The Highlands Pedalers Dave Wucher 3541 Gleneagles Drive Avon Park FL 33825 Tel: 863-386-0052 Contact Us

By KEVIN J. SHUTT - News-Sun
SEBRING - After 12 hours, the ultracyclists at the Sebring International Raceway will be 1/2-way finished.
The Bike Sebring 12/24 Hours endurance race Feb. 18 draws compitors from around the world.
"You never know who's going to show up," Mark Andrews, race organizer, said, explaining that the day-long race serves as a qualifier for Race Across America (RAAM), which is billed as the toughest bicycling competition.
Last year, Christopher MacDonald, Fredereksburg, Denmark, set the Sebring overall record by riding 500 miles in 24 hours.
To qualify for RAAM, hopefuls must cover 420 miles in 24 hours. That's a 17-1/2 mph average nonstop.
"They can't mess around," Andrews said, explaining that serious contenders don't get off their bikes until it's over.
Unlike le Tour de France, which covers about 2,100 miles in 23 stages, RAAM is a 3,000 mile event conducted in a single stage.
"They do so by racing approximamtely 22 hours a day over mountains, across deserts, and through the manifistation of pain and doubt the likes of which are unparalled in almost any other athletic endeavor on earth," RAAM's Web site said.
Bike Sebring begins at 6:30 a.m. with several laps around the 3.7-mile track before the racers set out on an 89-mile loop that runs through the Riverdale streets up to Frostproof before returning to the Sebring Regional Airport for 11-mile loops out to DeSoto and back until sunset, when the riders return to the track.
About then, the 12-hour racers get to call it quits while 24-hour ultracyclists continue until 6:30 a.m. Feb. 19.
"It's beautiful, I'm telling ya," said Robert Summers, describing the unique humm of carbon-fiber wheels rolling over the tarmac.
Summers, a Lake Placid barber and member of the Highlands Pedalers Bicycle Club, experienced the endurance event from the pits last year.
"That's where the highlights are at," he said, describing how he met a German cyclist who had borrowed a bike because the airline misdirected his. "This is an international event...It's a bicycle event in our area and there is not much going on here."
Summers said he doesn't have the time train for a ride where you spend from 1/2 to a full day on the saddle. But he did meet a commercial pilot who flew 40 hours a week and trained an additional 40.
"Don't ask me how he fit that in," Summers said. "I don't think it's in me."
Not all the participants will be there to qualify for RAAM.
"They're doing this as a fun ride, if you can call it that," Andrews said.
Early registration at $65 is open until Feb. 1, after which a $10 late fee will be levied. Riders are grouped in standard five-year age brackets and by bicycle type - standard, tandem, hand-cycle, and recumbents.
To register, visit www.bikesebring.org or www.active.com.
Andrews said the event is free to spectators and is put on by the Rotary Club of Sebring with help from local sponsors.
The Highlands Pedalers assist with the event but Andrews said more volunteers are needed.
For more information, contact Andrews at (863) 385-3936.