Ultracycling

https://alpi4000.it/

#notarace

Sorry to hear about 3P. A smaller race is the Ardennes Monster; 1025km, 18000hm and start and finish in Namur https://themonster.be/en/

Ah nice, I realise Borders of Belgium is back this year, after being cancelled in the pandemic.
https://www.audaxbelgium.com/borders-of-belgium

The timings of that work quite well as it's in September.

@hippy that looks ace but is a bit soon...

It is? Well spotted! I missed that due to it being pushed back and then Transiberica getting in the way.

Bit close to L’esperit del Girona though.

BoB 2022 got cancelled again due to lack of participants: https://bordersofbelgium.weebly.com/

Btw, if anyone wants to ride future editions and needs a place to stash goods for a few days, I live 15km from the start.

Ah, bugger. Just emailed Rhonny as well.

I'd carried my entry fee over and then eventually just cashed it in as it was looking unlikely last year at one point.

"the BRM is canceled due to lack of interest and the loss of our second overnight stay in Lommel (will become a shelter for refugees from Ukraine).
To secure ourselves financially, we are forced to cancel the event now."

Don't suppose you have a GPX of the BoB route? Could be a fun ride for next year given I can join the route 30-odd km from home

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/39267502

Thx.

Oh no, that's a shame!

Have you definitely decided or just leaning that way, and is logistics the main reason, or straw / camels back?

I say that because the logistics on these things are definitely a pain but it looks like a stunning route and a shame to miss out and, if you are still a bit undecided, there can be a danger of overthinking it and getting psyched out by the logistics. I remember on IndyPac driving myself half mad trying to work out whether to first go to the finish, a hotel, the place where my clothes / stuff had been sent to, etc - and I never worked out the right answer - because there wasn't a perfect one. But things do get sorted out, bike boxes and rolls of tape do turn up, people do get home, etc.

If you have definitely decided to pull out, good luck in getting onto something else and apologies if I encouraged you to sign up!

TransAtlantic Way starts in the morning.

http://trackleaders.com/transatlantic22f.php

Didn't recognise any names on the start list for front runners but should be fun to watch.

Just spent 3 hours doing last minute checks on bikes. Crazy how people can turn up to a ride like this without giving their bike a full once over. Numerous lose headsets, sloppy di2 shifting and one hub that was completely knackered.

I just went back to check, but I lost a few years, was searching for 2020/2021. I did TAW in 2019 but it seems like it was last year. I created a whatsapp group with lots of people I know and although I was not a name, but had my own set of dotwatchers.

Mad to look at the route now, we left from Dublin, looks so far away from the route now, but in a straight line it's not so far.

Yeah logistics is a part of it but I've also started a new fairly intense job since I entered, and taking the best part of two weeks out and coming back as a complete shell is also weighing quite heavy on my mind.

It feels a bit 'right ride, wrong time' at the moment. As you say I am going to regret not doing it but when I signed up in Jan circumstances were different. It'll be a shame but one to revisit!

taking the best part of two weeks out and coming back as a complete shell

That makes sense - there is no way that you finish one of these things on a Friday and bounce back to work on the Monday morning with your head in the right place to focus on work!

Omar is pretty quick.

Crazy how people can turn up to a ride like this without giving their bike a full once over. Numerous lose headsets, sloppy di2 shifting and one hub that was completely knackered.

@scherrit :)

there will be no BOB in 2022. We've been focusing on BOB 2020 and, because of COVID-19, BOB2021 for the last 3 years. I had a foot
operation recently. I just started riding short distances. Therefore
we'll take a break in 2022.

I'm pretty sure there won't be a BOB in 2023 because of PBP. So the
earliest will be in 2024. We'll publish info on our website when we
know more.

Borders of Belgium: This is a shame. I have no desire to ride PBP, plenty of desire to ride the Ardennes. Oh well.

I've already ridden around Belgium and done PBP so they're both in the "maybe I'd do again" pile of events but obviously stuff has to line up. Other events have taken priority. I liked PBP but I'm not one of those people that will ride it 10x in a row. I said I'd only do it again if my missus wanted to ride it. But maybe my mood will change in 10 more years. I quite like Belgium so thought it'd be a good mini tour again but timings didn't work out. Can always DIY it when the time is more suitable. In Euro summer, too many events fight for space. So, doing stuff DIY in the shoulder seasons is good.

Yeah DIYing it with a bit of an extra dip in to Luxembourg might be a nice trip at some point.

I was in Lux too during that 2005 tour.

2 Attachments

I've only ever been to Lux a) without a bike and b) while drinking some sort of Luxembourg absinthe that made me pass out, so it's brand new terrain for me.

Luxembourg absinthe

I missed that. Or at least, don't recall it.

I missed that. Or at least, don't recall it.

Me too, and I've lived here 11 years.

@honk - If you do make it to Luxembourg, drop me a message and I'm sure I can find some interesting riding

Thank you! (It might have been generic absinthe, branded as a Luxembourgeois speciality by my host to encourage me to get over myself and try it 🤢)

If they were local, there's all kinds of random local hooch that pops up from time to time. Last week I got given a bottle of home made "Limoncello" by a neighbour which he advises me is "Probably too strong to drink much of safely without watering down" but he couldn't be bothered to.

If they weren't natives then who the hell knows. Arlon (just over the Belgian border) has this horrible shit called Maitrank which is fortified wine with "local herbs" but it could be cheap wine, vodka and grass clippings given the taste. The Germans and the French have their stuff too and as soon as you get into the migrant population all bets are off.

Basically, who knows...