So have I but I don't have the required balls of steel to race hours upon hours for 10 days to the end! Props to people that enter for real.
I thought aerobars were OK in France as long as you weren't in a mass-start event...?Yeah, that's what I thought - and I think the race doesnt go thru Switzerland (at least not in 2015).
I think the org made a joke about this last year. My reading was that he doesnt truly care about aero-bars, but he wanted riders to have to think about their setup
i.e. not use an off-the-peg TT bike or tourer.
The biggest issue I've been aware of is the tyre shredding that occurred on the Assietta.
[The unfortunate side-effect has been that almost everyone seems to use the same luggage ! ]Isn't that to do with Apidura being one of the sponsors?
To say it's "a very inclusive event, with riders of all abilities getting recognition through their Twitter feed and other publicity," is only true for a extremely limited sense of "all abilities". You already have to be amongst the, so to speak, elite of the amateur, to contemplate such a race.Lets hear your proposals for a 2200km unsupported event.
So what did you bloody expect??
"Inclusive for an endurance sporting event" is not the same as "inclusive".
https://twitter.com/gareth_baines/status/626022474887602182Fair point. And don't forget the cows:
Gareth is OTP and finished 7th according to the leaderboard on the transcontinental website.
A pic from Gareth on the Assietta.
https://instagram.com/p/5q8OR9jymh/
I think calling it 'gravel' doesn't do it justice.
Also this.
https://instagram.com/p/5pZLv6IF2e/
Of course as the 2016 route is still under wraps, none of this may be relevant. It might be worse.
Anyone want to talk about the race?Soz! (I actually find the Transcontinental far more interesting to follow than, say, PBP or TdF)
Some more OT-but-inclusive bollox:(click to show/hide)
I'd love to do TCR, but the time off / parenting pass required is a big barrier. One of the guys in my LBS made it to Turkey in 2013, but not the finish due to 2 x rtas. The "busy roads" zigzag mentioned sounded hectic.
I'll be very jealous of any of you doing it.
BTW, If you want navigation challenges and adventure closer to home http://www.highlandtrail.net/ might suit. I'm doing at least a couple of MTB ITTs next year getting a lot out of them, whereas was feeling a bit stale about audax.
my tcr account (http://reportage.transcontinental.cc/?p=836) fwiw.
my tcr account (http://reportage.transcontinental.cc/?p=836) fwiw.
Looks good, I'll have a read at some point. My first thought is that you appear to have travelled impressively light!
Yes me+1
Definitely me
Even if it is just to stop me actually considering it seriously :hand:
my tcr account (http://reportage.transcontinental.cc/?p=836) fwiw.
Looks good, I'll have a read at some point. My first thought is that you appear to have travelled impressively light!
riding/racing such a long and hilly way and carrying lots of stuff makes little sense, so i only chose what i thought i'd need, and took half of that (and still could go lighter but did not want to tempt the fate).
(not riding the TCR, but paying close attention to all ultra-racing as I plan a go at TransAm in the next couple of years)
(not riding the TCR, but paying close attention to all ultra-racing as I plan a go at TransAm in the next couple of years)
Now you're talking! .... although TCR is before that on my list
Project for 2017 or 18. Have blessing from Mrs JB, just need to work on business partners (and working out if I am even capable of giving it a good go!).
Anyway, Transcontinental controls look superb.
I am actually really close to entering.
I am going to take today to ponder it, speak to friends and then make a definite decision whether to put in an application or not.
reading that link I didnt see any mention of bad surfaces - did I miss anything?
Also, they seem to use "parcours" to mean the mandatory route sections near certain controls. Am I reading this right? Is this an established use of the word?
Rob, you're right - finishing at Troy gives it an almost mythical feel :) I hope there are no unforeseen issues for the riders.
There's no suggestion yet of non paved surfaces that I have seen.
That is significant!
That will need some luck with weather as well, makes for challenging night riding potentially
Gears. Lots of gears.
I did a *very* rough sketch from CP1 through to Cortina just beyond CP3, and came out to round 950km with around 21,000m of climbing
Gears. Lots of gears.
