7 am Sunday 6/20 = Game Time: TMWR 2021

Trans Mni Sota Wheel Race: 7am Sunday June 21st 2021

The weather coming looks decent. Some rain on day 1.  The bike is somewhat packed.  My legs have enjoyed the restful spinning of the last week.  My cue cards and notes are laminated and highlighted and maybe printed in text that is too small to actually read when biking... 

Prepping for bikepacking is one of my favorite things.  Laying out the gear.  Examining the purpose and role of each piece of kit.  Removing redundant items.  Testing and double checking.  Evaluating the placement and positioning of gear on the bike according to its use and role.  This is my first road bikepacking gig, and I am surprised by how little I will be bringing.  Oddly, a massive amount of time has been spent packing a very small amount of gear.

Many people have asked what my goal is for this race.  I've articulated 3 that seem to be guiding my thoughts, in order of preference:

1. Finish!  Seriously... this would be fantastic.  To successfully manage all the mechanical, weather, sleep, food, and body problems that will arise and finish the TMWR will be amazing.
2. Finish in 6 days = on Saturday by 7am.  This is doable at 200 miles per day.  I've mapped this out at 14 mph overall average and this should be viable goal with time to spare each day.  
3. Finish in less than 6 days = anything faster than the above rate would be fantastic pants!  

Somethings I'd like to remember:

Biggest obstacle:  Wind.  Luckily the temperatures are dropping and shouldn't be an issue.  But the wind is going to be mentally the most challenging, as the route goes endlessly in the same direction for miles and miles at a time.

Sleeping:  I going to attempt to stick to 4 hours of sleep.  My luxury packing items are a tent, sleeping pad, and tiny inflatable pillow.  Why not a bivy?  I hate bivys in humid weather, which means I hate bivys in Minnesota.  There is no way a good sleep is going to happen wrapped in a sauna bag, at least for this guy.  The tent I have isn't much bigger when packed, and while the setup time is a little longer, the large screen walls will keep me comfortable and bug free.  Because Minnesota summers are filled with the hum of winged blood suckers and nothing prevents sleep more than hearing that tiny whine of a skeeter who has locked its needle nose on your precious blood.  No sleeping bag though- just a puffy jacket.

Eating:  Gas station food for the win!  A positive of the Midwest is that there are tiny towns just about 15 miles in every direction.  I think the longest stretch without services on the whole race is 38 miles.  Quite different than riding out West.

Training:  Meh.  I've never trained this much, but I still feel like I've come up short.  Maybe that is just inevitable though.  I am happy to have made it this far without injury and pain, so that is a big win.

Electronics:  I broke the TMWR route into 70 mile chunks and have uploaded these into the Garmin InReach.  Testing shows that everything is loaded and working well.  As a backup I have the route downloaded on my phone and accessible through RidewithGPS.  I will be powering everything with a SP Dynamo hub routed to a Sinewave Beacon that is charging a pass-through battery pack that then powers the InReach and my phone as needed.  I plan on keeping my phone off the majority of the time, or at least in airplane mode.  

DOT WATCHING!

If I wasn't racing, I'd be watching everyone's progress.  And you can, too!  This link will take you to the Trackleaders site where you can watch everyone's progress.  As per race rules, we all must have a satellite tracker showing our position.

Want to cheer racers on?

You should!  Take a look at the route map at Trackleaders.  If we pass nearby- cheer on the riders!  Or leave out a sign!  The mental funk  we will all be in the last few hundred miles especially will be quite interesting.  Maybe even harder will be the middle few hundred as we head north.  Anything will appreciated and super impactful!  But, you can't help anyone out.  Hugs are cool though, although it won't just be our minds that will be funky so maybe air hugs and high fives?