Trans Am Bike Race / TransAm / TABR

@hippy will have legs up to his ears by the end of TCR.

Yeah, I want to teach it a lesson after last year.

With any luck there'll be enough scar tissue and dead nerves I'll never have to worry about saddle choice again

Unfortunately that only seems to work for hands and feet.

Joking aside, and apart from the skin damage, how are your actual sitbones? I have some real issues with my Ischial Tuberosity since Tour Divide, and that was 2 years ago!

I was on the bike briefly the day after with no issues. Any bruising goes away quickly it seems and there was less skin damage than last year

Does that mean your arse is gradually hardening the fuck up.

#onedayhippywillbeahardarse

No, it just means I've found better saddle and got better at managing damage.

Doesn't that amount to the same thing?

Not quite. You can toughen your arse to an extent just by riding.

But I do that already. Then it comes down to changing stuff (saddle, knicks, chamois cream, position) to minimise chaffing or pressure points or whatever the issue is. Then you will get issues no matter what, so there's how to manage the sores, cuts, bruises, whatever.

Well, to me, if you're riding these things and managing a sore arse the whole time, you're as tough as they come.

I dunno if this is any help or if you know it already, but when I was touring I was in a lot of pain due to sores, did a bit of reading and it turned out sudocrem was the best guy for the job due to some combo of stuff which I can't remember. The pharmacist gave me 2 creams (no sudocrem) to apply instead and it worked a treat. Will try and find more info when I get a chance

Martin Cox is just finishing.

Excellent , i read earlier he had a plane to catch.

HTFU henceforth means 'hippy TFU', anyway.

OK, so Rebecca Harrison has 372 miles to go. Alistair McGregor is within a couple of miles of her and her riding partner, Jonathan Brown. After that the field is spread out all the way back to the Rockies. That said, around six of the 17 riders after Alistair McGregor have shown no movement for days and so are probably phantom dots. The last rider on the road, however, Chinda David is still riding having covered a magnificent 1842 miles. At this rate she will be on the road for a further six weeks.

I use Sudocreme, Conotrane, Assos. It doesn't really matter as it's more pressure related than skin friction issue. I like Sudocreme for longer rides as it stays in place longer compared to Assos, etc. But I've also read that the (insert chemical, maybe zinc, here) causes some friction so there are better options. Conotrane is probably the middle ground for me.

Germolene can be good, it's between savlon and sudocreme consistency wise and has a strong anaesthetic effect which can really take the edge off.

I actually carried some lidocane(sp?) anaesthetic cream for the whole race but never bothered to use it. I'm either extremely lazy a masochist or a bit of both.

http://www.bepanthen.co.uk/ is the other stuff people have suggested but I've not tried it.

I found bepanthen too heavy/sticky for riding - good for he aftermath though.

I never use any stuff. Clean and dry ftw.

If I get sores I put germoline on after rides and that helps. Or if its really bad then before too.

Heavier than Sudocreme?

By Missouri you're never dry anywhere so you may as well use chamois cream.

I started cream free but by the later stages if I wasn't able to clean up and tape up I was using it to ease the pain of saddle contact. Probably should've tried the lidocane too just too see if it's any use.

Bepanthen is super sticky, always used it on tattoos after getting them done. Would not use for chamois. It's basically a heavy barrier cream, not a lubricant. Might as well just rub treacle on your ass, more fun too.

Maybe that's why all those bugs were attracted to me. I knew I shouldn't squeeze honey sachets into my chamois.