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Trans Am Bike Race is underway

Old 06-11-21, 02:11 PM
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Looks like she did!

Just passed the 1000th mile.
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Old 06-18-21, 05:55 PM
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I was in the race myself, but had to drop out in Baker City OR due to inflamed Achilles' tendons. Looks like I'm going to need PT for a while to get back to normal. Never had anything like that happen before.
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Old 06-18-21, 06:22 PM
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De'Anna is getting medical attention and hopes to restart the race in a couple of days

Originally Posted by adamrice
I was in the race myself, but had to drop out in Baker City OR due to inflamed Achilles' tendons. Looks like I'm going to need PT for a while to get back to normal. Never had anything like that happen before.
Sorry to hear this.
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Old 06-18-21, 06:47 PM
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Yeah. The problem set in near the end of Day 1 when I stopped for dinner—when I got back on the bike, I realized my Achilles' tendons felt really tight. I stayed in the race another three days, but despite a couple of attempted remedies, they just got worse. The first day was cold, rainy, and windy (my bike looked like I'd been in a cyclocross race by the end of Day 1); I was late getting to the starting line and didn't have my leg warmers or booties on for the first 70 miles, and I think that's what did it.

On Day 4, I called my wife and said "This isn't fun. This isn't even Type-2 fun." My first priority was to avoid serious injury. Taking those two things together, scratching was a no-brainer. Luckily, Baker City has a pretty great bike hostel where I could cool my heels (literally and figuratively) with a couple other racers who were having problems.
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Old 06-19-21, 07:27 AM
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After I heard the conditions of the first day, I was wondering how many would scratch because of saddle sores.
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Old 06-19-21, 07:50 PM
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Originally Posted by adamrice
Yeah. The problem set in near the end of Day 1 when I stopped for dinner—when I got back on the bike, I realized my Achilles' tendons felt really tight. I stayed in the race another three days, but despite a couple of attempted remedies, they just got worse. The first day was cold, rainy, and windy (my bike looked like I'd been in a cyclocross race by the end of Day 1); I was late getting to the starting line and didn't have my leg warmers or booties on for the first 70 miles, and I think that's what did it.

On Day 4, I called my wife and said "This isn't fun. This isn't even Type-2 fun." My first priority was to avoid serious injury. Taking those two things together, scratching was a no-brainer. Luckily, Baker City has a pretty great bike hostel where I could cool my heels (literally and figuratively) with a couple other racers who were having problems.
Whenever I've had trouble on a brevet, it was because of mistakes I made right at the beginning of the ride. Not having matched my clothing to the weather, for example, or pretending I'm stronger than I really am. I can see myself doing exactly what you did. I will try to remember this....

Do you think it would have helped to take day 2 off to try to remedy the achilles issue? I've never had achilles tendon issues so I don't even know what I'm asking.
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Old 06-19-21, 08:59 PM
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Originally Posted by rhm
Do you think it would have helped to take day 2 off to try to remedy the achilles issue?
No way of knowing. This experiment lacked a control group. In any case, it didn't occur to me to rest on Day 2.
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Old 06-25-21, 03:36 PM
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Originally Posted by adamrice
No way of knowing. This experiment lacked a control group. In any case, it didn't occur to me to rest on Day 2.
Sorry to hear that.

I tore 2/3 of my left tendon dismounting on Mackenzie pass in 2016, I caught my cleat on something and did a weird turning fall that I wish was video'd. Walking on it was almost impossible making tendering food and such a real chore. I stopped and iced very often. An Indian lady came up to me at one of those gas station/food stores on reservations and told me she was a medicine lady and could she look at it. Turns out she was a PT and deals with a lot of mountain ultra runners who partially tear the achilles. So, I can really relate. This was pretty painful to ride on but surprisingly, walking was worser.
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Old 06-25-21, 03:41 PM
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Originally Posted by GhostRider62
I tore 2/3 of my left tendon dismounting on Mackenzie pass in 2016
Damn, that sounds miserable and frustrating. I was having a lot of trouble clipping out with my right foot, which might have exacerbated my trouble on that side, but I don't have any damage so dramatic.
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Old 06-26-21, 06:12 AM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by adamrice
Damn, that sounds miserable and frustrating. I was having a lot of trouble clipping out with my right foot, which might have exacerbated my trouble on that side, but I don't have any damage so dramatic.
I think I had a similar motion, kind of a grown up Artie Johnson tumble. I think that is also what ruined the inner plate that the cleat screws into. I had extra screws but the stripped out plate, even using superglue, would not hold. A MAJOR PITA. Ultimately like a 1000 miles later constantly dealing with a cleat only having one screw and replacing it, I found a hardward store and bought a bigger screw and some epoxy. The bigger issue was the cleat would not engage the pedal, I had to file the head of the screw to make it fit. 5 years later, it still holds. LOL.

