HAYLEY MICK - Globe and Mail 

On a recent Saturday night, Peter Oyler stuffed his lanky frame with a hunk of lasagna, two eggs, two yogurt cups, an orange, a banana and six buttered pancakes the size of small dinner plates.

He fell asleep by 10 p.m. and was up at 5:30 the next morning. Then he rode his bike around rural Southern Ontario for nine hours straight.

It's hardly the weekend routine of the average 38-year-old male, but then, what the personal trainer from Toronto regularly puts his 6-foot, 167-pound body through is hardly normal - and neither is his goal.

In 80 days, the former teacher will set off on the Race Across America, a 4,800-kilometre grind that spans the United States from California to Maryland. National Geographic Adventure recently ranked it the second-toughest race on Earth behind the Badwater Ultramarathon (a 217-kilometre foot race through California's furnace-like Death Valley). And for good reason.

RAAM is 30 per cent longer than the Tour de France, but unlike the Tour, which is broken down into daily stage races, RAAM is a non-stop grind. Only about half of those who set off will finish. Winners average two or three hours of sleep per day. Some racers wear a halo brace - normally used for spinal cord injuries - to prop up their heads when their worn-out neck muscles begin failing.

This is Mr. Oyler's second RAAM: In 2007, he finished 8th out of 24 solo male racers, becoming one of only about a half-dozen Canadians who've finished the race.

But this time he wants to win. "You don't go back just to finish," he says. "Too many people have put in too much time."

It's a bold statement considering champions routinely finish in nine days or less, meaning Mr. Oyler needs to shave more than two days from his previous time of 11 days, 4 hours and 21 minutes. He'll also need to beat a handful of returning champions, including Slovenian army major Jure Robic, a gladiator on wheels who's won four of the last five RAAM races, the most wins in RAAM's 27-year history. Last year, he won it in 8 days, 23 hours and 33 minutes.

Mr. Robic often blasts away from the pack early, riding between 30 and 36 hours before his first rest.

"To be competitive you'd better be with those people," Mr. Oyler says. "Because you'll never see them again."

Hence the extreme workout regimen.

He's been at it all winter, cycling between four and six hours a day, five days a week. At least once a week, he does a long ride - ranging between seven and 24 hours.

To that, he's added core strength training and mental tests. In January, to see how long he could last without sleep, Mr. Oyler stayed up 40 hours shovelling snow and watching movies. It made him sick for two weeks.

The training has been full-on for about a year, but in many ways it started the moment the last race ended in Atlanta two years ago, when he immediately declared his intention to go at it again.

His friends encouraged him. His mother worried (a racer was killed in traffic in 2005). No one was surprised. "He's a little crazy that way," said his wife Kathy Yakimik, a nurse. "It's the challenge that he really enjoys."

He says the drive to constantly push his own boundaries started when he was a child, first in the hockey rink, then in cross-country ski races and finally triathlons. He did his first Ironman at age 19, followed by 12 more, as well as three 24-hour cycling events and dozens of short-course triathlons. Looking for a new challenge, he settled on RAAM - dubbed the "world's toughest bicycle race" by organizers.

But finishing such a demanding race requires more than just the passion and strength of one individual.

When he sets off June 17, Mr. Oyler will be trailed by a crew of eight men in two support vehicles: one for navigating and setting the pace, the other for zipping off to find burgers or pancakes when Mr. Oyler craves them.

All volunteers, they will function as taskmasters, advisers, bike mechanics, guides, cooks - and, when required - mother hens. They will feed him, guide him and hold up a blanket when he goes to the bathroom. They will put him to bed when he starts to hallucinate.

Bruce Thomson, Mr. Oyler's friend and 2007 crew chief, remembers riding alongside Mr. Oyler, shouting out the window as he read supportive e-mails from his BlackBerry. Once, as Mr. Oyler pedalled through a rainstorm, Mr. Thomson leaned out the window and put a raincoat on him.

But as much as a crew helps, it can also hinder. His most frustrating moment, Mr. Oyler says, came when some crew members insisted on stopping to sleep when his legs still felt fresh. This time, he purged those members from the ranks.

