Transcontinental Race No. 7 - TCR7 - #TCRN07 - 2019

Hippy on a smart route now, he's going very well this year it seems.

The other valleys were probably too narrow.

He's pure energy at this point:

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I feel a vicarious boost just from looking at this picture.

Really?
This guy on Facebook put it quite nicely.

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It's the "Look at Kevin, he's really good at maths" vs "Look at patsy, she's really cute in her pink dress" problem.

She's reached control 3. That parcours would have killed me.

Ben Davies still seems to be riding strongly, but I thought he said he had saddle sores? Or were they just general gooch problems that can be overcome?

If she's a good climber, she must be in her element.

I've also just bumped the 'Half the road' thread. I initially started it to be about the drive for equality in men and women's road racing, but it soon morphed into a discussion of physiological differences between men and women.

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/324363/

I have long wondered whether, if they exploited their physical potential more, women might not tend to be better endurance athletes than men. Obviously, like many men, many women are not natural endurance athletes, just like some men are not very strong while some women are. I'm not just wondering about top-end potential, although rides like Fiona's are a great demonstration of that, but whether women might not have comparatively better endurance than a direct male counterpart, e.g. a male twin, who would probably be larger and stronger.

On purely anecdotal speculative evidence... I felt extremely fit coming into the race, during the day I'm not sure how I could have stopped much less, and Ben, Fiona and my sleeps felt largely dictated by lightening storms. We were all pretty much riding at the same pace. I think the 'speed' at which you are able to ride in these races is probably dictated by a combination of fitness, preparation, luck and mental resolve. I have no clues on fitness but the other 3 of those things are not related to sex. Whatever combination she has, it's working well.

Fiona probably resting at Checkpoint 3 for a good hour now

Seconded.

Getting hilly.

Sorry @rj but was good knowing you were hammering out front for a while.

On the puerile sexist shite stuff, I hope that men's nervousness that women could be such good endurance riders will only keep increasing over the years. :)

Getting hilly.

HTFU, you're only in the Alps, I mean it's not as if you're climbing real hills like Canonbie Road.

agreed, I think its brilliant, perspectives and stereotypes need to change

On the move again, she has confounded my expectations by heading west. Obviously I haven't spent any time planning a route but I was anticipating her going back down to Landeck and then up the Inn valley and the Engadin towards Como.

really looking forward to see how the riders plan there routes after cp3.

ffs

+1

cracking race so far.

Yes, could be interesting if FK goes more north and then some stick in Italy to what looks like a shorter direct line. Not sure if that's possible or if there is an obvious route lots will follow, would guess you have to get out of the mountains?

Free cake!

https://twitter.com/ustariaposta/status/1156913621286445057

Hippy to thread.

A rough and ready attempt at routing shows around 30km further, but 1500m less ascent going north of Lake Geneva vs. past Lake Como.

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i think you can stay in the mountains, but that would be super brutal, much more likely that they will choose a way around