Trans Am Bike Race / TransAm / TABR

You read the FB post? I had no idea it was a thing.

I have scratched. Exercise induced cardiomyopathy. Not gonna be able to jump back in this year. I'll make it to Yorktown next year. I really appreciate everyone's support and encouragement! It was incredible to have so much support 💜

I did know that FB posts were a thing, but I don't do FB. :)

Thanks.

Lol might want to ask how the leal stefan finish went down, wasn't exactly sporting.

So many variables tbh. Close to the finish you'd rather be in front. If you're behind there is likely a reason for that, which means your unlikely to overall the leader unless you're sandbagging or they have issues. So probs not much to do.
If I was on first, I'd cut all stops to minimal but keep sleep as needed. Not like you can suddenly press harder on the pedals!

As far as I know: Steffen realises he is going in wrong direction when he sees Lael. She then takes a wrong turn, Steffen yells to correct her. He says "let's ride in together". She says "no" and speeds off.

That's about right.

Funnily enough, I met Steffen a few months later before the start of indypac, and the TABR came up. He was pretty cool about it. Also there was a woman called Vasiliki who is a friend of his from Greece (he lives there)and she is also a good rider, has done tcr,etc.

One morning, in the middle of Australia, about 5am, I was riding along the road, still dark, virtually zero traffic, and I see a cyclist coming towards me. I shouted hello. A couple of hours later I got to the next road house and met her there.

Turns out she had got to the road house the first time the evening before, bivvied there, then left and gone the wrong way, and ridden 50km back, and didn't realise until she saw me. She was pretty upset, lost a few places. But Steffen is not the only person to have done it.

I didn't get into the details of how it happened with either of them but I assume they must have their GPS set to direction of travel at the top. I always have mine with North at the top so, while I might make other errors, I shouldn't make the major one of going completely the wrong direction.

Even so, always worth checking other stuff after you set off: where is the moon, which way is the wind coming from, etc, to make sure it ties in with what you expect.

Thanks. Not much you can do then. Just keep riding and, if the other guy makes a mistake (like Steffen) you're there to pick up the ball.

Wahoo and Karoo (and probably bunch others) have chevrons indicating the direction of the route. Garmin has it since last weeks update. Hopefully that avoids these scenarios in the future. :)

Yes, they used the early Etrex, I have one too and it is easy to do. Good to hear about Steffen. I previously got the impression he was a bit miffed about it and his Wikipedia page certainly remembers. Funny it all happened at a place called Bumpass. It was a Bum Pass. 😂

People often say they don't use turn-by-turn nav for long races but for the avoidance of doubt I will cue it up and set off. I've often headed in the wrong direction until the Garmin has caught up and beeped at me.

Garmin has it since last weeks update.

Oooh maybe I should plug my Garmin in. I wish they'd fuck off the Virtual Partner. How many CPU cycles are they wasting on that pointless feature. The old Garmin 800 could turn that off!

I'm sure he is pissed off and always will be, but he was able to be calm about it in public. He said something like 'the way I look at it is that I had an enormous cake which I really enjoyed, but I missed out on having the cherry on top'

I understand he has no hard feelings or resentment.

Yes, he saw it as his error rather than anyone else's fault.

It doesn't really seem likely to me that Evan will catch Kraig, barring unforeseen catastrophes. The gap is 136 miles right now.

Yes, if anything the gap is growing. KP has to tackle the 1km climb of the Blue Ridge Parkway then the rolling green countryside to Yorktown.

142 miles currently.

Did Evan back off, having tried the catch?

Did Kraig find an extra gear?

I don't know. But I definitely want to be riding the TABR now rather than emptying the booze cupboard of this poxy london joint.

Some speculation that Evan was slowed by a mechanical because he stopped at a bike shop, might just be talk. Kraig should finish this evening, outside of Abdullah's record, but still one of the fastest times. He's resting at a church, 160 miles from the finish, near the Hippy named place: Goochland.

Shit, just watched 4 small vids of Kraig on the tabr facebook group. The man looks better rested than me.

can you share? dont have fb

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z33i2ac9tl03rrn/10000000_1198252974013568_3736179934542853054_n.mp4?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rsq7ovsw9ocmyr6/Your-Facebook-Video-fbdown.net.mp4?dl=0

Doesn't look like a 4Season on the front.

In the second video he is taking food or something from the lady who has gone and found him on purpose? I think it would be breaking the rules in the TCR but not familiar with the trans am rules?

thanks