Transcontinental Race (London - Istanbul) - #TCRNo4

If they route it through Germany it'll be fun - no google streetview!

Same as Bosnia then. No biggie.

Such an epic race. Really enjoyed following the trackers and now reading the reports. Massive thumbs up to all that took part, such inspiration!

It's better than Bosnia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, etc: you do get it in the main German cities

Germany is the only place I've ever been with cycling-specific maps in hand. :)

Personally I wouldn't want another southerly slog through France so a checkpoint somewhere a bit easterly like the Black Forest would be cool. Also having the first checkpoint close by keeps the racing interesting.

Geraadsbergen to Kitzbüheler Horn could be an nteresting parcours but longish first leg and might make the race a bit short?

There was a protest about cuts to welfare for disabled people today which shut Westminster bridge. I bumped in to Nathan Jones, Tour Divide, TCR rider and founder of the Trans Am. Really, really nice bloke. Never heard of LFGSS so I've directed him here. He's racing round the world next year. Here he is having a nice chat with the police.

https://www.facebook.com/NJWCR2017/

I was drinking with him last night. I hope he's ok :)

Funny, he said he had never heard of you when I mentioned you. I am sure he will remember you now.

I do like to leave a hazy, 'what just happened' first impression.

Interview with Skinny

Saw this on Reddit this am.

Brilliant interview. @skinny is as articulate as he is talented as a cyclist.

I do like to leave a hazy, 'what just happened' first impression.

I was violently ill the day after meeting you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSlXFoIAa88

:-D

Now was Nathan?

Seemed completely unaffected- he kept on drinking last night. I had to pretend I was drinking G&T's which were in actual fact all tonic #lightweight

I was out last night too but took it a little easier. Eating a large steak with the booze also helped.

Thanks and @WornCleat

That's really an excellent interview. Favourite bits:

I won’t take a phone next year.

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There were three of them, and the one in charge was a really keen cyclist — he was totally cool! He showed me photos on his phone of him on his bike, and he was asking loads of questions about the race. They ended up giving me a lift to a bike shop, maybe 8 miles away. It was 4.30am and it opened at 9am, so the police suggested I could sleep there and I’d be fine, and they left it at that. When the shop opened, the owner was great. He threw my bike in a stand, he stripped it down and sorted it while I sat there. He was a racer himself, and he’s a friend of [ultra-distance racer] Steffan Streich, and another friend of his was an audax rider. He called up his friend, his friend came round, and it was like a party in the shop! They were taking photos of me, chatting away, it was great. They sent me on my way with loads of tubes and a puncture repair kit

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I started the race purposefully overweight. Yesterday I went into the supermarket and tried to carry a basket of food. I had to hold it with two hands, and put it down for a rest — I’d lost that much muscle off my upper body. My body won’t eat muscle off my legs, because it needs them, so it starts eating my upper body. I used to, before the race, do a lot of strength training exercises. All of that’s gone, off my shoulders, and my chest and back. I’ve lost a huge amount of muscle.

Also:

Peter Sagan would argue that point with you! But I can see why people would think that. If you look into it, and you really know pro racing, it’s not boring. There’s so much there, there’s so much going on, though I can understand why people might think it’s a bit more sterile nowadays. It’s that question of what you can connect to. In the ‘90s, the ‘80s, you could maybe connect to it more, these people looked like you, they were a bit more like you, and the races were a bit more normal, but now it’s… well, it’s amazing, I think racing nowadays is great. I think Sky have brought so much to cycling. They’ve made everyone step their game up. Because of that, racing’s gone to another level in the past few years.

Personally, I think it's boring because people are wearing helmets and sunglasses. :)

JH: Next year’s Transcontinental! Win it, and then come back and defend it. That’s the next two years. Maybe three, maybe four. As long as it takes!

Pffft, I bet you're already planning something else to go dramatically wrong. :)

My final blog stage:

https://cyclingthere.wordpress.com/2016/09/16/transcontinental-race-2016-part-5a-the-final-hardest-stage-with-heat-dreams-ghosts-and-ferries/

Thoroughly enjoyed your write-up, definitely one of the better ones.

Your last day sounds really crazy

Going again next year?

Thanks. I'd love to do it again, but having told my wife the bit about 'adventure of a lifetime' it will be tough to pull that one again! It depends what's happening with other life things - but I'll certainly miss it a lot if I can't go.
Are you having another shot next year?

Would love to - still some easy time to be gained but cost is a big issue and I should probably look at trying to get some sort of summer internship thing

The hours between waking up from sleep and dawn are always the worst for me.
I too often am totally disorientated. I've got some untellable stories about how nuts I go. It's sad.

Oh and I brush my teeth every morning. Just cycling along. Kind of a ritual. It makes me feel 100 times happier and better. Like I've cleaned my whole body.

I remember you saying when we were out there; it must be tough to feel completely crazy every morning!

It doesn't happen all the time. I worked out its worst if I go to sleep with a lot of caffeine in my system. It happened twice, real bad. It's horrid. But once you've experienced it once, you can deal with it as you know what's happening and can rationalise.

I often get sleep paralysis and stuff at home, so I'm used to odd horrible things.