Quite something! It is a little less climbing per km than the Super Randonnee I did in the Pyrenees (15000m in 600km), but not by much! 250km a day in that sort of terrain sounds a reasonable target (I am sure the pointy end people will still be clocking 300km+!), but will still be incredibly tough no doubt (the biggest day on the SR was 240km with around 6700m of ascent - the reality was it was 190km with 6700m of ascent as the last 50km of the day were a descent. That was one of the hardest days on a bike I have ever had for sure). Could I do that 4 days in a row? Heck of a challenge for sure.
Really quite intimidating climbing figures and the desire to travel ever lighter will be strong I would suspect.
Going to be fascinating and I suspect we will see quite a few scratch once they get up there.
I think I might ride (almost) non-stop thru the easier sections. Then treat the mountains as a chance to catch up on zzz, while dodging storms and recovering from monster climbs.
Class Facebook post from Darren Franks:
Here's my map of TCR4. Please don't steal my route!
(https://theadventurecapitalist.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/tcr-no4-route.png)
Just found out that I've got a place :-)
IIRC, zigzag admitted his route planning was something like looking at a road atlas the night before he started.Just found out that I've got a place :-)
Congrats. Time to start studying maps!
IIRC, zigzag admitted his route planning was something like looking at a road atlas the night before he started.Just found out that I've got a place :-)
Congrats. Time to start studying maps!
They weren't lying about a race for Grimpeurs ....
Your challenge for the evening. Find a route from CP2 (Furka Pass) to start of parcours for CP3 (Passo san Pellegrino) which involves less than 8,000m of climbing. The direct route I quickly plotted was something like 350km with 8,900m of climbing. So just over a quarter of PBP, and almost as much climbing - and that's just between the middle checkpoints.
Holy crap - gonna need some stronger knees (assuming I'm even brave enough)
Yeah, we're on the 8:04 to Brussels with two other riders. See you in Geraardsbergen.
Best of luck Frank! I hope it is an amazing adventure. Enjoy yourself even when it is not enjoyable.
Go go go!
Try not to knock MORE miles off :P
...
Did anyone else from YACF end up entering? ...
Josh Ibbett scratched. Didn't he win it last year?
...
Some other good places for updates are this Twitter list with many of the riders and the official race account - https://twitter.com/buro9/lists/tcrno4 - and the LFGSS thread tracking 9* of their riders (and others) - https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/228045/
...
...
Did anyone else from YACF end up entering? ...
I don't think she's on here, but many people here probably know her, or know of her, Emily Chappell (https://twitter.com/emilychappell) is doing it too.
Kristof is actually a superhuman so you can ignore him. :thumbsup:
I'm slightly surprised at the people only doing 300-400k in the first 24 hours to be honest. Seems more like Audax rather than race pace. Given that the race is oversubscribed maybe they need qualification events.
Kristof is actually a superhuman so you can ignore him. :thumbsup:
I'm slightly surprised at the people only doing 300-400k in the first 24 hours to be honest. Seems more like Audax rather than race pace. Given that the race is oversubscribed maybe they need qualification events.
Those doing 'only' 3-400km a day are doing something truly awe inspiring and I for one have nothing but respect for them. Not sure I could do it, but I intend to find out sometime.
Anyway, I shouldn't feed the troll and all that.
Some twitter highlights -great stuff!
hippy @firsthippy 3h3 hours ago
Don't tell hotel guy but I used his scissors to cut off my pubes to tape raw bits. Raining now! #TCRNo4 #TCRNo4S142 In bus shelter, jacket.
hippy @firsthippy 22h22 hours ago
Carrefour lunch. Such yum much taste. Shorts seem to have turned penis into mince. Bit earlier than expected. :S #TCRNo4 #TCRNo4S142
Er ... can someone point me to the tracker site?
(I've been round in circles of various pages of the official site; reportage, race info ... to no avail. I'm sure its under my nose somewhere! )
No updates on the state of hippy's knob though.
I just twigged that George Marshall in team 210 is the same George Marshall who finished 5th in the 24hr a week ago.Quite a handy domestique to have.
:o
I just twigged that George Marshall in team 210 is the same George Marshall who finished 5th in the 24hr a week ago.
:o
Jesper Sorensen (48) seems to be having fun.... or directional issues.... or both. Anyone any ideas?
The 210 team appear right at the end of this (and I think briefly earlier on too): https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=mRX3K7lX5x0I just twigged that George Marshall in team 210 is the same George Marshall who finished 5th in the 24hr a week ago.
