Transcontinental Race No. 5 - TCR5 - #TCRN05 - 2017

Ah that's a shame, I know Kevin volunteered last year and I've met Matt on a couple of occasions.

Seems like Javi was at the start to, just passing by... wonder if @hippy bumped into him...

Michael Wacker is nearly in Bingen. He's fast.

But @skinny is just as fast with nearly double climbing i.e. looks like going to beat Wacker to CP1.

@skinny is beasting it atm! Total champ!

This is bringing it all flooding back from last year.
If expect most riders will probably be feeling good now (although hippy wasnt great earlier), it's great when the sun comes up after the first night.
But some of them might start to get sleepy in the afternoon. I did last year, got past Paris and stopped in Fontainebleau, then got sleepy on the DC south from there. Had to have an hour nap on a bench in a little village.
Fast guys will get to the control tonight and will probably grab some sleep there, but slower ones will be trying to work out if they can make it or if they'll need to rest before. Will depend how well they go this afternoon
EDIT actually skinny might go further than the control tonight

I love @modan (252b) refuses to follow the crow and decided to go direct as possible to the first check point. GO DAN!

Hippy having a tough time in the Ardennes. Looks like he might have stopped for longer than an hour, he's back in 78th place.
I'm surprised he didn't go for the Rhine valley option, I certainly would have done!

It's very narrow, he wouldn't have got through.

Some tough climbing ahead for Geoffroy Dussault. He's entering the Pfälzer Wald. I assume he's planning to get out of it via Dahn and Bad Bergzabern and then cross the Rhine at Karlsruhe. A hard road (and he's the only one taking it so far.)

It's fun for me to watch Michael Wacker riding a road that I know. I rode to Gensingen only last year. It's really confusing there, though. I hope he realises he can go through town and doesn't have to use the by-pass.

It looks as if there are more stronger riders in the race this year.

I think that's right, some guys I'd not heard of going fast at the front. Some might blow up, some might be serious contenders.
But skinny hasn't been able to stamp his authority on the race in the way he probably hoped; the could be an interesting race for the next couple of days.
I've not had a chance to look at who is winning amongst the women, anyone following that?

So far, Melissa Pritchard is the front-runner. I think Emily's second.

Hippo seems to have had digestive problems and is looking for food.

It's certainly a more interesting, open race with no kristof. Although if he was racing it would be easier to tell if this was a stronger field or not.

Michael Wacker seems to have come off the L407 in Armsheim, perhaps aiming to take Wirtschaftswege (agricultural paths) to get him to Albig more quickly.

Nelson Trees has taken a rest and Keiway1(5)2 is still in the Middle Rhine Valley.

Jonas Goy still seems to be going the best of all the riders, though.

Dan must love hills because he got himself surrounded by them now!

Skinny will be riding his own race. I bet over half of the current front runners explode.

He eats hills for breakfast!

Was going to say this. Assume a race like this favours consistency rather than going hard early on and blowing out your hole by the mid point.

I'm with @umop3pisdn. Skinny's old tactic of 'get a day ahead and hold it' is simply that - he'll be at his own pace, racing others directly this early on isn't viable.

He's gone have breakfast all day.

It will be interesting to see which of the leaders goes on longest tonight, some might risk skimping on sleep to get a lead.