Transcontinental Race (London - Istanbul) - #TCRNo4

Kristoff seems to be racing the Volvo at the moment!

Encouragement...

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@bananaskid doing brilliantly in 15th position.

Jesper Sorensen has crossed the bridge and is now in the Trocedero Gardens.

The difference between those at the front and the others is mental.
Feels like the strategy is "go as hard as you can without sleep and then hang on till your body packs in or you get to Istanbul".

Even those who "are at the back" are still miles ahead of where I would be. It's bonkers.

Last year Coulon rode for around 30 days and covered just under 100 miles a day. OK, so most of us could ride 100 miles in say 8 hours or, with lunch and other breaks 10. The mountains might slow us down a tad. But let's say 10 hours a day rolling pleasantly through the countryside.

But then do that every day for a month.

Add to it, finding somewhere to eat and sleep. Navigate. Deal with wild dogs etc.

The Ride100 is an amazing achievement for a lot of people.. It is like running a marathon.

The TCR is like riding 25 or so marathons, one after the other without any support.

Every last one of them deserves respect and is inspiring.

So much this. I cannot imagine riding that far. I remember DD in about 8 hrs with stops was a massive achievement for me, and the next day i was cooked. Could not do that now. How do you do that 20 days in a row?

If there was a TCR prize for best twitter feed, @hippy would win it hands down.

Every last one of them deserves respect and is inspiring.

Absolutely

One of my favourites so far..

July 31
If I die eating this, is it a croak monsuir?

The MO on these events appears to be 2 or 3 days shock and awe. Burn off your competition, build a comfort zone then match/better your trailing competitors sleep pattern.

That's similar to @hippy 's drinking technique.

What ever he's doing its working (now abandoning my diet)

That's similar to @hippy's dating technique.

FTFY

Skinny's moving.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BIjqLbBhAa-/

@CarlosBI seems to be place 4 at the moment. Climbing up tp CP2

@hippy seems to have got moving again.

He should pass the town of Interlaken in a few hours. The town's name is oddly fitting, as it's located in a valley between two lakes.

Is Bjorn drafting the volvo? Been hanging on behind it all morning....

C'mon StuBo!

Worse than that... how do you do 3-4 Dunwich Dynamos in a day, for 10 (if you're super fast) to 20 (if you're above average) days in a row?

My PB for Dunwich was this year, under 7 hours. But it amplified every ache and pain, and my right knee was all pain and swollen.

But at least I could get off the bike, rest, give it time to heal, etc.

The TCR riders just continue until their body can't physically do any more at all. That the back pain is too much, or the knees give out, or you crash through exhaustion, or you deliriously tape your helmet to your back to hold your head up.

Far more pain and suffering than I would willingly go through.

And that's the feat, the thing we're watching. How far would you push yourself? How much can you push yourself?

Great battle between Hippy, Matjia Ilic and Andy Sallnow this morning, each taking very different routes and coming back together within a couple of miles of each other.

Me? I just wouldn't is the answer. I struggle to motivate myself for 40k rides as it stands.

Hippy and his 400 s day goal are unfathomable for me.

Also, how can you ride for 2 1/2 days and only stop for 2 hours ish, like the current leader? Just from a sleep perspective?

Hippy's just moved to 9th.. closing in on 8th..

Kristof is semi lizard.

If you goal is a single day ride then it'll often feel insurmountable at that 60-70% mark, and the last 10% is where the knackeredness is overtaken by giddy excitement and anticipation of finishing, and you'll feel utterly knackered the minute you've finished and wonder how on earth people can go on and do a further x miles that day, or get up the next day and do it all again.

But when your goal is multiple days riding the low patch moves from a proportion of the ride to a proportion of the day. Once you get used to pushing through the inevitable low points (and not giving in) it just becomes a routine, and the more you experience the high/low/content/high/low/high/content/etc rollercoaster the more hardened you get to it.

Audax was the way into multiple long day riding for me. I remember wondering how on earth I could go further or do another day after my first 200km ride, but after doing a few of them I was feeling fitter and fresher at the end, to the point that I thought "yes, I feel as if I could carry on" and so the progression to longer and longer distances began. I felt the same at the end of day 5 of LEL as I did at the end of day 2. Subsequent 300km days just blur into each other after the first couple.

You also get used to the unknown. I used to worry about whether I'd have access to my favourite foods on an Audax, now I'm happy to make do with whatever I can lay my hands on. PBP was a leap into even more unknown, with added language difficulties too (especially with my dreadful French) but when you don't have much choice you just get on with it. You can whinge but whinging doesn't get you further down the road.

You also find out what works and doesn't work for you (in terms of position and equipment). What setup worked fine for a x km may shred your cock/gooch/feet/neck/back/shoulders/etc to mince after x+50 km.

It's certainly not for everyone. I know people who are fast over a 200km ride but fall apart on a 300km ride as they just can't do night riding. There are some who are fine on 300km rides but can't handle the sleep deprivation of a 400km ride. It's not for everyone.

tl;dr just do more longer rides and you soon get used to it