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

If you want advice on what could be worth upgrading happy to help. If you have a budget.
I’ll tell you what might be worth doing.

1. Would be a good bike fit and saddle that works.
   

I have a Canyon Ultimate, Ultegra Hydro 6800, Hunt carbon 30mm gravel 28h wheels, With GP4000 reflective 25 but measure 28 on the wide rims, Romin Saddle pro (also have the expert)
I have a Wahoo bolt (need second device). Exposure Diablo front Light, exposure trace and lezyne pro strip rear.
Just won a pair of profile design T2 aero bars to try on eBay and will change handle bar and stem over from the all one cockpit it currently has.
I have everything clothing wise bar leg/ knee warmers.

I’ve had my first stage of a bike fit, have a follow up to look at aero bars and saddle.
Will probably try get another after the SR series I’ve entered and done long distances.

Anything else I’m open to. The previous list is a wish list and are of course luxuries.

Sounds like you’re pretty set in my mind.

Perhaps a better navigation device. But using your phone will be good for that. Get osm maps downloaded and get your gpx routed saved on the phone. An app like maps.me.

You’ll proberbly want wider tyres, given the gravel. But I haven’t researched it so I can’t say for sure.

Bags?

And occasionally people have unnecessary problems with gear that hasn't been really tested before the big trip, it's important to use the setup earlier to make sure it all works and fits together.

That’s exactly why I’m asking now about those kinda luxury items so I can run them before.

Bags... well I made a frame bag that works pretty well but needs refinement and someone on here is helping with that. Saddle bag is the one that’s not really resolved yet.

My opinion is the best saddle bag is a super lightweight race and a drybag attaches to it.

All saddle bags wag around and are shit really, if they’ve any weight in them. The Carridige might be better.

Aero bars number 2 arrived today. Bit of an eBay bargain, so fingers crossed I get on with them.
Just need a new stem and bar to mount them on!

1 Attachment

It's good to see that they have beefed up the clamps.

The older versions, which I have, only have one bolt attaching to the aerobar. They are fine on smooth roads but what generally happens is that you hit some kind of pothole at some point and the pads slip down until they hit your bars. Those look like they should be ok. But a bit of carbon assembly paste on the joints wouldnt do any harm.

I was looking for carbon but a lot of the ones I’ve seen on eBay are pretty battered. Also and maybe more importantly I’ll be able to get the riser spacers if needed.
Little unsure on the shape but won’t know till I ride it.

Di2 is an expensive luxury, but I decided to go for it so that I can shift while in the aero bars. In the last few months with mechanical gears I have found myself always in the wrong gear and shifting to and from the extensions at the slightest incline as I can't easily change gear.

However I do lot of TTing so I'm used to constantly shifting while on the extensions.

That is the reason to have di2 for long distance stuff. The little shifter by your thumb on the tops is also handy when climbing, but it's not essential

My opinion is the best saddle bag is a super lightweight race and a drybag attaches to it.

All saddle bags wag around and are shit really, if they’ve any weight in them.

After experimenting with quite a few options and hypothesising about load of others, I've come to a similar conclusion.

It looks like the manufacturers have realised this too as the latest thing in seat packs seems to be to incorporate a mini rack, to add stability, and make it quicker putting on and taking off, at the cost of a little bit more weight.

I've just ordered an Arkel Seatpacker, which has a mini rack.
https://www.arkel-od.com/en/seatpacker-15-bikepacking-seat-bag.html

Alpkit do something similar. It costs half as much but the Arkel one seems better.

I have a Woho, which I use to stabilise my Restrap saddle pack/holster. It stops it wagging a bit and you can carry water

http://woho.bigcartel.com/product/pre-oeder-xtouring-2018-anti-sway-dhl-express-service

Yes, I saw that yesterday on Planet-X
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CCXTSBS/x-touring-saddle-bag-stabiliser

Does it work?
It was one of those ones where the fact that they had cut the price by 31% made me less likely to want to buy it! But maybe they just bought hundreds and need to shift them.

I expect you would need to at least put a velcro strap round any bottles (and have them empty) on the off-road sections to stop them ejecting every 5 minutes.

It does stop quite a lot of swaying. However, you need to bend it a bit to fit in the bag and it can snap. I think mine is still intact, although not sure as have removed from bike. It was good for carrying a third watee bottle. Just not the sturdiest construction.

I think there was someone in the FB group saying that a couple of those had snapped?

The Carradice Barley with quickrelease Bagman I used to use for years was great but heavy. Now I've been using the smaller Restrap holster. While all of these seem to wag, this is pretty solid when you pack it with care and mostly with sleeping gear and clothes. But as my Speacialized saddle has those bolt holes under it for accessories, I wonder if I should try to bolt the holster to the saddle.

Well, I have had two
One which I broke through my own cackhandedness. I also know another TCR rider whose broke. So they are not brilliant but the only thung I could find which would do the job. Being able to carry another water bottle was a big pkus. I think one of the female pairs last year had one (Johanna Jankhr I think) which was what gave me the idea.

Still want to ride this. Not sure the old man would appreciate me doing it instead of bringing him a birthday pressie.

If you bend aluminium, it will break. It might not do it straight away, but it sounds like too big a risk if you are relying it to carry water.
I guess they cut the price because they have had loads of returns.

Oh no - are you going to have to DNS?
Who is going to give me a beer at the finish!

I've taken a bike on Wizzair before and it went fine

Did you pay extra for it? Looks like it's another 30EU/30quid for a bike box if booked in adv.

@scherrit builds mine. They only break when I crash them into motor vehicles (or more accurately motor vehicles crash into me).

loads of faff

not loads of faff

extra 10W threshold power

fake news

josh ibbet won tcr and Mike won tabr without one.

"Last year I ran a dynamo hub and I probably would have done the same this year, but I didn’t order one in time." so more of an oversight than a choice. Mike would've won TABR with his eyes closed.

Dyno
Di2
PM

but then I always train and race with power so for me I'd put PM on the training bike before the others.

Next thing you'll be telling us you don't buy a new skinsuit every year and you've never been to a wind tunnel! Hmmpf!