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

It's not like the parcours wasn't known about in advance. They've done exactly this in the past and if anything the parcours was probably safer than most of the roads they used.

Sure, I knew it was going to be there and I had a good idea what it was going to be like and expected to walk a fair bit of it. It was more or less in line with what I expected. About half of it was technical / mtb stuff, most of the rest was rocky / gravelly double track, and there was a steep grassy hill which was a walk up for everyone.

I also think it was wrong to include it because it introduces additional and unnecessary hazards. Just because the roads are dangerous, and because they've done daft parcours before, doesn't make this one a good idea. There are potentially serious risks taking people without the right equipment onto remote off road tracks at high altitude with very limited food and water availability. When they have a compulsory section they have a duty of care, both legally and morally, and their "you signed up for it" defence would get shredded by a lawyer if anything bad did happen. On this point, they really don't know what they are doing.

This is from Pawel in reply to Ulrich.

I haven't come across any riders who thought the parcours was sensible. Even ones who have been neutral in public have said privately it was crazy.

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Is it that remote? There was a CP at one end of it and a town at the other end and there's quite a few Google pics of cars and motorbikes on it. If you had to walk it from the middle, how long would it take? If someone had to come and pick up a crashed rider how long would it take?

Presumably they have lawyers that know what they can get away with but equally they've not been tested on this in reality so I don't know what would happen if someone did have a serious accident on the parcours like this.

I'm sure I've made comments about my dislike of hike-a-bike parcours in TCR before but as I'm not a lawyer I don't know what the situation would be legally. Maybe they'll take some of the comments on board? They didn't change anything the last two years though. If anything, they put more technical/more remote sections in.

As I knew I wasn't riding I didn't follow the announcements but when was the parcours finalised? Because they had like 3 different versions of the race during the years. Was it an early starter or picked more recently in the process?

Do they need to do risk analysis on parcours sections?

Would the organisers actually have ridden any of the parcours? Just curious if they had any first-hand experience of it? Ulrichs point about phone coverage is interesting as I remember thinking they if something serious happens here I'd be a bit fucked because I had absolutely no signal pretty much from the control to the end of the parcours.

I haven't really looked into it but were they are serious problems for people up there? Ie. proper fucked bikes etc? Ulrich said he damaged both rims when I spoke to him but not sure to what extent.

Yes it was very remote.

The CP was at the bottom of the pass, so you had about a 600m climb from it to the parcours start, took me 2-3 hours. The CP wasn't in a town but there were some stalls there which were locals selling produce like cheese, honey, etc. Strasser said he managed to buy 5 croissants and 5 snickers there, but he had to hunt around. There wouldn't have been that for later riders, and I didn't see anything, so I was relying on supplies I'd carried from the other side of the pass, up the 1800m climb.

There were two springs on it, one right at the start and another about half way.

There were a few cars knocking around at the start by the road but they only went a little way down it. After the first km I only saw one car and two German guys on motorbikes. I don't think the second half would have been drivable other than in a serious high clearance off road vehicle.

At the other end you come out in a remote area. There are a couple of villages, and I found a shop in one, but about 30km to the first town.

If you had a bad crash and couldn't ride on I think you would be pressing the SOS button on your tracker and waiting for a helicopter. If one came, an insurance company would be picking up the tab. Rather than just signing a cheque, I'd expect them to ask serious questions about risk assessments and what the organisers had done to mitigate risks.

I thought I might have to walk it from the middle when my left Cleat shim disintegrated. I had about 25km to the end. Would probably have taken me 8 hours, to get to a country road in the middle of the night, with no food.

I'd be surprised if they have any lawyers at all. I think they just wing it and are blissfully unaware of the issues, and the extent to which they would be held liable.

Do they need to do risk analysis on parcours sections?

When I organise a reliability ride in the Chilterns I need to do a risk assessment, document the risks and say what I've done to mitigate them. That's so I satisfy the requirements of our organisers liability insurance. I can't see why the requirements would be any less for this. If they mandate the route, they are responsible for it.

Would the organisers actually have ridden any of the parcours?

Would they fuck.

I don't think Anna has even been anywhere near it by car, given her view that there are resupply options at both ends, which is simply not true.

I don't think anyone had a bad crash up there, thankfully. So they got away with it. But they seriously do not know what they are doing on this point.

I think it was designed by their Romanian partners that they talk about in the manual. They will have ridden it.

I'd be surprised if they have any lawyers at all. I think they just wing it and are blissfully unaware of the issues, and the extent to which they would be held liable.

You reckon? It's a pretty high profile race to be winging it.

satisfy the requirements of our organisers liability insurance.

They would have to have this, so presumably have done a risk assessment. Does anyone check the RA?

As I knew I wasn't riding I didn't follow the announcements but when was the parcours finalised? Because they had like 3 different versions of the race during the years. Was it an early starter or picked more recently in the process?

It was in the 2020 edition. What didn't come out until about April was that the CP would be down the other side of the pass which made it harder and longer without resupply options.
But there's not much info out there if you try to research it. There are strava files, a few pics and even some videos, but they're done by people on mountain bikes so hardly comparable.
Even if you do research it, it doesn't really help. You either have to tackle it on a road bike or do the other 4000km on a gravel or mountain bike.

I made a comment on a Facebook discussion about how I'd love to see the risk assessment for this section.

Anna's response didn't convince me that there was one

Here's the discussion:
https://m.facebook.com/groups/Transcontinental.en/permalink/5586706141380015/?m_entstream_source=group&ref=m_notif&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic

I don't know for certain, just the feeling I get

Only two riders still out on the road.

James Houston on his Brompton and wearing sandals has just finished the CP 4 parcours. Perhaps wearing sandals may have made pushing his bike along easier than it would have been in cycling shoes.

The other rider is Ors Kelermen who is currently at CP4. It could be a close race to the finish.

James’s average has dropped to 180km a day. Ors is currently on 174.

Apparently this has been closed to replies :(

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Has there been a previous Brompton finisher?

I don't think so. I know Brompton riders started in 2018 and 19 but neither finished.

I thought I might have to walk it from the middle when my left Cleat shim disintegrated. I had about 25km to the end.

I thought you were riding flats?

I did in 2019, but Speedplay this year. I've had knee issues which needed a fair amount of shim, and Speedplay did that better than flats.
Mostly fixed now, I think flats would have probably worked for this, but it was a bit late in the day to experiment.

When you put out a statement with as many factual inaccuracies and logical flaws as that one has, you kind of have to close comments!

I've got enormous admiration for what Anna has done in keeping the TCR going but it doesn't mean she is right on everything.

Interview with Strasser:
https://www.tour-magazin.de/event/jedermann-rennen/christoph-strasser-im-interview-nach-seinem-sieg-beim-transcontinental-race/

This is his comment on the CP4 Parcours:
"I prepared for (par)course 4, that was good. I was there a few days before. So I knew what to expect and I got through without a breakdown or a fall. If I had seen the section of the track for the first time in the race, it would probably have looked very different and I would have cursed the race control. So of course I still ask myself whether such an MTB section is necessary."

James Houston has just uploaded an Instagram story of his journey along the CP4 parcours. He says he only managed to ride 400 metres of it. The pictures show how ridiculous it is in a way that I hadn’t quite appreciated before.

He has had a couple of good days and increAsed his daily average. Should finish tomorrow if all goes well.

To be fair, he is on a Brompton.