Transcontinental Race (London - Istanbul) - #TCRNo4

If I had more time/inclination I would've examined it more closely and removed some of the off-road mistakes. But I really dislike staring at maps and satellite images for hours on end

The annoying thing is that I do actually enjoy staring at maps for hours on end, and thought I'd route-checked really thoroughly, but I still didn't spot half a dozen off-road sections that crept in.

The mental resolve required to get one's aching body up each morning, pull on tired and soiled kit, stuff feet into worn shoes and pull a helment, still damp with sweat from the previous day onto one's head and then feel one's joints and muscles rebel as the first few pedal strokes strain against an unwilling body. And then to ride on in the heat, looking for food and water, struggling to navigate, checking everything is properly charged, watching for traffic and dogs and finally looking for somewhere to sleep. The simple determination, despite all adversity, to finish the task. Wow. Just wow.

Are there any jobs going for copywriters at Rapha?

I love maps, too, and these days usually study the route intently before I go on a new one, but I think if I ever did this (which I won't), I'd stick to main roads wherever possible, to absolutely minimise the risk of any unintentional off-roading.

Some countries don't have streetview and I know I examined some suspicious looking stuff via satellite view and it turned out to be concrete and "ok" yet later on it was fulling off road. Very fucking annoying but shit happens.

I specifically routed away from major roads and then, when I found the alternatives I'd picked were gravel shit, went straight back onto the shoulder-free truck-dodging 70kph craziness. That's me doing 70kph btw, the trucks were doing 110 or something..

The phrase 'stick to the main road' was something which I repeated to myself many times!

I did some sections where using a few back roads saved me like 5 m of climbing or 200m of distance but it would have been loads faster to stay on the main road, given traffic counts and lack of junctions, and better surfaces.

The annoying thing is that I do actually enjoy staring at maps for hours on end, and thought I'd route-checked really thoroughly, but I still didn't spot half a dozen off-road sections that crept in.

Someone should write an openstreetmap thing to which you can upload a route and have it warn you about bits that are surface=unpaved or bicycle=no or roadisinshite=yes

Some countries don't have streetview and I know I examined some suspicious looking stuff via satellite view and it turned out to be concrete and "ok" yet later on it was fulling off road. Very fucking annoying but shit happens.

I think it's probably not possible to get it right from remote planning, given everybody had some of those stories. I guess that's why Kristoff stuck to roads he knew.

On the other hand I did have some routing successes, like going west for flatter ground in France, good roads through Bosnia, good route through Greece, etc.

Just remembered my worst though - going through a forest at night on a cyclepath before Neuchatel, to save a hill on the road. Must have cost me over an hour, of entirely self-inflicted hilly-forest-track nightime hell

Someone should write an openstreetmap thing to which you can upload a route and have it warn you about bits that are surface=unpaved or bicycle=no or roadisinshite=yes

There is a system like that already: you just send the route to @hippy he goes and rides it, and gives you feedback via twitter!

I gave all the locals feedback too...

When we did a 1600 km ride through Italy, those who organised the route went through every metre on StreetView as our previous escapade had resulted in a few unwanted gravel paths.

Even this laborious task did not help when it transpired that roads had dropped off hill sides.

Are there any jobs going for copywriters at Rapha?

Not sure if this is a rare compliment from OS but if it is, however backhanded, thank you.

If you ever need a route that comprises only mud tracks or motorways @Ramsaye is your man.

Route planning on RWGPS. The dash line roads are gravel or rough surface, in case people are wondering.

1 Attachment

It's not so clear cut as you head east. The one that got a lot of people is the 'old main road' connecting Skopje to the rest of Macedonia. It has the status of an A road but it starts off as cobbles then becomes gradually rougher as you head south.

I saw people on unwanted gravel as far west as France.

This one is the best

I rode through and adhoc routed around sand and gravel roads in France.

They could've been avoided with more detailed map study. What Frank is saying is that the classifications further east are even worse. They also do not have streetview and the satellite images do not always show up rough/non-roads.

This one is the ugliest

ftfy

That guy was at the airport in front of us. I recognise his carbon ball anywhere.

Don't talk ill about the carbon scrotum.

Perhaps if hippy had invested in a carbon scrotum/penis/buttock (or two) we would not have had to endure tales of his chaffing/shredding/blistering/bruising/tartaring

I saw him at Durmitor. The box at the back has a lot of room and opens right up so it's easily accessible.

Min is in Kavala. Really good progress today. Keeping good distance from the Pair. All depends now on whether she calls it a night or pushes on. Kavala is around 40 km from where they are but is the next sizeable town with, accordingly, relatively easy accommodation. It is 6pm there. I would expect them to ride to it and arrive around 8-8:30pm. If Min rides on, she may have difficulty finding somewhere to sleep. If she stops where she is, they could catch her and possibly over take tonight.

While some riders rode easily from Kavala to the end in a day, it will be interesting to see how our remaining riders tackle the next part of the race. It could be tempting to throw caution to the wind and just go for it.

Cycle.travel and cyclestreets.net both do this to some extent. The trouble is that the data on the road surfaces needs to exist in some database. Generally works in well populated areas but in middle-of-nowhere Eastern Europe the data either doesn't exist or goes out of date as roads are resurfaced/left to decay.

I wonder if those carbon blobs provide any advantage over 'normal' framebags.
I'm not sure I'd want a hard-case style.