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

Not allowed i think?

@hippy and @skinny on a tandem with @skinny being driven constantly forward in a desperate and vain attempt to escape @hippy 's moaning about The Gooch. Finish in 5 days.

Easily solved in future editions if they wanted to.

Whether they want to allow a tandem category is another thing.

My guess is that they'd predict too high a scratch rate for tandems (requires both riders not to scratch, harder to source parts for tandems, etc) and so if places are limited then best to give them to singles/pairs.

Nah no tandems. Unless your disabled and that's the only way you can do it. Exceptions are allowed.

Chapeau Anisa, some seriously tough folk out there.

Interested as to why you're specifically against them? Could you elaborate please?

I just stated the rules not my opinion.

That tandems are banned, unless you've a medical reason and have need. You're then an exception.

I think it's right though because it keeps the race on classic bicycles. If you start to allow tandems, then people will want recumbents, then windcheetas.

If you don't like it, just Tour the route yourself.

It's a race and them the rules. :)

Think what YOU could do with a velomobile.

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Would be mad fun to ride a velomobile in 44°C heat, eh?

Ultimate UV protection.
NACA ducts FTVentilation.
More visibility and crumple zones.
Accessible cargo without aero impact.
Could sleep in it.

All very well but would it silence hippy's moaning?

Tina, Josie and Hector have all followed Wiesia and reached CP4. Goran is 22 km away.

Daragh, 119 km away, will probably get there tomorrow and David either tomorrow or the next day. He hasn't covered so much ground today and is still 245 km shy of CP4.

The opposite of carrot on a stick :)

Breakdown on the side of the road like all the ones in PBP?

Hammock for a seat? I'm in!

I guess David Coulon has just got wifi access somewhere. Lots of new stuff from him on twitter.

NACA ducts FTVentilation.
More visibility etc...

You serious? Ever used one?

Cock-pit springs to mind..

Even found the time to reply to my comment on his horrible tweet... A lot of tweets in French on safety of ridders during endurance races...

Struggle to decipher his tweets, maybe he's had some long days in the saddle and translating them confuses things further.

Maaad late to the party, but proper job @hippy mega effort!

Edit: Not THAT party, this party. That is, me, being late to this party. Yeah...

OK, so yesterday five of the seven passed through CP4. There are a further 13 riders still on the road; eight of these should finish today or tomorrow and the remaining five the day after.

#165 Josie Jones leads the bunch with 844 km to go. She rode a massive 241 km yesterday in 13 hours. She is up to 149th place overall but could climb another nine places due to scratched riders.

#53 Wiesia is only 2 km in arrears. 200 km yesterday in 13.7 hours of riding. She and Josie appear to be taking the same slightly westerly route.

#224 Tina Nestoroska is only 6 km behind but taking a more easterly route. 181 km yesterday in 12.9 hours.

#174 Hector Outeiral Nunez is right on Tina's heels also on the easterly course. 189 km in 12.4 hours yesterday.

#200 Goran Arsovski is around 30 km back with 881 to go to the finish. A massive 237 km yesterday in 14.5 hours.

#188 Daragh Browne did 197 km yesterday in 10 hours. He is 46 km away from CP4 and 114 km behind Goran.

Finally #130 David Coulon is another 140 km back with 1138 km to go. He had a quiet day yesterday with only 71 km in 6 hours of riding.

There is only 40 km between the front five. Goran, currently the last placed of these has led before and is capable of very big days in the saddle. I could see any one of these putting in major thrusts over the next couple of days. The race is open between them. I would expect them to finish next Monday or Tuesday. Behind then, although both riders are capable of big days, I fear the gap has increased too much for it to be bridgebale in the time remaining. Five or six days more riding beckons. I do hope that some of the earlier arrivals are able to hang around and cheer the lanterne rouge over the line.

A request to that nice VB and hippy.

Please keep this thread on the home page not just until Wiesia finishes but for a couple of days longer until the race is completed. Thank you.

Well that was fun.

Was the first finisher on Sunday morning so after my goal of the finisher's party, but I made it to the end with a full brevet card.

Was more or less on track of getting to the party, but had a few bad days in the sun (curled up in ball in a Serbian petrol station was not ideal) and I got bitten by a dog as I crossed into Greece, so that required a hospital trip for jabs and stitches.

Overall i'm pleased, I could have gone into it fitter and lighter, which would have made things easier. My route was generally OK, although it tended to be on quieter roads, so while my total mileage seemed to be on par with others, it was definitely slower, albeit safer and less stressful. That being said, I had half a day in Romania on mountain bike tracks which got my bike so muddy I had to find a hose before the brake pads ate themselves up.

Learnt so much it would be a shame for that learning to go waste so will definately give it another go, but not next year. There are other, shorter things I'd like to do, and I'd like to volunteer and give others the opportunity to ride.

Great ride @skinny - your tweet about putting on your beast mode playlist made me laugh, as that was when i was putting on my 'I want this all to end and go home' playlist.