Since 1982, Race Across America has hosted an annual bike race from the east to west coast of the United States. The trek is more than 3,000 miles and one of the longest endurance races in the world. The Tour de France, by comparison, is about 2,200 miles and has daily stages with rest days, whereas Race Across America is a nonstop event.
One of this year’s participants is from Forest Park.
Philip Hammer, also known as Bo, moved to Forest Park from Washington D.C. in 2020.
Hammer, executive director of the Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation at the University of Chicago, has been bike riding for about 20 years. He decided to participate in Race Across America after his cousin, Patty Ginsburg, was diagnosed with lung cancer. Ginsburg’s husband, Steve Lindbeck, is a “serious cyclist,” Hammer said, who has participated in cycling-based fundraising for the American Lung Association.
“He’s always had Race Across America in the back of his head as something he’d like to do,” Hammer said.
Lindbeck recruited Hammer to be a part of an eight-rider team — Race Across America has a race for solo riders, who must qualify, as well as two-, four- and eight-person teams that don’t require qualifying times — with the goal to raise $250,000 for the American Lung Association.
Though fundraising isn’t a requirement to join the race, many cyclists raise money for causes. Every year, racers raise about $2 million for charities, according to Race Across America.
This year, Race Across America starts underneath a pier in Oceanside, California and ends on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The route will climb 175,000 feet and traverse 13 states.
Hammer’s team, Team Breathe America, is one of three eight-person teams participating in Race Across America this year. There are also four two-person teams, 12 four-person teams and 29 solo riders signed up on the race’s website.
Solo racers start Race Across America June 11 and have 12 days to finish the route. Teams start June 15 and have nine days to complete the race. The fastest Race Across America solo racer finished in under eight days and the fastest team in about five, according to the race website.
“Our goal is to do it in less than eight days,” Hammer said.
Team Breathe America’s training
Team Breathe America, of which Hammer and Lindbeck are co-captains, is made up of first-time Race Across America participants, although many are endurance bicycle riders or triathletes.
In addition to Hammer riding a stationary bike in his basement and hiring a trainer, the eight-person team trained in Borrego Springs, California for a few days about a year ago, and again in Tucson, Arizona in January. The team purposely chose hot and hilly locations to acclimate to race conditions.
“The flatness is actually an important impediment to doing the full training regimen that we want to do,” Hammer said of Chicagoland’s terrain.
After Race Across America cyclists leave Oceanside, California for this year’s race, they will climb part of the state’s Coast Ranges. Next, they cross the Mojave Desert, where temperatures can exceed 100 degrees in the summer, before venturing into the Rocky Mountains.
“I love to ride the mountains and climb, so I’m really excited about the first few days,” Hammer said of what he expects to be his favorite part of the race. One of the most challenging parts, he added, might be extreme heat. “The thing that’s a little bit scary for me is managing hydration and not going out too strong.”
Another challenge that Hammer’s team addressed during training is exchanging riders on the route.
“There are a lot of rules around that, about how wheels have to cross, safety and doing it as efficiently as possible,” Hammer said.
Bikers on the eight-person team are divided into four-person groups, which ride for 12 hours at a time. In their four-person group, a rider bikes 20-minute stretches before a relay exchange.
The other four-person group joins part of the 16-person crew in a van ahead of the biker. A second van follows the rider and is in contact with them via a device like an earpiece or walkie talkie to give directions for the detailed, back-road race route.
“The job of our crew is basically to make sure we get across the country safely,” Hammer said. Each team recruits their own crew to help with transporting half of the team when they’re not riding, plus feeding and hydrating riders.
“It’s like a multi-level leapfrogging event across the country at 15-to-20 miles an hour,” Hammer said.
As Hammer finishes his last two months of training, he’s also worried about general uncertainty around the race.
“The schedule will be very, very unpredictable in a sense. Eating right and getting sleep, all those self-care kinds of things, are going to be critical in the last few days of the race when everybody is sleep deprived and exhausted.” And the last leg of the race will also be more difficult because of the terrain.
“We’re told that the hardest part is the last day of climbing over the Appalachians, which is much harder bike climbing than the mountains in the West because it’s steeper,” Hammer said.
Hammer is averaging at least 10 hours a week on a bike for interval and endurance training. As the race approaches, he plans to ride more outside. He’s part of a cycling club in the area and rides up to four times a week with other locals from Forest Park, Oak Park and Brookfield.
Hammer will also focus on Team Breathe America’s fundraising, which has raised more than $150,000 for the American Lung Association. As Lindbeck and Hammer formed the team, they found out another one of Hammer’s cousins was diagnosed with lung cancer.
“That motivated us to double down on our training, increase the fundraising and inspire us to try to do as much as we can to support the American Lung Association’s mission,” Hammer said. “I plan to go out and go my hardest for as long as I can in that 20-minute time and really push myself and do my best to support the team.”
