Trans Am Bike Race / TransAm / TABR

Interesting.
He’s going to roast in that’s helmet.

The bike and wheel are cool, they’re fine. But I wonder if his position is sustainable. However it’s been shown that tt bikes do work for these races and America is the place they’d work best.

His bars are so high what’s the point of the tt frame. Might as well be on road bike.

This. The drops look well wrong. As long as he’s having fun tho.

Agreed, I can understand the logic behind aero wheels and hat (even if the practicalities might work out differently) but surely the aero benefit of the actual frame (all else, especially position, being equal) is pretty marginal when compared to a road bike. Plus it looks like he's carrying almost nothing... I'd like to see a full kit list.

On another note, is it too early to get into speculation about sleep patterns? Peter Anderson is only 45km behind the leader but seems to be the only one of the front group to have managed two substantial (5hr) sleeps.

EDIT just looked at the race flow page and I must have been mis-reading the speed/time plots... several people are on regular sleep patterns.

Was just looking at Peter Andersen, remembered the name from last year - he was an early front runner until he dropped out after 3 or 4 days(?)

Yes, just watching last year's replay.

Appart from a long stop in Flintrock (which cost him several places) he was a regular in the top 1-5 through Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming. It looks like he stopped in Walden in northern Colorado for several days and his tracker seems to move off course into the mountains to the west of there before cutting across to Denver. The replay tool never shows him finishing but if you look at his own personal page it looks like he took a few weeks off the bike before returning to ride and ultimately finish the route on the 19th August.

@hippy 's gooch has had no mention thus far. this I believe is a goood thing

Honestly hope the knee and calf are ok. I wince at the thought of a niggle like that at the start of such an epic event. And weekends with good health & physiology are precious enough to me - it'd be depressing as hell to train and pay for something like this and be held back.

Great pics of Hippy from Trans Am FB page , looks like he’s enjoying himself

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Mate that’s a native bear? I think you posted the wrong pic.

I should grow out my hair again. #influencer #maybehesbornwithit

I ignored the wrinkled stockings and lo, they magically disappeared. Result.

What will happen if I do the same with the seemingly shaved legs I wonder

I don't think hippy would have risked not getting under 50 mins by growing furry legs!

For those of you missing @skinny’s YouTube analysis, the awesome, @kiwistaphane on Instagram is doing video analysis.

Back to t shirt colour. I forgot to make the point of spf ratings. White is generally terrible for spf, around 5 or so. Where as a black top can be 30+. Obviously mesh isn’t good. But serious consideration and skin cancer sucks. And it’s something I’ve been really bad about before but I am trying to correct, perhaps too late.

@hippy looks like he's been getting style advice from a certain @BRM

#anyexcuse

@pastry_bot, more like. :)

I've been growing my hair and beard, I just look like a homeless jihadist. It only works for some people.

Hippy and Darren still within 20 miles of each other. Both seem to be following similar sleep regimes although Darren has had more short stops.

Hippy 11th. He does seem to be riding later into the night than others around him (and then subsequently starting a bit after they do).

230mpd is a healthy pace!

Interesting that even with the quick start, Evans dot is still out front. Shows he was on it last year, not sure if we’ve got anyone who’s the same calibre (yet) this year. Some might come into their own a bit later.

It seems to be a four-way race at the front--Kraig Pauli is currently slightly ahead of Evan's point last year, and Donncha Cuttriss, Peter Andersen, and Michael Rushton very close.

Kragi seems to have slept little.

Donncha is quick but in both Indypac and tabr last year he went off quick, blew up and had to pack. If he's got his pacing right this year he has a good chance but his past form suggests a risk that he might not last the distance.
I expected Matthijs Ligt to be near the front as he is also quick and has been training hard for this, but he has slipped back a bit. Early days yet, though.
Hippy and Darren are both big guys so they are bound to slip back a bit on the big climbs. If @hippy still has his mojo, a powerful long distance TTer like him should be able to rip through the field after passing the top, as long as they're not too far away by then!