Transcontinental Race (London - Istanbul) - #TCRNo4

Bike fit.
How much and what you can eat
Plan a good route
Ride your bike for as much as you can but don't worry too much.
Work out sleeping. Are you happy to rough it or do you want hotels.
You'll have to do more days so can you recover. Stretching.
Bike fit!

As many Audaxes as you can, ideally back to back over a weekend or do a 300k on a Saturday followed by a long solo ride on Sunday.

Getting on the bike each morning is the hard bit, once you're going you're generally fine.

I didn't realise you were doing this. Now I know why you were asking this and that.

Cool stuff. Bit different to your normal road racing :)

The good old Ridgeback I hope!

Yeah not road reaching anymore so can invest my time training specifically for this. Also work full time so bit harder to train!
Should be a good challenge!

Sure I'll ride the 24h and 12h nationals next year too!

I just handed last year's trophy back. Race you next year.. loser buys the drinks.. :)

I don't drink. So it could be expensive for me or cheap for you!! Ha

Yeah, see, perfect.

Which bike you Trans'ing on?

http://www.lfgss.com/conversations/258964/#comment11984331

I agree with all this, especially bike fit, which made it to the top of my list of priorities whilst audaxing.

I'm looking at the route now, and a rough schedule for each day. Currently TT'ing France, then picking up a cycle path across Italy seem appealing, and I reckon I'd want to stay in a few cheap hotels every few days to wash/ recharge things etc.

I guess now the main thing is just to ride base miles, and hope that this bitter German winter doesn't get any worse. Maybe strength/core training too...

Are you based in London Skinny?

You mean The Iron Butterfly... it's currently in some kind of SSCX guise at present for the winter, but I'm sure I could adapt it to be suitable with the right wheels/ groupset...

I actually might, given that it's the most comfortable a present, though I guess I'll see what evolves over the next few months in terms of bikes.

It's a depressing thought that if I ever had a custom frame built I would probably go along with the geometry chart of one of Ridgeback's cheapest touring frames and ask them to basically re-make that, in titanium...

Yeah South London.

Sounds like a perfect job for @Dammit Talbot.

If only I had the money...

I've entered too.

Got a rough idea of what training I'd like to do - starting with 160km a week as of January and am going to increase it by roughly 10% each week. Hoping to do LEJOG around 6 weeks before as a test run and then decrease my distances. Anyone have any tips on 'smarter' training?

I'm not sure what to do in regards to sleeping.. Should I bother with a tent or just go for a sleeping bag and try and find a bus station or something?

I've travelled rough over much of Europe and Asia.

I ditched my tent early on.

In the dry, I liked to use culverts (drain channels) under the road - may need to suss out a few to get a goodun. There are plenty per mile on most roads. Avoid the ones with lots of little (or big!) footprints in the sand. That's a sign for a bad nights sleep.

DONT use culverts if there is any risk of rain, of course. Concrete culverts waiting to be buried are good in any weather, but don't use ones which are stacked up on top of each other as they may not be stable.

If it is going to rain, look for farm out-buildings near to the road and wait till the last minute of light before you dive in to avoid being spotted.

Hay barns are great.
Try bike sheds near post offices and other public buildings which are closed at night.
Churches often have covered areas you can take advantage of.
A tarp over a park bench is another possibility.
Rural filling stations often shut at night and can offer cover.
Schools are shut at night and often have bike sheds etc.

In bigger villages and towns, the local itinerants/homeless may have staked a claim on some prime kipping spots, so you may find you have company.

Rural sleeping is much easier, more peaceful and less stressful, so I'd aim to be out of any town to sleep and focus on smaller villages which tend to shut down at night.

I'd actively avoid busy public places. If you really, really must sleep in bus or train stations, keep passport/cash/cards under you and tie yourself to your bike and anything else you fancy keeping.

When you are knackered and asleep, you won't notice much going on around you! Bus and train stations are magnets for some real scum. Plenty of eyes, not many nice guys. Been there!

As for smart training - assuming you are endurance fit, set aside 3 days, pick a 600 mile route you have never travelled, in a country you have never been to and ride it with the kit you plan to take. Do that a few months before the event and learn from what you discover! That will uncover most fundamental game stoppers.

I am envious - have fun!

Still no rider list?

Quite a few adventure racer hitters are riding. It's going g to be a good race to watch.

There's usually 5-10 names I know from Audax on there. Just wondering if some of the people I knew that entered in 2014 but had to pull out have entered again.

Rider list up http://reportage.transcontinentalrace.com/?page_id=1475

Getting very nervous now, still not done enough planning and training.

A friend rode it last year. Race report is here.

Its the second article if you scroll the page.

" When I awoke on a concrete forecourt to have a lie in was less preferable to getting on the bike."

Great write up (if only someone would copyedit it for him).

Feeling all inspired now :) What are the entry criteria ? ( being a mentalist is a given)

Lets get a bump here actually.

The tracker for 2015 is live!

http://trackleaders.com/transconrace15