:o
Bloody hell. I just about returned to walking properly by Saturday afternoon.
Tricky bit next, navigating through the alpine passes. Kristof has yet to have a significant stop I think, but he's being tracked by Bjorn, who has had at least, ooh a couple of 2-hour kip stops. Interesting to see the tactic of Neil Phillips, currently 5th, who's had a couple of decent 8-hour stops already but is riding faster through the days.IF I'm reading his Speed vs Time graph correctly, Kristof has had 3 decent stops:
He-he!
The guy that slept on the Clermont-Ferrand football ground caught my eye too (was that a screenshot that someone posted on FB? I don't have access right now).
Look who has moved into second place, closing on the leaderI note that the routes taken have just split into 3 (after Tamins). Kristof took his own path, and Bjorn (026) took a different route to everyone else. Maybe he's gained miles while dodging metres (climbing!) ?
only 50kms away... Björn Lenhard (026) must have had his Weetabix. While most of us today have struggled through our 9-5 jobs, Bjorn has put in an exemplary performance, passing Alexandre Bourgeonnier (002), Carlos Mazon (060), Ultan Coyle (004), Neil Phillips (172) and Nelson Trees (080). No wonder Kristof is still pedalling hard
Look who has moved into second place, closing on the leader
only 50kms away... Björn Lenhard (026) must have had his Weetabix. While most of us today have struggled through our 9-5 jobs, Bjorn has put in an exemplary performance, passing Alexandre Bourgeonnier (002), Carlos Mazon (060), Ultan Coyle (004), Neil Phillips (172) and Nelson Trees (080). No wonder Kristof is still pedalling hard
Morbihan
Thread hijack. Will you do a write up. My wife and I were thinking of romantic road,Wurzburg- Fussen then join the Munich to Venice and do about 1000km in a month.
... And where is rider 77 off to??
... And where is rider 77 off to??
He seems to be following broadly the same routes as everyone else, currently, but where is 142 going? He looks like he's following the same route as Control Car 1 used to get to CP3 (which is displayed in orange).
(http://balius.sp.ph.ic.ac.uk/~timo/stuff/Transcontinental_Rider142_50percent.png) (http://balius.sp.ph.ic.ac.uk/~timo/stuff/Transcontinental_Rider142.png)
Darren's Arse is talking to Darren - brilliant
https://twitter.com/DarrensArse/status/760387146075217920
Riding over the Strelapass at night on a road bike must be the most audacious route yet.
http://trackleaders.com/transconrace16i.php?name=Stephane_Ouaja (http://trackleaders.com/transconrace16i.php?name=Stephane_Ouaja)
Photog is Camille McMillan
Photog is Camille McMillan
Thanks, I tracked down her Instagram feed https://www.instagram.com/camillejmcmillan/ (https://www.instagram.com/camillejmcmillan/)
Camille John McMillan.Photog is Camille McMillan
Thanks, I tracked down her Instagram feed https://www.instagram.com/camillejmcmillan/ (https://www.instagram.com/camillejmcmillan/)
She is a bloke!
She is a bloke!
If you watch the documentary from last years race, he's the guy with the moustache.She is a bloke!
My bad.
Who knew?
Hippy's moving average is now a click faster than the leader!... And where is rider 77 off to??
He seems to be following broadly the same routes as everyone else, currently, but where is 142 going? He looks like he's following the same route as Control Car 1 used to get to CP3 (which is displayed in orange).
(http://balius.sp.ph.ic.ac.uk/~timo/stuff/Transcontinental_Rider142_50percent.png) (http://balius.sp.ph.ic.ac.uk/~timo/stuff/Transcontinental_Rider142.png)
142 is a fat bastard that doesn't like hills, but he is flipping quick on the flatter stuff. So this might be a genius move (though he has tweeted that he ended up on/near a motorway, so maybe not!).
As per Oranj's post above, there's a lot of good discussion on Hippy'spenis and arseprogress on LFGSS
(#77 was briefly tracked on a cable car route, but did indeed return to normality. I shall stop being distracted by random GPS errors <writes 500 lines> ... )
... but where is 142 going? He looks like he's following the same route as Control Car 1 used to get to CP3 ...
