Doug Haluza had a good excuse for skipping the Gold Coast this year. Instead of riding the north shore of LI he was upstate for the Saratoga 12/24, the UMCA Ultra Cup event. He entered the 12-hour Nighthawk race, which started at 7pm, so he got one lap in the light to check out the course before hammering through the moonless night. It’s run under RAAM rules, so it’s a non-drafting event, which means he rode alone most of the time. Each lap was 32 miles. After three laps, he was on track to do >200 mi, but cramped up on a climb at the beginning of the 4th lap, and had to back off.
Result? He completed 198 mi by the cutoff time, which was good enough to re-set the course record. The only close call was a skunk that scurried out of the weeds and into his headlights–he just missed it, but the car behind him didn’t.
Great job Doug, maybe 200+ next year?