Trans Am Bike Race

Two and a half weeks ago I announced that I would be participating in the inaugural Trans Am Bike Race. 

I'd like to announce my participation in the inaugural Trans Am Bike Race this summer. It's an unsupported race of 100 riders across the United States covering over 4,200 miles from Oregon to Virginia. 

I expect many physical and mental challenges along the way. It is not my goal to win. In fact, it is likely I will fail - possibly before the race starts - from exhaustion, mental burnout, injury, or otherwise (or maybe some other opportunity comes up). I invite you to come along for the journey. I'll be carrying a SPOT GPS Messenger, so you'll be able to track my progress online. I'll give updates on Twitter (@PUCyclist), and I created a fan page so I don't blow up your news feed (Marcus Thompson).

I could not even begin to imagine doing something like this without the experience and support from my team in the Purdue University Cycling Club, my teammates and supporters from the past two summers of Bike & Build, the riders of the Bucket 100 Bicycle Tour and the Cover Indiana Bike Tour, and, of course, my friends and family. Thank you.

"Because in the end it has almost nothing to do with the bike and everything to do with setting out to accomplish something that is intimidating, that is unknown to you, something you know you have a good chance of failing at but doing it anyways and slowly but surely proving yourself wrong."
-Mike Ambs

Two big dates occurred this week. Yesterday marked 6 months since my Bike & Build team reached Santa Cruz and a year and half since my first team reached Monterey.  And last weekend marked 4 months of training remaining before the big race. I've been training 9x per week - that's 6 days/week on my bike trainer plus weight training 3 days/week and Sunday rest. I wish I had another month or two of training before the race starts. On the other hand, I am ready for collegiate road season to get here. As you know, winter has been brutal this year. It has kept me indoors for the entirety of 2014 thus far. Naturally, my mind is getting fried. I question my ability to even participate in the Trans Am. My legs aren't cooperating fully. Minor pains come and go and I wonder what more hours on the bike will do to them. At this point, I am trying to be patient with the weather until I can get outside. That should be a big boost. But there are other stressers influencing my mental game - finishing my thesis, getting a job, planning this summer, financing this summer, etc, etc, etc. The good news is that the first collegiate race is two weekends away and I have already doubled my winter training from last year. I am really excited to see what this season will bring.