Trans Am Bike Race / TransAm / TABR

30C is fine. It's the minus fucking five I was not happy with.

It's snowing on parts of the route so as far as I'm concerned there is no hot edition.

-5C to 45C is what I plan for which makes it more demanding than TCR in clothing terms.

I want overshoes... but midfoot. :(

Fucking hate always having cold feet.

Same here. Cold hands and cold feet.

Were the ‘proper cold’ stretches quite sustained or were they temporary and intermittent?

I have the Assos early winter ones. They’re quite tough so could probably handle a bit of extra trimming and stitching.

At the speed I was going? Days of feeling cold. It sucked.

But the proper sub-zero bits were mostly just the high passes I think.

I don't think toe covers go back far enough to be trimmed and still stay on.
I still have two sets of Adidas toe covers I always used to use but they don't fit any more.
Loved those things. Never used shoe covers with those.

At least they're a little less high now.

-5C to 45C is what I plan for which makes it more demanding than TCR in clothing terms.

True, I forget how much it can vary state to state - Summers where I live are very consistent.

True. Future racers will have me to thank for slightly faster times through the mountains.

It’s the full booties I have. They’re almost too insulated. I still get cold feet but slackening the shoes off helps. I’m even packing ‘foot warmer’ pads that people use for skiing, just in case it’s brutal. Never tested them but if it gets bad enough to try them then it won’t matter anyway.

I took (and used) chemical foot warmers last year. I think I might still have some. It was hard to say how effective they were - I hadn't felt anything in my toes for days.

I’m even packing ‘foot warmer’ pads that people use for skiing, just in case it’s brutal. Never tested them but if it gets bad enough to try them then it won’t matter anyway.

I used to use those for night rides. They do work but the key thing is to use them early: they will prevent your feet from going numb but they won't warm them back up if they have already gone numb (IME)

Need some new brake pads. Sigh. Discs are 'spensive.

Also may not have given myself enough time to get to Astoria so could be empty hotel room unless I can cancel it or get a ride from PDX to Astoria on Wed.

Still not happy with freehub lube either. Supposed to be mix of TP-42 w/ 5% mineral oil, I've just used TP-42.

#sigh

Won’t matter. At 5 % Mineral oil won’t add anything. As long as you packed it with grease all good.

It might add moisture which would stop this paste drying out and causing the squeaking?

Found a roll of Velox, so we're back in business!

Brake pads on their way too. #lastminutemotherfucker

No it’ll just be a little fluid lubricant. You can always add a tiny baby oil. Essentially the same.

I have a strictly wrestling-only policy for my baby oil.

I might just apply a bit more paste and see what happens.

Replaced the front pads and disc so now the brakes are on all the time. Oh how I love disc brakes. Still need to do the back pads, replace cassette and chain, swap a chainring, swap tyre, remove mudguard.

You need to spend some of your (non) hard earned cash on a good bike mechanic mate.

I put new pads on a hydro setup the other day, surprised to find they were clamped hard to the rotor. Guess they're self-adjusting for wear? Didn't know what else to do so went through the whole bleed process and that fixed em.

You just have to push the pistons back into the caliper first with a tyre lever or w/e