June 2nd, 2017: This was the rest day, and the day to get in any last minute shopping done, before the race. It was also the day we picked up our caps, and those of us who’d rented Spot trackers got their trackers, from Nathan Jones. I was staying at the Rivershore Motel in Astoria, and David Barstow Robinson (DBR) and Harrison McClain were right next door. Harrison had already written to me, asking to share my motel room on the 2nd, and we both decided to let David bunk with us too. They arrived just before noon, and I decided to head out to the local bike store, which I was told was getting busier by the minute, thanks to all the TABR racers who were descending on it!

I made it as quickly as I could, to the bike store, which was called ‘Bikes and Beyond’. It was a really nice place, and as I’d been warned, it was chock-full of TABR racers! I think I saw Simone Bailey, and I also saw the Crossleys, Alexis and Brad, Mike Benigni, Eric Fishbein, Chinda David, Jen Colestock, Meaghan Hackinen, and many others. I bought a couple of LED lights that ran off CR2032 button cells, to clip onto my helmet, and that’s when I saw more than one racer including Mike, sporting nifty rear-view mirrors on their helmets. Mike even allowed me to use his, to see how it worked, and I immediately saw how much of a difference it made.

I asked the at the store, if they sold helmet mountable rear-view mirrors, and to my great relief, they did. However, the model they had in stock looked really weird and clunky. It had many joints, making it highly adjustable, but it was so big that the helmet could not even be put down, without it losing its position. This meant the mirror had to be ‘recalibrated’ every single time I took off the helmet, and there’s a bit of a learning curve, when it comes to rv adjustments. Now, having used the mirror for more than a couple of months, I can dial in adjustments within seconds, even if it is badly out of alignment, but when I tried the system for the first time, it seemed to be quite challenging. I took a demo mirror that was fixed on a store-owned helmet, and went for a small ride, and once I was able to dial in the desired position, I saw it was immensely helpful, and bought it without any further thought.

The clunky but extremely helpful rear-view mirror I bought at Bikes and Beyond, in Astoria.

It gave a very clear view of the the action behind me, and during my TABR ride, I came to love it very much. It saved me on numerous occasions, from both potential accidents, and pranksters who’d pull up really close to deliberately blast me with soot, in a practice called ‘Rolling coal’.

As soon as I was done with my purchases, I went outside the store, where I met Meaghan again. She’d just gotten her hair cut at the ‘Eleventh Street Barber’ store across the street, and I thought it was a good idea to get my hair cut too. Eric too had gotten a haircut, and a really short one at that, and he joked whether I still recognized him. I laughed and wondered if I’d be even harder to recognize, after my haircut. When I was done with my haircut, Eric said I looked a lot younger, and we laughed and wished each other the very best for the race. That was the last time I spoke to him, and was quite devastated like all my other fellow racers, when I heard he’d met with a fatal accident. I still remember his big grin and easy laughter; rest in peace, Eric.

After all this, Harrison and I realized it was quite close to 1600 hrs, the time we were all supposed to meet at the Astoria column, and pick up our caps, so we rode out directly. Getting close to the location, we realized it was atop a super-steep hill! The shortest course was insanely steep, which gave us three options: brave it out and climb it, push it up the hill, or find another way. Since I had only a compact crank and an 11-28 cassette, I decided I’d be better off finding another way, and did find one. While the alternate route too was fairly steep, it was not outright insane, and I made it up the hill in some time. It was the first time I saw almost all of the TABR racers, and I could feel shivers of excitement running up and down my spine. There was also going to be a social evening after the cap and tracker distribution, where we could all hangout and down a few beers.

Astoria Column

With Nathan Jones, race director.

When I mentioned to Nathan I was a friend of Opendro Thoudam Singh, he immediately smiled and mentioned that Open holds the distinction of being the only TABR finisher ever, to have done the entire race in sandals! :D

The social gathering was at a place called Fort George Brewery. When I reached there, Bruce Cole was there already, with his son, and son’s girlfriend, and they called me over. Bruce had pinged me earlier on fb, wondering where I was, as he wanted to buy me dinner, so it was nice bumping into him. We talked about TABR, biking, and everything under the sun, over beers and a rather nice burger. Bruce had a great ride till he decided to quit at Mitchell, after suspected cardiac arrythmia, and he chose not to take chances.

The other person I really enjoyed meeting at the social gathering was Thomas Camero; I mentioned to him that I was a big fan of his, and we took these pictures together.

Thomas Camero, with his trusty Surly LHT.

We continued speaking and when I told him I was headed to Safeway, to do a spot of shopping, he mentioned he was headed there too, so I hitched a ride with him, and got to talk some more. He is truly a wonderful human being, and a great inspiration. Thomas, it was a real pleasure meeting you, and I hope to meet you again.

After I returned to the motel, my anxiety kicked in, with full force! I was feeling totally nervous, and was wondering if I’d bitten of something far bigger than I could manage, and both DBR and Harrison did their best to put me at ease. They’ve both had experience with other ultra distance rides, and they shared anecdotes to help me relax. I’d come a long way from home, spending a lot of hard-earned money, in a bid to do something I’d have dismissed for being beyond the realm of dreams, just a couple of years ago; yet here I was, on the verge of starting off on an adventure of a lifetime. Was I nervous? Hell, yes! Was I happy and excited? That too! We spoke till it was rather late into the night, until DBR mentioned that we really should get some sleep when we could, and there was silence after that. I shut my eyes closed, and tried my best to get in some sleep.