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

Yes. Some random first thoughts.

I can sort of understand why they have done it this way but I'm not sure their thinking is right - it's not guaranteed that Schengen borders are more likely to be open than those in Eastern Europe.

There's a lot of France. France is great but it's not an adventure.

I've not ridden in Italy below the Po Valley so that is more interesting.

Riding across Greece is kind of interesting. But lack of Balkans means it's not really a proper TCR IMHO.

I'm pleased not to have to do that long, rough descent in Romania, and deal with Romanian drivers altogether. But Italians are pretty bad for close passes.

A big ferry that near the end kind of spoils the race element. I did that ferry the other way when I was a student - took about 20 hours.

And the start in France is clearly not a good idea - groups of 2o staggered at 30 min intervals - so if there are 240 the last group would be 6 hours behind the first. A TT-style start with 1 minute intervals would be better from a distancing point of view and only take 4 hours.

I'll need to have a think about what to do.

What does every one else think?