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

OK - not sure where you found the bonus 5,500m! I did spend ages on my route though, shaving off a few metres here and there, so maybe it was lots of small things.

I found the traffic volumes vary more by time of day there - in the evening / morning there was very little on the main roads but I hit the one that goes over the Danube near Smederevo around mid-afternoon and it was truck after truck. 4 would go past me in a row and my speed went up from maybe 24km/h to 30+.

I might have said it before but that bit made me think I was in Australia again (not the bit most people know but the bit you see on Indypac) - sun, trucks skimming past, small country towns with low-rise buildings laid out in grid patterns and the smell of rotting animal from road-kill.

My shoes / pedals were great. Ended up using Innov-8 trail runners. Ideally I'd have had something a bit stiffer, but couldn't find anything in time so went with them as they are really comfortable and lightweight / breathable for hot weather. Most flat pedal MTB shoes like 5-10s are massively overbuilt and hot for summer riding.

Obviously pushing the bike up CP2, and running round shops was easier, but the main thing is that I had none of the niggles with knees, ankles and achilles that I have had on long rides before. I did have sore heels on about day 4, but slightly changing my position took the pressure off them and they were fine on my last day. For a change, at one point I switched from pedalling midfoot to using my soles for an hour. Just shuffled back in the saddle a bit and it was fine, no cleat adjustment required! I don't think I'll use cleats again, other than for racing.