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

Yes, agree - people want these things to be clear. ie people want more rules!

Main reason booking ahead is unfair is that it makes the rooms unavailable to other riders. Also it favours people, sponsored or otherwise, who can afford to make a load of bookings and not use half of them over someone on a tighter budget who won't risk not using a hotel they've paid for.

people want more rules!

Yeah, fucking people, always ruining everything. Why can't we all just get along.

We all could also just try to ensure every violator of the spirit (as we see it) is thoroughly humiliated and thus doing so would be avoided.

It has been snowing continuously for three days here now. That's a bit much. But it stopped now.

"Shipping/receiving supplies (to the course): In the name of equal opportunity for international riders and to minimize the ‘footprint’, challengers are encouraged to race as reliant as possible on commercial services along the route. However, in advance of a start, a competitor may cache food or equipment resupply at US Post Offices only, care of general delivery. Typical practice is to ship a replacement chain and fresh bike shorts to the halfway point on route. If a racer misses a resupply due to PO closure, that box may be forwarded to another PO down route.

Once a race clock begins, a rider may be assisted by a third party in receiving emergency repair/replacement items only. Food resupply is not considered an emergency. Emergency items must be shipped using a commercial shipper such as USPS, UPS, Fed-Ex, DHL, etc. Items may not be delivered privately by family, friends or even anonymous persons. Items may only be shipped to a commercial address (P.O., motel, bike shop, restaurant etc.), provided that address is equally available to all racers. Use of a private address (residence) along the route is forbidden. Utilizing any form of social media for help (ie. conjure ‘trail magic’) is also forbidden."

tabr

Good point :)

The idea is to only book stuff in the same day, that you are sure you're going to use, because otherwise you could book places that other racers might have been able to use and thereby deprive them of services which is clearly unfair. Eg. if a rider wanted to be a dick, they could find strategic towns and book everything up in advance to put the competitors out. In practice it only happens to a few rooms but it's still depriving other racers of potential accomm. options.

There's a second hand lightweight PHD sleeping bag come up on eBay.
Not mine but would buy it myself if I wasn't skint.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F312454653646

Yeah I’m shitty super skint. God bless boilers.

Going to give these a try in 26mm; https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYPAGRSK/panaracer-gravelking-sk-folding-tyre
What are other people thinking for tyres?

I was thinking of these or maybe bringing them as a spare set. Have you used them before?

Quite a bit of extra weight to port around just on the off-chance that you may need them.

Yes, it probably is. Not 100 percent decided yet.

Nope, I can run file tread 28's and maybe 32's but thought I'd start here with the trail.
If someone wants to get some 32's and do some swaps for experimenting I'd be down.

Yeah I can't decide 80km is a long way on the wrong tyres....

Also, these 05:30 turbo sessions better pay off!

There's more than 80k of gravel. There's the as-yet-unknown Alpe d'Huez section as well.

Yeah but that's trainer choice not tyre...

I wouldn't be going less than 32, no way.

I can't decide 80km is a long way on the wrong tyres

I thought you were talking about the gravel section of the race?

Yarp

After CP4 and stressing about cutting a tyre I'm taking bigger tyres and maybe a spare. The peace of mind is well worth the small weight penalty. I've had to boot tyres in Romania and it's not great having to worry about it.

If anyone has a 32 I could try for clearance that'd be handy

I was, the 80km seems like where you'd loose most time if you get it wrong.

You've lost me with "Yeah but that's trainer choice not tyre...".

I'm talking about the race itself and simply saying there's more than just that 80k section of gravel to deal with so thinking about tyre repair/durability is definitely a smart move.

Sorry I was being flippant, suggesting I'd have to walk the Alp so my tyres wont be an issue.

Ah, you mean "sneakers" aka "trainers" ie. shoes, not turbo trainer?

Bingo

I think coz you said something about turbos I had turbo trainers in my head. Also since it's icy I've been spending too much time on mine, the bastards seeped into my brain.