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

probably the rain/storm made this bit more challenging (compared to a week ago).....some potholes are now ponds!

That’s what the photos suggest. Deep claggy sticky mud. Even pushing the Brompton his wheels were covered

At least the Brompton is easier to carry :)

I've been enjoying Josh Reids videos of his time on TCR this year. He's currently posted as far as CP3...

Fully laden, most bikes have to be pushed

James should have this. Hopefully he will arrive tomorrow

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The section that James posted is interesting as is the ferry. For me, it’s a road based event, if your going to take people off the road it needs to be rideable, hike a bike is a bit meh.

The ferry is again a bit meh, it takes the timings out of the riders hands somewhat? I guess you call it one thing or another whether it makes for better racing to get there on time?

Sorry. Just seen this. Pretty good. Got to the end eventually!

James has under 250 km to go whereas Ors Kelermen still has the Danube to cross and around 320 Km. It is all down to around 70km between them after more than three weeks of racing.

James’s tyres are ripped to shreds and patched. He carried a spare tyre but even that has been lacerated.

If James has luck with mechanicals and rides straight through, he will win but if he has to stop and Ors puts in a massive effort, he could creep past.

I do hope they meet at the end.

I don't have particularly strong feelings about the ferries but I'm not sure having them at the end of the race was great. When I arrived to the Zimnicea one a truck got stuck trying to get off the ferry and we had to wait over an hour for a JCB to arrive to pull it off. The staff at the terminal mentioned this happens a lot and often would take a lot longer than an hour to sort.

If it was half way through the race or something not that big a deal I guess.

@frank9755 which one did you use? Also, really enjoyed your interview on the tcr podcast :)

James is making good progress today. He has around 170 km to go. Ors is waiting for the ferry and about 140 km behind him.

What is the final parcours like? Is it something that ought best to be tackled in daylight?

From what I saw nearly all flat with some cobbled sections (fairly smooth cobbles).

Thanks!
I used the middle one. Got the last one of the day.

The ferries were a pain as an opportunity to screw up and lose time. I almost missed mine by misjudging the distance (which would have been my own fault). But I can see why they did them as it was quiet roads either side. However in a close race they could have decided the result. I did spend ages working out which would be best for whatever time I arrived at the junction where I needed to decide, and had a crib sheet telling me what to do at that point as I knew I'd be too tired to work it out reliably.

What made planning a lot harder was the combination of:
Three ferries
X
Two directions you could do the parcours in
X
Three ways you could fit the checkpoint in before or after the parcours.

So 18 times as much work vs if they'd just given a normal one way parcours with the cp on it.

Most of these options were duff (like doing the parcours uphill, or cp after parcours) but we all had to put loads of time into them to make sure that was the case. That wasted everyone's time and gave us less time to spend on other preparation.

For me it was a good illustration of how little Anna / lost dot understand their own event that they thought doing the parcours uphill was an option worth offering. Or were they just trying to trick one or two weaker riders to get some good pictures of them suffering?

Putting the control down the far side of the pass was pretty nasty as it extended the time hence pushed people into really issues unnecessarily. Why couldn't they have put the control in Novaci, or in that weird town near the top, or used a van on the parcours like they did in 2019? I wondered why they didn't go the whole hog and put the control in Poland!

If they had made a long parcours starting in Novaci that went up and over to the cp, then back up to the parcours and down it, it would have been what 90+% of riders did and would have saved everyone loads of wasted route option evaluation.

A view that came up in several discussions with other riders was that their habit of making things as difficult as possible for riders got a bit wearing after a while. One guy said that it was often hard to distinguish it from bad service!

Interestingly, Ors has ridden 4203 km to James's 4559 km and so, even allowing for the gap currently between them, has routed over 200 km shorter. James is averaging 185 km per day whereas Ors is on 171 km. I am presuming that James has taken a less hilly route. They are both in the 25th day of their race.

James lost much of a day at the start when his rear triangle broke.

Thanks Ronnie

The tracker isn't too accurate with the ridden distance apparently, a couple of riders I talked to said they actually rode a couple of hundred kilometers less than what's on the tracker and did @frank9755 really ride 4811 km?

No, the data is rubbish. I did about 4,300km. Planned route was 4,164km

Edit - just added it up from Strava. Total distance ridden was 4,258km

Strava gives total climbing as 39,200

Did 4185km but tracker says 4555

What is the final parcours like? Is it something that ought best to be tackled in daylight?

Yes.
There are a lot of long, straight roads by the airport which are quite disorienting at night. Not difficult, but confusing.
Also dogs are an issue on the parcours. I met three big white ones there which were probably my most scary dog encounter of the whole trip.
Finally potholes are a problem in Bulgaria and are much harder to spot and avoid at night.

"However in a close race they could have decided the result."

The ferries kinda did decide the result.

I don't know how much you've managed to catch up on what happened at the pointy end of the race... but Christoph raced really hard from the end of Parcour 4 to catch the very last ferry of the day. He made it by about 20 minutes, which is no time at all really.

The other 3 riders that were in with a chance didn't make it (Ulrich) or attempt it (Adam). They all had to wait overnight to get the first ferry in the morning. (Ulrich went to the west ferry that wasn't even running).

This meant that Christophe had an "easy" run to the finish, safe in the knowledge that chasing riders were stationary for 12 hours and had no chance of catching him.

On the other hand, it did make the 'sprint' between those 3 riders to the finish in the morning exciting.

(Congrats btw, from a lurker who's in awe of this race and those that completed it)

Thanks!

I think they made the margin larger than it would otherwise have been, but I wouldn't fancy anyone's chances in a straight race on relatively flat ground against Strasser.

His strategy of starting slow and coming from behind was based on the certainty that, once he fired the burners and turned for home, he had the power to blow anyone away.

I’ve said this before, the risk isn’t from claims against them from riders. It’s insurance companies. I may even have been saying this to you. Presumably they are insured and as long as they meet their insurance responsibilities it’d be between two insurers but the obvious consequence could be that they can no longer obtain insurance…
Something that seems to be lacking in the assessment is how far riders are in to the race, they aren’t fresh! I also don’t think Anna handles the discussion very well.

I think tough parcours have a part but when everyone has to push a large distance it becomes diminished as it’s no longer about riders abilities.

James finished at 4am local (2am London)

The first rider to complete the TCR on a Brompton. Amazing ride.

One rider still on the road. The race will end later today or tomorrow

Yeah looked like he had some in reserve while everyone else was riding flat out. A rider with a more risky sleep pattern (Sofiane) or one who had excellent research on him along with the experience of the race may have pressed him. They would have had to be so far on the edge. If he goes next year it may not be as 'comfortable'. Definitely changed my opinion of the RAAM riders who I have always imagined to be a pampered, overly sponsored bunch 😆 but not looked too much into RAAM. Maybe hippy should attempt it so we can have a RAAAAM thread.