VeloNews contributor Vic Armijo is following this year's Race Across America and - when he finds a WiFi signal - is sending in regular dispatches from the road.

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Monday Evening - Barring some physical catastrophe or mishap, Jure Robic will win his third—and as he claims, final—Race Across America sometime around 6:00 on Tuesday morning.

To say that the 41-year-old Slovenian Army major has dominated this year’s Race Across America would be something of an understatement. Aside from a short time back in Arizona where Wolfgang Fasching briefly held the front position, Robic has led the entire 3050 mile race.

Robic’s lead over second-placed Fasching has shrunk to about 140 miles, down from the 200-miles plus lead he’d held in recent days. That reduction is reportedly due mostly to Robic taking some much-needed sleep. Fasching’s hold on second place is far from secure, however.

Throughout his seven-RAAM career, Fasching has seemed immune from the dreaded malady “Shermer’s Neck,” (named for past RAAM participant Michael Shermer). This exquisite little inconvenience is basically an overuse injury of the neck muscles, which basically give out, making it impossible or at least painful for the rider to keep his/her head up.

Fasching was seen wearing a neck collar him in Indiana. He’s also given up some time by increasing his sleep session from 60 minutes a night to a luxurious 90 minutes.

If Fasching could look back, he would see Austria’s Gerhard Gulewicz; who despite a pair of tender and bandaged knees, has managed to not only pass Daniel Wyss to take third, but to also slightly gain on Fasching. Australia’s Richard Vollebregt is the top RAAM rookie in fifth place. Hungarian Attila Kaldy is sixth and top-USA rider Jeff Oatley is nearly a half a day back of him in seventh.

The men’s field lost another rider, fifty-one year old Tom Seabourne. Yesterday Seabourne the was riding his heart out to remain in the race, but his return to RAAM after 17 years ended when he failed to make the time cut-off at the Collins, Missouri time station.

The lone woman left in the race, Kerry White, had as of this afternoon made it to the time station at the Missouri State capital in Jefferson City. The cruel truth is that mathematically, White is very unlikely to make it much farther without missing a time cut-off. She’s been a real trooper though, soldiering on despite the fatigue, saddle issues and not to mention the challenge of riding RAAM as a type-1 diabetic. A tip of the VeloNews helmet goes out to Kerry, currently riding somewhere in Eastern Missouri.

Larry Optis: Future RAAM contender?
As the youngest rider in this year’s RAAM is 28-year-old Larry Optis of Toronto Canada, has been a rider many RAAM fans have been watching. For Ladislav (his actual given name), RAAM has been a dream that began when he was only 18 and rode from Toronto to Key West, Florida.

“It was a 3000km journey through the Appalachian Mountains, where I realized what I was capable of and what possibilities lay before me,” he says of that adventure. Proof of that potential is a win of the 2004 Canadian National 24 Hour Challenge, and another victory at the 470 miles Adirondack 540, a RAAM Qualifier.

Prior to this year’s event, some RAAM pundits were pegging Optis to be a contender for a front position, a tall order for any rider, especially a rookie. But instead of riding at the front, as some had expected, by Williams, Arizona Optis found himself at the back of the men’s field, 25th overall.

“I had a few set-backs at the beginning,” he said with a shrug. “We’ve made some changes—adjusting my nutrition a little bit--there were some issues of getting stuff on time in the first couple of checkpoints where they have the leapfrog for support. It was hard to get everything in. And there were some RV issues. But that’s life, eh? You can’t always have things go the way you want. Other than that, it was just dealing with the heat.

“By the time I reached Monument Valley I was feeling pretty good,” he added.

Indeed, after by then he had worked his way up to 14th and was keeping a much more consistent average time. He’s currently 17th and is working hard to be among those rare RAAM riders who occasionally speed up in the latter days of their continental crossing.

“I’m hoping to have a negative split for the second half,” he declared.

Two nights ago at the Yates Center, Kansas time station his mechanic reported, “He’s been in good spirits today—joking with us and laughing. And the past two days he actually sped up quite a bit. Daily mileage has been better than in the first days.”

I had a few words with him there at Yates Center as he was being cleaned up to go back out again.

“Today has gone well,” he said. “I fought some headwinds in the beginning portion of the day. They weren’t real strong, but they were constantly pushing. I had to be patient with it and keep the pace. When I came in to El Dorado, Kansas, I felt great. As if it was the beginning back in Oceanside. My crew had been keeping me pretty stimulated on the bike with some good conversation and when I came in I was pretty upbeat, positive.”

Part of that stimulation in Kansas was classic rock blaring over the follow car’s speakers. I mentioned to Optis how funny it is that as I snapped some photos as he rode by to the sounds of a Thin Lizzy song that was recorded a few years before Optis was even born.

"Actually today was the first day that we’ve been playing music,” he said with a laugh. “For the majority of the race, the route itself, the scenery and all, is so motivating and inspirational that having music would be distracting, but today in Kansas, you use all the tools that you have...”

Aw, c’mon Larry, there’s plenty of variety in the Kansas scenery. There are stretches of corn, then stretches of wheat, followed by corn and cows, and then wheat and cows.

“I know it’s only just past the halfway point of the race,” said that that evening in Yates Center, “But I feel good. I want to keep the flow going in the next few days and feel the pull of the ocean—the Atlantic Ocean that is—on the other side.”