Trans Am Bike Race / TransAm / TABR

AZ is going hard. 200km in the lead and hasn't really stopped since he started 24 hours ago.

718 miles in 2 days 2 hrs. Lol.

I guess his plan is "get gap, hold it".

Let's hope it's not going to be "get gap, blow up in Kansas"

AZ still 100mi in front. Omar dropped down the ranks a bit!

I expect it might be more along the lines of 'get gap, increase it' based on what he did in IndyPac last year.
Has had a second longish stop of c.4 hours so should be relatively fresh.
Looks like his to lose now.

Looks like Omar had something go wrong with two 4-5 hour stops in the last 12 or so hours.

Maybe. He doesn't seem to have much competition unless there's a dark horse in there with a negative split pacing strategy. There don't seem to be any Vets in the top 10 and most of them have previous DNFs:

Ed Brun - DNF 2018
Brad Crossley 2017 FIN 35 days
Donald Forth - DNF 18
David Gates ~30 days
Paul Gremmen DNF 18
Matthijs Ligt - DNF 18
Brett McKusick - DNF 18
Rolf Riley - DNF18
Michael Robison - 22 days 2018
Claudio Stasolla - DNF 18
Amy Williams ~30 days
Andrej Zaman ~30 days in 2016

That's why he's dropped so hard. He's on insta - who can see what he's doing?

Maybe just suffering in the heat:
https://www.dotwatcher.cc/race/trans-america-bike-race-2019

He stopped at Baker City. Oregon Trail Motel

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Oregon+Trail+Motel+%26+Restaurant/@44.7739726,-117.8284568,221m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m15!1m9!2m8!1sHotels!3m6!1sHotels!2sBaker+City,+OR+97814,+USA!3s0x54a4f31743002599:0xecdae70e16d4743f!4m2!1d-117.8343848!2d44.7748748!3m4!1s0x54a4e92fb27ce8bb:0xe8014068e283a658!8m2!3d44.7736652!4d-117.8277556

Too hot for him, he is going to start to ride at night.

He's from Italy though, right? 34 ain't hot... he's gonna be fucked when he gets further east.
#startedtoofast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-3qWf6N-IA

Currently heading up Lolo Pass, the most annoying 100mi of the race.

Lolo Pass

2019 Abdullah Zeinab 2:23:53
2018 Peter Anderson 3:06:09
2017 Evan Deutsch 3:07:13
2016 Sarah Hammond 3:07:28

What're the rules on PEDs?

I don't think they're explicitly banned in TABR rules but:
"It is the rider’s responsibility to know and observe local laws." and
"Riders must act in the spirit of self sufficiency and equal opportunity for all racers."
should cover the fairly obvious method of cheating that is doping.
I know he used to be a gym guy but they're not all on the juice :P

He's averaging about 21kph. That was similar to Mike's record time.

Does Abdullah know what sleep is?

He has been sleeping.

Don't be fooled, he was just trying to blend in.

Seeing as Abdullah will be at the fork in the road soon, what are the respective advantages of either route, and which one is he likely to choose?

The traditional route certainly seems a lot hillier, while the new route is probably longer, but is it longer by enough to offset the difficulty of getting over the mountains on the other route? I'm assuming that it must have been picked to be roughly equivalent in difficulty to the established route--floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, wild animals and the like permitting.

@Oliver Schick

4236mi vs. 4190mi, so the Mormon Katy alt is ~46mi longer. No idea about elevation changes though.

Actually it's probably on the website

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27319770

vs

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/29462800

6,758km / 50,619m (Original) vs. 6,639.4km, 49,859m (Mormon)

Which doesn't really tally with trackleaders values, Mormon being ~118k longer with 760m less climbing. So OG route should be faster.