Transcontinental Race No. 9 - TCR9 - #TCRN09 - 2023

if someone wants to ride with you not always a whole lot you can do about it

You can stop or take a different route or speed up or slow down or clear your nose or you tell them to do one and if they don't piss off you take a photo of them sitting on your wheel and send to orgs.

It's very easy to do something about it.

I've read so many reports from TD where riders are getting a proper advantage from others. Even the women's winner the other year had people helping fix her bike and they were riding nights together "for safety" and stuff. It really isn't unsupported and I find it funny that Lael got shit for having a camera crew but no one bats an eyelid when the winner of another edition is riding huge chunks with a couple of dudes.

It's very easy to do something about it

Sure as a confident experienced male.

Or that Josh ibett also had a crew in that same editions.

Yes the TD is well I can't think of the right word for public.

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/17023479/

Reading lots of race reports of TD, loads of riders ride together. It's clearly not dealt with like it would be in TCR.

The women's winner last year (Ana Jager) said she formed a group with a couple of guys and rode through the night that way for safety.

Ep 124 of Bike or Death podcast 39:20
"leading up to that I was riding with two guys that were around me, Adrian and Chris"
"we're gonna group together, we'll have three lights"
"we made this little pact to ride this together, we're gonna ride this together, we'll just help each other out"
"they stopped and waited while I put in the one extra brake pads I had"
"having people around is so big"

confident
experienced
male

1 Attachment

Yes the TD is well I can't think of the right word for public.

Lax in enforcement of any solo riding rules.

I’m talking more broadly here

You don't need to be confident, experienced or male to slow down or speed up or make an excuse to stop or quietly contact the organisers to tell them someone is trying to draft you.

If you have the confidence to ride solo across Europe, none of these things are beyond you.

There's no excuse.

This is pointless in your I’m always right position. But I’d ask you to consider the ignorance of this statement.

Don't talk rubbish. Everyone knows the rules. If you're not prepared to race solo, go touring with some mates.

What exactly is rubbish?

That it's hard to avoid riding together with someone.

"Oh, look I rode together with someone for a day and found myself DQd and now I'm surprised about this?"

For me no, for skinny and you seems unlikely. But to me at least it’s not beyond comprehension that this will be considerably harder for others.
Even frank up thread whilst addressed the issue didn’t confront it.

I don't have the last two editions rules. I presume they have even more clarity than the older rules under which I raced.

"Being alone and self reliant is part of the test and part of the adventure."

"No drafting"

"This is a largely self-validated race and it is taken on trust that the ride presented has been
ridden in good faith. However if that trust is found to be broken, for example if the rider is
pictured drafting another, dismissal of the offending riders will be swift and definite. You are
strongly encouraged to report foul play in your fellow riders. This should not be viewed as
malicious against the rider(s) concerned, but a favour and duty to the racing community for
preserving an honest self policing racing culture."

"Talk to us. If there’s ambiguity on the rules or you don’t know what to do; ask. If you think
you did something cheeky but you didn’t mean it - tell us, explain why and surely everything
will be OK. If you need to make a judgement call, think about the spirit of fair play and
doing the right thing, think of the rider behind you and the rider in front, how would you feel
if you were them. Tell us why you did what you did. Collect evidence, make a video of your
predicament, that kind of thing. The more up front you are, the better.

If you get disqualified, chances are you won’t find out until you’ve finished."

Would the support car have caught something maybe? Like them chatting or supporting along the road?

Even Frank said he faked a stop to get rid of a drafting rider.

I'd have told them to piss off and ride their own race but you don't need to have my confidence to get rid of someone as shown in Frank's move.

Maybe I don't understand the point you are trying to make but there's no way 'paired' riding can be justified in the TCR if you're racing the solo category.

That could happen. I know other riders will grass up cheats too.

I've reported riders in the past for assisting other riders or doing dodgy stuff like walking the parcours without their bike.

It's made very clear that for the benefit of everyone, the organisers want you to report dodgy behaviour.

From the older rules: "You are strongly encouraged to report foul play in your fellow riders. This should not be viewed as malicious against the rider(s) concerned, but a favour and duty to the racing community for preserving an honest self policing racing culture."

They both have shared these stories on insta so not too happy with the decision.

Strange that the unsupported nature is so central to the event and yet this can still happen.

2 Attachments

😬

1 Attachment

They might have, when I was volunteering I think a media car found a couple of riders drafting each other, so apparently they do try to look for such things.

I’m not for one moment suggesting it’s justified. Just it’s more complex in reality.

So the two points I’m trying to make and perhaps failing was my own ride where I was close to someone for a period of time that may have looked similar to this situation, I’m not abreast of all the details. But I definitely wasn’t riding with him as I certainly didn’t want company, I was in a bad place at that time.

I also witnessed some riding together where much like Frank said he was uncomfortable with, this rider was too.
I don’t quite understand how it’s revelationary that some people are going to struggle to do something about this.

perhaps failing

Nope, it's all opinions and interesting to hear.

Fair enough - I also don't see how people can get upset when the organisers look at the evidence and remove such riders from GC.