Transcontinental Race No. 7 - TCR7 - #TCRN07 - 2019

"arse in tatters" according to strava.

whats the story with Pawel?

Oh, just seen the insta, I only thought he'd withdrawn, he came off the bike? Hope he's alright.

posted at https://dotwatcher.cc/race/transcontinental-race-2019

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Could this type of event be done with any reasonable efficiency without the help of any technology?
To have to think and calculate routing while racing . ouch.

Chris' tracker was broken, but he was always on the move. Had a couple of issues leading to some shorter than planned days but I spoke to him yesterday and spirits are good

There has been a few tracker problems this year, good to know he's ok.

Yes.

Need to plan your route in advance, not do it on the fly, whether using tech or not.

My third back-up navigation was a list of towns. If I was relying on it I could easily have fleshed it out into a route sheet to follow.

Paper maps for back-up, annotated beforehand with the route. Cut into strips to reduce bulk.

Trackers are about validation of route - would need marshalls on the parcours - or not have such long parcours.

He's probably out on his bike, so I'll take that one. When I was riding, for all my decisions, like whether / when to stop I played the 'what would @skinny do' game based on what I've learned from him directly and reading all the great stuff he has written - and found it was very helpful in getting better decisions than just my own instinct!

What she should do is stick to her own plan and ride her own race as that is going to be the most efficient.

So, if she had always planned to ride through the last night if she was within xxx km, she should do that, as long as she feels up to it. OTOH if she is tired and had planned to rest, she should do that. She has enough lead to allow for a 3-hour sleep if she wants it.

Fiona doesn't need to take any risks, she can let Ben take all the risks with the big moves as it he who needs to do something different. Most likely it will lose him time rather than gain it, and if it gains it will not be enough. But he has to try it - she does not.

EDIT - just updated myself on how far she has to go. It's down to About 400km now, so around 200km by this evening. That would certainly be well within my range for not stopping for the night. Maybe an hour on a bench at most to keep away dozies. Virtually certain she'll keep going to close it out tomorrow morning.

Ivan Cornell got this tracker fixed, so he's back on the map too. Amazing performance from a singlespeed rider!

I don't get singlespeeders in events like these. Why would you do that? Isn't it hard enough? :)

think he's doing most of it fixed.

It's been fascinating to watch this event this year. Sorry you had to scratch Frank. Who was the person you mentioned that did your bike fit?

Style.

I don't think Ivan owns a geared bike, he certainly only rides fixed on Audax

Thanks Alex.
Bike fit by @scherrit

Of course there is @veganjoseph who chose to do the IPWR fixed, then carry on to circumnavigate Australia one year ago. Different levels of crazy, inspiring, unbelievable.

IndyPac is flat and rest of Aus more so, so much easier on fixed.

Long Alpine descents are what Ivan was not looking forward to, and was why he took a freewheel. Just before the start he explained that the idea of slamming his balls into the saddle 120 times per minute for 40 minutes was not his idea of fun!

Each to their own.

More sticky treats for hippy:

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Looks like Fiona has stopped by the Restaurant L'Amazone, which seems apt for an amazingly strong woman.

Not fixed but singlespeed. Well, technically, he's got two cogs, if I remember correctly, one fixed and one slightly bigger with a freewheel (for long descends), so technically non-shifting 2-speed :).

What is the point of the last parcour before the finish? It doens't look particularly interesting or to be posing any challege.

Good question!

It follows the typical pbp route into Brest, over the roc'h trevezal, which is the biggest climb in the area, but not very steep.

Keeps people off main roads going into Brest..?

It must be to pay tribute to PBP

EDIT: still better than taking a ferry to Canakkale