Trans Am 2017 Day 15: Pilot Knob, MO to Elizabethtown, IL — 192 Miles, +6,610 ft

11 min readNov 8, 2017

Richard was out maybe 30 minutes before me and I slept through my alarm, sleeping close to 3 hours when I’d hoped to get a little more than 2. Oh well, it was probably for the best. I could hear a postal worker in the back and packed my bag quickly, hoping to go through unnoticed. I’m sure I’d already been seen and ignored, but it gave me a shot of adrenaline and got me moving. I was groggy and definitely sleep deprived, but I still felt good and had every intention of sprinting for Cave in Rock. I dropped a 5 hour energy and some snacks to get the day started right and was blazing down the road. I had to peel off into the woods a few miles before Farmington for a bathroom break, but was still moving fast. I consulted with Luke and one of my sisters on the math to get to the ferry. I think I had 13.5 hours to do almost 200 miles, so needed to pedal quickly and make no big stops, but it was possible.

I came into Farmington looking for a gas station for a quick couple breakfast sandwiches and snacks for the road and passed a rider while I did. He caught up to me at a stop sign and asked if I was Max. I said yeah and he introduced himself as Wayne and I was excited that he’d come out to say hey. I asked him where there was a good place to get a quick bite and hit the road as I was in a bit of a hurry. He led me to a place a couple blocks behind us. OK, I’d told him I was trying to move fast by trusted that he had this in mind. We walked into a nice coffee shop where there was a line and we waited for a couple people to order. I considered walking out and fending for myself, but I was having a good time chatting and Wayne was now taking some video while asking me questions. I had just biked through the night and was on 3 hours of sleep, so I didn’t have much in me, but I answered the best I could and was relieved when my turn to order finally came. He offered to pay for me, and I, not even thinking, ordered breakfast and two sandwiches for the road. It wasn’t until he paid that I even realized how much I’d put on him and I apologized, but he was very gracious. Thank you so much Wayne!!! I went to the bathroom while we waited then came back out and felt like everyone in the place was staring at me, and I thought I must smell and look awful. So what I just took a poop in the woods!

Wayne V Linnenbringer

Max Lippe was a very friendly cyclist who was looking for breakfast in Farmington MO

www.facebook.com

I felt bad cutting out so fast after he bought me food, but I was on a mission to push for the ferry, though that looked increasingly less likely after my nearly 30 minute breakfast stop in Farmington. On my way out of town, another dot watcher came out to give me a small Gatorade and cheered me on. We chatted for 17 seconds and he sent me on my way, and I was really grateful for his support as well. Thank you Farmington!

Finally I was moving again, and I wondered if I’d lost my chance to get to the ferry. I did more math and felt like I still had a shade of a chance, so pushed on. I chatted with my sister Emily for a lot of the next 50 miles and was flying as I did. I was strong, energized, and stoked at the gap behind me. I knew I was closing on Richard and hoped I’d catch him soon. I flew through this stretch and knew I was a little ahead of the pace I would need to make the ferry, but would have to keep me speed pretty high all day and stops to an absolute minimum. I was probably going just a bit too hard considering my sleep levels and the sustained effort that I would need all day, but it felt good. I stopped quickly in Saint Mary’s for goodies and blazed on. I chatted with Luke as I approached the Mississippi and he urged me to keep pushing, and I followed his wisdom.

I crossed the Mississippi in too much of a hurry to take a picture, and heaved up the surprisingly steep hill into Chester. All the sudden I ran into Richard who had just come out of a cafe. We chatted as we rolled through town and he was beat. He said he was trying to catch the ferry but thought he would slow down and have a mellow rest of the day to Cave in Rock. At this point, we had a little over 8 hours to go 120 miles, and only a small chance of making it. My mismanagement of time the previous day, sleep in that morning, and long stop in Farmington had thrown me off.

I was pissed at Richard for even suggesting we take the foot off the gas, and wanted to be nowhere near him so I could focus on doing what I’d set out to do that day. But, just as I’d felt the day prior with Bo, it was too easy to absorb a nearby rider’s emotions. I knew I should have just focused on my plan and not paid any attention to what he was doing.

I had told myself that I’d push until I was past Carbondale and assess from there. If I was going to miss the ferry, oh well, keep going and sleep for a long time in Cave in Rock. But, I let Richard take the wind out of my sails and I slowed when he slowed. I was nothing but pissed when we left Chester and just wanted to be away from Richard, so I let him go on ahead as my competitive juices went empty.

I was surprised to find some steep rollers in the first stretch of Illinois, and I started to sink a bit. Angry that I was letting Richard affect my race, that I would miss the ferry, and that I was sleepy AF, I slacked on the pedals as well as the eating and was pretty beat when I rolled into the gas station in Campbell Hill, where I found Richard sitting down for lunch. I joined him and crushed two pieces of pizza and soda, and we chatted. We were pretty far ahead of everyone just behind us, but the advantage would disappear by the next morning. Richard wanted to pedal slowly and have a relaxing day, while I wanted to keep a normal pace and get a good sleep at the ferry. I went from having all the ambition in the world to feeling a firm ceiling on what I could do that day, and it sent my focus go awry. Without the impetus to catch the ferry, I instead had the feeling that nothing I did the rest of the day mattered, and I caught the suffer bad.

My stomach felt unsettled on the next stretch to Murphysboro, and I didn’t mind when I found Richard at a gas station there where we again stopped and chatted. At some point in my biking life, I will realize that I need to eat even when my stomach doesn’t feel right, but this wouldn’t be the day. We went through suburbia south of Carbondale and the miles went slowly, and I didn’t eat well. Nothing I did today mattered!

