Transcontinental Race (London - Istanbul) - #TCRNo4

"you can’t race on only coke and hookers for 15 days in a row"

-Luca Paolini, 2015

Only 'cos 'The Man' comes along to ruin the fun

" I just pulled out my iPhone and used the torch while riding with one hand."

http://www.albannach.cc/sra-x-tcr-part-1/

Tweet from Lee Pearce:

"@Lee_Pearce: @cliveoconnell TY for the support Clive. I lurk on LFGSS, great community. I'll buzz you my reportage when completed. eHugs to the board."

My basic meal, red bull and Mars/sneakers

I tend to stick to coffee and cakes, but I guess it depends where you stop.

75% of the stop I did were in petrol station

Was that by choice or by necessity? Could you not stop at cafes or sandwich shops or supermarkets?

Wasn't by choice, when you are out of water, you stop at the first possibility. You ride most of time between two town, plus, during the night only petrol station are open.
I remember I had more struggle to find water in France than any other country. Even if in France we have more supermarket but less petrol station with food and water service (only on highway).

That makes sense. I had that issue in the UK during the overnight leg of a 600k where nothing was open, even in the towns. Doesn't France have drinking water fountains around the place? Or is that just in the mountain towns?

There are some in the very unmountainous parts of the west in the Gironde - but you have to know where to find them.

taps nose

drinking water is available at Cemeteries in France (by law)

Didn't know that. Handy if I do TCR :)

Any tips for the US of A?

Meth labs are located at convenient intervals in unpopulated areas and generally have supplies of water.

Or so it seemed from Breaking Bad.

Haha.. dodging armed Americans is going to be a top priority for me. Imagine lying down to sleep somewhere only to wake when Bubba is nudging you in the ribs with his double-barrel (not a euph)?

I think standard procedure is to shoot first, ask questions later.

I presume though, with sleeping trespassers, they still want to see the whites of their eyes before pulling the trigger.

Presumably some kind of firearm is on the compulsory kit list for all US races?

I couldn't find a photo of the great man himself but here is a photo he posted of his bike at the finish line.

And his words-
'tcr 2015 done with a 70 euros' second hand bike. challenge succeeded. as Mike has said somewhere you can do that with à vintage bike. i suppose i am the last Guy because i have not thrown in the towel , it's a little bit stupid but Lee Pearce is guilty too when hé has said me just before the start of the race it was possible to do that with à steel bike. i thought often at these words during the trip even when he was on the boat and me somewhere in france with ice on thé bottom. it resounded in my head but now i have lost my job my wife has left the house and childs don't speak with me. what is wrong with you Lee? thanks you for support thanks Douglas Migden Sarah Searle Stefano T. Fabrizi Lee and all thé other. I have finished now Josh can said he has won.'

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Wow! Well done David! I hope he isn't being serious about this bit:

now i have lost my job my wife has left the house and childs don't speak with me.

Currently doing the reverse route from Skopje to vukovar , and have to say even completing this is an amazing task. Lots of hard days and I don't think I could honestly complete the whole thing in 30 days. Chapeau David and all.

If someone is interested in riding my english on my blog

http://followkiwi.blogspot.fr/

It reads super french. One of my favourites so far - looking forward to the next chapter

Beautifully written. Thank you.