Transcontinental Race No. 6 - TCR6 - #TCRN06 - 2018

They finished before it was cool.

54t on a Brompton is pretty slow due to the wheelsize. You'd need at least 75×11 to keep up with the #gravelbros who cruise at a casual 65kph/120 RPM

You're not allowed to lead a #gravelbro wolfpack in the tcr anyway

The answer looks like yes. James nearly on CP4. Bjorn going well too.

Think he is there and got his stamp and already having fun up the climb #beast

wow.

Free route is listing @skinny as finished despite him still being at CP4 . It’s annoying because it removes him from the main map with everyone else on.

Tick the menu drop down "show finished riders"

Skinny is flying.
And the last stage has quite a lot of reasonably quick roads on it.

He'll sleep somewhere tonight. Depending on how he's feeling, he might ride through on Monday night to close it out. If he finishes before midday UK time on Tuesday he will have beaten Kristof's time from 2016. That would be a massive achievement (Kristof did it quicker in earlier tcrs but they were acknowledged to be easier so the 2016 time of 8d 15h is the unofficial record). Obviously it's a different course and conditions but km per day and total time still means a lot.

A lot could still happen in the final stage, mechanicals, he could tire, etc. But to have Kristof's time in range at this stage is already a great achievement!

Not sure how accurate it is, but freeroute reckons that the top four finishers in 2016 all did around 80-85000m climbing. Whereas this year it'll "only" be 45000ish. Was it really that much hillier?

I feel like a pregnant lady with all these moodswings. Was planning on cp3 tonight but my body just said no. I'm exhausted. I just can't seem to get a proper ride, eat and sleep balance. I know it's important but I just fuck it up.
Anyway, change of plan. Instead of going around the mountain and up I booked a room in Spindleruv. Inside now and not coming out before 7 tomorrow. That's long but my body and mind need a reset for the second week. Going up and down the parcours tomorrow as many did before me, so no going around.

Also changing focus to finisher party instead of 14 days finishtime.

Sounds like you’re making sound decisions despite the mood swings. That seems half the battle to getting through it.

Good call.

Rest up today then ride steady tomorrow morning and feel your strength come back through the day.

Big rest and feed will do a world of good, keep it up!

You're doing amazing, everyone who gets that far is a winner and really inspiring.
Rest well and take care!

That would be amazing if he does that, but I rather him just finish safe and sound. This heat this year is pretty much dropping a lot of riders like flies atm.

Next year we put Skinny on a Brompton, level the pack.

Keep going @MisterTomTom you are doing really good.

Go, Tom! A proper rest is a good idea. Not everybody can be skinny. I could only dream of turning up in time for the finishers' party, let alone doing this in 14 days. It's your first time, so don't beat yourself up. It's great you're still committed to finishing. Learn the lessons and come back even stronger next year.

No. I did about 50,000m of climbing in 2016
This year is similar to 2016.

Good decision, Tom. Time resting is not time wasted!

I agree it's better as a spectacle to have a close race, but it never happens that way! And in a way that's a good thing.

Well, I don't mean, on a 4,000km race, people chasing each other along the same road only a couple of kilometres apart. In that type of race, 'close' means within a couple of dozen kilometres so that the lead can change again with a long rest, etc.

The chances of two or more riders being equally matched, with no drafting, after 7 or 8 days is very small.
And if they were close, the pressure to ride themselves into the ground to get an edge would keep building. So, as a rider, I'm kind of pleased that it's not close at the front now so that there isn't too much extra pressure on them. The later stages of these races are weird as a drug trip and highly emotional already!

I would worry about this if it were a professional sport, but then, as in boxing, there would probably be people in the athletes' 'corners' who would intervene in case there was evidence that someone couldn't continue. I'm not worried about that in amateurs.

@pacef8:

One is reminded of mikes close ride in Australia near the end of the race . The turn off the route to get a rest that became one of his last.

I'm not sure what you mean with the reference to Mike?

Also changing focus to finisher party instead of 14 days finishtime.

This is totally the right target :D

Fair, those numbers were slightly surprising to me.

Next year we put Skinny on a bike with no tyres or chain to level the pack.

Fixed.

Make him do it fixed.