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

Every year. Then I go out and barely ride other than my commute...

this

Every year. Then I have less than 8 hours sleep and feel fucked the next day

Also this

If you want to have a go at this sort of riding, take up audax and build up to the longer rides.

Absolutely this. A lot of the people doing TCR are familiar names from Audax, it's the perfect training framework for this kind of riding as you can use the support at controls to begin with and slowly ween yourself off that and be entirely self-sufficient.

Agree completely.

Some people, such as skinny, Mike Hall, came from different backgrounds (road racing, long distance mountain biking), so it's not the only way, but for the typical UK rider wanting to do it, I agree, Audax would be the best starting point. The UK audax scene is far superior to that anywhere else, even in France

I'm at the bottom of the CP3 parcours. My neck hasn't been great for the last few days but now, it's gotten to the stage where I can no longer look up properly and am a danger to myself and other road users. Haven't been able to get onto the drops or extensions for the last few days either. Have found myself wobbling onto the verge and into the middle of the road a few times. I'm gutted as everything else is OK. Going to have a rest here, head up with my head down to the checkpoint after a rest to scratch. Feel like a massive failure.

every year. Then I go out and have my ass handed to me by the south downs way

no failure at all dude. CP3 is a massive achievement. has been truly awesome watching your progress. safety has to come first.

rest up and roll safely to the checkpoint dude.

rest up, and see how you feel afterwards, things may feel better after some sleep.

Make your decision once you have rested and eaten , I think it was Mike who said never scratch at night .

Have a long stop and good sleep then make a decision, not before.

There is also no failure in taking something like this on, everyone on the start line is a winner imo, even if you do scratch I bet you've had an epic adventure.

What the other guys have said, plus - even the very best have had the same issue with their necks, as Skinny will attest.

Absolutely not a failure if you've given it your best shot but can't safely continue. Even skinny had to give up first time!
Making good decisions is part of it. No shame in scratching when you feel you have to.

No failure at all, but a massive achievement. Have a rest and see how it feels, but don't beat yourself up over something you have no control over at this point. Be safe.

Just catching up after a weekend away.

Looks like @hippy and Stephane Ouaja have both scratched in the last hour?

Oh, and you're an absolute hero @7ven keep going if you can do safely!

@hippy was tweeting 32 mins ago. Didn’t mention scratching - was operating on his arse.

His tracker has been playing up.

Looks like @hippy and Stephane Ouaja have both scratched in the last hour?

Seems to be an error

Think @hippy tracker battery has gone, not scratched.

ie the only scratching Hippy will be doing is his arse

OK cool.

Maybe the same issue for @MisterTomTom last update was seven minutes ago and also showing as scratched? Fingers crossed anyway!

But planning and particularly planning to avoid difficulties is what will always win this race and skinny has shown that he is now, following the experience of his first two attempts, a real master of this. Björn’sdifficulties are awful to watch but skinny’s success is no accident.

For my own curiosity (and procrastination) I looked up Bjorn's route on strava heatmaps.

His road is the thin white line from the top left and the other thin line from the bottom right. In between the road turns black - ie virtually no-one has ridden it! If Bjorn had checked this, he wouldn't have used this road. Skinny would have checked this.

Bjorn turned back at pretty much the point where the white line from the top turns black

been burned by heatmaps not being able to differentiate between mtb and road in the past though!

Kudos to Skinny. This is part of the race, just as the endurance, mental resilience and kit choices are.

Sure, can give false positive but, if not even mountain bikers are doing it, that has got to tell you something!

I'm at the bottom of the CP3 parcours.

Massive achievement!