Transcontinental Race (London - Istanbul) - #TCRNo4

with no map reading skillz or without GPS

dafuq?<

Yep, some of the septics were very poorly prepared. They generally disappeared after the first week.

I agree, I think the helper shouldn't be penalised if they're willing to help but obviously the person receiving the help should then get a little asterix next to their name in the results.

Dunno, there go I but for the grace of god. Karma innit.

I think there's exceptions when rendering assistance in life-threatening circumstances and similar. It's loaning a pump or helping with directions and stuff that it's designed to stop, no?

hippy crush

Yeah but no- generally life threatening circumstances occur with the accumulation or escalation of non life threatening events- someone leaves their rain jacket behind at a control then gets wet then gets hypothermia type incidents

I'd have robbed them of what they had left and kicked them into the snow...

YOu're allowed to help someone. They just have to forfeit their brevet card to you.
If you see someone in need of help, you should stop and help them and then think about consequences.
I would stop every time, if someone needed real help.

Then I'd tear their brevet card up.

Ruthless ^ ;)

I thought it said somewhere in the rules that you effectively entered the pairs category if you give help to someone or is it only the receiver?

I've heard of people going to sleep and waking up to find bits of kit have been pinched which is a natural consequence of dog eat dog type rules. (not on TCR I hasten to add)

Not if they forfeit their brevet card. Effectively they're scratching at the point they accept help.

And I'd argue, if someone needed real help and you left them. You'd be braking the 'spirit' of the race rule. Because you're not a good person.

*punctures are not real help!

Seems fair enough and I guess keeps it simple rather than having a solo, pairs and received help category

The rules are pretty well thought through. It's different from audax where people offer and accept help freely, but it makes sense if it's a race.

When I was stopped fixing punctures, people instinctively asked if I was ok, as we all generally would, but I was particularly keen to make clear I didn't need help!

How we interpreted that rule was a question in the application process. I said if somebody was in genuine danger and I was able to prevent additional harm then the rules would go out of the window. If not then I would press on.

In reality, I did offer help on quite a few occasions. I stopped to make sure Jayne was OK after she'd been blown off the road in Croatia. Paul was psychologically trapped by the wind there too and I pulled over for a couple of hours to talk him out of scratching (and give myself a break from the madness). Neil got himself lost at the start and I offered some directional help and a friendly light to follow, from a respectable distance. I gave out batteries, water, electrolytes, directions, cable ties, Euros, drugs, K-tape, food, mudguards(!) and probably more that I've forgotten. I don't imagine for a second that any of that affected the results in any meaningful way, but I'm happy that I kept to the spirit of the race, even if not the strict letter of the rules.

You're not wrong! I'm no fan of the helmet-cam but I wish I had one for that little moment.

The write-up seems to be taking longer than the ride itself, but here's day 1 http://wp.me/p6RY6c-1U3

Really enjoyed this! Looking forward to the rest...

They are still riding. Closing in on Alexandroupoli.

The write-up seems to be taking longer than the ride itself, but here's day 1 wp.me/p6RY6c-1U3

Good stuff. My write-up is taking even longer as I've not started yet!
I didn't see you at the start but must have been close as I saw Josh Ibbet moving towards the front and tucked in behind him, to grab the few minutes from being early away.

Serious? Which race?

I'll fuck you up if you wake me in the middle of stealing my kit!

Wow. I didn't see enough people to hand anything to. Someone asked if I was OK once when I was maybe rerouting or something but most of my interactions were just "hi, bye".

After my achilles problems I spent a day in Cortina rather than scratch. That put me right in the middle of the bell curve and I was seeing plenty of riders then. The crazy winds in Croatia bunched us all up again too.