Transcontinental Race No. 5 - TCR5 - #TCRN05 - 2017

Said she felt unsafe, could feel fatigue from the continuous heat building and the beginning of shermers neck and given the ongoing close passes no longer felt safe

Currently looks like @skinny has an approximate 100 km lead.

With less than 600km to go and 24 hours to do it in for a new record I think.

Doable if he doesn't sleep...

Just looked at Skinny's and Bjorn's history's . Skinny crossed Danube at 6.00 CET and Bjorn at 11.00. Skinny has had a quick stop (or two) (via Twitter) due to the heat so gap probably a bit less. Going to be another seriously hot day for everyone.

That heat would kill me even if I was laying around in a hammock. How the hell can people race bikes with no sleep and minimal stops in it?

@hippy just drink those diversion blues away. Tcrn05 contender but beer drinking guaranteed winnner.

Epic ride @skinny

You are asking similar questions to me, what they are doing is incredible, the fact Skinny is making it look like a cycle to the shops is something else.

With less than 600km to go and 24 hours to do it in for a new record I think.

Doable if he doesn't sleep...

Kristof did the first one, to Istanbul in 7.5 days. Generally considered to be an easier route. His second one was also under 8 days, despite a significant double-back

Bjorn is definitely keeping Skinny honest mind, he's having a stunning ride as well.

Riding along the flat in that heat is just about bearable. When you climb even a little bit it gets seriously unpleasant.
Last year we were lucky and had mostly mild weather. This year looks like it is staying hot for longer. If it stays like this I expect a lot more DNFs.

I've ridden 1 day in the Alps for 180k when temps were touching 35-40 c at base of Alp D'Huez and that was bad enough. Don't mind riding for hours but not sure I'd cope in those temps day after day along with little sleep. Big👍💪 to everyone

Oh.

Where did I read 8d15h then?

the heat was/is insane. Every part of you is wet with sweat and you have to be drinking constantly just to stop from become dehydrated. Then the salt crusts start forming which creates unpleasant rashes. Really, really unpleasant. Drinking water from your bottles is like drinking from a hot bath.

Who was it that had 6 liters or something water capacity last year?
I just hope everyone has enough to drink.

Last year?

That'll be it.

Speaking of heat:

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Yes, easy to forget Bjorn when skinny is the focus now. He's been strong, last time I checked he hadn't faded as some understandably thought he might.

I could be wrong but I think that was our own @bananaskid

@skinny has stopped at his famous resting ground...the petrol station. Don't blame him tbh, if that's the heat they're riding in today I would rest as much as I can during the day and focus on the riding at night instead.

This year Southern Europe is undergoing an unprecedented heatwave.

While post Brexit Britain shivers in shame.

Different meteological challenges for LEL and TCR. Cold and damp and hypothermia v heat exhaustion and dehydration.

I would imagine that melting roads is yet another issue.

Insane weather really. Hope everybody stays safe riding in the night

Looking at his performance so far, my estimate is that skinny will finish around 7pm London time tomorrow.

This is based on him maintaining his usual sleep pattern. If he decides to go for broke he may finish a little earlier (or possibly a little later.

Mind you, what we might see is him resting more this afternoon and riding more in hours of darkness.

In danger of slagging folks off here, but I'm used to TCR being a bit of an inclusive, friendly, love-in and I think that's a reflection of the organisers and the participants in general. Which is why I found Mr To's attitude at the start of that video somewhat jarring and that post (yes, influenced by fatigue etc) a bit of a confirmation. And compare it with everything else we're seeing, just seems a bit not in the spirit.

This sounds like a "dear BBC" letter, but I'm trying really hard not to be overly bitey.