Transcontinental Race 2022

[Beebo]

Finished!
Back home last night. A bit tired.
Shame to miss most of the finishers' party - I was targeting it for the last 9 days, but hours slipped away here and there and couldn't quite do it.
Really enjoyed it, it went well for me. Wonderful adventure. Saw so many amazing places, head full of memories and untold stories. Wonderful cameraderie with other riders. Bike and kit good, no punctures.
I lost focus twice which cost me a lot of time - after my first scary road in CZ and after the crazy CP4 parcours, where I fell, broke my cleat, ran out of food and out of water in an 8 hour mountain biking session.
Got woken up by the Romanian police when asleep on a park bench. They were very good (much better than here, I expect!)
Advice from Christoph Strasser: 'If your route is not very good, just throw it away and follow the road signs. Apart from in Italy where they all say Tutti Direzione.'
4 people knocked off by cars out of 270. Definite issue over viability of the format where free routing encourages use of the fast main roads. E Europe main roads much busier than I remember from 2016, and cars and lorries bigger. Horn widely used to facilitate overtaking in the absence of clear road or line of sight. Would I do it again with 1.5% chance of being knocked off? Not sure I would at those odds.

Great effort. You look absolutely knackered in the photo at the finish.
How much sleep did you get? As an “average” participant. And was any of it in an actual bed?
I noticed you took one of the longest routes. Was that to avoid main roads, hills or a bit of both?

 

[frank9755]

Great effort. You look absolutely knacker in the photo at the finish.
How much sleep did you get? As an “average” participant. And was any of it in an actual bed?
I noticed you took one of the longest routes. Was that to avoid main roads, hills or a bit of both?

I looked a lot more knackered the night before!

My plan was to take a hotel when I could find one, but I had sleeping kit if needed. I slept in a bed for all but four nights: the first night was spent riding. Second night was in a very comfortable, brick-built bus shelter with a large wooden bench. The fourth night was in a small park in a village in Czech Republic (where I think I got a tick bite) and the 12th night was on a bench in town in Romania (where I got woken up by the police).

In hotels I generally had 4.5 hours' sleep in the first half, which I dialled down to 3 hours in the last 3-4 nights when I was trying hard to get to the finishers' party. On my last night I had intended three hours again but had five as I fell asleep while setting my alarm. But, as a result I felt strong on the last day, and maybe made up one of those two lost hours, so not the worst thing. The last day was actually my latest start of all (a bit after 6am).

 

[frank9755]

I don't understand the distance thing and am not sure it corresponds to anything in reality.
My route as planned was 4164km. I rode a bit more, to get to hotels and diverting on the fly, so maybe 4,300 altogether. I don't think my route was particularly long. Compared to a few others I benchmarked before the start it was fairly typical.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Epic isn't enough to describe your ride @frank9755 . I'm speechless

 

[Cathryn]

@frank9755 astonishing! Congratulations.

 

[Sallar55]

Moved over posted on wrong year, Well done The heatwave in Europe and fending for oneself just adds to the achievement. Another plus is copping with the different languages when buying food.

 

[frank9755]

Moved over posted on wrong year, Well done The heatwave in Europe and fending for oneself just adds to the achievement. Another plus is copping with the different languages when buying food.

We were actually lucky with the weather this year. The summer heatwave has been in western Europe. Eastern Europe, especially the Balkans, were pretty mild. Max temperatures around 32 compared to 40+ most years.

Language not such an issue as nearly always self service shops / petrol stations. Was handy to speak a little bit of German though, that was more widely spoken than English.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Good interview with Michael Broadwith - first half on TCR. Recommended (and a bit on his end-to-end record ride).
https://www.insidetrishow.com/episode/michaelbroadwith

 

[nagden]

Good interview with Michael Broadwith - first half on TCR. Recommended (and a bit on his end-to-end record ride).
https://www.insidetrishow.com/episode/michaelbroadwith

Yes I agree. Very informative and well worth a listen.

 

[ianrauk]

There's a nice, short film about the race on Netflix at the moment called 'On board The Transcontinental Race".

 

[cougie uk]

There's a nice, short film about the race on Netflix at the moment called 'On board The Transcontinental Race".

Yes I caught that last night. Under an hour but an excellent taste of the race and the people who do it.