Trans Am Bike Race / TransAm / TABR

I was just catching-up on the thread and posted for bantz.

Now I am making a sad.

[this line is reserved for something encouraging and pithy]

I've had a shit couple of weeks. Actually probably since Mike was killed I've been very lack lustre in my preparations for this race, unlike most people, his death knocked my motivation to ride quite a bit.

Weeks just gone been working 14hr days and mentally not up for pushing it, not on training rides anyway. This weekend I just couldn't handle leaving on Fri then on Sat morning woke up still full of snot from a throat infection.
Basically I'm a tale of woe at the moment and I'm hoping I'll snap the fuck out of it soon.
I will be racing TABR but I will also still be fat, sorry, my -10kg plan failed miserably.

Less than a month until I fly out. I'm sure it'll be fine :)

Time to get on that ketogenic diet! :)

Just quitting booze for a month would be a good start. Let's see how that goes...

Boozerz are loserz. . . Or something motivational like that! :)

Just swap to Guinness.....that's all the training and dietary requirements you need.

You'll be fine.....it's gonna be strange sitting watching the blue dot of an Aussie, who I don't know in real life, moaning about his mushed-up hooch area, and cheering from my sofa!

I need to stop mapping breweries along the route...

That said, let me know next time you're free somewhere central and I'll meet you for a drink. . . Be good to catch up, especially considering how much you've been up to!

Yeah, can do. I'll be looking for liquid painkiller in July after the race, no doubt :)

Sorry to hear you are having a shit time. For something like tabr I reckon what you've done over x years makes more difference than a month of last minute training. And when you get on the start line you'll be motivated by that. I'm sure you'll be competitive!

Cheers man, I know I'll still be up the field and just finishing it will be pretty good but I'd put higher expectations on this and training ain't delivering. Much the same as LEJOG in '14.
I'm going to lock in the 600 this weekend with a no-guilt bail-out option if it's going badly. At the very least it will let me test some kit changes.

Sure, I'm expecting you to be a contender in this one! Hope the ride goes well this weekend but if it doesn't, then as you say, knock out on the head and don't feel guilty.
It reminded me I was reading something on Steve Hogg's site just yesterday where he was saying that being in good shape and getting sleep was more important than training. In my case he was preaching to the converted!

Good shape, good sleep? Um, overweight and alcoholic and I haven't had a good sleep since 1984. :)

Still, I'm racing a bunch of Americans, I'll look skinny. I'm gonna smash it.

You'll be fine, better to be over weight going into it as you will shed it bloody quickly- I was skeletal at the end. Pre race nerves file under normal.

As being able to function while sleep-deprived is also a big factor, it's great if you're training that too.

It's not pre-race nerves so much as pre-race, meh.

Pre-race nerves I will get the day before/morning of no matter happens in the lead up and I know all about and although I normally appear angry I'm just concentrating.

What I'm worried about is failing (and defining what is a failure for me is kind of key here) because of some kind of lack of motivation or lack of desire. That would be super shit.

I don't want to 'just finish' but not knowing what might happen that might have to do. You can't help the competition being better than you but if I'm not even confident in my own ability then that's a poor way to start.

Basically, I'm resetting this week. I'm not working stupid hours. I'm not drinking. I'm going to try and sleep well. All the shit I should've been doing last month as well and then ride this 600 and see what my head does. I may just bounce back, I may have another wobble. No idea until I ride it.

Well, unlike many sleep-deprived people during TCR I didn't do things like leave my wallet in a previous town or lose my bike or ride the wrong way on the route or whatever so I think I manage pretty well when tired. Motivation goes though - towards the end of TCR I stopped caring about the race and just wanted to get to the finish. I stopped bothering with alarms, stopped caring about stop-time, etc. TABR is longer so there's certainly risk of that, but I'm more experienced so should do a bit better in that regard.

Newton Bike Shop fundraising to build their hostel:
https://www.gofundme.com/buildtheoasis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuCqLUblY84

@frank9755 (from audax thread)

Cambrian 6A was hilly - I had yesterday off and my quads are still tender today . There was also an annoying northerly for the first leg but I think it was probably just me being very tired to start with that was the reason for the slowness.

Still need to pair/pare down my kit some more. I seem to carry all this stuff and don't use it or buy more of the same stuff so that I don't cut in to my emergency stuff. I mean, I carried two pots of chamois cream and didn't even use them!

I wore most of the clothes I took so I was happy about that although I'm having doubts about the usefulness of the down jacket on TABR, especially if I'm going to try and hotel/motel in the mountains. It's a big load of bulk that I have to keep taking off as soon as I climb anything because it's VERY warm. Then again, I did have a windproof, long sleeve jersey over a base layer and a thin gilet on in Wales + the down jacket + the rain jacket.
In TABR I will only have a lightweight jersey on so perhaps the down jacket will come in handy on some of the longer descents as well as any time I bivvy (my bivvy will be lighter than the one I used in Wales, more emergency rather than proper one).

Good to carry more stuff on the training rides than you will on the real thing.
I'd defo keep the down jacket. It could be a lifesaver. I wore mine loads on TCR and IPWR. I actually brought it in to work with me today, as I'm out tonight and it is meant to get cold this evening.
Mine is a really thin one from Uniqlo which I got for £19 in a sale just before TCR and isn't too warm to wear when I'm riding at pathetic power levels (as is often the case!).
With bivvies, I found my Alpkit one that I used on the TCR to be good. But the OR Helium I bought for IPWR (because someone told me I needed one with a bug net, which I didn't as they all disappear at night!) was horrible because it wasn't breathable enough - so I woke up shivering even on warm night as I was damp from sweat. If I was doing another one, I would look at the SOL one that is meant to be breathable

You're skinny enough that you need a down jacket. I seem to carry mine everywhere and only use it for sleeping in and the 10min it takes to get warm afterwards. I guess if I have a mechanical up a mountain it could be useful. That's why I never sent it home on the TCR even though I barely touched it.

Mine is a crazy expensive PHD jacket - full jacket, not vest so it's probably much warmer than yours. I pack it into a 2L S2S dry bag. I could probably force it into a 1L bag but I'm loathe to damage my most ridiculously expensive useless item :)

I've got a superlight, breathable, bug net bivvy for TABR because it's typical hot, steamy and there's lots of bugs. In the mountains I will have to use hotels/motels or nap and move on before I freeze to death.

I want to get a full size NeoAir pad - I have the Small (3/4) one and it's great but I'd love to have my legs lifted off the ground too. So I think I might sell my old 3/4 Thermarest and the NeoAir 3/4 and get a fullsize. Whether or not I take it on TABR I'm not sure - I'm erring on the side of no, but it would make my bivvy sleeps much better.

It also depends on sleep strategy. If it's super hot during the day I might be riding through the night and sleeping during the day, which means any excess warmth will be unnecessary.
This is what Adrian seemed to do but it will depend on weather.

NeoAir Small = 226g vs. Regular = 340g and would be suitable for my height (it's 182cm).

Yeah - mine packs down into the pint glass on my desk. I just tested it!

Those NeoAir pads must be great to sleep on, but the faff of inflation / deflation puts me off. On IPWR I had my cut-in-half blue foam pad, which I really like, but the fast riders didn't seem to bother with anything - just rode until more tired. They mostly seemed to try to sleep inside (toilet floors, shower blocks, etc) rather than camp in the bush, for warmth and in case of rain. A lot of the slower / less experienced riders took inflatable mats. I'm generalising, but that was my impression from talking to people and looking at kit lists.