142 is a fat bastard that doesn't like hills, but he is flipping quick on the flatter stuff. So this might be a genius move ...
I findDoes that help at all? :)the whole thingPBP quite confusing .. at the front there are superhumans and at the back there seem to be guys like Fidgetbuzz going for a gentle tour .. making progress at about my speed.
QuoteI findDoes that help at all? :)the whole thingPBP quite confusing .. at the front there are superhumans and at the back there seem to be guys like Fidgetbuzz going for a gentle tour .. making progress at about my speed.
QuoteI findDoes that help at all? :)the whole thingPBP quite confusing .. at the front there are superhumans and at the back there seem to be guys like Fidgetbuzz going for a gentle tour .. making progress at about my speed.
Well yes and no Matt. All PBP entrants have ridden a 600 in time .. so the 90 hour limit is achievable for all entrants .. even tho they know they are not riding at speeds comparable to the leaders .. but here the back markers seem to have been riding for about 3 1/2 days and stopped for about 2 days.. this is not similar to the back of PBP.. and at the moment it does seem as if many will not make the 10 day limit and they will know that now ( although maybe my guess at their performance is incorrect ) .. so why they doing it ?? still my query??
First time I've watched TCR since the first one, how its grown, I'm finding it hard this side of the screen!Thanks.
Great blog here - http://www.transcontinental.cc/blog
First time I've watched TCR since the first one, how its grown, I'm finding it hard this side of the screen!Thanks.
Great blog here - http://www.transcontinental.cc/blog
You can see what a tough event this is: http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56e03aab7da24fcf36e00d86/t/57a28268cd0f687001616bdd/1470268012247/?format=1500w
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.
So Ivan's tracking website has Kristof estimated to finish at 9:21 on Sunday morning.
That is just mind blowing.
I just twigged that George Marshall in team 210 is the same George Marshall who finished 5th in the 24hr a week ago.Quite a handy domestique to have.
:o
Yep, astonishing pace. Incredible lead over the rest of the pack as well.
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.
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.
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).
According to Rebecca in The Other Place, it's all about dodging busy roads:Thanks Tim. All is now clear.QuoteInteresting 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).
Who are the contenders in the womens race?
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.
It looks as if she's heading for Greece now!
Maybe between the two? If she goes south of both, she will be in Greece!It looks as if she's heading for Greece now!
I'm trying to guess whether she'll go north or south of Lakes Ohird and Prespa. South may be slightly less mountainy, but is probably a bit further.
I think Johanna (141) is well up there (CP4 2 hours ago -ish).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.
There was a ... "lively"* discussion
So, she went North of both of them, and then straight(ish) across to Thessaloniki, which seemed the logical route.Maybe between the two? If she goes south of both, she will be in Greece!It looks as if she's heading for Greece now!I'm trying to guess whether she'll go north or south of Lakes Ohird and Prespa. South may be slightly less mountainy, but is probably a bit further.
Yep. Massive hats off to hippy for the most amount of tweets ever sent during a bike race.
A top ride.
Emily and Frank to finish today?
How frequently does the ferry run? Frequently enough that it's not a factor or do riders end up waiting till the next day?
her audio blog
I googled audio blog. It returns stuff like this:her audio blog
???
Try https://audioboom.com/jackthurher audio blog
???
Try https://audioboom.com/jackthurher audio blog
???
She finished knowing she’d comfortably taken the top spot on the podium, as well as being 11th overall from hundreds of riders – male and female.Whereas the tracker says she was 40th overall. ???
congratulations hippy on finishing, what an entertaining ride (on this side of the screen at least!), half a distance of the trans-am (is it still on ;) )
keep going Frank, just a bit of greece and a corner of turkey left!
Yep. Massive hats off to hippy for the most amount of tweets ever sent during a bike race.
A top ride.
Top ride Hippy.
Hope to meet you next year if me and the Mud Puppy get a slot.
Top ride Hippy.
Hope to meet you next year if me and the Mud Puppy get a slot.
I'll be the one NOT using an ISM PN 1.1 saddle :)
Top ride Hippy.
Hope to meet you next year if me and the Mud Puppy get a slot.
