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

Adventures with Neil

Well I wasn't going to post anything till CP4 as I thought yesterday was going to be a good day. However, after getting anew phone in Austria I decided to put a cycle routing app on it to aid my navigation as after my Garmin packed in I only used paper maps with Google maps when I required percific turn info when I got difficult. Unfortunately I had realised that the very same app I put on my new phone only happened to be the very same one Jonah Jones uses FFS!!!!!! I had previously avoid an assault course of barriers as I used my intuition and avoid Jonah's mistake but yesterday the navigation got me right up shite creek! When a perfectly ridable bike path turns into an unstable unrideable sandy track deep into a forest used for hunting that took hours to get through. Thank god yesterday I slept at that bus shelter as I would have faced that at 3am in total darkness. I was hoping to be riding straight through Croatia last night but a combination of a bike caked in fine sand and having contact lens problems last night meaning I couldn't see where I was riding and the final straw was loss of all battery power on all devices. The worst bus shelter I ever stayed at plus getting woken up by the local law enforcement officers means an intestinal 24hrs. Having no budget for a Dyno setup this year means carrying battery packs that need charging. Unfortunately my choice of accomodation does not provide charging points so it's a combination of McDonalds, petrol stations and cafes to charge my devices up. Luckily I've found a great cafe this morning to provide such a service and where has this breakfast been all my TCR!!!!

Crazy how different the race is for some people. :)

Ah that explains his movement or lack of it. He rode through Hungary yesterday and then came to a halt in the border town of Barcs. He has meandered throughout the town but for some reason not visited the Drava museum which, I must say, would be high on my list of priorities should I ever go there.

Barcs is a town that can trace its history back to 1389. In 1565 there were 46 houses there. It has grown a little. It was attacked in 1848 by Josip Jelacic Ban of Croatia and occupied for a few months.

The Drava museum was founded in 1979 and displays the cultural and historical heritage of the people of Inner Somogy and the River Drava.

Katalin Szill, Speaker of Hungary's National Assembly 2002-9 lives there.

It seems that it might also have a McDonalds.

"percific"

my short Story
#tcrno6, #tcrno6cap85
Lucky to finish after 14 hard racedays today, 13.08. at 1 a.m.. Went from Belgium, Luxemburg, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Czech, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia to the Montenegrien Border, where the border controll told me, i am not allowed to enter their country. My passport was expired and i should go back to Zagreb and make a new passport , then I can come back. After some discussing and waiting I suggesteded to go to Podgorica on my way and make a new passport there. The border controll personell shouted, if I want them to be criminal when they let me travel in. After an hour my desperation made them mercy and one guy showed with his finger to my bike and the border, told me that my way has to go directly to the Austrian embassy in Podgorica to get a valid passport. Though I entered Montenegro . Next day in the morning I arrived in Podgorica, was happy to get soon 2 passportpictures and waited with them at the Austrian embassy. It was saturday, all closed, but someone of the emergency service will come soon to make my new passport. The woman came late with the excusion, that she wanted to do here shopping bevor its going to be too hot. I continued my race with the new white passport.

People racing with an expired passport...

A very worthy cause and deserving of a few quid.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/mikehall2018

Yeh too right.

Yeah, that's my understanding too, having spoken to several riders on that subject, i.e. what I consider to be normal riding conditions with little risk, most of them consider it to be very stressful lucky-to-be-alive type of experience. Apparently someone got pushed off the road 20 times in 200-ish km's here - I find that really hard to percieve as it has happened to me perhaps a handful of times in 20 years of cycling on the same roads... (touch wood, LOL)

Definitely. And the next best Hall to crowdfund apparently, is listed just below.

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Yesterday, setting off at around 2pm local time, Neil Matthews struck out and crossed the whole of Croatia and made good progress into Bosnia, ending his ride at about 6 am local time.

He is now perhaps a day or at most two, from CP4. His daily distance appears to be around double his earlier average.

Nice moody and black and white picture of the border crossing into Bosnia on the ‘Gram.

I've put Anna in contact with IndyPac riders who live in Canberra and someone who knows the widow of a guy who was killed on an audax in Australia and who went through an inquest. I know from other friends who have done inquests abroad it can be a tough process. Good that she's going and also that she has had strong support from the community.

what I consider to be normal riding conditions with little risk, most of them consider it to be very stressful lucky-to-be-alive type of experience

That's right, it's relative to what you are used to and also you learn how to best handle your own local conditions.

Here in London we have to put up with ignorant Tour de France winners who misread the challenges we face getting to work every day:
"I've never ridden a bike in London, apart from in a race ... I've watched from a taxi and it does seem a bit crazy."

Good work.

The appeal has been really well supported but I think they may have underestimated the amount needed for legal representation. The more the better.

Neil is currently sleeping in a bus stop in Banja Luka, Bosnia's second largest city.

Thank you for posting this. Just donated

Funnily enough, I accidentally caught up with Neil earlier today!

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Later on I went out on a quick ride and caught up with him again! :-)

Here's a quick rolling video interview we made just South from Banja Luka:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Transcontinental.en/permalink/2024728324244499/

Excellent. Thank you so much for that and for passing our good wishes on to him.

Wow, his bike looks heavy. The CP4 parcours will be a huge challenge.

That road is so beautiful.

Yes, it is heavy (I had lifted it on our first meet).

P.S. For those that have been wondering - he's self-employed.

Neil rode from 5 pm to just after 1 am and is now kipping in Jajce. Still 100 km or so to CP4.

Nice one cybernck.

Big overnight ride by Neil puts him within striking distance of CP4. It will be interesting to see how he tackles it. Not sure if riding up it (or pushing a heavily laden bike up it) in darkness is such a good idea. Hope he gets to the CP before resting up.

Today is Day 35.

Popped into the rapha store yesterday and saw this masterpiece:

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Blimey. He’s not merely reached CP4 but climbed the parcours and is now descending.

He reached CP4, rested for three and a half hours and then hit it. Impressive. I have the feeling that he could finish within a week.

As it is now a week since Lionel got to the end, it would be good.