New to the team this year is Kye Waltermire, a two-time 4th-place finisher at RAAM, who will share his racing expertise. Also on deck is Joel Fraser, a Peel Region police officer who is taking over as crew chief for Mr. Thomson, who's getting married and had to bow out. Mr. Oyler's father, Peter Oyler Sr., is back for the second year.

So far, the team has only been connected through e-mails and the odd team-boosting dinner, but next month they'll do a practice ride around Southern Ontario.

Meantime, there are other things to worry about. A race like this costs more than $30,000 to complete, Mr. Oyler says, and with the economy suffering, sponsors haven't been as easy to come by. Last year, Mazda donated the two support vehicles. This year, they're still looking for a similar arrangement. Any money he raises will go to Kids Help Phone, a toll-free anonymous phone and Internet counselling service for youth.

Meantime, he still has more riding to do. "I want to get to the point where I don't even want to see my bike," he said.

So, after a recent 6 a.m. workout on a stationary bike at WattsUp Cycling, a training gym that he co-owns, Mr. Oyler hopped on his bike again, this time on the road, aiming for a finish line just three months, thousands of kilometres and the breadth of one continent away.

Race Across America:

By the numbers

4,861.3 km

Distance of 2009 route

30.5 km

Distance climbed over the course of the race - almost four times the altitude of Mt. Everest

8:03:11

Fastest time, solo male

(Rob Kish, 1992)

9:04:02

Fastest time, solo female

(Seana Hogen, 1995)

1.5

Minimum number of hours

of sleep a night

4

Maximum number of hours

of sleep a night

8,000

Average calorie intake

per competitor per day

11.5 litres

Average water intake

per competitor per day

Source: raceacrossamerica.org

Eat like a champion

To train like Mr. Oyler, you need to eat - a lot. Otherwise, he says, "it's like your car running out of gas." Here's a taste of his food intake:

Average 4-day food intake

One whole lasagna, 8 eggs,

12 cups of yogurt, 16 pieces of fruit, handfuls of nuts, 12 cookies, 8 bagels

Number of calories ingested on a 9-hour training ride

15 gels (110 calories each) plus 600 calories of food supplements.

Water downed during

a 9-hour training ride

5 litres

Pre-ride kick-start

Tim Hortons medium coffee (double-double)

Hayley Mick

Two-wheel warrior

What could drive you to live on 8,000 calories a day and 1.5 hours of sleep a night? For Peter Oyler, it's bragging rights to 'the world's toughest bicycle race,' a 4,800-kilometre grind that's become his two-year obsession. The Race Across America is an ultra marathon endurance bicycle race that was first run in 1982. RAAM has no stages or designated rest periods; the clock runs continuously from start to finish, forcing competitors to ride for days with little to no sleep. Here's an example of the pace expected of the top male riders.

START

Oceanside, CA

June 17, 2009

TS (Time station #) 1 - 5

Congress, AZ

June 17, 1:29 p.m.

(557.2 km)

TS 5 - 10

Kayenta, AZ

June 19, 8:13 a.m.

(464.2 km)

TS 10 -15

Pagosa Springs, CO

June 20, 12:24 a.m.

(401.1 km)

TS 15 - 20

Springer, NM

June 20, 5:03 p.m.

(412.4 km)

TS 20 - 25

Pratt, KS

June 21, 4:37 p.m.

(584.1 km)

TS 25 - 30

Weaubleau, MO

June 22, 12:09 p.m.

(484.1 km)

TS 30 - 35

Greenville, IL

June 23, 7:44 a.m.

(485.1 km)

TS 35 - 40

Oxford, OH

June 24, 03:21 a.m.

(486.3 km)

TS 40 - 45

Grafton, WV

June 24, 10:45 p.m.

(480.7 km)

TS 45 - 50

Hanover, PA

June 25, 1:08 p.m.

(346.4 km)

TS 53 (FINISH)

Annapolis, MD

June 25, 7:11 p.m.

4,681.3 km total