I'll be the one NOT using an ISM PN 1.1 saddle :)
I'd give my left nut to get a place in the race next year. Sounds like you gave one of yours during the event this time round. ;D
Brilliant Hippy .
now crack on and get it finished! ;D
Looking at the kit that people were carrying on their bikes, and the fact that Kristofs bike only weighed 12kg all up. Do any of the competitors carry bike locks? or do they just take the bikes in to the rooms when in hotels?
Also, Did Kristof actually sleep at any point on that ride? Amazing stuff.
J
I had a small lock and didn't use it much. I may not bother with it again. ~100g
My bike was around 16kg without food or water so say 19kg loaded. It's a Kinesis 4S Disc frame with strong, well-built wheels, wide rubber, powermeter, Di2, aerobars - built to finish TCR, not to win, I would say and it is also now my commuter/winter training bike although I haven't sold my old Kinesis 4S yet. I also had down jacket and bivvy and a range of cold weather options, ie. 3 pairs of gloves, 2 pairs of shorts, rainjacket, hand warmer gels, etc.
In Europe I'd not bother with that stuff again and I'd ditch some of my three spare lights! for a more powerful head torch or helmet light like Exposure Joystick.
If I had a clue and planned better I'd ditch the bivvy and down jacket - I only used it once when I got caught in the storm and arrived in PLuzine at 3am with no food, water or shelter. #likeaboss
Did KA ride through the first two nights? I thought he was on a 4-5hr sleep schedule every day? I've not bothered looking at any race data, I was just happy to finish!
Next time though I will be racingz for placingz so look out. Probably TransAm though.
- Point #290 received at: 12:04:39 AM (CEST) 07/31/16
(23 days, 9 hours, 5 minutes ago) (1:02:04 since start)
- Point #293 received at: 04:51:27 AM (CEST) 07/31/16
(23 days, 4 hours, 18 minutes ago) (1:06:51 since start)
Then at midnight 2 days in, a few hours into Switzerland, right by lake Thunersee.Did you see anyone running 26" wheels at all ?
How did you power all your lights/gadgets?
So you mostly slept in hotels ?
The bivvy vs hotels is the main difference in kit. Kristoff always uses hotels and so doesn't take sleeping kit. However, I recall that Josh Ibbet, who won last year, slept out most of the time. I'd say maybe 80% of people took bivvy eqpt but quite a few didn't.
The 2-3kg in weight doesn't make much difference to speed in itself but, the more luggage you have, the more time you spend unpacking and re-packing it.
For TransAm I wonder if you could rely on hotels or would have to camp out some of the time? I'm pretty sure Mike Hall has bivvied when he has set his records.
I didn't see anyone with 26" wheels. They would make the bumpy bits even worse. Most people used dynamos. I managed with AAs and battery packs, which worked fine but meant I had to manage my phone battery by keeping it on aeroplane mode most of the time (so didn't tweet like a canary - unlike some peeps with dynamos!)
I think KA rode a good way before his first stop, but I've not checked the data either, so that could be wrong. But he, and all the top riders, have a sensible sleep schedule for the bulk of the ride. If you ride all night, you just knacker yourself out for the next day.
From memory, slept in:
Checkpoint hotel at CP1, 1hr
Tried to bivvy but to cold in near Swiss border, 20-30min of shivering
Hotel at CP2 (didn't need to but saddle issues were killing me), feckin' hours!
Hotel in Verona (nice), ~3hrs?
Hotel in Pordenone (nice), ~3hrs?
Powernap in bus stop maybe in Bosnia or just before entering Bosnia?
Motel Kiwi in Bosnia (check self in at 3am), ~3hrs?
Bivvy at parcours start in Pluzine, Montenegro as everything was closed, ~3hrs?
Hotel Macedonia, just before Greek border, 2hrs?
Bus stop sleep somewhere in Greece, no idea time
Bivvy in bus stop somewhere else in Greece, ~3hrs?
I had a similar mix, but it looks like I generally slept a bit longer than you.
My strategy was to either ride or sleep and do v. little else so I think I had longer night stops and spent more hours riding than most people, but my riding speed was lower than others I encountered, ie they kept overtaking me!
Also as well as night sleeps I also had naps when I got the dozies through the day - on benches, in parks, in fields, etc. I decided I would stop when I felt that there was a risk of nodding off while riding. So I probably did that every other day.
