Author Topic: TCR no8.  (Read 85247 times)

Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #75 on: 26 November, 2019, 05:27:16 pm »
Presumably the rider who came twelfth riding fixed gear in 2017 (iirc) isn't the real deal either  ;D ::-)

Make sure you wear skinsuits and TT helmets to make the criteria, everyone! And don't forget to shave your legs!

Though saying that, I have been eyeing up one of these.... https://ridefar.info/2016/12/the-most-comfortable-cycling-clothing-one-piece-outfits/#Louis_Garneau_Course_Skin_Suit

I agree, it's not a sensible course to ride on fixed so.

Some people do wear skin suits - it comes down to a trade off of aero vs comfort and also pockets.   Aero helmets are not much used because of ventilation: they wouldn't work for long days in the heat. 

I used wheel covers for IndyPac.

Most legs are shaved, at the start, at least. 

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #76 on: 26 November, 2019, 05:29:13 pm »

I agree, it's not a sensible course to ride on fixed so.

Some people do wear skin suits - it comes down to a trade off of aero vs comfort and also pockets.   Aero helmets are not much used because of ventilation: they wouldn't work for long days in the heat. 

Everyone looked at a guy weirdly for lining up in Amerongen in a skin suit. 97 hours later when he crossed the finish line in first, we didn't think it as crazy...

Quote

I used wheel covers for IndyPac.

Most legs are shaved, at the start, at least.

I had a razor with me on the tcr this year. Not intentionally, I hadn't realised it was still in the bottom of my frame bag.

J
--
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http://b.42q.eu/

S2L

Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #77 on: 26 November, 2019, 05:31:45 pm »
10 days to look at a win, 13-14 days to look at a competitive finish... the time limit is 16 days... if you set off to finish > 16 days, you're taking the piss

zigzag

  • unfuckwithable
Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #78 on: 26 November, 2019, 05:48:57 pm »
re: giving the best shot.

most people think that they try their hardest, but in reality they don't (myself included). tired body and brain looks for any excuse to stop and not ride. therefore the 11th ice cream stop that day, full night's sleep where five hours would do, postings on social media etc. and that's fair enough, we are not robots.

on the final night it was around 100km left to go and i was knackered, but could have continued and be done with it. instead, i took five hour sleep stop in order to finish in daylight feeling like a human rather than a zombie. did i give my best shot? more like "good enough" shot and was content with my decisions.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #79 on: 26 November, 2019, 06:42:25 pm »
I remember reading about motor racing that there are two attitudes: the Juan Fangio approach, in which you win at the slowest speed possible, and the Stirling Moss attitude that the car will explode through extreme abuse the instant it crosses the line. I may have got the wrong names, but you can surely find the names of ultraracers to fit.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

bludger

  • Randonneur and bargain hunter
Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #80 on: 26 November, 2019, 06:51:52 pm »

Well that's an interesting one.

This just went past on twitter:

https://twitter.com/DeGendtThomas/status/1199370949885337606

I have mixed feelings on this one if it happens. On the one hand, holy fuck I get to race against a pro tour rider (sure I'm gonna lose, but still). On the other hand, no fair! you can go ride the tour/giro/vuelta, which I can't.

Should you be allowed to race an amateur event with such limited capacity, if you have a pro tour license?

Something I love about ultraracing is that it is so accessible. All the training in the world will never let me ride the Giro, but I lined up in Amerongen, next to a 24hr TT world champion, a 24hr tt world + national champion, and a Transam winner. In Burgas the night before the race one of my cycling heros sat with me, gave me some advice, and we had a nice chat about the race ahead. We lined up the next morning before they disappeared up the road. They gave me their number if I want to ask them for advice. But I'm too scared to text them.

I'll never win. But I'll give it my best shot.

J
I really hope he enters and does a ludicrous solo breakaway from the start line  ;D
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Ban cars.

Karla

  • car(e) free
    • Lost Byway - around the world by bike
Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #81 on: 26 November, 2019, 06:54:58 pm »
QG: No the person with a tent wasn't racing.  I don't think the event was oversubscribed?  If it was, s/he shouldn't have been there.

But he was faster than me, had he finished he would have done so at least a day ahead of me. I was racing Shiela and Aujke. Why wasn't he?

He wasn't racing because he was a) carrying a tent, b) carrying a stove and c) cooking his own porridge every morning.  Those are all deliberate  choices that will make you slower.  If you start an event with the preconceived intention of doing a slower time than you could do, in order to save the price of a few gas station breakfasts, you're not racing you're taking the piss. 

But you knew that already. 

