Transcontinental Race - Heads up

[Ivo]

A surprisingly flat route through Switzerland for Fiona yesterday:

• 
  415,84km
• 16:30:24
• 2.924m

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Yes, she's got a good routine going with decent sleep each night.

 

[StuAff]

Fiona raced through CP4- 15 mins or so, including an impromptu rendition of The Lion Sleeps Tonight on a piano (I was unable to work out how to link to the FB video). Now 830km to the finish. Ben just about at CP4 now. Ingrid is approaching the CP3 parcours, 133km to go to CP3.

 

[StuAff]

Ben through CP4, about 115km behind. Ingrid appears to have stopped for the night- maps location is a hotel. Well, a road with a hotel either side.

 

[Ivo]

Fiona gave a small performance at CP4:

View: https://www.facebook.com/KinesisUK/videos/406366699982419/

 

[StuAff]

Lovely bit of writing from Jack Enright in his latest race report....
"TCR winners aren’t supposed to play the piano mid-race. They’re not supposed to have the time, let alone the mental reserves. And yet here was Fiona, hands dancing over the ivory keys, winning TCRNo.7. It was a moment that felt dislocated from reality, like a Wes Anderson film wrapped in an overly lucid dream.

And yet, if you could capture the mood of this race in any one moment, it would undoubtedly be this one. Fiona has spent the last eight days quietly rearranging what we might accept as realistic, and this moment feels like just more of the same."

 

[StuAff]

Fiona now with 688km to go, Ben with 810km (and closing the gap. at least at the mo). Job 6.5km from CP4. Ingrid is now just under 110km from CP3, hopefully good to make it before it closes tomorrow morning.

 

[StuAff]

Ingrid is not scratching, but has made the decision to stop racing as she needs more rest and recovery time than she was getting. Easier to keep on riding than umpteen trains and buses to get back to Pompey. She was still 83km from CP3 and the closure deadline was looming. A brilliant effort to get this far, she should be really proud of herself.

At the sharp end, the Kolbinger remains relentless. 518km to go, and the lead over Ben has stretched back out, he has 661 to go. Job another 100km back.

 

[slowmotion]

I don't understand much Dutch, but here's an article I stumbled on that shows the kind of kit that TCR riders might carry.

https://www.fiets.nl/2019/08/02/deze-vrouw-gaat-aan-kop-in-een-van-de-zwaarste-races-ter-wereld/

Fiona is incredible.

 

[StuAff]

CP3 closed at 5am CET....a fair few didn't make the cut. Shame the race reports never mention the back markers much, it would be nice to read about them for a change. Fiona now 350km from the finish, Ben at 477km to go, Job at 622km to go, and David Schuster 689km to go. Looks like the win will be taken tonight...

 

[StuAff]

I don't understand much Dutch, but here's an article I stumbled on that shows the kind of kit that TCR riders might carry.

https://www.fiets.nl/2019/08/02/deze-vrouw-gaat-aan-kop-in-een-van-de-zwaarste-races-ter-wereld/

Fiona is incredible.

Courtesy of Mr Google,
"This woman leads the way in one of the toughest races in the world

In the Transcontinental, the most famous non-stop race in the world, a woman has been leading for days: Fiona Kolbinger. She is on the bike for 19 hours a day, beats (almost) all QOMs and leaves the competition far behind. It looks like she's going to win this monster race of 4000km, while this is her first ultra-endurance race ever!

The Transcontinental Race
The Transcontinental Race is an annual, self-supporting, ultra-distance race throughout Europe. With a distance of 4000km, it is one of the world's toughest ultra-endurance races. It is a single-stage race where the clock never stops. The participants of this bizarre race do everything themselves. From planning the race, researching to navigating, repairing the bike and looking for places to rest and sleep. There are no followers, no food station, nothing. As a racer you only take what you can wear, food and drink you arrange along the way.

Yesterday she drove in Austria, today in France

Everyone cycles his or her own route, the only thing that is certain is the start in Burgas, (Bulgaria), 4 checkpoints en route and the finish in Brest (France). How you drive the part in between and which roads you follow is up to you. The four mandatory checkpoints are set up in such a way that every participant, regardless of your chosen route, receives a considerable amount of altitude meters. In total, the participants cover at least 4000 km to reach the finish line.

In charge: Fiona Kolbinger
And then about this great power woman: Fiona Kolbinger. This 24-year-old doctor is training a bizarre performance. Yesterday she drove in Austria, today in France. She cycles so fast and so much that she has been at the forefront for days, breaking all QOMs and driving everyone out.

On the map on the right (the race runs from right to left, you can see that Fiona leaves everyone behind with number 66. She spends 19 hours a day cycling and then cycles at least 400km with thousands of meters of altitude. she uses the rest of the hour to rest in between, and because of this extreme daily routine, she knows how to hold her head very tightly, while almost all male toppers fail or give up.
And if you are wondering, why would you even want to participate? The Transcontinental is the best known non-stop race in the world. Being allowed to participate is already an honor. Every year so many racers want to take part in the draw. If you are one of the "lucky few", then you must also complete the race. Something that is high at the top of the bucket list with these bikkels. And so it looks like Fiona Kolbinger can get this out of her list faster than expected!

The longer the distance, the smaller the physical differences between men and women become

She is already cycling in France, even though the race only started last weekend. And if this is not enough, she plans to start at Paris-Brest-Paris after this monster tour. You can regard this as the "mother" of all ultraraces.

Male vs female
The interesting thing about these extreme multi-day races is that the physical differences between men and women become smaller as the race progresses. This is because at a given moment mental power takes the upper hand. After hundreds of kilometers of cycling, the mental aspect of the race is particularly tough, so maintaining is the only thing that counts.

This could also be seen last weekend during the Alpe D’Huez triathlon. Here Daniela Ryf overtook the leader of the men during the climb of the Alp. And in the past there was also a woman on stage at the Race Across America and this year at the Offroad version from north to south."
And from Fiona's Strava post....

 

[Dogtrousers]

Thanks for the updates @StuAff

From someone who is too lazy to even dot-watch.

 

[Crackle]

Thanks for the updates @StuAff

From someone who is too lazy to even dot-watch.

And me!

 

[StuAff]

Fiona now 116km from the finish, Ben still 140km back. Job another 100km back. Ingrid has scratched, knee pain, with 2250km done. Pavel Pulawski, one of the early front-runners, has also scratched- he crashed on a bike path a few days ago.

 

[r04DiE]

Honestly, I was really excited when Fiona took the lead and I have been willing the girl to win since! Looks like she's going to do it, too. INSPIRATIONAL!