Trans Am Bike Race 2023 / part one.

I was planning this race for a year, and at the end of the day zero, I wasn’t even sure if I’d go or not. Such a paradox. But, when I was sitting in my friend’s Konrad car, with my cardboard box at the back, I realized that this was it. All or nothing. Got into the plane and there was no turning back.

With Konrad, leaving my flat in Wroclaw.

The hardest thing in any race is to get to the start line right? For me, it was a tricky one also. As I was going to the USA for a first time ever, I really wanted to visit my good old friend Kamil before the race. So, when I was planning to race I decided, I would fly to San Francisco (where he lives) and later I’ll figure something out to get to Astoria. In a worst-case scenario, Kamil can drive me to the start line, right? That was my thinking. I’m not sure if you know that feeling when you look at the map, and think, Ahhh it isn’t that far, but later it actually appears to be pretty far. Hehe, yes, the USA is a pretty big country, and you don’t realize that until you actually get there.

A few days before the race I was really struggling to sort all the work out of the way, and comfortably fly for the race. It was just bad timing for all the work stuff coming in. I was flying with my laptop, working until the last minute at each airport I was changing. Remember standing in the check-in queue and still finalizing some administration work in our company system.

Anyway, I got to SF on Thursday evening, and we drove with Kamil through the town center to his house in Woodlands near Sacramento. We arrived late and the plan was for a whole day tomorrow together with his amazing wife Alison and their kids. Sad to say, the half of Friday I was dead asleep after the travel, and because of the jetlag getting me off.

I bought a US SIM card and was happy to have unlimited everything on it, so I could easily manage my race, my rest stops and other stuff through the phone. We had some food after that I had massive stomach issues for the rest of the day. Finally, in the evening, Kamil took me to the Sacramento Airport, where we got me a plane to Portland. It was great to see him, even for a short while. I left all my private stuff, laptop, clothing, etc. with Kamil, he was going to post it to the finish line later on when I finished the race. From now on it was only me, my bike and all the gear I chose to take.

I arrived in Portland Friday night. Had a hotel booked next to the bus station, where in the morning, one day before the start, I was going to start my final leg to Astoria, Oregon. When I finally built my bike in Portland, I switched on my Garmin for the first time. I had the route to the hotel there, and this is when I did see, that my maps in my Garmin Etrex didn’t load correctly, and I only had a line on the blank screen. No streets, no elevation, nothing. I wasn’t happy and didn’t want to ride for nearly 7000 km without a proper map and a track on my bike’s pulpit. I arrived at the hotel in Portland, hoping for a computer there, but it was too late, no reception. I took the bus to Astoria on Saturday morning.

After I arrived, my mission wasn’t chilling before the start line, but searching for somebody with a laptop and a great Wi-Fi connection so I could upload all the background maps of Northern USA to my device. It wasn’t easy, believe me. It took me a whole day really. First I went straight to the local library. Unfortunately no way to connect to Garmin Express there and download something. Anti virus restrictions etc.

Than I ran into Thomas Camero, a Trans Am legend, who brought his laptop to my hotel room. Such a star this man is. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the laptop charger, and until the maps were uploaded and Garmin updated, the battery died and all 3 and half hours of waiting for it went into the rubbish.

I was really not happy and pretty stressed already, then Tony Macias (another rider) and his wife contacted me and offered their help, so I rushed to their apartment and plugged my Garmin into “Garmin Express”. After another few hours, it crashed somehow and Garmin said that the error occupied. There was a time for a pre-race briefing, but I didn’t have time or energy for a proper meal, and stress was arising.

With my friend Ben Davies on a briefing.

After the briefing, we restarted the Garmin Express again. I left my Garmin plugged into Tony’s computer, and left to do some last Bikepacking preparation, that I didn’t have time for before. Finally, after 10 PM Tony’s wife called me and said: that Garmin Express said: “completed successfully”. I was happy, but still, I did realize that it wasn’t the ideal start to one of the most important races in my life.