My stops were:
Bivvied at a campsite by the Loire that I'd used before - reasonable sleep, 4-5 hours
Bivvied by the road somewhere in Burgundy - c.3 hours, didn't sleep much and got cold, and wet from lots of dew in the morning
Hotel at Neuchatel (5 hours) great sleep
Bivvied at about 1700m altitude on the way up the Gothard Pass. 2 hours - best sleep I've ever had.
Hotel by Lake Garda, c.5 hours - good sleep
Bench in a town somewhere in N. Italy about 50km on from Passo Giau. 1.5 hours, hardly slept a wink.
Bivvied in bus shelter in Thunderstorm near Rijeka (Croatia) - c.4 hours. OK sleep.
Hotel at Bihac in Bosnia, c.5hours, good sleep
Hotel at Kiselic, 25km before Sarajevo, c.5hours, good sleep
Bivvied in bus shelter 25km past Skopje, c5 hours, crap sleep (was looking for hotel and discovered one 200m further on in the morning)
Bench somewhere in northern Greece. c.1.5 hours
Bench in Turkey about 80km short of the finish, c 1.5 hours.
From memory, slept in:
Checkpoint hotel at CP1, 1hr
Tried to bivvy but to cold in near Swiss border, 20-30min of shivering
Hotel at CP2 (didn't need to but saddle issues were killing me), feckin' hours!
Hotel in Verona (nice), ~3hrs?
Hotel in Pordenone (nice), ~3hrs?
Powernap in bus stop maybe in Bosnia or just before entering Bosnia?
Motel Kiwi in Bosnia (check self in at 3am), ~3hrs?
Bivvy at parcours start in Pluzine, Montenegro as everything was closed, ~3hrs?
Hotel Macedonia, just before Greek border, 2hrs?
Bus stop sleep somewhere in Greece, no idea time
Bivvy in bus stop somewhere else in Greece, ~3hrs?
I had a similar mix, but it looks like I generally slept a bit longer than you.
My strategy was to either ride or sleep and do v. little else so I think I had longer night stops and spent more hours riding than most people, but my riding speed was lower than others I encountered, ie they kept overtaking me!
Also as well as night sleeps I also had naps when I got the dozies through the day - on benches, in parks, in fields, etc. I decided I would stop when I felt that there was a risk of nodding off while riding. So I probably did that every other day.
My stops were:
Bivvied at a campsite by the Loire that I'd used before - reasonable sleep, 4-5 hours
Bivvied by the road somewhere in Burgundy - c.3 hours, didn't sleep much and got cold, and wet from lots of dew in the morning
Hotel at Neuchatel (5 hours) great sleep
Bivvied at about 1700m altitude on the way up the Gothard Pass. 2 hours - best sleep I've ever had.
Hotel by Lake Garda, c.5 hours - good sleep
Bench in a town somewhere in N. Italy about 50km on from Passo Giau. 1.5 hours, hardly slept a wink.
Bivvied in bus shelter in Thunderstorm near Rijeka (Croatia) - c.4 hours. OK sleep.
Hotel at Bihac in Bosnia, c.5hours, good sleep
Hotel at Kiselic, 25km before Sarajevo, c.5hours, good sleep
Bivvied in bus shelter 25km past Skopje, c5 hours, crap sleep (was looking for hotel and discovered one 200m further on in the morning)
Bench somewhere in northern Greece. c.1.5 hours
Bench in Turkey about 80km short of the finish, c 1.5 hours.
I went off-route a few times for food and drink and wasted time with other places that weren't serving. Something else I can improve on in future.
Got used to it eventually but in the early stages I was a bit stressed about it getting darker and me still not finding food/water, having planned a long night's riding.
boulangerie on my route which was open at 4:50am.
I always made sure my food bag was full at the end of the day so I had enough to ride well into the night. In France, I found a Lidl just before it closed at 7pm on the Saturday night. Given it was Sunday the next day, I made sure I left there with my food bag full plus 6 bananas and a pack of 10 chocolate croissants stuffed down my jersey! I needed it all as I didn't pass anything else open until almost lunchtime on the Sunday.
Neat. Keep us posted here when you add more instalments.
I must've got lucky with my route through Bosnia. Every blog I read talks about the horrendous roads but I got to ride some of the smoothest tarmac of the whole race there.