Austrian Christophe Strasser, 29, won the 30th Annual bicycle race Friday, pedaling 2,989 miles from Oceanside, California, to Annapolis, Maryland, in eight days, eight hours, and six minutes, beating out race favorites Gerhard Gulewicz and Marko Baloh en route. Strasser’s time, which included sleep breaks, gave him an average overall speed of 14.94 mph, the third fastest average speed ever recorded. (Pete Penseyres set the fastest average speed of 15.4 mph in 1986.) In the Race Across America, the clock never stops ticking, and most top racers sleep as little as . To finish within the race’s 12-day time limit, riders can sleep no more than four hours per day.
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