day "-1": History repeats?

So it's the evening before the start of this year's race and already at least one part is mirroring last year's event - the weather. NWS reports that "a weak coastal system will arrive on Saturday. While the system will further weaken upon landfall it will destabilize the atmosphere over the Pacific Northwest and cause unsettled weather".

Yeah, that "unsettled weather" is essentially rain, rain, rain with totals above 2 inches in places. Unlike NC, where that might all come down in a few hours, here in Oregon it comes down in a slow, steady, miserable set of showers that last all day and possibly thru race start time tomorrow. Now, I am better prepared for this than I was last year. I have better kit, including a higher end jacket, rain pants (well, they were billed as rain pants...not turning out to be the case, they leak), and shoe covers so hopefully won't get saturated right out of the gate.

But I really had hoped that we would get a dry start for this year's race - last year's day one was so miserable, oh well. The weather was actually pretty good during the week and I had rolled out a couple of times, including a test run down to Seaside which is one of first towns on the day one segment of the race. It's only about 20 miles down the route (so a 40 mile round trip) but there is a decent amount of variation (climbs, flats, even a little gravel) so it was good shakedown. While in Seaside I met a lovely couple, Kevin (I think, sorry if I'm wrong) and Monique (or "Mo" as she goes by) who were touring the TransAm. We talked for almost an hour about all kinds of things, cycling-wise before they headed off - nice people. As they are touring the same route that we are racing on I'll probably encounter them again 😉

In the run up to tomorrow's start we did the "Pig&Pup" breakfast today, a TransAm tradition. About half of the racers were in attendance including Sonny Rasmussen who is functionally deaf and is on his 2nd TransAm! I am in awe of this guy - to ride across country with all of your facilities is tough enough but how in the world can you do it when you cannot hear what is going on around you? Just amazing, but he does it so can't use the word "unbelievable". The legend Thomas Camero was also in attendance. Mr. Camero, who turns 80 this year, is on his 6th TransAm! Also there were a number of OCONUS competitors...cyclists from Germany, Switzerland, the U.K., and others. Yet somehow, with all of these amazing people here, I managed to not take a single picture of the group 🙄

The rest of the day was spent packing, unpacking, re-packing the bike then being unhappy with how it was packed and doing it all over again until I finally had to tell myself "stop...it's enough". Pre-race jitters I think - there's a certain amount of trepidation within me for tomorrow. I liken it to back when I was in the Army and went to Airborne school. On the first jump...you do 5 of them for qualification...you don't really know what to expect and so you let your training guide you. The second jump is a bit different; you know what is about to happen and how your first jump went colors how you feel about the second....this is where I am now.

10 hours to go...