Ramona's Kevin McNulty took up cycling as a way to remain physically active after he quit his job as a stucco contractor to spend more time with his family.

"He has always been an incredibly hard worker," Carolyn McNulty, Kevin's wife, said. "I'd met some of his former employers and they'd commented that they had never seen anyone work so hard. He was really enjoying taking care of the baby, but there was nothing really to do. He realized he needed something physical to do because he was used to doing stucco work which was physically demanding."

Carolyn McNulty said her husband wore out her exercise bike and eventually he decided to go on a noncompetitive group ride in the Anza-Borrego desert.

"He was a little surprised to realize he was the first one back, and I think that's when it hit him like 'Hey I could do this,' " she said.

McNulty started competing in hundred-mile time-trial races.

"I don't like all that negative energy, handlebar banging and name calling (in traditional racing)," he said. "In time trialing, it's just you and the clock. There's not a lot of drafting, there's no team tactics."

McNulty, 42, still spends much of his training time on a stationary trainer in the loft of his rural Ramona home where he homeschools Colin, 8.

He did manage to get out of the house and even across the country on his bike over the summer, though.

McNulty and a partner, Joe Peterson of Bakersfield, set a record in the two-man division of the Race Across America cycling race.

The duo averaged 19.5 miles per hour throughout the non-stop journey, which started in Oceanside on June 13 and took McNulty and his partner to Atlantic City, N.J., in 6 days, 11 hours and 24 minutes. McNulty sped across the country on his aluminum framed Cervelo P3, conquering the Rocky Mountains, the midwest's scorching heat, minimal sleep and extreme physical exhaustion to finish the race more than 36 hours ahead of the next two-man team.

"It's definitely the longest and most physically grueling cycling race in the U.S," race spokesperson Jodi Hall said. "Records do not get broken every year. McNulty and his teammate Peterson are both very accomplished riders.They didn't break the record, they smashed it."

The team received $1,500 for winning the race and an additional $8,500 for breaking the previous two-man record of 6 days, 14 hours, 7 minutes set by Jeff Rushton and Kevin Wallace in 2004 when they averaged 18.7 miles per hour.

McNulty and Anderson had a six-person support crew throughout the race. While one man rode, the other ate or rested in the one of two vehicles with the crew, which cruised 50 feet behind the rider.

The duo developed an hour-on hour-off system. At night they increased the intervals to 90 minutes.

McNulty said he thinks the fact he and Peterson specialize in time trials helped them set the record.

"We thought that when it comes to winds (not being able to draft behind other riders), people who had been doing 100-mile time trials like us would have a distinct advantage," he said.

The team had to stop at 56 checkpoint time stations in 13 states along the way.

"It runs through some of the more rural areas of the country, which are just gorgeous," McNulty said.

McNulty said his scariest moment of the race was also his most memorable.

"It was really dark," he said, "I don't remember what state, and we were turning at 90 degrees onto a concrete highway. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a difference in the light pattern on the ground and I thought it was where the concrete met the asphalt but it turned out it was a pothole that was about a foot deep. My front wheel went for a dive and I went right over the bars and landed on my face. I was hearing this (sound) like rain but it wasn't raining. I looked around and there was no real cloud cover. Then I looked down and found it was my face that was literally sprinkling on the ground. It was surreal to look down, see this huge puddle around my feet and realize 'That's my blood.' "

McNulty continued on in the race and did not bandage his face.

"I knew all the gravel would bleed out so I just let it. How do you bandage your face without a hockey mask anyway?" he said jokingly.

Overcoming the aches and pains to set the record is a point of pride for the otherwise humble McNulty.

"I've got to say I really am proud of setting that record," he said. "Though I know the strength came from God not from me."

McNulty said he isn't sure whether he will race again and try to improve on the time.

"It's very expensive, both time and money wise," he said.

He and Peterson instead have their sights set on another grueling race, the Furnace Creek 508, a 500-mile race that takes riders through the Sierra foothills and the Mojave Desert.

"The two-man record in that race seems pretty breakable," McNulty said with a chuckle.