How far do you normally go on the first day of a multi-day bike tour when you’re carrying all your gear? Thirty-five miles? Fifty miles? Eighty miles?
Locations of TransAm racers at www.trackleaders.com/transam14
Probably not more than 450 miles, but that’s how far Canadian Jason Lane traveled in his first day (actually his first 29 hours) of the Trans Am Bike Race that got underway on Saturday in Astoria, Oregon. (He traveled 374 miles in his first 24 hours.)
Forty-three bicyclists are competing for the bragging rights — there is no prize money — of being the fastest to ride coast-to-coast on the TransAmerica Bicycle Route. They’re doing it by carrying their own gear. No outside help allowed.
The fastest are aiming to arrive in Yorktown, VA., in about 16 to 18 days. They’re riding the lightest bikes and carrying the fewest items.
See the YouTube.com video in which Nathan Jones, a Portland bike shop owner and organizer of the race, shows how he packed his bike for the event.
At the other extreme, Thomas Camero, 73, of Hood River, Oregon, expects it will take 80-some days to finish. Many are shooting for 30 days to finish the 4,233-mile ride, reports OregonLive. That’s 141 miles a day.
Follow the race
You can follow the cyclists at Trackleaders.com. Each cyclist carries a Spot Satellite Tracker device, so their position along the course can be followed at Trackleaders.
MTBCast.com is covering the action by having the riders calling in and leaving messages. Race organizer Jones, for instance, phoned in from the 187-mile marker late Saturday to note the riders were experiencing great tailwinds. You can hear the daily wrap-up from Joe Polk at TABR14 – Day 1.
Roster
Among the riders, Oregon appears to be the most well-represented. Only one cyclist comes from Washington state, Cynthia Woolery, 47, of Seattle.
Of the five women, only two are from the US. Others are from Italy, the UK and Germany. Seven of the 38 men in the race are from foreign countries, representing the UK, Spain, Italy and Canada.
Here’s the list of riders listed at Trackleaders.com.
Women:
Cynthia Woolery, 47, of Seattle
Angeline Tan, 35, San Mateo, California
Peta McSharry, 47, London
Juliana Buhring, 32, Napoli, Italy
Franziska Hollender, 26, of Munich, Germany
Men:
Tom Knoblauch, 56, Aurora, Colo. (on Monday)
Michael Hatfield, 49, Asheville, NC
Spencer Glidden, 43, Cave Creek, Ariz.
Thomas Camero, 73, Hood River, Ore.
Foster Nostrand, 45, Portland, Ore.
Jason Stephens, 25, Boise, Idaho
Paul Gildersleeve, 35, Portland, Ore.
Derek Wilson, 28, El Dorado, Kan.
Jason Woodhouse, 27, UK
Joel Martinez, 35, Barcelona, Spain
Eric Helwig, 29, Portland, Ore.
Joey Dement, 37, Oakland, Calif.
Bruce Wylie, 59, Pembroke Pines, Fla.
Richard Costello, 47, Warminster, Pa.
Patrick Dowd, 25, Oakland, Calif.
Ricky Ng, 26, St. Louis, Mo.
John Williams, 64, Albany, Ore.
Adam Guske, 31, Fort Collins, Colo.
Greg Strauser, 48, Chesapeake, Va.
Nathan Jones, 32, Portland, Ore.
Billy Rice, 35, Bryan, Texas
Paolo Laureti, 37, Silvi Marina, Italy
Donncha Cuttriss, 42, Cork, Ire.
Danny Kaukola, 40, Bakersfield, Calif.
Jesse Stauffer, 26, Selinsgrove, PA
Ed Pickup, 23, Salisbury, UK
Mike Hall, 33, Harrogate, UK
Jason Lane, 32, Sudbury, Ont.
3 comments
450 miles in the first 24 hours? That’s an 18.75mph average and his tracker data looks closer to 15mph. Are you sure it wasn’t 350 miles?
Author
I checked their location about 10 a.m. on Sunday, which was 29 hours after the race started. At that point, according to the map above, Jason Lane was leading the race somewhere between Mitchell and Dayville. When I check his tracker history — http://trackleaders.com/transam14i.php?name=Jason__Lane — that’s about 448 miles from the start.
Running the clock back, I see that he was in Prineville at 24 hours into the race. He had covered 374 miles in that time. I’ll show that more accurate figure.
374 is still pretty amazing. Strong work to say the least.