Trans Am Bike Race / TransAm / TABR

Good luck Darren. Reckon you have a pretty good chance.

Seems like the Northcape-Tarifa is more stacked with some speedy ones?
Brilliant that you are doing this again @hippy. Looking forward to following.

I don't plan to be troubling the top spots. My goal is to stay healthy and keep it consistent and unspectacular.

Ligt has done TCR. Where did he finish?

Not very high, but he then trained hard for IndyPac and was one of the leaders until he got a bad saddle sore around Port Augusta (not an anatomical term).

I expected him to do well in TCR last year but he decided to pack after Frank Simons was killed.

I think he's also been training hard for this so I would expect him to be amongst the leaders if he can stay the distance.

Donncha did the same thing in both IndyPac and TABR last year - went off like a train and then blew up - so I wonder if he can learn from it or if he'll do the same again. He did loads of prep for TABR last year.

I don't plan to be troubling the top spots.

Why not? You should be in the mix if things go to plan!

Seems like the Northcape-Tarifa is more stacked with some speedy ones?

Who? Steffen, Kai, @Samuli
Any other quick riders?

Yeh this. Go for it!

I've made several changes after rookie mistakes made TCR & LEL much harder than they needed to be. My whole focus is on avoiding those mistakes and staying healthy. I've not really considered where it'll place me. It's been a difficult 12 months and I'm not as fit as I have been, but I've got some experience now and that should more than compensate. Still not sure about that bastard saddle though.

Port Augusta (not an anatomical term)

Did LOL :)

if things go to plan!

Famous Last Words (FLW)

@frank9755, Just those I recognised versus being surprised that there are so few of the top-placed riders from last year's TABR returning, particularly no Evan as he's done the last few editions.

If I'd set the new benchmark I'd probably go and target something different the following year too.

Janie has raced twice.
Evan three times
Wacker three times
Steffan is elsewhere
Um, who else was there?

TAW is pretty stacked this year, taking out a few names that might've been tempted to race TABR.

Jose Bermudez I enjoyed following, Sofiane Sehili and Janie. None of those are in this year are they? Maybe there will be some late entries?

TAW is pretty stacked this year, taking out a few names that might've been tempted to race TABR.

Yes, that is a very strong field. Jesse, Sarah, Vin Cox, Bernd, Bjorn, Josh, Chris H, Paul Alderson, etc, etc.
Can't understand why so many people want to do it on rough roads in the cold and rain, but it looks like they do!

Yeah, going to be a really fight that, look forward to watching it.

Jessie and sarah are not racing. I spoke to him, not sure why they're there.

There seems to be a few familiar names in Silk road mountain race this year too. So many races.

Ryan Flinn is instagramming Tabr this year, right?

Jessie and sarah are not racing. I spoke to him, not sure why they're there.

OK - I'm not totally surprised

Touring it maybe. Touring / Marketing

#prayfordarrensarse

I'm hoping that Twitter account won't be very active. The saddle was OK-ish for LEL but gave me a scare on LWL the other week. Too late to test alternatives now but I'm hoping that doesn't handicap me again. It'd be nice to just worry about the legs.

No they're not coming at all, don't think they ever were. Not sure.

Good luck Darren. Looking forward to seeing your dot dash across the continent. Also looking forward to following hippy's suffering.