to do a transition or to switch. We were constantly on for the 29 hours of racing…just switching back and forth. So that made things interesting.

I've never been awake for 40 hours. I woke up at 6:00 AM, the race was at 10, we finished at 3:00pm on the following day, but I didn't go to sleep until 11 o'clock that night. So that was the first time I'd ever been awake for that long. It was nuts.

Give us a brief breakdown of how you guys formed a plan around sharing the load and that strategy of transitioning.

That was pretty interesting as well. We both wanted to start together and finish together. So the first 10 minutes or so we were together, my teammate then pulled off, and I would carry on for the next several miles. We looked for an optimal transition [point] around every 45 minutes or so, every 15ish miles. At some point, speeds were so high that we did longer pulls. Some were shorter because of the higher elevation and the climbing, but ultimately the transitions were around where the best place was for us.

For example, my time trial bike has massive gearing on it. It's like a 60-tooth chain ring. I'm not getting up 15% grades on a bike like that. So we would transition at the base of the hill. He would then take his road bike out, he would crush up the climb, and descend down again, I'm not descending down 15% grades at two in the morning and pitch black roads in West Virginia.

It was more based on the terrain, not on time or distance.

On the fueling front, were you able to hop in the car and get some food down or did you have a different approach?

Yes, you got that exactly right. This was a very dynamic race in the sense that in other races that I participated in, you're on for 12-20 hours, you're constantly riding, and so you’re always eating and drinking. This was a little different because you were riding for 45 minutes or so at a time, but you didn't really need fuel for 45 minutes.

The challenge there is that you're off the bike for 30-40 minutes or so and then you're back on. So in totality, I was only riding my bike for 14-15 hours in that duration, but there was another 14-15 hours where I was not. I still needed to fuel right so I couldn't just slam a burrito. I needed something that I could digest within 30-40 minutes knowing that I had to get back on my bike. So I turned mostly to gels.

I had a Precision Fuel and Hydration Drink Mix in my bottles. I would drink a bottle per session. When I got off the bike, I had a whole bunch of LMNT and then would take a mix of either Maurten Gel 160, Carbs Fuel Gels, PF&H Gels, or SIS Beta Fuel Gels.

The goal was just 40-50 grams every time I got off the bike, LMNT for hydration, and then kept it light while I was riding with the PF&H.

The closest thing that I had to real food was waffles and some Spring Energy Wolf Pack.

So no real meals or food, otherwise.

You might be thinking what I’m thinking…that sounds like a recipe for a gut bomb or some fueling fatigue, at minimum! How did he prepare for this type of strategy?

Leading up to the event, I took a whole lot of Nitric Oxide from SwissRx as well as the SwissRx Gut Defense because I knew I was just going to be slamming a whole bunch of gels and wanted to do anything to prevent any gastric distress or leakage.

What was the most challenging part of that race?

The night was the most challenging. I think for two reasons. First, I was fighting off being tired, and so my body just wanted to sleep, and I knew if I fell asleep, it'd be very hard to get back up or even to want to ride my bike. So trying to stay awake was key.

Then after having been on the bike for so long without real food, I started to have some stomach issues. That actually went away surprisingly fast but it was about two hours in the morning. It was like 1:00 in the morning when I was tired and I just started having some stomach issues. After that, it was all solid and I was ready to go.

What was the official time and result? They crushed it.

We won overall – since this was the first year we now have the course record. The only challenge there is that the time we received was elapsed time, 29 hours and 38 minutes. However, because the course and the race are so dynamic, they can't control or patrol all the roads. So we actually got to one section at like 2:30 in the morning and there was a small bridge that was impassable. They had cones and cement blockings on it and the bridge was like 40-50 feet. We could literally see the other side but because of the rules at night, the cyclist had to be accompanied by a car. So even though the cyclist could go through the bridge, the car could not pass.

We rang HQ and they asked us to drive around. They said they would pause our time and restart it once we successfully made it to the other side of the bridge. That time has not been factored into our finishing time yet. We think it's around 20 minutes based on the time we called and said we can't pass. So as of now, it's 29 hours, 38 minutes. We'll see how much it’s reduced by.