Fiona Kolbinger wins Transcontinental Race

[steveindenmark]

It has been reported all round the world. Even Saudi Arabia

 

[Ming the Merciless]

This from the TCR site

"The Transcontinental Race was created for the riders, and for the riders alone. They do not race for our entertainment or our gratification. The TCR is designed to be a personal journey, completed solo, to give riders a taste of true adventure that would otherwise not be available. The more that spectators impose themselves on the riders – no matter how good their intentions – the less possible that adventure becomes."

This isn't strictly true. If it was meant to be a race entirely for the riders then the live tracking would be private. There would be no visibility of where they were, other than race reports telling us where they'd been. It has always been a race for dot watchers, and some of those dot watchers will head out to intercept a rider.

 

[steveindenmark]

I have never known dot watchers be a problem. But the race has always been run from West to East. This year it has been run from East to West. I would not be suprised if it reverts for next year.

Dot watching and publicity is important for the TCR. Many of todays dot watchers become tomorrows riders.

I am sure TCR will look at this closely for next year and come up with solution. But it is not the norm to be hassled by dot watchers. But it only takes one or two individuals.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

"As early on in the race as Switzerland"

Well that is about halfway, so not that early really.

 

[srw]

Quite how people "crossed a line" isn't clear.

she was stopped or approached

That implies not just standing by the side of the road and cheering, but actually flagging her down or trying to ride with her - which is thoughtless at best (it's an unpaced race, and the key to success seems to be to know your own limits and ride within them rather than expend useless effort trying to escape from someone who is trying to ride with you) and extremely dangerous at worst.

I would never ride with someone who I didn't absolutely know was happy to be ridden with. It's just basic courtesy.

"As early on in the race as Switzerland"

Well that is about halfway, so not that early really.

It's four or five days of riding. 40 times a day when you're riding for 20 hours a day is roughly every half an hour. That must have been utterly draining, given that every encounter takes emotional energy, possibly physical energy if you need to adjust your speed, and increases your risk of crashing.

 

[StuAff]

Identical libel-worthy codswallop as seen in this thread (same offender, plus a fellow traveller or two) has been posted in comments on the road.cc article on Fiona. I rather liked this reply to the line about her medical student status:
"Yes, that means she's used to working hundred + hour weeks, is able to prioritise brilliantly, still function at any time of day or night on a couple of hours kip in the doctors room, make life & death decisions efficiently, is completely used to eating at random intervals without any set pattern and can stay 100% focused.

We all look forward to seeing your efforts in next year's Trans Con."
He would of course, be the first competitor in TCR history that people would will to fail, preferably in a humiliatingly amusing fashion.

 

[StuAff]

In other news, Ingrid has returned home safely. Impressive/terrifying stats on Strava.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

What an utter dick that prat Judge Dreadful on road.cc is.

 

[steveindenmark]

Identical libel-worthy codswallop as seen in this thread (same offender, plus a fellow traveller or two) has been posted in comments on the road.cc article on Fiona. I rather liked this reply to the line about her medical student status:
"Yes, that means she's used to working hundred + hour weeks, is able to prioritise brilliantly, still function at any time of day or night on a couple of hours kip in the doctors room, make life & death decisions efficiently, is completely used to eating at random intervals without any set pattern and can stay 100% focused.

We all look forward to seeing your efforts in next year's Trans Con."
He would of course, be the first competitor in TCR history that people would will to fail, preferably in a humiliatingly amusing fashion.

Its ok trying to defend Fiona against idiots. But not at the expense of appearing silly yourself. Fiona is a medical researcher, she is researching cancer. The idea that she is in an ER scenario, dripping with blood on the dog watch, is a bit far fetched

 

[StuAff]

What an utter dick that prat Judge Dreadful on road.cc is.

Same prat as on here.....

 

[StuAff]

Its ok trying to defend Fiona against idiots. But not at the expense of appearing silly yourself. Fiona is a medical researcher, she is researching cancer. The idea that she is in an ER scenario, dripping with blood on the dog watch, is a bit far fetched

True...but pretty sure the long hours are there, the need for focus is there, and she is almost certainly being trained in making those kinds of decisions. Overstated, yes, but more than a grain of truth.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Same prat as on here.....

He does sound like someone who has no clue when it comes to ultra endurance riding. Probably done Ride London and that is the pinnacle of what he thinks you can achieve in distance, rather than the very bottom rung of a very tall ladder.

 

[StuAff]

He does sound like someone who has no clue when it comes to ultra endurance riding. Probably done Ride London and that is the pinnacle of what he thinks you can achieve in distance, rather than the very bottom rung of a very tall ladder.

Funnily enough, yes he's done RL....

 

[StuAff]

https://www.transcontinental.cc/podcast
Full interview with Fiona. On the question of her medical training: she qualified as a doctor in May, she's starting work as a cancer surgeon in September. During her training, she did indeed work as a cancer researcher.

 

[frank9755]

Well done to Fiona.

There are three reasons why I was less than completely surprised she won.

1. One is that she is a friend and regular riding companion of @redfalo and he has been telling me how good she is for the last couple of years.
2. The second is that, having recently moved to Dresden she has ridden a lot with Bjorn Lenhard, and he has reported her dropping him on climbs.
3. Finally, women have a very good record in winning ultra-races with Lael Wilcox in TABR 2016 and Sarah Hammond winning Race to the Rock on all three occasions it has been run.

I've not done the maths but it may well be that, given there are far fewer female entrants, women may have a better success rate than men across the top half dozen ultra-races. This ties in with men having an advantage in events where explosive power is helpful, but, as the benefit of this tends to zero with longer events, it appears that the male advantage also tends to zero. It was noticeable to me riding this year how the women's field is so much stronger than in 2016. I regularly met and was passed by women riders, and this just didn't happen three years ago where only Emily Chappel was in the front half of the race.

FWIW Fiona was the first person to win TCR on a carbon bike and the first German winner.