Hell on Two Wheels Author Reading @ The Booksmith | Haight

Submitted by the Event Organizer

The Race Across America (RAAM) is a bicycle race like no other. Unlike its famous cousin the Tour de France, RAAM is much crazier, more gothic, and even savage. Once the gun goes off on the Pacific Coast, the clock doesn’t stop, forcing participants to forego sleep, or else lose. The first rider to complete the prescribed 3,000-mile route – nine days later at the Atlantic – is the victor. In this race, contestants have died, been maimed, and spiraled into the nightmarish realm of the mad. Most racers manage a few hours of sleep each day, while the leaders get by on an hour or so. Many hallucinate, often for hours on end, and every contestant suffers ghastly maladies including muscle, joint, and nerve failure; broken bones; and even life-threatening pulmonary infections.

Amy Snyder follows a group of athletes before, during, and after the 2009 RAAM, the closest and most controversial race in the event’s 30-year history. Hell on Two Wheels offers a thrilling and remarkably detailed account of the competitors’ triumphs and tragedies as they test themselves, each other, and the limits of human endurance. As RAAM exacts its vicious toll, Snyder shows how the 2009 racers discover their essential humanity and experience profound joy and completeness, demonstrating how such a grueling effort can also be cleansing and self-revelatory.

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