Ultracycling

I see. Both of mine are the old versions. Looks like they've lost the pad fore-aft in favour of angled pad option for the "high hands" position. I wonder if there's more bolt holes under the pad now that would allow some fore-aft?

Cheers will take a look

Pro Missile fan here too

This is what I meant. Hard to find the old fully adjustable version. Profile designs look good.

https://www.sleep.com/travel/race-across-america-raam-sleep

https://www.ultracyclingshop.com/de/buecher/buch-1000-24-christoph-strasser-und-die-jagd-nach-dem-perfekten-tag-von-david-misch/SW10144

Interesting.
So they both have similar amount in the second half but Strasser has increased his while Goldstein has reduced hers from the first half.
Power napping translates better to unsupported when its warm, you lose too much time packing and unpacking kit if it's cold.

People who've finished TCR and similar - what's been your strategy for getting home afterwards?

Considering post TPBR:

1. Book a flight home the day after the last day of the race, assuming I'll either finish within the time limit and have a few days afterwards to sort packing up my bike etc.
   
2. Just stay more flexible and try and sort a flight / train home once I actually finish. Feels like psychologically this is worse, as I won't be considering the sunk cost of a flight when I'm having dark thoughts about scratching. (might also have cost implications)
   
   

The bit I'm kind of dreading is showing up in Nice completely shattered and then having to go traipse around Decathlon finding a bike box etc for a flight, so I'm erring towards getting a train out of there.

Also wandering around in the bike kit I've been wearing for the past 10 days doesn't really appeal, so I guess I'll need to find the Nice equivalent of H and M and kit myself out in civvies.

I always wondered about this as well

TCR4 - @scherrit and my missus came to the finish and we drove to Istanbul and flew back (after finish party)

TCR5 - Kalambaka finish, we took a bus to Athens to check it out then flew back (after finish party)

TCR6 - Kalambaka finish, took a bus to Thessaloniki to check it out and flew back (My finish times are consistent so, before finish party this time as I needed the holidays for other races)

TCR7 - Brest finish, @scherrit drove over and kindly took my bike home and I got fast trains home. I think because of knee dramas I was a day slower than expected so it was pretty much the day after I arrived I was on a train.

When I bailed half way on Transiberica last year I rode to a place with a train station, got hotel, trained back a bit, hotel, back a bit more, hotel, etc. and I bought casual clothes at an H&M. I donated the sandals but I still wear the undies and t-shirt :)

If it's another backwards routes I'd bag my bike up and use trains. If it finishes in Greece/Turkey/Bulgaria I'd fly back, booking a flight well after my expected finish time so as not to pressurise the ride.

Ah, if it's finishing in Nice, I'd not book the return until I arrived and I'd have a leisurely train trip back. It's much nicer than rushing to airports and shit.

Ah good intel, thanks…

Yeah it seems like I can get French high speed trains up to Calais pretty much, then ferry then train the other side.

It'll take the majority of a day to do, but acquiring stuff to pack my bike in and faffing around in airports will probably require similar time and effort tbh.

Tcr 4 - finished the day before the party so had time to hit the local shops and buy a t-shirt and sandals, and a bike box. Wore the shorts that had been my sleeping gear during the race. Got plane the day after the party.

Indypac. Massive stress because I had booked my plane for 19 days but 6 days of headwinds meant I'd struggle to make it. Had posted clothes and computer, etc from the start to WeWork in Sydney. Spent most of my waking moments for about a week trying to work out what to do when I reached Sydney, go to the finish first, hotel first, WeWork or ride straight to airport. I've never worked it out! Massive stress as I'd booked my flight with not enough time. Then Mike got killed and I abandoned. Bought new clothes in Geelong, where I was.

Tcr 2019. Plan was to buy clothes in Brest but packed in Austria. Didn't bother with new clothes, travelled on train in my shorts (same ones as above!) plus gilet and rain jacket. Had ridden in flat shoes so didn't need new ones. Took bike apart and put it in a couple of bin bags (Austrians / Germans so this quite a lot for trains, I think it works in France too).

Buying new clothes at the end is a little ritual that I quite look forward to. Same for binning the old rags I've worn too the start. Getting stuff to pack bike into is a bit stressful but it always seems to work out. You could contact a shop in Nice now and make an arrangement for them to get a box and pack it for you, but I never bother, just wait and see what happens.

