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

The #250s are passing through a village suitably named Chapeau.

250a’s tracker is not working and so assume they are when 250b’s tracker is.

You can be forgiven for the thought, because you don't know us, but Matt is fully guilty of knowing the horror he's proposing to invoke, and needs to go on the naughty step.

I’ve ridden with Oliver. I know how it would end up. One of us would be buried somewhere beside some far off road, probably on the second day.

I was just going to say, I'm sure we'd get on like a house on fire. :)

Is anyone actually still in Brest to welcome them?

Here is the proof.

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and needs to go on the naughty step.

Noted

Damjan resting up before starting the parcours. The 250s sleeping but making good progress each day. They are riding around 150km a day. That’s 150 km a day having been riding every day for the past 23.

Switzerland, the French alps this year were beautiful, Italy has sketchier driving but is cheaper and great for food, the hillier parts of Serbia I did last year or the year before were great. It kinda depends on what we were able to do - a longer time period I might go for cheaper countries whereas if it's only a week or so I'd probably hit the big rewards, ie. big French/Swiss mountains.

Every country has good and bad bits but the big bang for buck stuff is also the more expensive. There's some amazing scenery in Montenegro - Pluzine/Durmitor for example that I'd totally hit again:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=durmitor&t=ffab&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=pluzine&t=ffab&iax=images&ia=images

Any of the control points are worth exploring more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcontinental_Race

May I suggest Bosnia for cheap and cheerful ultraracing experience? :)

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/327229/

The Climb after CP4 to Villard Notre Damme - Ornon, for me was a real highlight, I hit it at sunset after a below average day and it put things in to perspective nicely.
It also seemed bizarre at the time how many more times Alp d'huez has probably been ridden in comparison.

Not seen that race before.

Crossed Bosnia in my first TCR and there was also the epicly sweary CP5 last year (Bjelašnica)
https://thehippy.net/blog/transcontinental-race-tcrno4-part-5/

I really should try and write more about these races as an aid to my shocking memory but it's hard to process two weeks of 'stuff' and afterwards I just don't want to relive it via my twitter feed.

Yeah, same. Loved that shelf road thing once you cleared the climb. I've ridden AdH multiple times from both sides but didn't even know it had a gravel approach. There was some kind of sportive going on when I was dropping down the hairpins.

Imho B-Hard could have been better than what I actually saw from the people that raced it. I toured Bosnia a bit, and it has far more to offer than that. Mostly offroad though.

But I agree there is potential for something merging Hard CRO, B-Hard, the bits around the TCR chekpoints (minus Bjelašnica) and All the national parks in Montenegro/Albania.

@hippy maybe it's time you come up with a route/race!

@hippy maybe it's time you come up with a route/race!

LOL I can barely navigate my way around the routes other people make.

I'm very unlikely to come up with an original route given I ride everyone else's.

Maybe a New Oxford Street expedition though... hmm... not even sure it's possible without carrying extra oxygen and enlisting the help of sherpas for the kit required.

Happy to do the route then.. I usually come up with the most stupid one!

And then there were two.

Damjan has finished leaving only the 250s on the road. They are half way across France. 450 km according to Trackleaders. Possibly Wednesday. Probably Thursday.

They are amazing!
Probably more like 500km I guess, what are they averaging now a day?

It seems to be around 150km

heehee x

Is that an ice cream cone? if yes, what did you consume first? the ice cream or the beer? and how did that go down the tubes?

in my experience those two together are a no go. would not do again.

from https://www.dotwatcher.cc/post/7rCM8b5EetgmXfevXxr7mL

"TCRNo7 winner Fiona Kolbinger is currently on the road after stamping in at the Loudeac checkpoint around an hour ago. She rode from Brest (the finish of this year's TCR) to the start-line of PBP, and joked that she was riding her own BBPBP (Burgas, Brest, Paris, Brest, Paris)"

Coolest ever!

Missing a trick. Vanilla icecream and stout floats are a win

Yes. Beer first. No problemo. After two/three days I can eat anything at any time.

That I haven't tried. Does the beer react like cola does?

FYI
https://srmr2019.maprogress.com/

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