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

Yes. Although such situations are only really likely to arise where there is no pavement and walking wouldn’t be any safer than riding. It’s a little unclear if you can ride an illegal road if it’s no longer of the classification that makes it illegal. I stumbled across an incomplete motorway which I was told by a worker I could cycle on. Best course is take your best judged course of action and document it.

That was 12 weeks ago though so surely someone from TCR would have spotted it and dealt with it by now if it was the case.

They will be going through everyone's routes now to check for infringements. Only when they have done that do the official results come out.

As you say, nothing wrong with riding on N roads but, if you see the blue 'cars only' sign, you have to get off the road. I saw two that I wasn't expecting in Serbia and re-routed, but I also saw another rider bowl through one of them.

Well spotted.
Here is the facebook thread, translated to English. Looks like it is roads near Roanne and somewhere in Switzerland.

To stick within the rules you can't go on what locals tell you - even the police. In 2016 @Swissy was penalised for using a motorway in Macedonia that the police told him he could use. IMHO he didn't get a big enough penalty as he missed the slow, gravel road and saved a night, so went from being level with me to finishing about 12 hours earlier! ;)

I guess in that situation, if the road has been officially downgraded and the motorway signs have gone, but the maps haven't yet been updated, it would be ok.

The bit in Southern Serbia was a mess

Tricky one though. If the Police say you can ride on it and it’s not specifically listed as banned, then in brings its classification in to dispute I’d think.

Just had a look at her track on Trackleaders and she has definitely used a section of banned road for 1o km or so south of Roanne. There are two track points clearly on it.
She may or may not have done for the previous 20km or so. There it is not conclusive as her track points are where the banned road is close to another legal road.
I expect there will be some discussions, and Rory might be applying to be her friend on Strava to have a closer look!

No, it's been talked about lots before. They have to have clear rules so that people know what is legal and what isn't.
If they went on what locals said on the ground it would give an unfair advantage to people who knew the local ways and would make it impossible to enforce rules - as Rory would have to track down local police when there was a dispute and it clearly isn't practical to do that!

Ha! her Strava is open.
Credit to her for not trying to hide anything, but she has done about 25km of banned road leading up to Roanne. I've streetviewed a couple of roundabouts and there are 'car only' signs.
Maybe a 2 hour penalty? That wouldn't affect the result - unless she did something worse in Switzerland, of course.

What was her margin?

This is why I've maintained you need to be first by a solid margin, in case something happens. Non of us are perfect and at night, when tired mistakes can easily be made.

A documented Police statement in my opinion should take precedent over map(s), given that there are multiple sources. Southern Serbia proved maps aren’t always up to date or reflective of what’s on the ground.

Looks like she had over 10 hours so shouldn't be a problem unless she has been really naughty

https://www.transcontinental.cc/report/tag/French+Alps

Would you ask the traffic policeman waving you onto the motorway for a signed statement?

Sure, if you can get that, you might get forgiven a bit of motorway riding, but I'd be surprised if anyone has ever asked!

Haha why not!? Simpler, I just asked a workman to be videoed...After it was suggested I leave the minor road I was on that was full of plant traffic for the building of the new and empty motorway.
As it happened I decided against the motorway for other reasons.

The tunnel I photographed.

I grassed on people riding a banned road in Serbia while I was pushing my bike through a gravel quagmire. Fuck 'em. Rules is rules. I also dobbed myself in last year when I blasted a tunnel having forgot all about it being banned. To be fair the roads were empty and the detour was actually less safe but rules is rules. Fuck me. Hmm.

Mike was furious about people blatantly using banned roads to gain an advantage. I always re-routed if I ever thought I would be heading onto a no bikes road, no matter how much the rerouting sucked at the time. I always wanted a 'clean' ride because that's what he wanted from us.

If you're talking about the same road I'm thinking of, which was an issue in 2017 race as well, then that road had clear car-only signs on it and it doesn't matter what the map says.

EDIT: The A1 and the old A1. North of Vranje.

A policeman telling you to do something has legal standing and takes precedence over roadsigns, but a random guy in a hard hat does not!

Debating whether I should grass on Fiona to Rory. I expect he probably knows about it already, assuming her dot watcher was competent, but it should get looked into.

One of my blue signs was about 40km North of vranje. It was downhill and annoying to stop, but at least I felt good while I was going along the gravel track parallel to the near-empty Road at 8pm.

The other one was on the osijeck bypass in Croatia. I routed that way because I saw others like kristof and josh ibbet had used it on past tcrs. But the road might have been upgraded since then, and I had to reroute back through the town. Wasn't the worst result for me as there was a headwind on the bypass so it wasnt very quick.

Riding this bollocks while others zoomed by up on the (still banned) old A1...

Ultimately the race organisers decision is final. You need to make your judgements with that in mind.
The issue is no two situations will be the same. I’d agree a policeman has legal standing but ignoring a worker with a sign would also be breaking a local l/ temporary law (who knows how enforceable that might be) so clearly there are shades of grey.
For me Safety, Law, TCR rules would be the order of operations for decision making.

Might have benefited from my half day in Serbia, it did run out mind...
I also disturbed a tiny dog and her puppies on a road/ gravel track that turned sort of in to an unoccupied carpark at one point in southern Serbia

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Well the TCR rules state safety is paramount and you have to follow local laws + they ban their own stuff which takes precedence over whether roads are legal or not so it's more like

1. TCR rules
   
2. TCR rules
   
3. TCR rules
   
   

:P

Dunno what that is but it doesn't look like the old A1