Transcontinental Race No. 8 - TCR8 - #TCRN08 - 2022

I've got one of the Maxalami ones which is pretty neat and tidy. Not had to use it yet though so the actual repair part may be shit

anchovies

This is for my gravel tyres but what would you use for road?

Mine held on for however long it took me to get from Romania to the finish. Wish I could say the same for my valve extenders. But I always carried Park and Lezyne boots. The Park ones are a bit bigger.

Only work if you're using Stan's sealant I take it. Sound like the solution for big cuts but I wonder if it's worth trying those little anchovies first for smaller stuff? I'm going to be carrying a small bike shop worth of p_ncture repair tools :)

This is for my gravel tyres but what would you use for road?

I've used those for road tyres (25-28mm). Sometimes they hold, but not at high pressure.

Yeah, I'm still not convinced about TL for road tyres. The high pressure seems to render a lot of fixes problematic and the crazy tight tyre beads mean roadside tube insertion or patching are jokes. For low pressure MTB and gravel use then I get it but I'm leaving tubes in the road bike for a while yet.

@Samuli did you have any tyre issues last year? You ran pretty robust 35mm’s right?

IIRC Conti GP Urban (claimed 35mm, come up skinnier though)

Yep, I used GP Urbans, no problems, very comfortable. With tubes.

I'm using fatter tyres than I used to - 28s rather than 25s - and running them at more like 70psi than 100psi so it is probably less of an issue than when I had nightmares in TCR 2016. But it's mostly luck if you get tyre problems. I'd probably not bother with them at 120psi for skinny tyres.

My winter / commuting bike also has 28s (I need to use an extra cable tie to keep the mudguard from rubbing) but I don't bother pumping the tyres up until they are really soft, and it's fine. As long as I don't bump up kerbs!

I've always run 28mm w/ tubes except maybe one Trans Am I ran a 25mm up front and regretted it. I normally start around 90psi and let them go down from there.

People seem to be running TL for TTs though. Maybe it's fine because the short distances means far less risk of a tyre failure and if you do have a failure your race is pretty much over anyway and a sealant fix might even get you around to the HQ. I'll stick with tubes for TTs though.

My winter/commuter has a 35mm front and 42mm rear. I got my gravel tyres inflated on the weekend with the sealant in 'em so it might soon have 47mm f/r :)
Go big or go home, they said...

I'm the same. I used to put air in my old 23s and 25s on the Ribble and they'd be down to like 2-3 bar and I'd notice because I'd have to be real careful hopping the curb at home.
According to TyreWiz I should only be running 46/36psi in my tyres now but I'm not sure about that. I'd don't trust myself with the state of the roads not to run into a random pothole.

cheers, think i'll run these then.

How are most people looking to get to the start? I might see if a friend will take me in the car but not certain at this stage.

Train to Plymouth, ferry to Roscoff, ride to Morlaix, train to Brest

You can also get the train all the way or fly direct if you're of a mind to.

where do you get the train from to get all the way there?

https://www.seat61.com/France.htm has some good info on train routes.

Last year I got a TGV back to Paris then Eurostar to Euston St Pancras Kings Cross Whatever The Fck

What do you have to do to your bike to get it on the Brest TGV?

Give it to @scherrit :)

In the past when I've used TGV I've bagged the bike (proper bag, but you can get cheap, lightweight ones that'll do) but I was going to use a clingfilm wrap like I saw a Dutch guy do - wheels off, seatpost out, wrap everything in cling film and throw it on one of their shelves.

There are limited numbers of bike spaces which you can book beforehand and can then take your bike asis - I did this last year, worth getting on this as soon as bookings open. Did this coming back from Brest last year and also had couple of other TCR riders that just blagged it with the conductor, and we just stacked them on top as they were bagged/boxed up, but YMMV.

Ditto on the park boots not sticking but so far only needed to try them on TL tires. Read/heard somewhere that the innards of TL tires have a different compound that is pro slime, anti stick. Tested it with the gorilla tape and was ok-ish. But maybe the glue on the boots and maybe even the tape is starting to fade? Ended up gluing a big and rather tough tube patch to the inside of the tire. I start to think about carrying flexy plastic bits again.

Something else I came across. The fit on some of these new TL tires with certain rims, is so tight that it goes well past Conti tough and into the realm of nearly impossible to mount unless cool ,calm, collected and in the shop.

I tried to do a Conti 5000 TL (but with a tube) by hand and it took me about half an hour inside with warm hands. It was on that basis I decided these were not a good idea for ultra use in that config.

Presumably that was one that had already been pre-stretched when fitted to a rim by someone else who spent even longer on it...

Thanks, every tgv route is different so good to know.
I did the bin bags and tape thing when I was coming back from Austria after I dnfd last summer. Was ok, but did scratch my leg on chainring a couple of times

GP5000 TL were a pain in the arse but nothing compared to Challenge Strade Bianche. Even stretched those bastards don't go on easily.