All Aboard The Pain Train!

What in the world is The Pain Train (TPT)?

The Pain Train, although not exactly created on purpose and something that is more of a joke than anything else, has been an interesting addition to trip. In short, it consists of the riders who want to push themselves to the verge of blacking out (read: dumb people) in the front pack each day. They’re the guys who paceline to the front, chalk the route and turns for the rest of the riders, unpack the trailer for lunch and unload the bags when they reach the host location before the other cyclists.

TPT got its name from a few team members who had to ride in the van one day (due to injury). By the time they caught up to the train, about 15 miles ahead of the next pack, each rider was nearly out of water, had a salt stained jersey and a sly grin on his face.

“But I thought Bike and Build wasn’t a race?”

You’re right, it’s not. The Pain Train isn’t about beating everyone else… It’s about beating yourself. Pushing yourself to the finish line to see just how far and fast you can go. Sometimes we finish a few minutes before everyone else, sometimes a couple of hours. We still stop and smell the roses when we see great sites, but we’re also focused on the riding… improving our skills (pacelining, drafting, shifting, keeping cadence), getting in great cycling shape and communicating with each other while on bikes.

Who’s in it?

Each day is different based on routes, terrain, heat, etc., and members are usually dropped and added depending on their strengths (climbing, flats) but the squad has a few regulars…

Kyle – The Engine

Reed – The Conductor

Hunter – The Machine

Jacob – The Caboose

It’s not for everyone, but it’s been really cool to find a group of guys who love cycling just as much as you do. I don’t ride with The Pain Train every day, but every couple of days it’s awesome to see the things your body can do when you challenge it. The endurance we’ve built over the past few weeks hasn’t been easy, but well worth it… We’re going to need it entering the Rockies!

Below are a few pics of the TPT in action…

Kyle (near) and Reed (far) taking a quick break at an abandoned gas station in Kentucky on a day when our bike computer temps read 117 degrees…

This is what we like to see!

One of our biggest mountains on a day when we climbed a total of 8,500 feet through the Appalachians (from left to right: Josh, Hunter, Robert, Jacob)

Teammates helping each other (cheating?)… AKA Kyle holding onto to Reed’s seat to pull him up a hill