Thursday June 13, 2019: I'm up at 5 am with a clarity of purpose. Two and a half days to bang out 700 kilometers, a big chunk of which will need to be completed today. The reality of being 2 days behind my pre-race plan is...
Wednesday June 12, 2019: I woke to my alarm at 6 am with a decision to make, left over kebab and fries or wait for the hotel breakfast buffet to open at 7 am. Mmmm, decisions decisions. No doubt one that race leader Dan Harty...
Tuesday June 11, 2019: It had been a late finish yesterday and I'd been so wired from such an exhilarating day that I hadn't managed to actually fall asleep until well after 2:00 am. I thus gave myself permission to "sleep in" to 7:15 am....
Monday June 10, 2019: My alarm woke me from a damn fine sleep at 4:30 am. I was feeling good, well rested although my quads were really sore. Bizarre, never really suffered from quad soreness from cycling before. Maybe my saddle height has shifted? Who knows. I...
Sunday June 9, 2019: I was awakened by a cold breeze gusting through the open window of the B&B I had holed up in the previous night. Curtains billowing over my bed. What the...
Saturday June 8, 2019: My alarm woke me at 4:30am but I wasn't ready to be awake. It was cold outside the warm embrace of my sleeping bag and I burrowed in further keeping the world at bay for a little while longer. 45 minutes later I...
Friday June 7, 2019: I awoke well slept in a big comfy hotel bed and immediately thought, I bloody well don't want to be well slept in a big comfy hotel bed. I want to be tired and stiff and on my bloody bike. In...
Thursday June 6, 2019: Awrighty then! Ultra Endurance Self Supported Bikepacking Race (slash) Adventure Race (slash) Journey into the Heart of Darkness...
Faaaaaaaarck! I had slept through my alarm. Either that or I had subconsciously turned it off. I had set it for 4:30 am to give myself a fighting chance of catching Mike and Russell and to arrive in Yorktown at a reasonable hour so as not...
This was the 4th out of the 27 Trans Am mornings that I had shared with JJ. From a shed in Wyoming to a church in Kentucky, to an Airbnb and a hotel in Virginia. It was not a large proportion of the race, we...