“Bicycle Dreams” documents cycling contest of the extreme
By Isaac Mell
With the Southern Californian shore as their start, Race Across America (RAAM) cyclists push themselves to the edge — of the country, and of their physical and psychological capabilities.
Leapfrogging teammates of two, four or eight must finish in nine days; solo racers must finish in twelve. There are no days off or time-outs. The winning relay team will make it across America in about seven days; the winning solo racer will pedal the 3000 miles in eight to ten.
Bicycle Dreams, filmmaker Stephen Auerbach’s testament to RAAM cyclists in action, will screen in Cleveland for the first time at the Big Dog Theater (2781 Euclid Heights Blvd) at 7PM on Thu 1/26. Sponsored by HubBub Custom Bicycles, the showing will benefit the Cleveland Heights Bicycle Coalition and Cleveland Bikes.
In a question-and-answer session after the film, Shaker Heights resident, adventure athlete and entrepreneur Jim Karlovec will provide insight into the personality of the RAAM cyclist—a person compelled to close in on the finish line despite “a nearly infinite list of things that can go wrong.”
“Because of the effort and expense nobody quits if there is any way they can keep going,” Karlovec writes. “The human body is incredibly resilient and barring a catastrophic incident the risk of mental anguish after giving up far exceeds the risk of permanent physical harm.”
Despite the dangers, his family was neither surprised nor unduly alarmed when he told them he wanted to compete in RAAM.
“I, like most participants, have a history of seeking out challenge, sometimes to extreme and unhealthy ends,” Karlovec writes. “I am blessed to have been raised to accept failures and risk as part of the road to success. Like any normal human beings my family was worried that I might get injured or killed during the race, but since we have always had a healthy dialogue about risk and reward we were able to talk about it in advance.”
Karlovec credits his mother and grandparents for demonstrating resilience and giving him confidence. He has jumped solo out of an airplane (at age eighteen, to cure himself of his fear of heights), climbed and backpacked in the American West and South America (most memorably with a new girlfriend on their two-person, week-long, self-navigated trek between a remote Death Valley route’s only two sources of water), and founded a residential design/build remodeling firm, Karlovec & Company (a team known for their work on historic homes in the “wonderful, walkable neighborhoods” of Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights). Yet his favorite achievement links back to cycling.
Karlovec writes, “My proudest accomplishment to date is the work I did while in college to help launch Push America’s Journey of Hope (JOH), a cross-country cycling event to help raise funds and awareness to aid people with disabilities. I organized the event from my bedroom and managed the first two trips from the seat of my bicycle while cycling cross-country. In 1988 we cycled from San Diego to Washington D.C. and in 1989 we cycled from San Francisco to Washington D.C. It is now the largest collegiate event of its kind in America.”
After years of other ultra-cycling events, including the National 24 Hour Challenge and Paris-Brest-Paris, RAAM was the logical next step.
“The need to put myself in challenging situations in order to find out how I deal with it is much more important to me than beating this guy or that team,” Karlovec writes. “It’s just part of living a fulfilling life. Events and activities that require significant advance planning and training, along with the need to adapt along the way, are intellectually stimulating, and when intense physical activity is required it’s just that much better. Life is not meant to be easy!”
Karlovec served as crew chief in 2009 for Team Reaching Heights, named for the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Schools Foundation. (Many teams use the race as a platform to increase awareness of and raise money for a personally meaningful cause.) This two-person relay team, supported by the nine-person crew, beat the record for the 50-59 age group by 14 hours.
The following year, Karlovec decided to build on his experiences by competing in a four-person relay team, Team Give A Wave. (The Give A Wave campaign promotes civility between bike people and car people, i.e. instead of flipping off discourteous drivers, riders should send thoughtful motorists a grateful wave.) His team, with an eleven-member crew, achieved their goal of finishing in less than eight days.
The route takes cyclists over the Mojave Desert, Rocky Mountains, Great Plains and Appalachian Mountains. Relentless riding leads to aching muscles, upset stomachs, and worse, but taking a break has risks of its own. The more time you spend off your bike, the closer other cyclists get to the finish line. Thus, perhaps the worst part of RAAM: sleep deprivation.
“RAAM solo cyclists generally are only off the bike for two, maybe three hours per day and the race winners in recent years usually didn’t stop for a break until at least 36 hours into the race,” Karlovec writes. “Team racers are obviously off the bike a lot more, but sleep is still very difficult to come by because the race is constantly moving down the road, and sleeping in moving vehicles is tough.”
Each RAAM cyclist hacks their body’s rhythms in a different way.
“Personally, I have a history of dealing with sleep deprivation that probably started with all nighters while cramming in college, and then I honed the ‘skill’ over the last decade doing various ultra-marathon cycling events,” Karlovec writes. “During my two RAAM experiences I slept very little, sometimes going more than 24 hours without any sleep, and after that catching naps of between 15 minutes and up to two hours. I have always been pleasantly surprised by how refreshing a 15-20 minute nap can be. I also know that I can function at a base level with one REM sleep session every day or two. My REM cycle is typically about two hours and pretty much anybody who competes in ultra-marathon events knows that they have to figure out their personal REM cycles and then use that knowledge to help develop and manage a race plan.”
While team racers and crew members confront crankiness (their own and others), solo racers encounter a more serious symptom—delirium.
“Solo cyclists frequently hallucinate during the later days of the race,” Karlovec writes. “The crew’s ability to deal effectively with that problem has much to do with a racer’s ability to finish, let alone finish safely (relative term).”
With their force of will and physical vigor, solo competitors are seen as specimens of extreme endurance.
“Solo racers are clearly in an athletic league all their own,” Karlovec says. “Finishing the race within the prescribed time requires a superhuman effort while winners must have total alignment of the stars. Athletic ability, training, experience, nutrition and hydration, mental toughness, and the ability to endure prolonged sleep deprivation are all necessary to win RAAM. A phenomenal crew, the ability to ignore pain, and luck all play major roles, too.”
Have RAAM cyclists crossed the line from cathartic self-improvement to unhealthy obsession? Probably. But these athletes see no other option but to push themselves beyond any perceived personal limits.
“Those of us who choose to do RAAM, we do it because it’s about what’s going inside our heads,” Karlovec says. “There’s no money in this. You pay a lot of money to be out there. It’s about pain and suffering. You need to be true to yourself.”
Anyone who attends the screening of Bicycle Dreams will see this inner and outer struggle on display.
“It’s an incredibly well-done documentary,” Karlovec says. “It’s full of adventure and suspense and just wonderful cinematography, and there are plenty of gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching moments throughout the movie as well. You don’t have to be a cyclist to enjoy it.”
Order advance tickets to Bicycle Dreams for $11 at http://ImAthlete.com or purchase at the door for $15. The screening is 7PM on Thu 1/26 @ Big Dog Theater, located at 2781 Euclid Heights Blvd in Cleveland Heights.
Isaac Mell grew up in South Euclid, OH and attended American Jewish University in Los Angeles. He welcomes conversations with potential employers, collaborators and friends.
One Response to “Risk, Ride, Race Across America: Screening of Bicycle Dreams @ BDT”
Mary Dunbar
Good article, but Bicycle Dreams is showing at the Big Dog Theater (not Bog Dog Theater), which is the second floor of the Centrum Theater by the intersection of Euclid Heights Boulevard and Coventry Road in Cleveland Heights, in Coventry Village.