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #82 on: 26 November, 2019, 07:00:35 pm »

He wasn't racing because he was a) carrying a tent, b) carrying a stove and c) cooking his own porridge every morning.  Those are all deliberate  choices that will make you slower.  If you start an event with the preconceived intention of doing a slower time than you could do, in order to save the price of a few gas station breakfasts, you're not racing you're taking the piss. 

But you knew that already.

Actually, he got a better nights sleep than I did when I got hyperthermia. He was able to produce hot food on demand when it was bloody cold and bleak. There were stretches where availability of food was a problem, hundreds of kilometres infact where nothing was available. The strategy of having some food available, and because of the flatness the weight penalty isn't a major issue. I'd say it's actually a strategy that deserves some consideration in the midfield.

Had I not caught the last orders at a restaurant in Lauwersoog, I would have been totally fucked. Another 20 minutes and I wouldn't have made it. He on the other hand could setup a tent, make a big pot of porridge, and warm up. Me? I had my feet wrapped in tin foil, and lost an hour hugging a radiator...

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Karla

  • car(e) free
    • Lost Byway - around the world by bike
Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #83 on: 26 November, 2019, 07:28:47 pm »
Yebbut you're not out to get a good night's sleep, you're out to win.  If you can't get to the next warm bed, you need to ride until you can.  This is the Netherlands, not Kyrgyzstan.  I'm pretty sure I know which rider you're talking about and he's raced at a high level in the past and more than deserves a cuppa when he wants one.  Stopping for a brew when you're feeling a bit cold ain't racing though, and you're doing violence to language if you suggest it is.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #84 on: 26 November, 2019, 08:44:42 pm »
Yebbut you're not out to get a good night's sleep, you're out to win.  If you can't get to the next warm bed, you need to ride until you can.  This is the Netherlands, not Kyrgyzstan.  I'm pretty sure I know which rider you're talking about and he's raced at a high level in the past and more than deserves a cuppa when he wants one.  Stopping for a brew when you're feeling a bit cold ain't racing though, and you're doing violence to language if you suggest it is.

That is a mistake many riders made, massively underestimating what it means to ride here when the weather is against you. I got frost injuries to my toes from the cold, as well as suffering from hypothermia at one stage. But hey, it's the Netherlands, how hard can it be...

Never been accused of doing violence to language. Nice turn of phrase.
J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

bludger

  • Randonneur and bargain hunter
Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #85 on: 26 November, 2019, 08:51:08 pm »
The hardest ride of my life was in Belgium. I was almost in big trouble. As in, on the verge of emptying out train station refuse sacks to use as a bivvy bag, and looking for combustible wood on the roadside to start a fire with. Having to ride the bike to try to stay warm, all while on the verge of nodding off at the handlebars. It's a fool who underestimates the low countries, which is exactly what I did, and it nearly went badly wrong.
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Ban cars.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #86 on: 26 November, 2019, 08:59:32 pm »
The hardest ride of my life was in Belgium. I was almost in big trouble. As in, on the verge of emptying out train station refuse sacks to use as a bivvy bag, and looking for combustible wood on the roadside to start a fire with. Having to ride the bike to try to stay warm, all while on the verge of nodding off at the handlebars. It's a fool who underestimates the low countries, which is exactly what I did, and it nearly went badly wrong.

Yeah, I got the frost injuries from that one. Last December I crashed 3 times in the final 50km of a 200k audax, due to ice.

It's not so much that the conditions are worse than the uk at the same latitude, but that resources are sparse (my nearest station to bail out at was basically next to the arrivé). On RatN once you Turn left at the google datacentre, until you get to Harlingen, there is very very little by way of bars, restaurants, cafes. Not to mention the opening hours are somewhat provincial.

What I think exacerbates it is that people think of it as "just a ride in the Netherlands", and so don't make the same prep as they do for ride in other places, and people wonder why I have so much junk on my bike...

J
--
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http://b.42q.eu/

S2L

Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #87 on: 26 November, 2019, 09:02:42 pm »
What's this frostbite thing got to do with a race in the middle of summer?

bludger

  • Randonneur and bargain hunter
Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #88 on: 26 November, 2019, 09:02:55 pm »
I was kicking myself something fierce at 3am on that ride, as I'd left my gore Tex Bibi bag at the HQ to save weight.

But then maybe if I'd had it, I'd not have finished the ride.

This is a weird sport.
YACF touring/audax bargain basement:
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Ban cars.

Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #89 on: 26 November, 2019, 10:24:38 pm »
re: giving the best shot.

most people think that they try their hardest, but in reality they don't (myself included). tired body and brain looks for any excuse to stop and not ride. therefore the 11th ice cream stop that day, full night's sleep where five hours would do, postings on social media etc. and that's fair enough, we are not robots.

on the final night it was around 100km left to go and i was knackered, but could have continued and be done with it. instead, i took five hour sleep stop in order to finish in daylight feeling like a human rather than a zombie. did i give my best shot? more like "good enough" shot and was content with my decisions.

