Steve Born breaks border-to-border record in Texas

On the weekend of July 10-11, Born rode the 574-mile distance from the New Mexico-Texas border to the Louisiana-Texas border in 32 hours and 19 minutes.

His average overall speed was 17.76 miles per hour.

The previous border-to-border record in Texas, set 10 years ago by Tom Seabourne of Mt. Pleasant, Texas, was 33 hours and 31 minutes on a 534-mile course that was 40 miles shorter than Born’s course.

In the two-day entire ride, Born was off his bike for a total of 10 minutes—and that was in Gun Barrel City, Texas when the police stopped Born and his support caravan during a rain deluge to determine what the heck they were doing out there.

Born said, "The weather was always unpredictable and the terrain can be quite difficult. I had everything thrown at me. Really, I think Texas is perhaps the most mentally challenging state to ride through.

"I think this is probably the pinnacle of my cycling career so far. It’s an even better effort than the Idaho record I established a couple of years ago because it required me to go harder and faster than I previously thought I could.
"I’m very, very proud of this record."

Born brought his father and brother as his crew, and had two Ultra Marathon Cycling Association officials in tow to make sure all the rules were followed correctly.

He started his attempt on Saturday, July 10 at 4:55 a.m. from the New Mexico border near Hobbs.

Born said, "The weather was uncharacteristically (and thankfully) cool due to periodic thunderstorms in the area, but the downside was the winds. I rode the first 14 hours into a 20 miles-per-hour headwind.

"My route for the first 317 miles was Highway 180 heading directly east towards Fort Worth. I hoped to establish a very fast overall average speed so that I would have a buffer in case I ran into problems or worse weather further on.

"I covered the first 100 miles in five hours and four minutes and went through the 200-mile mark in 10:40. The wind was especially bad in that second 100 miles.

"I was concerned that perhaps I had gone out too hard.

"The third 100 miles was a lot hillier, but I told myself that I had come to Texas to set a new record—not simply to tour the state. So I rode really hard that third century and arrived at 300 miles in 16:30.

"Shortly afterwards, I got onto smaller farm roads south of Fort Worth and Dallas. I had scouted this area of the course prior to the attempt, and knew all the turns and felt that if the weather cooperated, I could continue on my record pace and perhaps even add to my buffer.

"All through the day there were headwinds and it had rained, sometimes very hard. At night, the winds died down and the rain subsided.

"I can’t really explain how I did it. Maybe I’m in better shape than I thought. But I really hammered through the night, rarely falling below an 18 mph average. I never felt sleepy, never felt tired. I forced myself to work through the pain and focus on achieving the record.

"The key to success in ultra marathon athletics is being able to maintain the discipline of your pace. The challenges are physical, very definitely, but the effort required over such a long distance is very much mental as well.

"Breaking through old mental barriers is really one of the more satisfying parts of ultra marathon cycling. You have to learn to embrace the pain if you’re going to fully appreciate the experience. I call it a victory of the mind.

"At 5 a.m. I went through Gun Barrel City. The rain was a total deluge. The police stopped our caravan for a good five to eight minutes while we explained what we were doing and reassured them that we were following traffic laws fully.

"The rain pounded away for another 30 to 45 minutes but subsided as dawn arrived.

"The last 110 miles of the trip took place on the old Race Across America 1991 route that I had done before. As the clouds broke and the sun came out, it became hot and unbearably humid.

"I realized at that point that I had covered the first 430 miles in 24 hours, which was a very fast pace. I knew the record would be mine, if I could keep it together. I realized I had the time buffer I was hoping to achieve and I could actually ease up on my effort.

"However, I told myself that I had pushed hard up to that point and owed it to myself to keep pushing all the way to the end. I wanted to set an untouchable record, so I had to maintain the same, fast pace.

"Eastern Texas is loaded with really tough, sometimes steep rolling hills. With the heat and humidity becoming stifling, I was glad I had those extra miles in the bag.

"At 1:14 p.m. Sunday, I reached the border and crossed into Louisiana near Shreveport. I had established a new record of 32:19 on a course 40 miles longer than the previous record."

"In all humility, it’s highly unlikely that the new record will be seriously challenged. This is one of ultra marathon cycling’s more venerable records because everyone knows how difficult it is to ride across the state of Texas."

Born said he’d like to thank his local sponsors Smith Sport Optics, Botanica Bioscience/Second Wind and Durance Cycleworks.

He hopes to challenge the border-to-border record in Colorado, hopefully in mid-September 1999.

Wisconsin native Born is a three-time finisher of the arduous Race Across America (RAAM). He finished eighth overall in the 1998 RAAM, setting a personal-record time of nine days, 17 hours and 48 minutes for the 2,900-mile ride from California to Georgia.

In July 1997, Born set an Ultra Marathon Cycling Association record by pedaling from the northern border of Idaho to the southern extreme of the Gem State—645 miles overall in 39 hours and 37 minutes.