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Interesting point, how does it feel different from TCR where the pairs can draft? I guess they’re in a different classification and are restricted to their original pairings. It definitely reduces the psychological aspect of the event, being able to ride with others. When we caught up with Bruno at a petrol station, he actually hung around waiting for us so he could he have some company. At the finish, those who finished solo in front didn’t seem to resent people riding together - I think they knew that they were still travelling faster solo anyway.
It’s definitely a much much less competitive event than the TCR, having talked to people doing it who have ridden TCR before. It’s deliberately billed as not being a race, though there’s still a fair few trying to put in a good time. I think there were also fewer people ‘racing’ it than last year, given the larger spread of finishing times this year.
I wouldn’t recommend it as a back-up for TCR if you’re after something really competitive, it’s more of an alternative to it. I went into it with a schedule I wanted to achieve for my first ultra-distance event, then found that I could do more miles in the second week than I’d expected. Riding with others definitely helped this as someone new to it. Also watching the dots when you’re in the moment is pretty good motivation.
As an event in itself, the main plus point was the route - Sweden and Norway were spectacular, and the fixed track was pretty well done. Main downside is the poor organisation/ crap trackers they used this year. I think the concept is great, but they reeeally need to sort out the little things (for example, they had listed a bunch of bike shops near the airport at the finish so people could find boxes, but didn’t actually contact said bike shops to let them know the event was happening).
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It's a bit misleading when they put "unsupported" in the title but allow drafting.
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Yes, TCR pairs are in a separate event. I challenged two guys riding toghether this year to check they were a pair!
Also, a pair is are not likely to be as fast as an equally-strong solo over the TCR as they have to wait for each other when one is tired, etc, which seems to offset their drafting and company advantage in practice. But solos forming unofficial alliances, then breaking them when they have served their purpose will always be faster.
NC4000 sounds more like PBP, or audax in general, where riding with lots of others is a big part of the event and completely within the rules and the spirit.
Some people on TCR are not that fussed about the race aspect, riding it as a personal challenge to get to the finish. But it is important for me - I raced as hard as I could for 31st place last time, and was hoping to do so again this time. I get a lot of my satisfaction from beating guys who are basically faster riders but can't quite put it all together so well - from planning the best route to not wasting time at stops. If the other guys are not racing back, all that feels a bit hollow, so I wouldn't feel good about it.
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Yes, it did feel a bit like a long audax. They should make that more obvious on their website, rather than blathering on about the ‘spirit of adventure’ for pages and pages.
The ferry at the halfway point basically split the field into people who were and people who were not racing it - it only ran once a day, so making the Friday ferry put you a day ahead of everyone else. The two winners managed to put in 6 400k+ days to make the Thursday ferry, basically giving them an unassailable lead for the second half.
This meant the ‘field’ was effectively 15 riders, and everyone knew that everyone else on that ferry was in it to race. People like Meaghan and Bruno (5th, 6th) did so well by racing exactly like you said - they nailed the stops, could sleep on a sixpence, and churned away all day long, but not riding particularly fast. It was really interesting to chat to them all at the end and find out how different people’s strategies were, given that there was not much in it at the end.
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Is it also that even if they provide you a fixed route you don't really have to follow that? Just visit the mandatory "gates". Their concept seems a bit vague to me and I haven't been too impressed with the routes they have provided. Last time it went thru Finland they just make it go most of time on the main road to the north which is pretty horrible to cycle on mostly.
The event itself seems to be established nicely and since they keep changing the route every year they can keep improving.
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That’s also a bit ambiguous - it’s a compulsory fixed track, but they said many times that you can take a different route if it ‘feels unsafe’. They routed it into a lot of bike paths, which was sometimes good and sometimes terrible.
Two riders were penalised for taking an alternative route that skipped out a bunch of elevation, the exchange on the Facebook group implied they thought they could take whatever route they liked between gates. Everyone else seems to have followed the track.
In general the route felt pretty good, made use of some nice roads and meant you weren’t barrelling down motorway hard shoulders trying to take the fastest route. Once you’re in northern Norway there’s basically only one road though so you’re in with the lorries (not that it’s heavily trafficked).
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Despite all my reservations about this event, I've entered.
There are a load of new countries for me: never been to the baltics and hardly been to Finland or Norway. The far north stuff will be a completely new experience. I've cycled in all the others but none of them that much, so it's all pretty exciting. And I like the idea of a set route for a change so I don't have to ride on main roads too much and more likely to bump into other riders, and don't have to spend all my evenings route planning.
Who knows if it will go ahead, but we all need something to look forward to to get through this. It's all in Schengen which might make it more likely to happen.
It was either this or Transiberica. That looked great and is probably more likely to go ahead, but I couldn't resist the idea of a longer ride across Europe and something completely new to me in the Far north.
