Danish ultracyclist is 3 days into virtual Race Across America - on Zwift in a Copenhagen shopping centre! (+ livestream)

Danish ultracyclist Michael Knudsen, who will ride the Race Across America next summer, is in the third day of his challenge to ride the 5,000-kilometre distance of the event – but on a turbo trainer, using Zwift, in a shopping centre in Copenhagen.

Knudsen has booked a 10-day slot at Fields Shopping, one of the biggest shopping centres in Scandinavia, as much for publicity for next summer’s coast-to-coast ride as for preparation - and what's more, he is streaming it live on YouTube.

Writing on the Level Up Life – Project RAAM Facebook page earlier today, he acknowledged the support he was receiving, saying the Zwift community is really gathering around this project and I feel the love guys.”

Knudsen is currently riding the Hilly Loop in the platform’s virtual world, Watopia, which he says will enable him “to stack up those climbing meters and distance,” adding to fellow Zwifters, “feel free to stop by!”

He said: “The climbing metres (39.000 metres) is quite a challenge though as if 5,000 kilometres on a turbo was not dreadful enough,” he continued.

“We are slightly ahead of the time schedule and the head is still in the game which in this line of cycling is more important than the body.

“If I pull it off in the next 8 days it will be one big team effort from the Zwift community,” Knudsen added.

“I've done some incredibly stupid things on a bike but this one takes the prize.”

Last month, when he first announced his plans, Knudsen told us: “The whole idea is not to ‘ride the Race across America’ – it’s much bigger and more social.

“It’s about spreading the word about our RAAM campaign, it’s about activating people in the community to come out in the shopping mall and be active or ride with me from home.

“It’s a cool way to put ultracycling on the map sitting for 10 days in a huge shopping mall.

“It’s about having fun, testing equipment, pushing the body, do something stupid and crazy and potentially set a new indoor world record in the meantime.

“It’s a cool way to gain exposure to sponsors and all in all just something different than what other people do.”

He continued: “I fully understand that this project in the real RAAM is incomparable and the plan is not to compare them. They are two different things.

“My plan is also to sleep around 3-4 hours each night next to the bike which is significantly more than I’ll be sleeping at RAAM.

“But like I said this is *not* RAAM – I don’t want to kill my body and have to recover for a long, long time after.

“I’m really excited to get this show on the road,” he added. “It’s something never done before and it should be good fun.”

As for routes, he said: “Watopia is quite big so I guess I’ll just be cruising around the island. There is no real time goal or average speed goal for this event. It’s all fun and social.

“I have the spot for 10 days which I reckon will be enough with the higher speed in Zwift and drafting taking into account.”

The event is being covered in English on Knudsen’s Instagram page where, in the coming months, he will also be sharing his build-up to RAAM itself.

Knudsen undertook a similar PR stunt-cum-training ride in 2017, ahead of finishing second in that year’s 9,100 kilometre Red Bull Trans-Siberian Extreme in 2017.

He spent a week virtually riding the combined elevation of the highest peak on each continent – a total elevation gain of more than 40,000 metres.