I tipped you as a podium contender before the race so, yes, I agree, it wasn't quite your best shot. Not at the same level as your pbp rides!

I realise I take it more seriously than most others I meet. I don't stop at restaurants, don't do social media, don't do photos and, the only time I've finished an ultra, I only had one hour's sleep on each of the last two nights. Partly its coming from a time trialling background which gets me into the mindset of keeping pushing. But I'd really, really hate to get to the end and think I could have done it quicker.

zigzag

  • unfuckwithable
Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #90 on: 26 November, 2019, 10:55:17 pm »
i have my excuses* for the below par tcr result; pbp is a childs play compared to tcr.. :)

* one common thing with all excuses is that no one believes them

Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #91 on: 27 November, 2019, 02:08:07 pm »
Speaking from a position of significant inexperience, a couple of comments up there reminded me of things...

If you're being passed by the same person every day then your strategies seem about equal to me. This year's win showed that there's alternative approaches to maximum exhaustion each day. Area under the curve wins.

Emily Chappel made an interesting comment about the difference between TCR and RAAM. Part of that was that being able to judge the difference between necessary rest of mind and body, and taking it easy is part of the race in TCR. In RAAM there's a team telling you what to do.



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S2L

Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #92 on: 27 November, 2019, 04:31:38 pm »
Area under the curve wins.

Wow, the most interesting metaphors in this thread... first frostbite as a proof of how hard it can be to ride a bicycle in Europe (in summer???), now mathematical integration as a strategy to win a race...

Possibly the Newton-Leibniz classic?  :thumbsup:


Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #93 on: 27 November, 2019, 05:11:09 pm »
No matter whether you go for the classic fig newton or the strawberry version, the chocolate-covered lesbian biscuits are best. Not to be confused with lesbian tea, which is something completely different.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #94 on: 27 November, 2019, 05:16:31 pm »


Possibly the Newton-Leibniz classic? 

:D

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mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #95 on: 27 November, 2019, 08:15:28 pm »
The problem with the £25 isn't the affordibility per se, it's who it puts off. IIRC there've been studies of job applicants where the more hoops you make people jump through, the more likely you are to end up with nothing but overconfident upper/middle class white men, independent of actual ability to do the job.

one hundred thousand times this.
+1
(that's just ONE, not 100,000 ;)  )

I haven't checked all the small-print yet, but it feels like they've got this wrong for TCR8. If it was a fiver to get your place, fair enough; that's close to the amount it "costs" them to process your application. But £25? Just to enter a lottery?? I suspect this would have put me off TPR.

I think a time-consuming entry process is far better for deterring tyre-kickers; if you look at LEL2013, there was a frenzy to CLICK THAT BUTTON at some crazy time, months in advance. Then on start day, dozens of riders DNSed without even bothering to claim the refund (£50? £100? dunno, do your own research!)

That sounds like a time-poor cash-rich thing to me, plain as day ...
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #96 on: 27 November, 2019, 08:37:35 pm »

Quote
Thing is, if you are cash poor, but time rich, you can do the race really cheaply.
Yebbut then you're not racing, and shouldn't really enter.
So are you saying that any compromise on spending means you're not really racing?

That doesn't make sense - have you spent every spare penny on your "racing" this year??
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

Karla

  • car(e) free
    • Lost Byway - around the world by bike
Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #97 on: 28 November, 2019, 12:01:19 am »
I threw my last few at you when you were pulling annoying faces at Hodnet.  Did I miss?

bludger

  • Randonneur and bargain hunter
Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #98 on: 28 November, 2019, 12:13:08 am »
I'm going to be keeping a beady eye out for when the spots for volunteering will open. I'd hope to get the Belgium spot but would settle for Brest. Maybe Austria, though cycling London to there would be a bit of work.
YACF touring/audax bargain basement:
https://bit.ly/2Xg8pRD



Ban cars.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: TCR no8.
« Reply #99 on: 28 November, 2019, 01:19:35 am »
I'm going to be keeping a beady eye out for when the spots for volunteering will open. I'd hope to get the Belgium spot but would settle for Brest. Maybe Austria, though cycling London to there would be a bit of work.

If you're a volunteer, and not racing, ask a rider for their route from CP1 to CP2. It'll probably be pretty optimised. So you'd have no problems riding it, esp as you can do shorter days.

That said Austrian trains are pretty cheap, follow the Rhine as far as lake constance, then head up to Feldkirk and a train through the lumpiest bits.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/