Transcontinental Race (London - Istanbul) - #TCRNo4

If it's a rented one she is getting good value from it!

I only had a feed bag on my normal road bars. I don't like extra weight on the aerobars if I can help it as it messes up steering. I look forward to ditching the extra light I had.

You didn't have your pump on a frame mount? No way I was going to take up valuable bag space with a pump!

Sadly, although she might still be transmitting, one of the improvements to Trackleaders this year has been the way they have eliminated dots as soon as a rider finishes or scratches. No more dots appearing suddenly in the middle of America or worse. So, even is she is transmitting, we will not see her dot - unless she registers a new event!

They appear to be having lunch together which is nice. Unlikely that they will finish today.

You didn't have your pump on a frame mount? No way I was going to take up valuable bag space with a pump!

Yeah, would have been much better; tried to do it at last minute but couldn't (be arsed to) do it properly. With using tubeless I was originaly just going to take an emergency little pump as I didn't expect to have to use it, but glad I changed my mind and took the Road Morph.

I doubt they'll get disqualified or even penalised but they will surely ride together to Cannakale now!

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You're allowed to ride together, just not drafting.

Sitting around a table to eat lunch/dinner I think you'll find, at least where I'm from, people don't sit right behind each other while eating. At slow eating speeds the air resistance is negligible too.

At slow eating speeds
I don't think you're familiar with this.

I can't see who would make a complaint

Depends what you're eating #fartjokz

You're allowed to ride together, just not drafting.

I rode side by side with a few people and chatted. However, I think it is against the rules and would have been much more cautious about doing it if I'd been anywhere near the front of the race.

The manual deliberately doesn't define drafting but says refer to your local TT rules. And as CTT says drop back if passed, side by side wouldn't be allowed.

I see the Lael controversy raising its head shortly.
My take on this is that there is a distinct advantage in pairing up for extended periods of time, and by this I mean days at a time. A day or so is neither here nor there in my opinion.
In relation to Lael- she's so strong and such an accomplished rider then she would have almost certainly have won anyway.
Steffan is the only person who could complain , he has acted with extraordinary dignity and been very magnanimous, which closes this out.

Bit hard if it's a 2hr climb and both riders are similarly paced/similarly fooked . There'd actually be more advantage to them dropping back then passing then the other riding passing repeatedly vs. if they climbed side by side.

Also, if the riders do have a chit chat side by side, they're both 'guilty' so hardly likely to both dob themselves in so it would have to be someone else catching them out.

"TCR does not publish a technical description of what drafting is and is not but generally it is the purposeful following of another rider or vehicle which will give an aerodynamic aid to the following rider. Should you require more explicit guidance then please refer to your regional time trialling body rule book for examples. "

Riding side by side is less likely to provide aerodynamic advantage the constant passing and repassing of similarly paced riders.

Days? I was talking about minutes riding side by side, not days.

Riding paired for days is stretching my understanding of the non-paired riding thing.

If you're pacing someone half a mile back though, tactical.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mkpaa/albums/72157669747982164

It was common on TABR. People form allegiances, particularly those with no map reading skillz or without GPS! In my mind teaming up means you miss out on the experience. The one thing that really motivated me was to not be beaten by one such unofficial pair on TABR.

with no map reading skillz or without GPS

dafuq?

CTT rules would forbid constant passing / re-passing, as you'd have to drop back.

I assume riding side by side is problematic because the tracker can't tell if you are doing that or 2-upping so it will inevitably look dodgy to any dot-watchers.

For myself, I was happy to interpret it in a common sense way and rode alongside people to chat for maybe 4 hours in total over the ride. I thought I was most probably breaking the strict interpretation of the rules but didn't expect anyone to care that much, given I was days off the pace.

I'll be grassing up any extended pair riding or drafting riders. #supergrass

It was common on TABR. People form allegiances

That's a shame. TABR is a bit different, though (I think) as the rules are not as clear and there isn't such a strong organisation behind it.
I can't imagine Mike would have been happy with someone doing a Lael to win the TCR

I rode with two other people for maybe 30mins each. I mean, if they ride up and start chatting am I going to say bye and try attacking them? I'm not going to go any bloody slower!

I read it as no drafting, I don't draft. Riding up a couple of hills chatting about TransAm or whatever ins't breaking the TCR no drafting rule because there's no aerodynamic advantage involved.

That's a shame. TABR is a bit different, though (I think) as the rules are not as clear and there isn't such a strong organisation behind it.
I can't imagine Mike would have been happy with someone doing a Lael to win the TCR<

Yes, this. I think Adrian for WAW sums it up best "Nothing to win or lose except personal honour"

No one could object to that.

I'm not sure I like the no helping other competitors out rule, but I'm jaundiced from seeing on an ultra running event people run past other competitors who were clearly lost in very exposed and dangerous conditions (Cheviots at night time -10 degs) without helping.