TransAm 2016 - www.transambikerace.com

Is it completely lost or just delayed? The airline should cover it

Edit: just checked BA will only cover up to £1000, I assume the other carriers are similar

BA lost my bike too- that's when I realised that it was substantially underinsured. Fortunately its now turned up unscathed, albeit "Alan" the bike box is fucked. That must of taken some effort given how strong they are.
Thought Lee was a bit of a tool prior to meeting him with all his McWhirter style bids, but he's brave, plucky and a very likeable bloke.

Yep, £1000 only

McWhirter

?

Total? Or per item?

Because in my bike box the wheels aren't on the bike so I'll take £1000 for front wheel, £1000 for rear wheel, £1000 for bars, etc...

Total. Single item circa £200 IIRC

I'm guessing per item. It also says that it'll only pay out if it's the airlines fault. The majority of the time it's the airports fault and boxes tend to get lost more regularly as they're often subject to additional screening.

It does say you're able to get a higher insurance if you claim it at check-in and pay a supplementary fee.

Tsk all these cultural references that sail straight over - As in Guinness World Record.

Toying with idea of Jesse's Trans Oz race next year- I'm thinking no hills? :)

Lesson: have proper insurance

No big altitude mountains. Lots of hills. No water.
Can I have your bike if I can find your skeleton? ;)

I'm too mean and would rather keep the premium. Subsequently despite having trillions of loans I am the only person who couldn't claim for missold ppi.

Lee seems to have a fair bit of bad luck. A total arse hat in previous life?

I suspect that even Aussie crocs cant digest Ti, so yeah all yours.

Not just in that race either, he is cycling's Eddie the Eagle.

Should be working yet reading about the Nullarbor :)

We were going to drive it this xmas for something different. Decided to pluck my finger nails out instead. ;)

"the Garmin EDGE 810 pictured is to be returned. At the finish of his 4233-mile odyssey across America, the odometer had recorded just eight miles"

https://roadcyclinguk.com/gear/trans-am-bikes-mike-hall-ed-pickups-pivot-vault-bikes.html#uBFoyElKLhX0QXjE.97

Just watched Inspired to Ride

810 is a toy, completely unfit for purpose. By contrast the 62 S is excellent (external aerial, push button, can use AA batteries) . Never once did it cause problems

Good training tip :)

repeat post

What nav did you use? 62S obviously but anything else? Maps or cheat sheet or backup GPS or whatever?

No back up GPS- I was pretty confident about the 62S having used it extensively before.
Worst case I had the route downloaded on my phone.
Lee had 4 GPS units!
Also had a list of 300kms worth of towns/places written on small stickers, that my 9 year old had written out for me. Had these on my top tube, it felt good changing over stickers everyday.
Once I was Kentucky the route was well signed from then on in any case.
In retrospect I should have done more research in relation to services, but I got by asking at stops what facilities were ahead. You get a feel for these things, gas stations are always near freeway/interstate convergence points etc.
Always have facilities near grain elevators, so approx every 20 - 30 miles in Kansas.
A lot of people came unstuck relying on the maps too much, which weren't particularly accurate in relation to shops (close down etc).

Lee sounds like me - he's probably been burned by various (inevitably Garmin) GPS failures in the past and makes up for it with multiple redundancy. I'll probably have 2 x Edge, 1 x Etrex and a smartphone for TCR.

I like the sticker idea - I typically have a handwritten bit of paper in a ziplock with a pen for audaxes with all the km / controls on it so I can write info control details or change the distances when I get lost and add kays.

I've been wondering if I should be listing some options for hotels/restaurants to help out because "restaurants are all shut on Sunday in Albania apparently" and things like that. But it's so long, I'm not sure it's going to be worth it and I have no idea when/where I'll be stopping so may as well just wing it and deal with shit as and when. I guess the fixed route of the US would make planning refuel stops a bit easier - also no need to scramble around looking for an ATM for local cash or whatever.

Does your Garmin have latest maps and the ability to locate fuel/food/accom?

I definitely wished I had created some route notes last year especially for night riding and France on a Sunday.

I'm also going to have a few hotels in mind for the Alps, don't want to freeze to death in a thunderstorm

Are you still going through Albania?

Where do you feed in France on a Sunday (sounds like a lead up to a joke) ?

Alps are going to be interesting - I've frozen most times I've bivvied in the UK but now it's warmer and the TCR will be warm so I'm unlikely to freeze to death but I'm an idiot when it comes to mountains and weather and stuff. Middle of summer in France and I climbed Croix du duh dela dulloooalla Fer alright but my fuck did I think I was going to die descending that fucker in the after the torrential rain!! So cold my teeth still chatter thinking about it. All the guys that stayed in the hotel while it was pissing down went out and did it in the afternoon in the glorious sunshine of course..

I currently have 4-5 variations on the course from the final checkpoint to the finish.
1st went north avoiding Kosovo, through Bulgaria and down
2nd went straight through Kosovo, then Maced then Greece
3/4/5 are all variants going through Albania that try to avoid Kosovo or just the E65 in Kosovo after a racer told me it was awful/dangerous.

Problem with all my routes going further south to avoid E65 in Kosovo is they all add on about 100k/1000m climbing. :(

If anyone has any tips or knowledge of the E65...