Sebastien Sasseville | The grueling race across America

Through the desert, the prairies, the mountains. In the blistering heat of Arizona and the cold of Colorado. From the west coast to the east coast of the United States. Sébastien Sasseville rode. He cycled 4800 km in 11 days, 22 hours and 25 minutes. All this while he has type 1 diabetes.

Katherine Harvey Pinard
The Press

The ultracyclist from Quebec concluded the Race Across America (RAAM), one of the toughest cycling races in the world, on June 26. He finished at 12^e rank in the general classification, while almost half of the 33 participants gave up along the way.

He had just returned to Quebec on Tuesday afternoon when he took the call from The Press. At the end of the line, we still felt exhausted – with good reason.

” It feels good [d’être de retour] and, at the same time, we are almost sad that it is over, ”he says.

Sasseville uses “we” rather than “I” to talk about his challenge. A challenge which, although he achieved it in the “solo” category, is anything but individual. In fact, 10 people accompanied him, each with a specific role: cook, bike technician, medical staff… Sasseville made sure to recruit a support team as competitive as him, full of “beautiful personalities” and people who think of the team rather than themselves.

“It’s like a mini-business,” he says. It is to create a culture. And none of this happened on its own. »

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The team’s preparation for RAAM lasted a year. But as good as it was, some things can only be learned with experience. For example, the sleep strategy, which almost caused the team to drop out on Day 9. In fact, Sasseville was originally expected to ride an average of 21-22 hours and sleep 2 hours a day.

Except that after riding 525 km on the first day, the cyclist only managed to sleep 45 minutes on a long break of 5 hours. “It was excitement. I don’t know, adrenaline,” he says.

“On day 2, we put it on with a 425 km, a block of 22 hours, and I can’t sleep, he continues. On day 3, I managed to sleep 2 hours. Basically, we were 1500 km away and I had only had 2 hours and 45 minutes of sleep. I was completely down. »

Although he was able to sleep for the next few days, his body felt like a ticking time bomb. So much so that he completely gave up on day 9.

“At this point, it’s super interesting because you’re in a position of incredible vulnerability and humility,” he continues. I wish everyone to experience this. You are like the puppet [de tes coéquipiers]. They decide what you eat, when you eat it, how many hours you sleep and when you sleep them. »

The team finally decided to put him to sleep for five long hours so that he could recharge his battery as much as possible.

“I have my part to do. And that’s the bike. To know that they were there, that they would be there until the end… We did it one day at a time, one hour at a time. Everything went well and we’re done. »

Once the finish line was crossed, the 43-year-old athlete was overwhelmed with pride and joy. The joy “of having had an idea, of having believed in it, of having made sacrifices”.

Great joys, great darkness

After crossing the finish line located in Annapolis, Maryland, Sébastien Sasseville went on stage at RAAM, where a host asked him a few questions about his adventure. He notably recounted having burst into tears when he came across a crushed cat on his way, which reminded him of his cat who stayed at home.

When reminded of this anecdote, the athlete laughs. “It shows how much this race takes you somewhere you’ve never been and takes you through darkness that you’ve never experienced,” he says.

“It’s super cyclical. Every day you have two or three moments of great darkness. It’s an hour or two. After that, it’s going well for four hours, you’re fine, you drive well, the psychological is there. […] It wasn’t going so well that seeing an animal that got hit put me in a state like that. There, I laugh, it’s correct. But what envelops it is full of meaning. »

“A race over the race”

As we said: Sébastien Sasseville is type 1 diabetic, the most severe form of the disease. His life depends on several insulin injections a day. Naturally, the level of difficulty is higher for him than for the other participants. It is “a race over the race”.

“It’s hours and hours of work during [la course] to manage blood sugar, he explains. It’s hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute management. It’s super complex. »

It has been many years since Sasseville received his diagnosis. He accepts it: “Life gave me that and I manage that,” he summarizes. And then, this is far from being the first time that he has taken on this kind of challenge: he has notably climbed Everest and crossed Canada by running and cycling. He wants to show other type 1 diabetics that anything is possible.

“Just being on the start line had a powerful message. Then to finish it, not in a bad position… I’m really happy with what we’ve achieved and the message it can send. »

“People ask if I’m an adrenaline junkie. It’s so not that. […] It’s always been message-based, which I do. It is to accumulate enriching experiences to learn, develop myself, meet new people. And create those memories with people you love. »