The Trans Am Bike Race is a self-supported, ultra-distance bikepacking race across the USA. The fixed route is about 4,300 miles (6,900 km) long and goes from Oregon to Virginia. This article includes reports of the first 3 editions of the race in 2014, ’15 and ’16, including details of how Lael Wilcox became the first woman to win it overall in 2016.
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Many gearing options have become available since the Gear Ratios page was written in 2016 that make it easier to get lower gearing on road bikes. This includes super-compact gravel cranksets, 12-speed systems, and single-chainring setups. I therefore re-wrote the page to be clearer and include all of the latest options including extensive tables of all useful cassettes.
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The Cirrus Kinekt 2.1 Suspension Seatpost adds minor suspension to road, gravel and urban bikes. It not only to improve comfort and performance when venturing off-road, but may also be useful for people who stay primarily on paved roads but want to maximize their ability to ride further by improving comfort.
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As always, I focused on products aimed at bikepacking and ultra-distance cycling during my visit to Eurobike 2019. I noticed some promising trends in the industry and in the show itself, plus lots of interesting products to peer at and fondle.
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Route overview, race summary & results, links to media coverage and rider reports from the 2019 Transcontinental Race, No. 7.
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I’m heading to Ireland next week to take part in the TransAtlantic Way race. I’m looking forward to ocean views, small lanes, lots of short, sharp climbs, maybe some wind and rain, and some pretty long daylight hours. I’m using a different bike than the two that I used for the TransContinental Race in 2014-16. As always, I’ve modified and customized most of the components and accessories to make this a very unique and personalized machine.
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I look at ways to have front suspension on a road or gravel bike. I review the Specialized FutureShock fork found on the Roubaix and Diverge bikes and the RedShift ShockStop stem that can be put on any bike. I also list aftermarket gravel bike suspension forks and the effect of lower tire pressure.
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The RedShift Dual-Position Seatpost allows cyclists to easily change the fore and aft saddle position while riding, so it’s useful for people riding a road bike with clip-on aerobars who want the saddle setback to be optimized for both positions. I found it to be well made and to function admirably.
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Comparison of power data collected from PowerTap GS and Stages 2nd generation cycling power meters. No significant differences were found in average power, power in any part of a typical range of values, and no change between when the cyclist was fresh or fatigued.
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The history of modern bikepacking races is quite short, having started with some off-road races in the USA in the early 2000s. Road-based bikepacking races started with the World Cycle Race in 2012, then the first Transcontinental Race in Europe in 2013 brought much more attention. Near the origins of cycle sport in the late 1800s, there were many people recording times for riding ultra-distances solo and self-supported.
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Route overview, race summary & results, links to media coverage and rider reports from the 2018 Transcontinental Race, No. 6.
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Instead of doing multi-day training rides to prepare physically for bikepacking races, you should do them to test strategies and equipment and learn skills.
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Good bikepacking equipment doesn’t need to cost much. Reliability, functionality and repairability are often more important than weight or aerodynamics.
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Media coverage, full results and links to rider reports from the 2017 Transcontinental Race, No, 5.
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This page is under construction, but will include advice on how to avoid many common causes of bike crashes and what to do if you do crash.
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