1. What happens inside an athlete to make him want to face the RAAM? What reasons are there? In my opinion the reasons that push an athlete to think of participating in the RAAM are substantially two: 1. Testing yourself to “find your own limits” 2. With a high-level sports background you feel attracted by what is unanimously considered the hardest sporting event in the world. High-level athletes (the top ten in the world) identify with the motivation in point 2 because they consider the event as a pure sport competition and not as something in which they can show what they are worth. Personally, it’s not about testing my physical and emotional possibilities like many may think, I’m attracted by the final victory and not as much by what the race itself represents and this subtle difference changes my mental preparation toward the strong effort and difficulty, sleep deprivation and anything else representing the Race Across America.
2. How long did it take you to prepare for the RAAM? How do you get ready for such an event?

If we consider that in order to cover the 5,000 km of the entire course I usually take nine days, an hour more or less, you must get over a total difference in height of 50,000 meters, that the climatic conditions offer temperatures that vary from + 50 degrees in the south-western deserts to – 10 degrees at the highest peaks in Colorado, that on average I sleep an hour a night and I pedal the rest of the day, etc. speaking of training is rather problematic. The main quality of training is surely not only physical endurance, or the speed when climbing and on plains, rather the mental determination toward difficulty and sleep deprivation and this is something you either have or don’t have. To give you an idea, I ride 40,000 km a year and spend about 900 hours a year in the gym for general muscular strengthening, joint mobility and flexibility exercises. How do you prepare for this kind of event? With a lot of love for life!
3. Describe briefly the strangest sensations you feel in those days during the RAAM, which you would never have thought to fe

I’m only apparently alone on my bicycle, inside I have a rich interior world that is my constant companion and I’m able to totally immerse myself in the world surrounding me by isolating my body from the physical context it’s in, finding extreme pleasure in crossing landscapes that could be enchanting if it weren’t for the fact I almost never sleep and I always push the pedals as hard as possible. 8-9 days on a bicycle have made me grow and mature more than 15 years of school. I reach having a relationship with my bicycle like what we all have with our hands and feet, I couldn’t do anything during the day if I didn’t have it.


4. You haven’t only done the RAAM; what other similar things have you done?

My sports background started like many of us on the football field; at the age of 13 I started doing competitive karate with the specialty of fighting on a national and international level, and I stopped competing in 1993. I approached cycling in 1984 as a complementary sport to karate by participating for some years in the Italian Championship, the World Cup and the world Championships. Strongly believing in the theory of cross training during the winter period, I have always done cross-country skiing and have participated in the Vasa Loppet (in Sweden), the longest cross-country ski competition in the world at 90 km, by bicycle I have crossed almost all the continents by myself.

5. When did you start doing extreme races and why?

In 1994 after a year and a half of absolute stop because of a plantar fasciitis due to excessive stress when running in the triathlon, I found out about the organization of the first Giro d’Italia in one leg (1,700 km non-stop), the same rules as RAAM, after only two months of training, calmly and serenely, with a body that certainly wasn’t prepared but was well-rested, I participated and reached 3rd absolute and first among the Italians in 75 hours, right behind the sacred monsters of the endurance races. Since then I started to get the first contracts that led me to become a professional ultracycler. The reason only follows the logic of following my instincts, my desires, to do what I wanted to do.
6. You started in martial arts. Do you find that your experience in this Oriental discipline has helped you with cycling?

Yes, I believe karate taught me, in syntony with what my fantastic parents fortunately taught me, respect for rules and “adversaries”; the awareness of my possibilities therefore a greater self-esteem but above all the certainty that commitment, determination and effort are always paid back and in any case it is important to never overestimate the world that surrounds us: that we have to try to win but if we aren’t able there isn’t anything wrong if there is someone who is better than us and that wanting to win at any cost by making any compromise would not honour my nature of a “self-governing” person.

7. But in the end why do you do it?

This is the simplest question that I have ever answered because it’s part of my nature, my way of being: I live on my bicycle because this is what I feel like doing, because it makes me feel good with myself and with others, because it helps me to understand the absurd world around us by always reminding me that we only have one life and that it’s worth living with a smile and without regrets. Someone accused me of being a little excessive, well! It’s true, I’m outside the stereotypes of a life that is defined as “normal”, but sometimes I wonder if I’m crazy (and many would have the right to think I am) or if everyone who doesn’t have the courage or the possibilities to meet their needs is.

8. Do you do other types of competitions? (both cycling and others)

Since Ultracycling became my profession I’ve had to concentrate all my energy on it because the planning and training are delicate and complex, I have to try to not exaggerate, but depending on all of this, yes, I participate in MTB races, above all in the States and also in a lot of less important things.

9. It is said that Johnny G. invented indoor cycling after having left the RAAM at 600 km before the finish in order to prepare himself both mentally and physically. What do you think?

It’s really difficult to understand what pushed the great Johnny G. to invent indoor cycling, surely his primary motivations must have been dictated by the need to train better and in a less stressful way, the success it has had I think has happily surprised him too.

10. What’s your relationship with indoor cycling?

I have a wonderful relationship with it since I discovered it (in 1995-96), I added a new way of thinking about my health in an effective way and at the same time by staying with a lot of other people that want to have fun in a healthy way.

11. Do you think it could be a good alternative training to outdoor cycling?

More than finding it a valid training, it is truly valid, it has replaced the heavy work I used to do and has increased my ability to pedal in a round way (pushing and pulling on the pedals), apart from Becoming an irreplaceable tool for becoming faster and transforming the specific muscle-building work for the lower limbs with weights in the gym. If done correctly and with good instructors it can become more than an alternative training, rather a true instrument to complement riding on the road or on MTBs. I think the sports cultural level of Indoor cycling, the training methodology and teaching reached in our country today is truly adequate for an evolved sports culture.

Fabio Biasiolo

Fulvio Pugliese
Personal Trainer & biomeccanico
http://www.spininside.it/borntorun
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