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

Strasser is making this look easy. But then, you would do that if you wanted to psyche out your competitrs. :)

Stephane Lombard's track is showing an interesting route to CP3... is he taking a road-free route over the mountains?

Reminding me of when Stephane Ouija (?) shouldered his bike over a mountain ridge and down the other side in one of the early editions

maybe he doesn't want to lead because he would have to make his own route :)

There is a road, just not an official border crossing at the end of it. Might get lucky, might get turned back by police.

Thought this was worth noting from Dotwatcher:

Fiona has been able to get hold of cash by “buying” money from people along the way by sending them money via PayPal

pretty great she is still going.

Lol

Can we talk about the ferry, anyone got a good understanding to explaing it. I believe they're between Cp4 and finish? And maybe 250km from finish. But I just glanced and am busy.

The border of Romania and Bulgaria is pretty much the Danube, at probably its widest. There appears to be only two bridges across this border over the Danube, One bridge in Vidin (too far east to make sense with any route) and one in Ruse according to Wiki "Sidewalks for pedestrians are also included" but not sure if that means its rideable. Other than that it's ferries, which might be fair to assume are well established given the few bridges.

On a separate note, CP4 parcour looks nice:

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.3901836,23.6923381,3a,73.7y,112.31h,93.71t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sAF1QipOxX-VOyuLqBTX5Gox6S7T0sL1GUtwBzx3EKYwr!2e10!3e12!7i10752!8i4628

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.3957307,23.7542552,3a,75y,82.68h,84.86t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sAF1QipOgECZmc3mM6msajNf1hNLCDy8aqIhkA7dhi1o1!2e10!3e12!7i11264!8i5632

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.3990766,23.7792689,3a,75y,13.65h,89.75t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sAF1QipNOJJSe1Mv4lcL5KbVDVZRkosEmuwtKatwDYwzD!2e10!3e12!7i10240!8i5120

Yeah it's the timings they run, I don't think they're that frequent and some don't run at night

Most seem to be every 3h and only between 8am/7pm

There is an all night one also, not sure where.

I think it could be decisive ?

Ian To has really slipped back in the rankings, wonder what happened.

This one I think, http://www.spet.ro/ferry-timetable/ first sailing 5am, last at 11pm

With all the custom and aero kit on display, favourite so far goes to this.

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Why not go down to Ruse/Pyce and take the bridge there? Seems to have heat on it.

Maybe it's banned in the manaul

The Burgas checkpoint description has

In order to assist all riders in selecting safer cycling routes all designated ‘E’ roads in Romania will be prohibited from the race and only selected ferry crossings will be permissible to cross the Danube from Romania to Bulgaria.

So I guess prohibited (and you're only allowed to cross via one of the ferries? that was my interpretation of Frank's comments)

giving hippy ideas.

Thanks

7Day + can holder?

I had been all out hammering for half a day to make it to the ferry at Bechet and then it left almost an hour later than scheduled. Nothing about the ferries seemed very professional.

"Turnu, Zimnicea and there’s a third one. Romania to Bulgaria. One stops at 5:30 PM and the other stops at 7:30 PM" :)

I've run a feed bag in that position. Don't see the point in that printed thing - feed bags seem much more versatile than hard printed stuff.

Yeah I got a grasp now, thanks to a copy of manual.

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How far is the trip across the water? Cheeky rubber dingy? 😂