Extreme sleep deprivation

“We shook him, but he didn’t react!”

Lukas Kaufmann has been cycling across the USA for a week now.

(Bild: ©www.alexzauner.com)

Lukas Kaufmann from Kronstorf has been cycling through the USA for six days with only short sleep breaks. His body is suffering and it is also becoming increasingly difficult for the 30-year-old mentally. However, his team is relying on family motivation and curious methods to carry him to the finish of the Race Across America.

Lukas Kaufmann has been competing in the hellish ride through the USA for a week now, and the enormous sleep deprivation and physical strain are understandably making themselves felt - he can hardly be woken up from the short sleep breaks (max. one hour a day).

Baby cries to help
"We shook him and shook him, but he just didn't react," reports Thomas Hölzl, Kaufmann's team manager at the Race Across America. But with a "magic remedy" it still worked: "We played him the baby cry of his son Paul and he was immediately awake," says Hölzl, whose protégé tackled the last 1000 kilometers of the 4923 yesterday.

Kaufmann also had to contend with the heat.

(Bild: ©www.alexzauner.com)

Enormous low overcome
After a temporary low, when the 30-year-old was only cycling at 15 instead of an average of 30 km/h and at 70 instead of 200 watts and actually wanted to give up, his motivation is now on the rise again. Above all, the phone calls with his wife Kathi and the many encouraging messages, such as from RAAM record winner Christoph Strasser, give him strength.

If everything goes according to plan, they will reach the finish in Atlantic City on Thursday. As they still have the Appalachians ahead of them and Kaufmann's strengths lie in the mountains, they are even hoping to close the gap on the leader Jimmy Ronn. Dominik Meierhofer from Salzburg is still in third place.