Miscellaneous Ultra Rides and Races

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler

Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
Location
Inside my skull
About the least aero jacket he could wear, not an ounce of bike packing luggage, a carrier bag bungees on top of his rack pack, a fairly standard cheap steel bike, no aero wheels, only mods are aero bars, and only concession to lightweight is he's removed the mudguards. But he finishes first. Brilliant.
 
OP
OP
Dogtrousers

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler

steveindenmark

Legendary Member
I don't think we've had a thread on this.

Trans Alba race 1,600 km with 17,500m of climb in Scotland

Won by none other than Steve Abraham. At least, he was the first to finish. Trans Alba themselves never used the word "won". A bit odd seeing they describe themselves as a race.

Chapeau Steve.

https://www.transalbarace.com/post/trans-alba-race-report-day-5


View: https://twitter.com/TransAlbaRace/status/1147404145193881601?s=19


Its the same in a lot of ultra distance races. No winners and no prizes.
 
OP
OP
Dogtrousers

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
Its the same in a lot of ultra distance races. No winners and no prizes.
Well if there's no winner - it's not a race. It's an event like an audax, that just happens to have a first finisher.

Take Ruska in Finland as an example, https://www.randonneurs.fi/ruska-ride-across-finland-2019/ they are very clear it's not a race. "Ruska is not a race, there are just a closing time of the finish line and 2000 km of Nordic roads to compete against."

TCR on the other hand is clear that it's a race (the clue is in the name). https://www.transcontinental.cc/about "The Transcontinental Race is the definitive self-supported bicycle race across Europe."

That's why I found Trans Alba's use of language a bit odd. They seem to have a bit of an identity crisis. The website says Trans Alba Race in big letters. The domain name is transalbarace and yet in it describes itself as a ride, not a race https://www.transalbarace.com/about "The Trans Alba Race is a self supported cycling ride around Scotland."

I guess I'm just being pedantic and picky about this, but is it a race or not? It's probably also important for matters of insurance and compliance with local laws about racing on the highway.

Not a big deal, I was just interested in their use of language.
 
Last edited:

Ian H

Ancient randonneur
I think the terminology is less important in ultra-distance racing/riding. They are effectively much more like long time-trials.
 
OP
OP
Dogtrousers

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
I think the terminology is less important in ultra-distance racing/riding. They are effectively much more like long time-trials.
You're probably right. I do tend to get a bit carried away obsessing about words and language at times.
 

steveindenmark

Legendary Member
Dogtrousers. You are right that rides like TCR is a race as are other ultra distance rides. But it is widely accepted in ultra distance riding that a lot of people will turn up to get to the end as quickly as they can, or just get to the end. The lantern rouge gets just as much respect as the guy who comes in first.

I am 61 and will be riding TCR on my Brompton. Am Racing? I dont think so. But I am trying to get to the finish.
 
Top Bottom