Richard peeled off for an ice cream and I kept going, now in 5th place and hoping to never release my (tentative) hold on it. Oo it felt good, but soon I was suffering and a little delusional. I didn’t realize the road out of Carbondale is all uphill for a couple miles and I couldn’t believe how slow I was going and how few miles I’d pedaled. It was a gnarly combination of sleep deprivation and under eating. Time and miles seemed to be going unnaturally slowly.

I talked to my sister Emily and yelled that I didn’t understand what was happening. How had I only gone X miles since Carbondale!! The route is a weird combination of suburban roads and backroads with horrible pavement, all kind of steep, and I was hating it. I finally peeled off at a reservoir with a bench to chill and eat a little, and I sat there for a few minutes feeling sorry for myself and trying to get my head right. Richard caught me right after I got back on my bike and I kept going just behind him until a series of big, straight rollers broke me with a little bonk.

Richard powered on and I was super low energy, obviously not having eaten enough at the reservoir. I stopped at the top of one roller, feeling almost like I couldn’t get up another, and dropped some more calories and kept food in my hand as I continued forward. I told myself it was OK if Richard went on ahead and I pedaled at whatever pace I could, eating all the while. Forget the failed plans, forget Richard, just pedal and eat.

I started to feel better on the last couple miles to Goreville, and finally made it to that town which had seemed to never get any closer since Carbondale. I looked for a gas station and only found a tiny convenience store in town. My phone was out of batteries so I couldn’t look anything up, and I wouldn’t realize until I left town that there was a massive gas station just around the corner from where I stopped. I sat at a booth in the convenience store drinking chocolate milk and eating chips — the best calories of their small selection — needing to recover from my bonk and wondering what to do. Cave in Rock was 60 miles from Goreville but seemed impossibly far away.

I’d heard a lot about how this stretch actually has a lot of climbing and is pretty remote, so was psyching myself out a little. It was just after 8 pm and I could get there a little after midnight if I was diligent, but since I’d hoped to get there by 9:30 pm for the ferry, that seemed way too late and I was demoralized by that. Fuck. I thought about napping in Goreville, unsure that I could make it to the Ohio River without sleep. The guys behind me that had been so far away before were catching me. Fuck. I told myself I need to at least get to Elizabethtown.

After almost an hour of waffling about whether I had enough food, was making the right decisions, etc., I finally felt strong enough to go and made my way out. I stopped at the massive gas station that I stumbled onto around the corner for some chicken fingers and fries, and the real food helped a lot. I was tired but felt pretty good in the miles after Goreville. I’d picked myself up after the bonk, but still needed sleep badly. I rolled through Eddyville feeling good and filled up on water behind a convenience store where I found Michel Miani sleeping on a bench out front. I wondered if he meant to catch the first ferry, since he was sleeping pretty early (as he always did), and I was glad to continue on past him. There was one more sustained hill and some rollers until Elizabeth and, as usual, I felt good on the climbs but started to fade once I got to the easier stuff closer to the Ohio River. Ken and Sofiane were not far behind me, and I was in a battle to cover the last 6 miles to Elizabethtown. I was dozing off, pedaling slowly, and just annoyed at myself. Gone was the advantage that I’d worked hard for. I’d get maybe 30 minutes more sleep than the other guys. Richard’s tracker was broken so I didn’t know where he was, but I knew he must have made it to Cave in Rock and was probably asleep by then. I was glad that I’d made the push from Missouri, but pissed that I’d slowed. It was non stop second guessing.

The last 2 miles to Elizabethtown could not have been longer, and I was so relieved when I finally pulled into town. I wanted to wash off in a spigot, so I walked through the tiny town like a zombie looking for one but had no luck, only managing to waste time I could have been sleeping. The town was funky and felt like a swampy, old, southern town, porches and everything. Some people were just loading up a car leaving a bar nearby. I came back to the post office, which was freezing and smelled like pee, and put down the rest of the chicken fingers. I fell asleep, unsure of what my morning would look like but planning to get up after the first ferry.

Up to that point in the race, this was definitely my worst day on the Trans Am. The first 80 miles were so good, but a combination of sleep deprivation, bad eating, and easing my mental approach led to a real mental and physical bonk and totally wrecked my plans. At one point during the day, I’d been in 5th place with a chance for a big sleep in Cave in Rock that could have vaulted me in front of the riders I was hovering near, but instead my sleep would be cut super short if I was going to get the first ferry, and I still had 10 miles to go to make it there. Everyone says that the highs would get higher and lows lower the further into the race you get, and I was definitely experiencing that. The move I had made from Eminence into Illinois had been a definite high, and the subsequent loss of focus and bonk in Illinois was a low low. It was a learning day, but definitely a setback.

Trans Am 2017 Intro

Trans Am Day 1: Astoria, OR to McKenzie Bridge, OR

Trans Am Day 2: McKenzie Bridge, OR to Prairie City, OR

Trans Am Day 3: Prairie City, OR to Council, ID

Trans Am Day 4: Council, ID to Lochsa Lodge, ID

Trans Am Day 5: Lochsa Lodge, ID to Bannack State Park, MT

Trans Am Day 6: Bannack State Park, MT to Cameron, MT

Trans Am Day 7: Cameron, MT to Lander, WY

Trans Am Day 8: Lander, WY to Cowdrey, CO

Trans Am Day 9: Cowdrey, CO to Alma, CO

Trans Am Day 10: Alma, CO to Haswell, CO

Trans Am Day 11: Haswell, CO to Ness City, KS