Transcontinental Race No. 6 - TCR6 - #TCRN06 - 2018

I think he must be close to the top of the climb and the start of the descent. Willing him on!!!

Lionel appears to be stopped for the day at CP4 before attempting the parcours. Neil is moving in Vienna. He has just crossed the Danube.

James Illman is a finisher.

Two left on the road.

Hey @WornCleat,
Remember last year we tried to figure out a mystery of who was the rider with the same name as the 80+ year old cycling god? Davies was the name? That was an interesting investigation.

I kept on top of your blog riding 200km a day. Wanted to say Kudos to that effort!

Neil Matthews is still in Vienna having a McDonalds. No idea what he has ordered. Sorry.

Thank you. It taught me to appreciate the efforts made by these riders.

Started my race report. Posting it here for the few dutch speaking people: https://cyclingadventurestom.wordpress.com/2018/08/19/tcrno6-dag1/

Oh in het Nederlands. Moi. Ik hoop dat ik kan het nog begrijpen.

Finally, it pays off to be Dutch.

4137 hoogtemeters

These sound great fun compared to "meters of elevation"

Any word on what happened to the guy who appeared to take the train through Czech etc? Did he really take the train? Or was it a strange, very strange, tracking anomoly?

Hoogtemeters are moar fun wif Hoegaardens :)

Neil Matthews is now under way. I can’t say I understand his game plan. He seems to ride until around 2am and then stay in a hotel, potter around during the day and then get going for a few hours in the night. Over the next three or four weeks, we may developed a better understanding.

playing Scotland Yard

The junior version of this is my daughter's favourite game!

These things won’t be sorted untill they do the results, in a month or so.

He might have been asked to explain.

https://www.apidura.com/adventures/transcontinental-no6-check-in-at-checkpoint-4/

Josh is good.

Saw you there too. Famous now huh

What do you mean famous now.

I've been a living god for years now.

So yesterday was quite a day.

#184 Michel Vandermeerschen rode some of the way with #131 James Illman before James’ struggle with illness slowed him and forced I’m to rest. Michel went on the finish relatively quickly as did #163 Denis Uzadiaev.

James struggled throughout the day but managed to post some excellent tweets and instagram pictures and showed that, despite the agony he was in, he had amazing determination. He wrote of looking forward to seeing a doctor on his arrival. He has spent the last five days in a poor way since contracting Bosnian food poisoning. His final 800 km or so encapsulated the true spirit of the TCR. I have to say that I am totally impressed. It is struggles like James’ that makes the tailend dot watching so rewarding.

Which leaves two riders on the road.

#44 Lionel Bobb hit CP4 yesterday in what seems like a relatively gentle day of riding. He covered 76 km but still managed to climb 1563 m. It seems that He decided to rest before hitting the parcours. He is up and riding already and is almost 16 km into the brutality of that climb. He has been averaging over 150 km a day (apart from days like yesterday which were, no doubt, strategic) and if he sets off tomorrow towards the end, I think we should see his dot bouncing at the weekend.

#171 Neil Matthews is the back marker. I was concerned yesterday when I realised that he had ridden into Vienna. Often, entering a major city is a precursor to an abandonment and, indeed, the ghost dots of four scratched riders can be seen in Vienna. He woke late, meandered around town, moving perilously close to a major station before popping nto a Sports Direct. He then meandered some more before hitting a McDonalds and then, late into the evening, he set off. He is now just outside the suburbs of Vienna. He only rode about 32 km yesterday. His daily average is low, around 80 km at most. He hasn’t posted on Instagram for a while. It is hard to make out his plan. One has to hope that he is not suffering and that the long recovery between efforts is enabling him to enjoy his riding. A gentle poodle each day, day after day, for a month and a half.

I suspect that we will be dotwatching well into September.

It has just occurred to me that Neil Matthews might be 'working from home' with that schedule!

He woke late, meandered around town, moving perilously close to a major station before popping nto a Sports Direct. He then meandered some more before hitting a McDonalds and then, late into the evening, he set off.

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If I ever do TCR I will be glad of @WornCleat still tracking me when Hippy and Skinny have already been back at work for a few weeks since finishing!

Is Neil Matthews still riding the race (or in the spirit of it), or are we watching someone touring?

Depends if he’s making his best effort or not.

It seems pretty low mileage ever for most tourers. I'd love it if he was "WFH" while doing this, especially if it was on the sly. Seems quite odd though.