Trans Am Bike Race / TransAm / TABR

Heh... just Googled and found AA battery to USB charger adaptors. Meaning it's cheap and easy to buy shitty batteries as you go along, and to charge USB devices from those.

He's either going to be recharging along the way or touring if he's only got 36hrs night riding time.

Mike raced the first edition with only battery power. It's definitely doable but I love my dynamo.

I hope not. Pretty sure discarding stuff like that isn't in the race ethos.

I have one of those. It's called a Gomadic. Almost certain @frank9755 uses one.

Mine has never been used of course, just another item in my panic buying frenzy before TCR last year.

He's planning on charging in motels every night.

I've just bought my Three PAYG SIM, got hold of an Ortlieb saddle bag to test for size and a new watch because I can't be arsed with automatics for TABR.

OSM works fine for my cycling needs, especially if you're sticking to good paved roads. It's not good at distinguishing unpaved but if you've got a route already, it does the job.

Ortlieb packed with down jacket stuffed into 1L drybag rather than normal 2L one), bivvy, rain jacket, gore shorts. Not much room for anything else and not much fucking point either since Evans left out half the mount so I can't even fit it to the bike to test it out. I'm taking the Revelate to the USA.

Coolio. I found I had USA OSM from last trip so I'll use that.

Gomadic

Yes I used two in the ipwr. It meant I could run both my phone / GPS and my lights off either power banks or AAs. I needed to recharge in a hotel only every fifth night, with AAs kicking in if I went longer.
Dynamos are so overrated!
At my power output they are a luxury item.
Mike set the TABR record without a dynamo, Josh ibbet won TCR without one .
Etc, etc...

Three PAYG SIM,

Make sure you activate it before you leave the UK, I had a nightmare with this in Australia. It took a week for them to get it working. Lucky it was my back up phone (which I only took because they kept cutting me off on TCR)

Yeah but Mike said he would've used one if he had time or wheel choice supported it and everyone else who's won anything uses them. :P

Just the fact I don't have to remember to charge stuff and my lights are on all the time is awesome.

Yeah, the guy said to activate it here. TCR was a nightmare with their service but I'm hoping a single country they can cope with..

everyone else who's won anything uses them. :P

Apart from one of the two people to have won the TCR...!

At my power output they are a luxury item.

Power data or >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Gissss ya numbers

In the ipwr I was mostly rolling along at around 80 W. A bit higher on hills but it was mostly flat. Take 6 W off that and it is making a material impact, about 8% of power, or 3% of speed.
And I was towards the front of the race! @hippy is obviously going to be putting out way more than that so a dynamo will cost him a lot less time, but I think most people seriously over estimate the power that the average rider can produce riding all day every day on one of these events.

One other factor- mains power in the US is shit, 120v. It takes significantly longer to charge stuff.

Dynamo is essential.

Hippy theres a Walmart about 1 mile north of Astoria for last minute shit.

They are pretty good at activating sim cards too if you have any issues.

Don't forget mobile phone coverage is poor out of town limits. Idaho, Lolo pass is particularly bad- thats the 100 mile long hill up to Montana.

One other factor- mains power in the US is shit, 120v. It takes significantly longer to charge stuff.

I thought that was an interesting point. I typically stay in a hotel for 5 hours, which is how long it takes to charge a 10Ah power bank. If it takes twice as long, then it would make a dynamo much more sensible.

I googled it and it seems that it depends on the charger with bigger kit (laptops) more likely to take longer while phones should take the same amount of time. But I'd need to be more certain if I was doing it.

I've no particular desire to be an advocate of not using dynamos but there tends to be lots of confirmation bias around, people who have spent money and time on dynamos want to believe they are the best option (and also for people like me who have explored alternatives). As a result I think a lot of new riders getting into this kind of thing think they need a dynamo when its probably not the best option for them, especially if their long term power output is not very high.
However, i suppose that in the grand scheme of things, it's not the most important decision.

Or written another way, 75% of TCR winners use dynamo hubs and Josh didn't race KA when he won so it's almost certain KA/dynamos would've won all editions.

"Spoke'n Hostel in Mitchell, Oregon will be open through the night for the first few nights of the race (we've already received reservations from a couple racers!)"

What the shit is this? I thought you were not allowed to book accom. before the race starts?!

@hippy, not long now, when do you fly out?
Anyone else on here doing it?

Monday.

Bike in Woolsey at moment with new wheel getting new brakes after I killed them last weekend. New cassette and chain too.

I'll need to shake it down this weekend then pack. Then repack. Then repack.... Then re....

Tracking site: http://trackleaders.com/transam17