Epilogue/AAR

So the flight home was unremarkable...other than the 3 hour delay in Dallas and I arrived home around 0400. After getting a couple hours sleep I headed to the local urgent care to discuss what was going on with my race-ending malady and what to do about it. Even after 4 days off the bike everything back there was still pretty tender and I still had a mild fever. The doc took a look and was more than a bit concerned by the damage that she saw...said it looked like 2nd degree burns. I have to say that I felt bad for the nurse that had to act as a "witness" to the exam...that is apparently a thing now...and I think that she might have been fairly new to the field given her obvious discomfort 🙄

A 10 day course of two different antibiotics, an antifungal (because of course that happened also...) and a "stay off the bike" warning was now part of my near-term plans...just ugh. I was already starting to feel the effects of a sudden dropoff after prolonged cycling activity... peripheral numbness and some joint aches...and now it would be at least a few days until I could do some recovery spinning - not wonderful but I guess could have been worse.

The fever finally went away after a few days on the antibiotics and bit by bit my backside began to look less like I had slid down the pavement at highway speeds. It still feels a bit weird even now at the time of writing. I have not been back on the bike as of yet but that has been more because of schedule than infirmity. As I came home early I was able to travel to Nashville, TN and watch my daughter and her travel soccer team battle with 18 other top-notch teams from all over the South and southeastern US to win the Southern Regional USYS soccer championship - GO WYSA!

Nashville!

Nashville hot chicken...yes it is!

super soccer team!

 A silver lining there...I would have missed what was a history-making effort...only NC team to survive to the finals and first Wilson team ever to win the Southern Regional championship - very awesome! I continue to track Rodrigo, Suman, and some of the others that I traveled with on this adventure and hope that they are all successful on reaching the monument - they all deserve to get there.

So, what happened? As you might imagine I've been running everything back and forth through my mind trying to pinpoint specific failures or shortcomings that led to me having to scratch. I think anyone who doesn't second-guess their choices and actions when they are unsuccessful at a goal wasn't really committed to achieving it in the first place. 

I think my downfall this year was in part due to my choice of cycling shorts. I should mention up front that I've worn this brand of bib shorts for a long time now and have never had issues with them...maybe the rigors of the TransAm were just a bit too much for them. In looking over another pair of them (I trashed the pair I used on the race) I found that they are not really ideal for endurance riding...too many seams in the wrong places. They were also a little too big for me which put those seams into places where they could rub skin. The shorts also used foam for the chamois pad instead of the gel composite that bibs from Garneau or Castelli use. Unlike foam the gel pads can't absorb water so they can't stay wet even if the bibs themselves are repeatedly soaked.

Once this foam chamois got saturated (remember it poured on us day 1 and 2) it never really dried out and probably picked up some random bit of bacterial growth. This then got into the friction sores that I had developed and started growing, eventually causing infection. While the infection did not progress into sepsis it did spread a little bit...found weird red streaks down the back of my right leg and of course there was the small matter of the multi-day fever...living the dream 🤔

Epilogue: One of the questions posed to me recently was "would I recommend the race to anyone?" During the time that Stuart and I were up at the ACA office in Missoula this question actually came up from a westbound touring cyclist. The answer is that I don't feel that I can recommend for or against the race...it's really something that you have to look down deep into yourself to see if it's something that you want to take on. 

I will however share some observations of mine on the race. The race is an extremely challenging event and may one of toughest things that you will ever do. It is challenging not just in the physical effort but in the planning and logistical aspects as well. Whether it's getting to the starting point, selecting the right gear, feeding yourself, etc. it all takes high order effort to be effective. 

Unless you are planning a long slow tour you will be riding for many hours each day and have to take that into account. You will need to plan on eating and drinking more (a lot more) and doing effective personal recovery when not on the bike. On days that I wasn't having problems I was on the bike for 13-14 hours and this is a lower number than those who are "competitive" on this race...some of the frontrunners would spend upwards of 18+ hours riding. Your body will break down over time when doing this day after day so you need to plan for how to recover when you need to beacuse you will eventually need to recover at some point.

