Trans Am Bike Race / TransAm / TABR

Rider behavior
Riders are expected to adhere strictly to the Leave No Trace ethos, PACK IT IN, PACK IT OUT. Do not expect any
business to stay open late and do not call them asking to do so. Don’t expect any handouts from anyone on this
route, if people want to help you, they will be ready to, but do not expect people to overextend themselves.

AFAIK it's ok if you don't know them.

You can't ask for stuff off private individuals but on TABR there's a lot of 'Trail Angels' that will offer you food/drink. Some towns will have a dotwatcher that will come and try to meet lots of (sometimes every!) rider, others towns or campsites there might be an esky with "For TransAm riders" on it with drinks and whatnot.

esky

Fond memories, haven't heard that word used in a long time!

I might have been here 15 odd years but I'm not giving up esky for "cool box" or whatever it is here. :)

Evan has really fell off the pace. He has to be struggling with something. I guess we will find out shortly. He isn't far from the lady who trail-angel'd KP earlier.

"tepid encasement"

Could just be that he gave a good final chase, still couldn't pass Kraig and has now resigned himself to 2nd place.

Kraig's finished. Evan's still more than 200 miles behind, must have been a serious mechanical (if a health problem he probably would have scratched).

Stomach problems apparently, should finish today. Well done to Kraig: 17d 08h 46m.

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Thats a nice photo with the cups and the jersey looks great in Front of the grey.

Always a bit tempted to tour the route when they race.

Good ride. Must've been stressful with Evan hunting him down. Good work holding it together!

Yes at aged 54 too. Inspiring.

There's still hope for me! 3rd time's a charm? :D

That is inspiring - same age as me!

That's also something I like about ultracycling/racing. I still have so much to learn but at age 38 I still have a lot of time to improve. (Or that is what I keep telling myself. :)

Maybe go Westbound next time!

Yes the previous winners are a diverse lot. Mike Hall and Jesse, Lael who had never done road racing before, Marcel a Swiss guy in a velomobile, Abdullah a former bodybuilder, 3 guys around their 50s Evan Peter and Kraig.

yeh that's a great stat. I knew Kraig was one to watch! He's trained well and like he did in 2019 I believe.. very well earned. Hard work pays off!

That did cross my mind, but that doesn't gel with my normal race method, trying to improve on what I've done before, ie. treating it as a massive ITT. If I did it "backwards" I guess I'd still cover the same distance but it wouldn't be like for like. If I had endless time off I'd do it for sure but I'm more keen on having a crack at TD now I've got an MTB and generally doing different stuff. I still hate seeing the tracker pop up though, knowing I'm not riding anything. "Can't do everything" people keep telling me. Fuckers.

Yes the previous winners are a diverse lot.

It does make you wonder if there will ever be an extremely fat or a skinny winner.

Evan finished a few hours ago. Next up will be the group of 4 riders behind (David, Luke, Louis, Igor) who have been fairly equal all race. 23 of 24 active riders have now passed half way.

Story of Tyler Metcalfe who was hit by a car in Kansas while touring the TransAm route in 2017. He managed to finish the route in the same year.

my doctors filled me in on what had happened. “You’re on a bike tour across the country,” they said. “That sounds like something I would do,” I responded. “You have two fractures in your lower spine,” they continued, “six staples in the back of your head, a tear in your appendix, a torn calf muscle, and road rash on your back.”

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Fark

Few days until start: http://trackleaders.com/transam22