RAAM looks like fun. Imagine having people hand you spares when stuff breaks. I had 13 flats in about 50 miles. In RAAM, I suppose one raises the right arm for a front wheel and left arm for the rear.
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Old 06-28-21, 01:57 AM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by adamrice
Yeah. The problem set in near the end of Day 1 when I stopped for dinner—when I got back on the bike, I realized my Achilles' tendons felt really tight. I stayed in the race another three days, but despite a couple of attempted remedies, they just got worse. The first day was cold, rainy, and windy (my bike looked like I'd been in a cyclocross race by the end of Day 1); I was late getting to the starting line and didn't have my leg warmers or booties on for the first 70 miles, and I think that's what did it.

On Day 4, I called my wife and said "This isn't fun. This isn't even Type-2 fun." My first priority was to avoid serious injury. Taking those two things together, scratching was a no-brainer. Luckily, Baker City has a pretty great bike hostel where I could cool my heels (literally and figuratively) with a couple other racers who were having problems.
I just saw your post and realized we had a convo about sleep systems before the race. Sorry it didn’t go well for you. The Achilles was my problem on day 3, but was fortunate in that icing it often worked. My mileage was low for a couple days, but it worked out. I remember wondering why the heck I was having this problem, when My training rides (brevets) were longer and tougher than the first 3 days. Just weird. It sounded like the start conditions weren’t very fun to say the least for this years riders Hope you are able to try it again.
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Old 06-28-21, 08:35 AM
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Curious if others caught their shoe trying to swing over the big fat seat bag. This caused my twisty fall. I learned to dismount over the top tube instead of swinging the leg back over the revelate Versachia bag.
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Old 06-28-21, 09:44 AM
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Originally Posted by GhostRider62
Curious if others caught their shoe trying to swing over the big fat seat bag. This caused my twisty fall. I learned to dismount over the top tube instead of swinging the leg back over the revelate Versachia bag.
You get used to it. Compared to a pair of water bottles mounted in near-vertical orientation behind the saddle, an oversized saddle bag is nothing.
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Old 06-28-21, 10:44 AM
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Originally Posted by atwl77
You get used to it. Compared to a pair of water bottles mounted in near-vertical orientation behind the saddle, an oversized saddle bag is nothing.
I never got used to it

Agree, water bottles are a piece of cake. They do not extend like 2 feet. I had two bottles behind the seat on PBP in 2015. No issues.
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Old 06-28-21, 11:52 AM
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I was mindful about avoiding "unforced errors" like catching my foot on my bag. It is possible that if I had stayed in the race longer and gotten more exhausted, I would have done the same.
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Old 06-28-21, 06:49 PM
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Originally Posted by adamrice
I was mindful about avoiding "unforced errors" like catching my foot on my bag. It is possible that if I had stayed in the race longer and gotten more exhausted, I would have done the same.
I just found it curious that three on here had achilles issues.

I have hundreds and hundreds of thousands of miles over my life and never had such a problem and doing 400km in a day was never an issue. I thought maybe there was a common reason.
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Old 06-30-21, 07:31 PM
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Originally Posted by GhostRider62
I just found it curious that three on here had achilles issues.

I have hundreds and hundreds of thousands of miles over my life and never had such a problem and doing 400km in a day was never an issue. I thought maybe there was a common reason.
I wish I knew. Again, it ticked me off when I had the issue. I've done a couple 400's and 600's in the Missouri hills, and a Nebraska Sandhills 1000 and not an issue. Then I do 180, followed by 170 and 40 miles into the 3rd day it is sounding/feeling like a rusty gate. I remember sitting in a chair and having the ice machine on it at the Spoke n Hostel, thinking that I'm done. All the training and preparation and I'm out on day 3? So I can sympathize with those that have to make that call. I basically hit ice at most CS that I passed for the next couple days. That, meds and limiting the mileage to 110-130, and I got (mostly) over it. The only thing I would do differently (if there is a) next time, would be to ice that same achilles in the evenings from day 1.
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Old 07-01-21, 12:10 AM
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I have had achilles pain. I think it was on a really hot ride where virtually everything was cramping, even some weird little shin muscles. No idea what causes it. I never really had it so bad that it made me want to stop though.

All riders but 3 have crossed the Mississippi. 2 are in Missouri and one in Idaho.