The roads...Stuart, the Scottish rider that I had the privilege of riding with, had an interesting observation about the course. His view was that when the TransAm trail was created in 1976 most if not all of the roads would have been much "quieter" than they are today. Many of the roads that the TABR follows may have started as rural two lane roads but they are now multi-lane routes with significant traffic, including large trucks and other heavy traffic. While some of the roads have decent shoulders many of them (at least in OR, ID, and MT) have little to no shoulder and also have other issues that make them less than safe for cyclists. A good example of this is the highway approaching Pacific City; it's hilly, it's foggy, it has sections with almost no shoulder, and there is a high volume of recreational vehicle traffic on the road which leaves little room for error. Add to this the small but not zero percentage of cyclist-hostile drivers out there and the risk of a cyclist's injury or death by collision is a sizable risk. 

There is also the issue of "comm blackouts" - places where there is no cell service for miles and miles - you can find yourself without voice and data service for a day or more at a time and as such need to plan accordingly. On one of the days that I had no service I had planned on listening to an audio book that I had bought. Unfortunately I forgot to download it to my phone while I had service and was without this resource. Not that big of a deal but this could also have been a map for my gps or other more critical data item so it's something to be aware of. From McKenzie Hwy through Darby, MT there were large swathes of the course with no cell service, including the entire climb up to Lolo Pass and thru to Lolo itself. If I were to ever roll this route again I would consider a Thurya or Iridium sat phone as a backup device for emergencies...though there may be some spots where even those would not be effective.

The race, when taken on the whole, can be pricey as well. The race fee itself isn't bad - 300.00 plus GPS SPOT rental (100.00) and the track leaders fee (40.00). You also are not hiring a crew (like the RAAM, etc). However you still have to get to Astoria, get your bike there, get back home once done, and you are still paying for all of your food, drink, other supplies, lodging (if you are not camping...and sometimes even if you are camping). Depending on the local economy and availability this can get pretty expensive - especially in remote areas where it costs more to ship food in or where there are fewer resources in general. You need a huge number of calories for each ride day and unless you have a digestive type that does well on crappy food all the time you are going to have to eat some normal food...which tends to cost more. There are also unexpected costs like failed components or extra hotel days if you are laid up sick / injured or are waiting for parts...this adds up quickly.

I wanted to write a bit about people. As with any event like the TABR you will find all kinds of people that, for better or worse, contribute to the experience. While there were certainly some out there who were adding to the negative (the bad drivers, the asshole in Graingeville who pulled his car in backwards so we could smell his exhaust, etc) I want to focus more on those whose actions, regardless of their motivations, helped us along the way. Jackie, the night manager at the College Inn in Monmouth, OR...knowing that there were a bunch of wet and muddy cyclists coming through personally cleaned extra rooms to make sure that everyone had a room and had supplies to clean themselves and their bikes up. The awesome folks at the Spoken Hostel and Baker City Hostel who always are there for cyclists coming through their towns. 

There were others...the friendly words from the attendant at the Shell station in Council, ID when I was down about missing my son's 18th birthday. "Bear" up at the Huckleberry Cafe for staying open well past close of business so we could have coffee and a place to take a break. Corey and Deanna...not near enough can be said about these awesome people who opened their home and provided resources to me when I was at a loss for what I was going to do. The awesome support from my friends and co-workers - whether you are people I see every day or only on Facebook - tracking my dot, picking up the slack at work, passing encouraging words - made some of the tough days a bit easier.

[Update] Hasty cut/paste messed this section up so had to correct: There are many others that I'm not listing here but I can't end this section without talking about the effort that my family has put into this little adventure - their "SAG from afar" support for me during this (and last year's attempt) is something for which I am very grateful. It means so very much to me - though I am admittedly not great at expressing it very well. Whether making travel arrangements, making sure that the credit card company didn't do anything stupid, words of encouragement, or having to come get me from RDU at 0300 you were there for me. This can't be said enough...the prep for and support during and after the race is a physical and emotional drain on everyone and yet you guys readily took it on to help me try to achieve my goal 🥰

the crew...

Will I do this ride again? No...at least not any time soon. Unlike last year's pity-fest I actually don't feel super-down about the situation. Oh, don't get me wrong...I am disappointed that I didn't make the monument. However I did get over 1000 miles (1050 if you count the warm-up/shakedown rides) in the 8 days I rode and got to see some of the best parts of the course. Unlike last year when there was almost no one around for hours and hours this year I got to meet, ride with, and get to know a number of the other cyclists, including several from overseas. Getting their perspectives was very interesting, both on the race and for other topics of interest. There are plenty of riding opportunities nearby and so for the foreseeable future I'll be keeping a bit closer to home. I will still follow the race...follow the dots...and cheer everyone on!

Until the next adventure...