Leah Goldstein: the cyclist who raced men across America … and won

W hen Leah Goldstein sets off from Oceanside, California on Tuesday morning to begin this year’s Race Across America (Raam), it will most likely be 40 hours before she is next able to grab some sleep. And that’s if everything goes to plan.

“In the practice ride,” says the ultra-endurance cyclist, “I left at 10 [in the morning] and I went down the next day at midnight for about 45 minutes … in [Raam], we’re going to probably do the same thing. We’re going to go through the first night and into the second night as much as I can.”

Were somebody else to compel Goldstein to stay awake for that long, it would be illegal – in 1944, the US supreme court found sleep deprivation to be “the most effective torture” and observed that being forced to spend 36 hours awake is “inherently coercive.” For Goldstein, however, the ability to put herself through such agony is an advantage.

“Everyone has a different approach,” she says. “I’m trying to avoid these little micro-naps throughout the day. I know a lot of riders like that approach, of doing little sleeps.” To Goldstein, however, the hidden logistics of napping make it inefficient. “You got to stop, you got to get in the [follow] car, you’re going to sleep in an awkward position. I’d rather just sleep in one shot and [race] continuously for the next 20-22 hours.”

Owing to the race’s timekeeping rules, such nuances in sleep strategy can mean the difference between victory and not finishing.

Although Raam is less famous than the Tour de France or the other grand tours of European cycling, it’s arguably more grueling. Among other metrics, RAAM is700 miles longer than the average Tour de France (as the name suggests, Raam competitors race from America’s west coast to its east coast).