DESPITE TWO FATALITIES in three years, RAAM went on in 2006, albeit with notable changes. After Breedlove's death, race director Jim Pitre considered canceling the event, but he and RAAM founder Lon Haldeman settled on a rule change that would require solo riders to take mandatory rest stops totaling a minimum of 40 hours. The idea drew immediate fire from race purists and rankled the Breedloves' supporters, who resented the implication that Bob had died as a result of lack of sleep.

In the end, the opposition to mandatory rest periods forced the organizers to compromise. This year's race offered the traditional solo division and a new Enduro division, with designated rest stops spread along the route. The solution didn't placate the Breedlove loyalists, though. Many of them felt that, instead of changing the race, RAAM's leadership should have been more active in investigating Breedlove's death.

"I am exceedingly disappointed with the way they've reacted to this," says Stuart Stevens. "They've never made an attempt to find out what happened. It's as if they're protecting the brand—they don't want it associated with a death."

Pitre seems baffled by such comments. "I've had masses of e-mails criticizing RAAM and me for not taking a stronger position," he says. "I hesitate to be more vocal when the information I have is piecemeal. I don't guess we'll ever know what went on out there."

Haldeman, who has kept close track of the investigation, has decided over time that the boys may have been at fault. "All it is is speculation," he says. "But it's very probable the impact occurred in Bob's lane."

Overall, organizers considered RAAM 2006 a success. The solo field was divided equally between traditional riders like this year's winner, 36-year-old Daniel Wyss, and those in the Enduro division, which was won by 50-year-old Jonathan Boyer, 21 years after his first RAAM victory. One rider, Daniel Maegerle, was hospitalized in St. Louis with broken ribs and damage to his lungs and liver after a collision with a truck in the rain.

For the most part, the route was the same as last year, traveling many of the narrow secondary roads, with little or no shoulder, that used to worry Bob's crew. The route through southern Colorado was the same one Breedlove had done several times and loved: Wolf Creek Pass, La Veta Pass, Cucharas Pass, Trinidad.

Heading east on Highway 12, near mile marker 42, the cyclists passed a small white cross by the side of the road, marking the last ride of a legend.