Trans Am Bike Race / TransAm / TABR

Or, just like accept that on 6700km of roads you might find some less than perfect conditions! :D

Yep just on numbers you're going to find some rough surfaces, be it detours, resurfacing or just unmaintained road. I once hit some road that had been torn up by the shredder machine but not yet surfaced. 10 miles of continuous rumble with no alternative. Sucked enough on 35c tires, let alone race setup.

True. But hammers the bike and its already suffering enough under me!

with up to 200 miles between resupply points I spent the odd day here and there riding hungry.

and I would still skip past them thinking "i'll get the next one" and then wonder why I'm punching holes through trees and contemplating eating roadkill for the next day.

I rode 800-1000km of TABR with a tyre that wouldn't seat properly.

DIY gravel.

lol, I was ready to toss my bike in the dump after I couldn't find the wobbly issue after 3*30 km of commuting.

Just went for a short beers ride, 100-105°F at 5pm in Colorado. Was pouring ice water down my jersey every mile or two - cannot imagine doing real miles in this weather. Mad props to all these riders (present company included)

I can't remember what town it was now but I eventually got a track pump from a bike shop and it took 130+ psi before it seated.

https://twitter.com/firsthippy/status/871811076245131265

Flagstaff Sports, Baker City doesn't appear to be open any more:

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.7786717,-117.8298253,3a,75y,296.54h,98.82t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sQ1zKCia7JbHhSEJT0eQxjQ!2e0!5s20090801T000000!7i3328!8i1664?hl=en-US

130+ psi

lol, risky move :D I'd have gone crazy doing 800 km like that.

Kraig Pauli still looking fresh.

https://scontent.flux1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/201289660_4509705909041442_173609406578070207_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-3&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=39nbXZlwPLMAX_QFi6V&_nc_ht=scontent.flux1-1.fna&oh=7f429244b6c2cab9fa80a78ca8de2178&oe=60CE3042

Maybe I did... maybe I did...

It brought on speed wobbles on descents too. I probably should've stopped and lubed the bead with something so my minipump would do the trick but I'm a stubborn arse so just kept going until I could use a track pump. It's like "I've already stopped for 10min due to puncturing again, I'm not giving this issue any more time" even though fixing it properly might've saved me time in the long run.

Looks like Evan is narrowing the gap to Kraig. They leave Kansas soon, so maybe Kraig is happier in the hills. People as usual saying the ferry will play into the time gap (300 miles away from Kraig currently) it can be 8 hours lost if you miss the last one, but it probably won't be an issue.

Can't go crazy if you're already crazy?!

Narrowing. Only in the sense it's back to 100mi.

He can probably see him in the distance. :))

Yeah, like one of those bastard wheat silos that never get any closer.

Yeah, just look, the gap has disappeared almost completely!

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This is how I look at maps, always. No wonder I keep riding across countries.

"oh it's only this far across!"

ED is definitely moving a little faster than KP now, let's see how long it lasts. The lead has just dipped under 100 miles. De'anna Caligiuri and two others are evidently resting in Silverthorne. Meanwhile, Ryan Henry, with whom she played leapfrog for a few days, is now well ahead.

This is how I look at maps, always. No wonder I keep riding across continents.

Fixed.

50 miles now.
Evan probably favourite

Kraig rested in Ellington, Missouri, probably to time the approach to the ferry right?

In that time, Evan got to within 20 miles, but he's resting in Ellington now, so it looks as if the gap will grow quite wide again.

Lots of discussion on the TABR facebook group. I don;t know where all the places are so can't follow it in detail but Donncha makes a convincing argument that the ferry won't make much difference: Kraig will sleep east of it and Evan sleep west before getting the first ferry in the morning. Then they'd be in similar relative positions tomorrow, ie 4-5 hours gap, which is down from 8 hours 2 or 3 days ago.

Yeah Evan has done the race three times now, I can't see him being caught out by the ferry. He's slowly catching Kraig regardless. This was interesting:

Kraig Pauli was moving fast in Kansas until he was riding down a hill and hit something that slashed his Continental 5000 tires. He really like those tires, but he had to replace them with Gator skin tires because they were the only ones the bike shop had.

Mentally might have played into it? From the race flow it looks like Kraig's speed is consistent from the start, it's just that Evan is quicker now.

Wait, how did he manage to find a hill in Kansas?

Weird.

There's 1000m of descent in the 200km after Newton, mostly heading down to Eureka!