Author Topic: Transcontinental 2016  (Read 62021 times)

Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #200 on: 05 August, 2016, 04:44:07 pm »
Puzzled by Kristof's route today.

There is a pass from Rosaje in Montenegro that he went through around 8 ago hours from the time of this post that gets you into Kosovo quite quickly. And Kosovo is really flat and has nice wide roads that you feel safe on and gets you to Montenegro in a few hours, even at my pace when I did it in 2014. Instead he is going in more or less the wrong direction.
Events I am running: 5th September 2021, the unseasonal Wellesden Reliability; HOPEFULLY Early April 2022, 3 Down London - New Forest 300K Audax;

Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #201 on: 05 August, 2016, 04:59:38 pm »
Puzzled by Kristof's route today.

There is a pass from Rosaje in Montenegro that he went through around 8 ago hours from the time of this post that gets you into Kosovo quite quickly. And Kosovo is really flat and has nice wide roads that you feel safe on and gets you to Montenegro in a few hours, even at my pace when I did it in 2014. Instead he is going in more or less the wrong direction.

Kristoffs heading to Nis to get on the dreaded '8' to Plodviv, he'll no doubt cross in to Turkey at Erdine then hang a right. Its the same route he's used for his previous TCR's.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #202 on: 06 August, 2016, 11:30:36 am »
So Ivan's tracking website has Kristof estimated to finish at 9:21 on Sunday morning.

That is just mind blowing.

Yep, astonishing pace. Incredible lead over the rest of the pack as well.

I've been keeping an eye on Ultan Coyle and George Marshall, because they're the ones I know a bit, having ridden with them both before. Ultan is going very well indeed, near the front of the pack. I presume he's using a more suitable bike this year than the full TT rig he was on last year.

George seems to be mid-pack. He also did the Mersey 24 last week as well and finished 5th with 498 miles, so I wonder if that has taken it out of him a bit.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #203 on: 06 August, 2016, 11:47:16 am »
Ah, I see George has already been mentioned upthread...

I just twigged that George Marshall in team 210 is the same George Marshall who finished 5th in the 24hr a week ago.
 :o
Quite a handy domestique to have.

I once rode back with him to London from a photo shoot in Essex. He was the photographer, so was lugging all his camera gear as well. Two of us were struggling to hold on to his wheel for mile after mile. The only reason we were able to keep up at all was because he had an achilles injury that was slowing him down.

George was also the photographer I commissioned to shoot Steve for a piece on the mileage record last year. He does lots of stuff for Rapha as well.

I wouldn't be surprised if he was planning to ride home from Turkey afterwards.

Anyone interested in Camille McMillan may like to know about his new book, Circus, an anthology of some of his pro cycling photography. It's great. I know him vaguely too. Quite a character.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

IanDG

  • The p*** artist formerly known as 'Windy'
    • the_dandg_rouleur
Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #204 on: 06 August, 2016, 12:21:45 pm »


Yep, astonishing pace. Incredible lead over the rest of the pack as well.




He was a whole 'Serbia' ahead this morning when I looked at the tracker  :o

Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #205 on: 06 August, 2016, 04:21:52 pm »
Puzzled by Kristof's route today.

There is a pass from Rosaje in Montenegro that he went through around 8 ago hours from the time of this post that gets you into Kosovo quite quickly. And Kosovo is really flat and has nice wide roads that you feel safe on and gets you to Montenegro in a few hours, even at my pace when I did it in 2014. Instead he is going in more or less the wrong direction.

Kristoffs heading to Nis to get on the dreaded '8' to Plodviv, he'll no doubt cross in to Turkey at Erdine then hang a right. Its the same route he's used for his previous TCR's.

I still reckon he's taken a longer route than me - I too went through Plovdiv/Edirne, but avoiding all but a few Kms of the bad bit of the dreaded route 8, but he's so far ahead it hardly matters. The following pack are using Kosovo by the look of it. I wasnt in Kosovo very long, but stayed in a 4 star hotel in Pec for 50euro B&B and saw a hand grenade among the roadkill.
Events I am running: 5th September 2021, the unseasonal Wellesden Reliability; HOPEFULLY Early April 2022, 3 Down London - New Forest 300K Audax;

Phil W

Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #206 on: 06 August, 2016, 09:27:44 pm »
And James is now in 4th and closing in on 3rd

Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #207 on: 07 August, 2016, 02:03:51 am »
James to pull a monster and make 2nd place?
often lost.

Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #208 on: 07 August, 2016, 09:27:25 am »
James has obviously had to back off overnight and catch up on sone sleep so is 4th about 100km behind 2nd place but what a comeback  :o :o

'The Machine' looks set to finish in the next couple of hours probably a day ahead of everyone else, what would have it been like if James hadn't had his issues  ;D

Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #209 on: 07 August, 2016, 12:06:09 pm »
And he's in! (well on the ferry)
The machine stopped briefly this morning at a gas station to put some oil in his new, then smashed out the last few kms.
Massive chapeau. What an achievement!
often lost.

Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #210 on: 07 August, 2016, 12:44:36 pm »
What a guy.

Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #211 on: 07 August, 2016, 03:36:00 pm »
Can we hire him instead of building Hinkley?
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Salvatore

  • Джон Спунър
    • Pics
Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #212 on: 07 August, 2016, 05:27:27 pm »
Quote
et avec John, excellent lecteur de road-book, on s'en est sortis sans erreur

Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #213 on: 08 August, 2016, 02:21:52 pm »
Neil Philips is almost home and dry.
Top ride.
often lost.

Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #214 on: 08 August, 2016, 03:25:16 pm »
Can someone who knows more about this please convince me that Emily hasn't taken the wrong road on leaving Checkpoint 4? Her tracker worries me.

Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #215 on: 08 August, 2016, 04:48:43 pm »
Can someone who knows more about this please convince me that Emily hasn't taken the wrong road on leaving Checkpoint 4? Her tracker worries me.

That is a little odd, isn't it.  As far as I can tell, everyone else went north for a while and then eastwards, whereas she's gone south, and now west.

Maybe she has slightly unusual plans for a stop, well off of the route that others are using, but she is only a few miles away from crossing her own route!


Emily Chappell's route in red.  All riders routes in light blue.  Click for bigness.

Slightly strangely, Trackleaders does not have a time for her at CP4, but she was there, according to her own Tweet.
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #216 on: 08 August, 2016, 05:21:37 pm »
According to Rebecca in The Other Place, it's all about dodging busy roads:

Quote
Interesting strategy here, as Emily goes back to pick up the "goat track" option. She appears to have decided to hug the coast somewhat, the other obvious* options being either a slow zig-zag route through the mountains or the terrifying truck-driver roads of Bulgaria (which Kristof used but are apparently mythic in their levels of terror, especially at night).
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #217 on: 08 August, 2016, 06:53:30 pm »
So it's a tactic not lostness? That's good. And she does have experience of the trucker roads from her round the world trip, so might want to avoid them from that –though she always speaks highly of lorry drivers' hospitality. Anyways, if you zoom in on her route there's a spur up into the mountains off M18 (which I assume is a main road itself) to a place called Gorne Polje (= Upper Field, though it looks flatter than the other side of the valley where the M18 is) and then she rejoins the main road. Perhaps she went to visit someone/thing/where?
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #218 on: 08 August, 2016, 08:57:36 pm »
According to Rebecca in The Other Place, it's all about dodging busy roads:

Quote
Interesting strategy here, as Emily goes back to pick up the "goat track" option. She appears to have decided to hug the coast somewhat, the other obvious* options being either a slow zig-zag route through the mountains or the terrifying truck-driver roads of Bulgaria (which Kristof used but are apparently mythic in their levels of terror, especially at night).
Thanks Tim. All is now clear.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #219 on: 09 August, 2016, 12:49:55 pm »
It looks as if she's heading for Greece now!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #220 on: 09 August, 2016, 01:03:36 pm »
James Hayden, Neil Phillips, Carlos Mazon and Peter Sandholt have all finished now. Looks like Geoffroy Dussault, Ultan Coyle and Nelson Trees will be next in - according to Trackleaders, Ultan is 53km from the finish, the other two are within 10km behind him. On a race of this scale, that's practically a bunch sprint finish!
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #221 on: 09 August, 2016, 01:48:05 pm »
Who are the contenders in the womens race?

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #222 on: 09 August, 2016, 01:51:52 pm »
Who are the contenders in the womens race?

As far as I can see from the leaderboard, Emily Chappell was the first woman through CP4 - a couple of hours ahead of yacf's Frank. Trackleaders is showing Emily as being 548km from the finish, with an ETA of Thursday evening around 7pm.

Charlotte Dequevauviller came through CP4 17 hours after Emily. Don't think any other women have reached CP4 yet unless there are one or two I've missed on the leaderboard.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #223 on: 09 August, 2016, 02:03:27 pm »
Who are the contenders in the womens race?

As far as I can see from the leaderboard, Emily Chappell was the first woman through CP4 - a couple of hours ahead of yacf's Frank. Trackleaders is showing Emily as being 548km from the finish, with an ETA of Thursday evening around 7pm.

Charlotte Dequevauviller came through CP4 17 hours after Emily. Don't think any other women have reached CP4 yet unless there are one or two I've missed on the leaderboard.

Nice one.

As proven with the Camille thing, I didn't just want to read the leaderboard and assume gender...  ;D

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Transcontinental 2016
« Reply #224 on: 09 August, 2016, 02:04:38 pm »
Looks like Nelson Trees has just overtaken Ultan Coyle! Although it seems that Ultan's tracker isn't updating as often as Nelson's so I'm not sure. Both are due to finish within the next 90 minutes or so - around 3.30pm UK time.

ETA: latest update shows Ultan ahead of Nelson again.

ETA: official twitter feed says Nelson is leading.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."