This year’s field included a host of racers competing in solo and team competitions, and in the age groups of 50 and younger, 50 to 59, and 60 and older. Notable participants included teams made up of British and American military personnel, and the adventurer Katie Spotz, a 23-year-old who became the youngest person to row solo across an ocean in 2010. Spotz broke her pelvis in a training accident a week before the race began but decided to compete while riding on a hand cycle. David Jones, a 65-year-old from Winnetka, Calif., completed the race in 12 days 7 hours 10 minutes, which was the fastest time in the 60-and-older age group.

Riders cross the country on secondary roads and highways, and safety has been a problem. Racers died in 2003 and 2005 after collisions with vehicles. Last year, a racer was hit by a car and paralyzed from the waist down. Last September, Jure Robic, 45, was killed after being hit by a car while training in his native Slovenia only weeks after winning the race for the fifth time.

Strasser rode the first 24 hours of this year’s race in earshot of Marko Baloh, an asthmatic 44-year-old civil servant and father of three from Slovenia who was hoping to win the race as a tribute to Robic. Strasser stopped for his first rest, a 10-minute nap, at the 24-hour mark, while Baloh powered on to take the lead. But Baloh, who finished third, stopped for a 90-minute nap 36 hours into the race, while Strasser kept going.

“I passed him while he was asleep and then I never saw another racer again,” said Strasser, who first attempted RAAM in 2009 but had to quit in the Rockies because of altitude-related breathing issues.

After more than 40 hours of riding on just 10 minutes of sleep, Strasser settled into a ritual of sleeping for about 70 minutes each morning with the help of his coach, who used hypnosis to help him fall asleep. But sleep deprivation began to take a toll.

“By the sixth day, I was going a bit crazy,” he said. “I was waking up and asking my team, ‘Why am I riding a bike?’ and ‘Where are we going?’ I was surprised when they told me we were in a race to Annapolis.”