Anyone else doing it?
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They are pretty sure that they are going to run it and have just released the provisional route.
Overall it is a bit longer and a bit flatter than an average TCR - 4,400km and 34,000m
No monster climbs but a 1200m straight from the start, then a 1500m just after going into Slovenia - so both on the first day. Then 1300m in the High Tatras.
There are a couple of bits I've done before. A section of main road in the Po valley that was on my TCR route in 2016 (which passes the town where my ex's family live for an extra bit of personal interest), and the Tatras to Krakow that I did on a tour in 2013. And I will cross my 2019 TCR route at Ptuj. But virtually all will be new to me.
I've had a couple of injury niggles which have curtailed by riding so I've abandoned any pretence of being quick on this. My challenges will be to get on top of the niggles so I can do a long ride, and having the motivation to do it, which will be an issue if I am not able to race flat out.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/35980820?privacy_code=rKGc06RKgeJuIFe9
?privacy_code=rKGc06RKgeJuIFe9
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/35980822?privacy_code=u94iRYkKoKdOHZlX
?privacy_code=u94iRYkKoKdOHZlX
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/35980823?privacy_code=EBeeILbxLKmJKBzM
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That does look fun, good luck.
I live just a few kms from the route in Helsinki, might be there to cheer.
Nice that the route avoids most of the busy Via Baltica/E67. The smaller roads are mostly very quiet. Looks like there's some gravel roads too, they're usually pretty easy there but very slow and soft if it's raining.
In Finland, the part from Helsinki to Lahti is pretty easy-going and fast, if not the most interesting. North from that, the road next to the lake Päijänne is pretty nice curvy quiet road. The drinking water to most of the southern Finland comes from that big lake, through a long tunnel. Then between Jyväskylä and Oulu the roure is on the road number 4 or E75 isn't what I'd choose to ride, though it's probably fine that far from the south coast that has the most traffic. After Oulu there's a nice smaller road, not much services or anything there, and then after Rovaniemi on the road 4 again, but that far up, it's pretty much the only road in that direction and rather quiet as there's only a few small towns after that. From there on the scenery changes, less trees, fells, reindeer, Lapland. And mountains after you cross the border to Norway.
In Slovakia that route passes just by the start of the climb to where there was a CP in TCR in 2017 near Poprad. Proper mountain scenery.
The area around the border of Poland and Lithuania is nice, small winding roads. In the middle of hilly fields, hope there's a tailwind.
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Thanks for useful route insights, and it would be great to get a shout on the way out of Helsinki!
At the moment I'm waiting to see if it is going to happen and if UK-based riders can take part. The organisers are optimistic - they're saying 99%, although I think it is more like 60-70%. It's probably more likely to run than TCR, despite 9 borders vs 2, as I think they will be less concerned than Anna about making it a fair race.
I know the Poprad area from a tour, and I dotwatched the TCR in 2017 when it went there. I was Bjorn's dotwatcher and could see @skinny reeling him in slowly but surely as they approached. Then Bjorn got caught trying to find a way out of Banska Bystrica without using the motorway - and I knew that there wasn't one as I'd tried all the options when I was touring there (before taking the motorway for a few hundred yards as actually it's pretty quiet - but Bjorn couldn't do that!). That was real dotwatching excitement as well as great touring terrain, so I'm looking forward to going through the Tatras again.
There is talk of them tweaking to use some quieter roads around Riga to potentially avoid a bit more or all of the E67, which, based on streetview, would be good. After the Baltics they've gone further East this year so I expect the route is different from what you did on NC-Tarifa.
How is the ferry? My plan was to stop maybe 100km short of Talinn and make a call on which one I'm likley to catch and book it then. Or is it easy to just rock up and get on the first one? Have you done it going north? If so, anything of note about how it works in Talinn?
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@frank9755 Hope it goes ahead and you can ride this. Really appeals to me too after reading Ian Walkers 'Endless Perfect Circles'. Really recommend it you've not already read it. @hippy is mentioned quite a few times!
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Yeah it's different from NCT, but I've done other rides around Riga and Tallinn, on some of those roads. And all around Finland obviously and crossed the border to Norway on that same road last summer on a tour.
Before covid, there was ferries from three or four different companies, so there was one leaving every hour or so, though you had to buy the ticket an hour before it left at the latest. But at least for a while all of the ferries were canceled and there's probably still not that many of them, better check that.
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Starters list just been published.
Lots of names but no-one else I know.
There are a few other Brits, but Italians, French and Germans are the biggest groups.
MisterTomTom
frank9755
hippy
Commuterist
Thrasher
Samuli
jakemcree-
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About
NorthCape 4000 (NC4K)
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@CowHen
This.
Hello 2015 World 24hr Champs.