trans am race discussion

[MidSouth]

gimmearaise

If you feel you need to know all the alternates you can purchase the maps from ACA like the racers do.

[robinb]

Here's hoping this 'race discussion' thread stays just that.  Let's all enjoy their ride!

[mbeardsl]

Just looked at stopped time so far for the leaders.  Mike is stopping just over 4hrs/day.  So if you figure the times he is stopping for food etc that means a miserable amount of sleep. Jason is only stopping a little more at almost 5.5 hrs/day.  Maybe he's getting a little more sleep as he doesn't have to stop as long to refuel (mixing his mix vs shopping/paying/cooking/etc)?  Ed Pickup is stopping about the same amount of time as Jason, so goes to show how fast Jason and Mike are pushing the pace while on the bike.  Either way, that's a lot of physical effort on a growing sleep deficit. Cool to see what they can push the body to accomplish, hope they are staying sane and safe out there. 

[Semi Slick]

Kinda seems like a) MH had an off day, and b) JL had a good day, and is maybe gonna bring this thing back together...?

[mtbcast]

Sorry I've missed posting some of the Trans Am calls here. We heard from Jesse Stauffer and Nathan Jones today.

http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/tabr14/

[vistaed]

I remember Mike once saying that the Tour Divide and so also the tramsAm are short races compared to going round the world so he was prepared to dig as deep and hard as he liked as it was over quite quickly and once it was over there was plenty of time for sleep. And that is why regardless of how far I can cycle in a day I will never win a bikepacking race, I can't push the sleep envelope the guys out front.

[mbeardsl]

I also remember him saying during last year's TD that he wanted the guy behind him to catch up a bit to "push" Mike to go harder.  Maybe that's why the gap is closing little by little?  Just soft pedaling to go hard later?

[mbeardsl]

Anyone know what happened with Jesse Stauffer?  Looks like he had to backtrack a bit and then progressed forwards again.  Mechanical of some sort I presume.

Looks like Jason is very slowly closing the gap, but he's got some climbing coming up while Mike will be descending for quite some time. I'd expect that to yoyo back and forth a bit until Jason clears that last little climb that Mike is on right now.  Then, who knows?  The next 1000 miles (3 days?!) will be very interesting indeed.

[mbeardsl]

Looks like the front runners have a ~10mph tail wind for awhile, probably turning to a side wind as they hit the plains.

http://hint.fm/wind/

[riderrr]

Not sure why people think Jason has been gaining over the past 2 days. MH was about 20 miles ahead after the first 2 days, then 40 miles, then 80 miles now he's 110 miles. There are slight fluctuations between climbs but he has gradually separated farther.

When I rode the TransAm in 2010 I saw Pueblo as the halfway point and would stick with that on reflection. Sure they have covered the mountain passes, but with the plains come the fierce winds, likely a crosswind as mbeardsl says. You would be foolish to think appalachia was easier than the western portion. From my own experience Kentucky was the hardest  state. Incredibly steep grades, that bottom out in seconds and start all over again. Not to mention the wild dogs! Most people I encountered actually found Missouri their toughest state!

[mbeardsl]

Because we're also looking at the race flow.  Gap was less than 40 miles at the start of day 5.  Gap was only ~40 miles less than a day ago.  Has since ballooned due to climbs, stopping etc.  I'll be waiting to see how they handle the plains.  Not much of a lag involved for some time so should be pretty clear who's engine is bigger.

[riderrr]

Ah, I'm in Australia, I guess the points at which I check the splits are different to most you guys, start of day for me is evening for riders. MH's spot is updating with better frequency now which makes analysis easier.

[mbeardsl]

Looks like Mike grabbed a hotel last night after a little backtracking.  Full recharge before the long pull across the plains.

[mtbcast]

TABR14 Jesse Stauffer called in from Rawlins!

http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/tabr14/

[mtbcast]

#TABR14 – Bruce Wylie called in to say he is OUT with a knee injury!

http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/tabr14/

[mtbcast]

#TABR14 - Nathan Jones called in from Grand Tetons National Park! Choppy call but he apparently helped someone with a chain.

http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/calls/

[mtbcast]

An issue with some of the audio files not playing has been resolved. I blame jet lag. :|
Refresh your browser or slide the playlist down to update the app!

[MattL]

If you're trying to establish how much of a gap one rider has on the next, time gaps are more informative than mileage gaps, because terrain varies.  Do this by looking horizontally on the graph, not vertically.

For instance, if you zoom in right now you can see that MH passed 2075 miles at around 7.55 days, while JL passed that point around 8.2 days.  24*(8.2-7.55) = ~15.6 hour gap.

MH slept around mile 2120.  When JL gets to 2125 mi, by my eyeball, the gap will probably be about 7-8 hours, unless something changes.

Time gaps on the blue dots is a feature I'd love to see on trackleaders, if Scott is lurking.

[Semi Slick]

Indeed.  MH's chart line is visibly steeper than anyone else's today.  At the 2000 mile mark, looks like he was about 6 or 7 hours ahead of JL.  But at the 2200 mile mark, it's looking more like 10 hours.

[mtbcast]

TABR14: Nathan Jones called in from Rawlins!
http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/tabr14/