Transcontinental Race No. 8 - TCR8 - #TCRN08 - 2022

See, that one, I did in the daylight.

Oh, yeah and then there was a descent to the CP and I'd booked a hotel but it was up a fucking hill and was a proper slog after riding much of the night.

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I scratched just before the CP3 parcours in 2019 so didn't do it, but that was certainly a long one too. And the checkpoint wasn't on it, so effectively longer.

Really enjoying @jim_london instagram coverage of his race so far, on a Brompton no less! - makes me realise how severely lacking the ice lolly selection in the UK is...

me too! never seen so many ice creams in my life!

What did people think of Strasser?
How did he come across? esp @jakemcree / anyone else who was at the party and heard his account.

There's lots of reasons not to like pros entering amateur events, but he's a self-made pro who's worked out how to earn his living around his cycling, more like Hutch or @skinny, rather than a pro team guy, so different in my eyes, and he brought new but relevant experience to this.

I read his book earlier in the year, as part of my research for this to see if there were any lessons I could apply. I had no idea he had entered at that stage. I thought he came across really well in his book, and was looking forward to meeting him. I did get to speak to him a bit, but it was pretty late, I was knackered and he'd had a few beers.

When I met him I thought he was pretty cool. Last to leave the party, hair all over the place, swigging from his beer bottle, talking to anyone, sharing his views freely. He said he was up for doing this again next year, he reckoned that unsupported was the future, RAAM getting so expensive, entries going down, etc.

He gave me one piece of advice: 'If your route is shit, just throw it away and follow the road signs. Apart from in Italy where they all say Tutti Direzione".

not to like pros entering amateur events

I think that's more targeted at World Tour guys, no?

RAAM getting so expensive

"getting" expensive? The pro life is good to him...

I posted a story on Instagram after he finished first saying 'i hope someone tells him about the unwritten rule to by beers and beer at the finish for the next riders'. Low and behold there he was at the finish with beers. He's a really class guy imo and a deserved winner.
He wrote to me earlier in the year and was very complimentary. He's humble and kind.

Clearly it's always been crazy expensive, I think what he meant was he's not certain it will be viable in the future as it's hard to raise the sponsorship and entry numbers are going down as a result. He said in his book that he didn't enter some years as the cost was too high. If he can get RAAM-level sponsorship with TCR-level costs, it makes a lot of sense to shift focus.

I think he comes across really well, really liked his account of the race and seemed genuinely surprised and delighted it all came together. I’d never really seen any photos of him before so really wasn’t what I was expecting at all.

Nice story.

I wasn't sure if he would even have hung around for the party given it was almost a week after he finished, but he did, and was there after all the other top riders had gone to bed.

TCR is lucky always to have always had really down to earth and approachable winners who have been great representatives for the sport.

I found very funny those IG stories with pics of his leg and "this leg has still power"

Yeah, that makes sense. I'd also imagine he's probably run out of challenges in that world, to be honest. He doesn't have any competition. Here though, he was given a run for his money.

Didn't I post somewhere that I wonder how long before Strasser is riding off-road? :)

I didn't know much more than the results and numbers of him before this, and everything I've seen now has been very positive.

He's 40 now, so still top of his game, but he has more of his best years behind him than in front. He needs to work out how he can continue to generate sponsor interest and stories for his corporate motivation talks so he can prolong his career. TCR has to be a better source of stories than RAAM.

He has had challengers in RAAM and he hasn't won every time he has entered, so not totally dominant. But must be more interesting for sponsors to have something other than 5th RAAM win 6th win, xth win, etc.

Sorry but I think winning the most RAAMs and holding the race record qualifies as totally dominant. There is literally no reason for him to race more RAAM unless it still interests him. No one is going to race more RAAM just because someone is paying them to unless they also still enjoy it or have some kind of "I always wanted to win 10 of them" goal.

https://www.besenwagen.com/127-km-klopapier

Awesome comment. Have more rep

Sure, there's no doubt he's been the top guy for a long time.
Before I read his book I thought he was more dominant than I did afterwards, after I'd read about the things that had gone wrong, the races he didn't win, the competitors that ran him close when he was going well, etc. However some of that is probably positioning so that the sponsors don't think it is a piece of piss for him!
I think his decision process is that he's got to race something because that's his job, and he may as well race the biggest thing there is. I think he's just decided that TCR is now bigger than RAAM and will be even more so in the future. If RAAM was getting 100 entries and there were some great contests at the front he might have stuck with it.

waiting for some reports/stories from the LFGSS who did this year, like you @frank9755 :)

'If your route is shit, just throw it away and follow the road signs. Apart from in Italy where they all say Tutti Direzione".

lol

@frank9755

From SRMR thread

Oscar Shortt seems to have done that too. Actually quite a lot of riders seem to have done that. Andrew Phillips looks like he realised and went back. Krystian and Krisjanis both seem to have been on the road. Lombard too. Colin Smith.

I’d love to but I have a terrible memory when it comes to rides. Would struggle to write anything coherent pre Romania now….

Romania would be good! How did the shite parcours go for you?
I think you passed me there so you must have gone well... Actually no, you must have not had a disaster.