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Old 07-01-21, 04:17 AM
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Seems to have been more riders quitting than usual? Or am I imagining it? About half have scratched? Isn't the success rate usually 60-65%

My achilles challenge subsided somewhere into Kansas but took months to heal. Interesting that I just read that Lon Haldmann used midsole cleat placement with his Aerolite pedals, anyone else have a pair of those in the attic? I am 100% sure if I was not riding with midsole cleat placement on TABR that I could not have continued and agree, stopping to ice is a real pain in you know what. It really slows you down. What I most remember about it is how hard it was to walk and get my shoe on. I just remembered, I had gout flare up on that foot too, oh the joy. The day Mike and I climbed white bird and almost got nailed by lightning twice (like you can "smell" the ozone), we stopped early at Grangeville and took motel rooms to clean out our underwear. Walking across the street to get food took me like 30 minutes. In retrospect, I am glad I did not quit although I wish there were fewer troubles, like the two dogs that took me down or the pickup mirror that hit my left shoulder. Surgery to the shoulder finally fixed it. I still suffer physical maladities that first reared their head on TABR. I wish I had done RAAM at some point in my life to be honest. I remember eating dinner with an older rider who successfully completed RAAM solo many times and his description of being so forked in the head hallucinating and so forth and just trusting your crew. I jus wonder. I do think TABR is a lot harder than people can appreciate. One really can't compare TABR to a brevet in my opinion nor to RAAM. I have often thought what is the most important preparation to succeed in such events, it is an interesting topic. I remember thinking somewhere around the Mississippi or maybe Kentucky that if I quit, I could list 13 serious issues on the ride that I could have used to justify to family and friends had I scratched....this was a rare moment that I allowed a negative thought into my brain.
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Old 07-01-21, 07:21 AM
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I think 50% scratching is normal.

The first clipless pedal system I used was Aerolites (which you can still buy!). I stuck with those for about 15 years, then, maintaining the obscure pedal-system theme, transitioned to Bebops (RIP). I finally switched to Speedplays within the past year. During the TABR, I pulled out at an overlook, and got to talking with a guy who was touring the Trans Am, and he had midfoot-placed Bebops. He told me he had bought a dozen sets the first time Bebop went out of business.
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Old 07-01-21, 08:45 AM
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I bet there are a lot of riders who would buy a dozen sets of SpeedPlay Frog pedals if they could.

Scalpers are getting $300 just for the cleats. I have five sets of Frogs, one almost new ti model with new cleats. I don't use them since going to the SYZR, which is also discontinued.

The problem with midsole cleat placement for me has been that only a 2 hole MTB style cleat will fit in the soles that I have. I cannot imagine having enough real estate to drill three holes for a racing style cleat at least on my shoes. And I do not like the release of the Shimano MTB pedals and I like float.
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Old 07-02-21, 09:26 AM
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Originally Posted by GhostRider62
I bet there are a lot of riders who would buy a dozen sets of SpeedPlay Frog pedals if they could.

Scalpers are getting $300 just for the cleats. I have five sets of Frogs, one almost new ti model with new cleats. I don't use them since going to the SYZR, which is also discontinued.

The problem with midsole cleat placement for me has been that only a 2 hole MTB style cleat will fit in the soles that I have. I cannot imagine having enough real estate to drill three holes for a racing style cleat at least on my shoes. And I do not like the release of the Shimano MTB pedals and I like float.
I'm sure you could have decent cleats 3D printed for less than $300. Having someone design them in a solid modelling program might be expensive, but then I'd guess you could have ten pairs made in steel for $300.
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Old 07-02-21, 09:39 AM
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Originally Posted by GhostRider62
...I wish I had done RAAM at some point in my life to be honest. I remember eating dinner with an older rider who successfully completed RAAM solo many times and his description of being so forked in the head hallucinating and so forth and just trusting your crew. I jus wonder. I do think TABR is a lot harder than people can appreciate...
I have ridden on brevets with several solo RAAM finishers, and they all said they had no interest in attempting TABR because it's so much harder and more dangerous with no support crew.
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Old 07-02-21, 10:33 AM
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That frong cleat is weird. It does look like a 3d print would work. I think Wahoo should release the drawings into the public domain.
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Old 07-02-21, 10:49 AM
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So all this talk about pedals brings up something that's been on my mind.

I'd prefer to use SPDs—or something like SPDs—because the cleats and pedals are robust, replacement cleats are easy to carry, and the shoes are walkable. But I ride with a very toes-out stance that SPDs don't afford, and after a certain distance my knees really hurt. I'm using Speedplays just because they let me get that stance, but during the TABR, the weather was rough on both the pedals and cleats.

I see that Eggbeaters (to pick one example) allow more float than SPDs, and I know there are other SPD-like pedals out there. I'm wondering if anyone has experience customizing the position of SPD cleats or using SPD-like pedals (that are in production) that might be a good alternative.
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