TCR No 10

[Lightning Phil]

Cap 243. Markldn. 

[SpaceBadger]

Lost dot posted a photo on Instagram of the race leader pushing his bike up the CP2 parcour.

Call me old fashioned, but I'm of the view that in a bike race, the whole route should be cycleable...

I really dislike the choice of parcours in recent years.

J

If that’s the same one I’m thinking of, that photo is also here on a Mastodon post.

https://dresden.network/@der_raDDler/112848239122689090

[JonBuoy]

Lost dot posted a photo on Instagram of the race leader pushing his bike up the CP2 parcour.

Call me old fashioned, but I'm of the view that in a bike race, the whole route should be cycleable...

I really dislike the choice of parcours in recent years.

J

If that’s the same one I’m thinking of, that photo is also here on a Mastodon post.

https://dresden.network/@der_raDDler/112848239122689090

That looks eminently cycleable - he's just brought the wrong bike.

Is the HT550 not a bike race just because there are a few challenging sections?

[quixoticgeek]

HT550 is a mountain bike event. You can expect such terrain.

The TCR is a road race.

J

[quixoticgeek]

Abdullah Zeinab has closed to within 10km of Robin. Robin stopped for just shy of 4 hours near the border with Montenegro.

Could we see a new race leader in the next few hours ?

J

[rr]

Abdullah Zeinab has closed to within 10km of Robin. Robin stopped for just shy of 4 hours near the border with Montenegro.

Could we see a new race leader in the next few hours ?

J

His stopped time is still much lower than the others, and they are hardly luxuriating in soft beds, I do wonder how long he can sustain it.
He also takes longer, flatter routes on bigger roads so it is quite hard to compare at the moment.

[JonBuoy]

Abdullah Zeinab has closed to within 10km of Robin. Robin stopped for just shy of 4 hours near the border with Montenegro.

Could we see a new race leader in the next few hours ?

J

Nope.

Abdullah stopped for a couple of hours just as Robin was getting going after his nap.  They are on different routes now so it isn't possible to give a time gap but Robin is about 45k ahead as the crow flies.

[alfapete]

Cap 243. Markldn.

I echo this one. Canadian born, lives in Lewisham, has ridden LEL twice, and PBP of course. Genuine nice guy, organises the London Lockdown group DIY. All round eco warrior. Surprised himself with his result on TCRNo9 and is going really well this time, too. Go. Mark!!

[FifeingEejit]

HT550 is a mountain bike event. You can expect such terrain.

The TCR is a road race.

J

The inclusion of gravel parcour and riders being allowed to choose their own route, suggests otherwise.

I'd always thought it was more a bikepacking ITT and you choose the bike most appropriate to the adventure you choose to have.

[StuAff]

One I'd been keeping an eye on was Matt Falconer, 253, who was going for his sixth finish. Met him in the queue for the ferry at Dieppe a few weeks back (he returning from a training ride, me & others from a Fridays tour). Nice guy. Sadly, his first DNF. Knee injury, scratched this morning.

[JonBuoy]

The fastest rider on the road has finally got to CP1.

More 'normal' riders have got until midnight to get there before the control closes.

[quixoticgeek]

The inclusion of gravel parcour and riders being allowed to choose their own route, suggests otherwise.

I'd always thought it was more a bikepacking ITT and you choose the bike most appropriate to the adventure you choose to have.

There is a considerable difference between gravel and a boulder field masquerading as a road.

The TCR has had non tarmaced sections even when Mike ran it. But they were fast rolling gravel roads. The stuff in Bosnia is far from that.

J

[Lightning Phil]

Abdullah does seem to be closing the gap on Robin today. If map reflects terrain I think it’s a combination of better road surfaces and flatter terrain.

[alfapete]

I chose five riders to follow at the start:

• #243 who I know personally and is doing an amazing job
• #21 who is now running in second place - came across him on the 'gram and liked his story as he's obviously very strong and very new to such racing
• #33 is a contact of Jas Muller, an old acquaintence and very strong rider herself
• #143 who is fund raising and seems to like a decent sleep in a hotel each night and is usually stopped at a supermarket whenever I check - confidently last of the current contenders
• #256, a random 'gram pick who never seemed to be enjoying it and has scratched with knee pain

Instagram helps keep you in touch with their personal stories and explains some of their inexplicable moves. They're a really varied bunch. Sadly, Lionel's not on the 'gram.

[JonBuoy]

Abdullah has rejoined Robin's route and is about 2.5 hours behind him.  Christoph is another 2 hours behind Abdullah.

[FifeingEejit]

The inclusion of gravel parcour and riders being allowed to choose their own route, suggests otherwise.

I'd always thought it was more a bikepacking ITT and you choose the bike most appropriate to the adventure you choose to have.

There is a considerable difference between gravel and a boulder field masquerading as a road.

The TCR has had non tarmaced sections even when Mike ran it. But they were fast rolling gravel roads. The stuff in Bosnia is far from that.

J

TBF looking at that picture on a bigger monitor, i now see the rocks are about the size of the ones on the "road" at the top of Glen Clova, which I didn't find rideable on 26"x2.1" tyres.

[SpaceBadger]

Gravel? My arse!

https://dresden.network/@der_raDDler/112852523861019429

[quixoticgeek]

Like I say. Boulder field masquerading as a road...

J

[Lightning Phil]

Gravel? My arse!

https://dresden.network/@der_raDDler/112852523861019429

Yeah you’d fly along that on a mountain bike. Not so much a road bike.

[JonBuoy]

195 solos and 15 pairs made the time cut at CP1.  45 official scratches so the rest are, in theory, carrying on.

At the other end of the race Abdullah is now just over an hour behind Robin after a shorter stop in Skopje.  Cristoph was 4.5 hours behind Abdullah at CP3 but, unlike the other two, had stopped for a sleep before it.  Cristoph is about 35k behind Abdullah as the crow flies but he is on a different route so we don't know accurate time gaps.

[Lightning Phil]

Be interesting to see how Christoph’s routing works out. A shorter route than the other two, unless I’m missing something.

[Ivo]

Cap 16 announced his scratching on Facebook:

🇬🇧 I have never believed in bad luck: I think this is an excuse to justify failures.
Falls, Healt issues, problems are part of ultracycling races: how we face them defines the result we achieve.
Simply, this time, my determination and ability to “fight” is less than the physical pain that has accumulated since the start.
My experience at the Transcontinental ends here, after a last silent and solitary climb to Durmitor. It was special in its own way and, despite a bit of disappointment, it taught me something once again that I am sure will be useful in the future.
I think I asked a lot, perhaps too much, by myself this year: after Antarctica and Australia, my residual energy did not allow me much more than that.
Thank you for following me with the usual love and presence.

His tracker stopped moving in Zabljak (Durmitor mountains, Montenegro) yesterday evening.

[quixoticgeek]

What's the situation with the ferries to get to CP4? How frequently do they run? Are they 24 hours a day ?

Am wondering  if this could neutralise any lewd between some of the front runners.

J

[Lightning Phil]

Mark (243) is circling back west. Did he forget something?

[JonBuoy]

What's the situation with the ferries to get to CP4? How frequently do they run? Are they 24 hours a day ?

Am wondering  if this could neutralise any lewd between some of the front runners.

J

Apparently:

The eceabat - canakkale ferry runs 24hours a day every two hours from midnight to 6am then every hour from 7am to 11pm

Not sure about the other ones.