Trans Am: Final Thoughts

Victory beer.

That's it. It's all said and done. It's been a week and a half since I finished the race in Yorktown. My legs have recovered, my sleep patterns are normal, and most importantly I'm starting to smell like a decent human being again. With my mind back into a semi-state of normalcy, here are some thoughts on how I could have improved my performance and/or comfort.

First of all, a better sleeping bag, or bivvy or something. That LaFuma bag was awful. It was wet, it was drafty, and it was overall just shit. This low end bag held me back the most, because when I would lay down for 5 hours, I wouldn't get 5 solid hours of sleep, I'd get 5 hours of restless sleep and that would require me to sleep longer the next night and made me ride worse. This is certainly something that I would need to remedy.

An attempt at fixing the cold problem, a $40, 5.5 oz SOL Escape Lite bivvy. It will replace my bag for East Coast summer touring and pad my bag in the West. (Crap phone pic 1)

The machine at a gas station.

The bike was great. I don't care if it was heavy, it was comfortable, it fit wide tires, and it didn't fail on me (as much as I've tried to make it fail on me, I just can't). I'd consider a lighter bike next time, but I am not a person to buy a brand new bike for a type of race I've never done before, that's a waste (and probably leads to more S-Works bikes on eBay than anything else). Some stupid things I would make better is first of all understanding how modern STI Triples work, I wouldn't try to run a mountain triple with mismatched rings, because it meant that my triple was essentially a double (d'oh!). I actually had just purchased a Tiagra road triple before I left, but didn't have the time to change it and play with it (it would have given me two less teeth on the low side and two more on the high side). My setup was janky, but I was able to use the double and having a 34 front 32 rear climbing ring was just enough (mountain rears always and forever).

My buddy Ben always asks, "how does that shift?" with bar ends "Great!" with STI "ehhhhhhhhh..." (Crap phone pic 2)

Other gear that needs upgrading is definitely my jacket, a fifty dollar jacket off Amazon is not really going to handle mountainous weather; so that's out. I would probably also just carry more cold weather gear in general. I would also up my light game. My Magnic Lights worked out great for the flats, but climbing they would flicker and descending they just weren't bright enough. I might use these lights again as a "be seen" light, but I would probably also get something brighter so I can see.

Another thing I would fix is the food. Jason Lane was attempting (I don't know how it went) the whole Trans Am on an all liquid diet (Spiz I think is the stuff he was using). To do this he shipped himself a bunch of drops along the route. I shipped myself one drop, and that Alternative Bakery cookie I shipped myself in Scott City was heavenly. If I were to race it again, I would ship myself way more feed drops in Post Offices. I would send enough that if I missed one in the night I wouldn't have to worry about it and focus on making the next one. This does unfortunately add to the expense of the vegan endurance racer.

But enough about the physical stuff. Would I do this race again? Short answer; no. Why? I just have no interest in seeing those little towns again or seeing all the same sights again, but would I recommend it to others? Absolutely. It was a total blast and a real challenge to force myself to push big miles day after day after day. Which is why I'm changing my goals onto a different race; the Tour Divide. So I've got a little bit less than a year to start planning, packing, and training for the 2015 Divide. I hope I can really compete in the Divide race next year with a better understanding of how this style of racing works and hopefully more focused equipment that can help me ride faster and longer.

But first...off to bike tour!