Len Forkas arrived in Annapolis, MD this afternoon and successfully completed his second Race Across America!  He placed 3rd in his division and 13th overall, completing the race in 11 days 21 hours and 35 minutes.  Congratulations to Len and his amazing support crew!  Read More Here

Tomorrow he will ride into the Race Across America finish line where his family and friends and crew will be waiting for him, as he completes his second Race Across America, all so that Hopecam can connect 1,000 more children with cancer.  Read More Here

From Crew Chief John Moore: 

"I'll be talking about what Len did yesterday for the rest of my life!  With a huge effort needed and a tropical storm parked on top of us, Len pedaled in a steady rain for about 12 hours to get us back on schedule".  Read More Here

You might have heard Len tell the following story on air, that on Day 1 of RAAM, his foot was run over by one of the support vans!  His foot should have been broken in a million pieces, but someone or a higher power was watching over him, as NOTHING happened to his foot.  Read More Here

Today Day 9 meant cutoff day.  If Len did not make it to TS35 by 4:19 PM, he would be DNF.  Len was NOT going to let this happen!  Len was cycling on 1 hour of sleep and biking through the day and night to reach TS35,  the next hard cutoff.  Len said that today was his most 'EPIC DAY EVER'.  He has never been tested like this physically and mentally before.  Read More Here

Len biked 26 hours on Day 7 into Day 8, from 4am through 6am today.  He took a couple of 1 hour naps and was back on the bike.  Today was a very hot day for the crew and Len.  The team is functioning well and they are into there groove.  Len cycled from early this morning until 2 pm and had a few hours rest before heading back on the bike.  Read More Here

As the crew was looking for bike parts yesterday in Kansas they came to RANS Bikes in Montezuma, KS. There they met Jerrell Nichols the owner of RANS, a recumbent bike manufacturer. When the crew told him that we were doing RAAM, Jerrell gave us the part and said 'Merry Christmas'. They couldn't believe his generosity. Wayne our bike mechanic proceeded to tell Jerrell about Hopecam and Jerrell shared that his son Dylan was diagnosed with Leukemia when he was 2 years old.  Read More Here

Len's goals are to stay focused and be more efficient with breaks and resting, and 'punch it out' as he says.  He was in the mindspace of this being a 'ride' and realizes now this is a 'race'.  If he does not make the next cut off time at TS35 (it is a hard cut off) he will DNF.  After speaking with him tonight he is very focused, he knows how many people are routing for him, and he knows what he needs to do to make the cutoff time.  Again, they call RAAM the 'World's Toughest Bike Race' for a reason, because this is the toughest race anyone can endure mentally and physically in 12 days.  Read More Here

Even though the crew was working great together and finding their rhythm to work as a team, the morale was lower and Len could sense that.  There was a RAAM soft cut off for when riders should arrive at the Durango time station of midnight.  Len was behind and did not arrive until 3 am.  Read More Here

On Day 4 of RAAM, Len cycled his biggest day yet - from Tuba City, Arizona to Durango, Colorado, on the bike for 20+ hours.  He cycled 249 miles with an elevation of 10,751 ft, averaging a speed of 13 miles an hour.  25% of this years RAAM solo riders are not finishing (DNF).  The conditions this year for RAAM are very unique.  Read More Here

Len started his day on June 13th at 4 am with the anticipation of the start of Race Across America. From then on he was up for 46 hours cycling through the state of California and into the hot desert of Arizona. Read More Here

The crew is working great together. Everything seems to be in their favor this year - vehicles are better organized (and they have a big RV thanks to Beckley's Camping Center), Len has 2 massage therapists Charlly Enroth and Matt Jacob, they have a professional chef Brandon Snow, better technology, and the weather is perfect.  Read More Here

Today is the official start of the 2017 Race Across America.  Len Forkas started his 3,000 mile journey solo cycling at 1:19 PM PST time today.   RAAM is in its 36th year and this is Len's second time, his first time was 2012.   This years race is extra special for Len as he has his son Matt is joining him as a crew member.  Read More Here

On March 10th, I arrived in Boulder Colorado for a full day of testing and consultation on a bike fit for the new SpecializedRoubaix that I'll ride during the Race Across America.

The Sports Medicine lab moved from the Boulder Hospital Center to the University Colorado Boulder campus about a year ago.  In fact Rob Pickels who was a leader in the lab, gave me a tour when I was in town for a road race in July 2015.  The facility is one of the finest labs in the world with state of the art equipment and a team of scientists that have more degrees than a thermometer.  Read More Here

With 14 weeks to go before the RAAM start time on June 13, I have been busy preparing with ongoing training amidst my speeches.  Although, my training has been interrupted by a lot of travel giving various leadership keynote talks across the country for Hopecam that I had committed to in 2016.  In the past few months I have raised over $30,000 giving speeches in Scottsdale Arizona, Melrose Minnesota, Atlanta Georgia, and Albany New York. All the talks are about the power of mission driven teams. Comparing where my fitness level was in January 2012 I'm feeling better about the training plan I have scheduled for 2017.  Read More Here