Main thing is not to book a flight at the wrong time. I'd rather pay more and book it a couple of days before I fly than stress about not making it. If I'd done TPBR I'd have most likely looked into trains. I'd definitely have got a train to the start. Only thing is Eurostar doesn't take bikes any more so would need to go on the ferry.

Yes, much more pleasant to sit on a train than traipse around shops.

Ahhh v useful, thanks.

Yeah I'm toying with train out to the start of TPBR. Trying to figure out train to start from somewhere 0n the French side. Also means not having to dissasemble everything and having the bike 'race ready' which appeals.

It adds more potential time to the total trip, which I have a bit of guilt at home about - but again, faffing around in airports if I can avoid it is a huge plus. And the carbon footprint of all this stuff.

Yeah, I almost bailed on my second TransAm because I'd miscounted the days and booked the flight way to early (like, even if it went to plan this time, too early). Thankfully @DarrenFranks helped with flights so I could finish the ride properly.

Transiberica last year was similar - too many issues meant I was way behind schedule and then it gets to the point where you spend the rest of the race stressing about finishing in time versus just pulling the pin. For once, I pulled the pin and had a relatively comfortable return home with the time I had in hand.

I got ya, dude.

Definitely agree with trying to avoid fixed return travel plans, if possible. It's such a source of stress.

Wouldn't you go via Brussels, Cologne, Frankfurt, etc? Thats the way I came back from Spittal an der Drau. German trains are a lot cheaper than TGV! There was a sleeper to Vienna, called NightJet. Not sure if it is still running post covid though.

Time is the big issue for me too - feeling guilty leaving my wife as lone parent for longer than "necessary". That pushes me towards booking late rather than allowing a buffer.

It's easier for TCR as the finishers' party gives you a realistic estimate of what should be achievable. On other events you have to guess.

Yes, those pack / don't pack decisions...

You never want to be having to make them as it's hard to think properly when you have been on the road for a while and the chances of making a shit decision are quite high. You do have to make some decisions and I try to save my brain power for the ones that I need to get right to stay in the race.

I'd forgotten that I packed on IndyPac at one point as I was sure I was out of time for my flight. Then I had a big curry and a long sleep in a hotel, and realised I didn't have anything else to do, or any other clothes to wear, so just started racing again as it saved having to make any other plans.

Yeah, I've mostly booked a flight for the next day after the finishers party/time limit. For the ones closer to home I've used busses and trains, buying a ticket at the last minute. After Ruska I just kept wearing the same kit I'd been riding in for four days in rain, might have been unpleasant for people around me in the bus and train on the 24 hour trip back home. If the finish is at the same place as the start, I've left the box and clothes at a hotel, otherwise mostly bought new, though a couple of times I've had someone waiting for me there and bring something to wear and then we've spent a week there as a holiday. I'm wearing a belt I bought in Brest after TCR right now. But indeed it's better to not set a too tight schedule if possible, I've always planned and managed to finish with days to spare. It's also nice to spend a while with the others and in the place you were riding to.

It's also nice to spend a while with the others and in the place you were riding to.

100%. You've been through a lot so there's a cool bond with fellow racers at the finish of these events. I have the luxury normally of being able to budget more time for hanging out at the finish and encourage people to do the same.

I've got the train from London to Nice, and back. This was back when you could take bikes in a bag onto the Eurostar, so train to Lille, literally cross the platform and get a train to Nice. Lille to Marseille takes no time at all, but the line from there to Nice is very slow.

It looks like the Nightjet is actually running Brussels > Vienna, which is useful.

Would be great if Eurostar resolve the current bike issues by July as by combining the two I can see a pretty clear route out there.

Ah yeah that's how it's looking.

I'm thinking I'll get the train to Lille and then a local train to Dunkirk to pick up the ferry, unless the Eurostar bike situation changes.

Been looking into Nightjet, the line we need doesn't have bike spaces and you can only take it if disassembled and packed in a max case/box of 85cmx85cm.

Ah, fuck's sake. I see a few solid hours on the Man from Seat 61 site in my future trying to figure this out.