Transcontinental 2017 - TCRNO5

[gairym]

Yeah, he's shifting some!

Might explain the pace discrepancy with Kevin.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Yeah, he's shifting some!

I put it all down to the aero-bars I gave him ........ and I'm sure the training can't have hurt either but mainly, the bars

[Bearbonesnorm]

See, here's the bars

[jameso]

^ nice, looks ideal.

It's looking like a much closer race up front this year. So good looking at the various routes taken also. Interesting to see that this year's leader so far Bjorn Lenhard has stopped for 9.5hrs up to now. Allegaert stopped for 12hrs in total when he won it last year.

[gairym]

Looks like Chew might hit checkpoint 2 before dawn tomorrow. I know he's put a lot of effort into this, so nice to see him riding well

Thinking about it, considering where he is and where he's about to head (some small lumps), I'm thinking that this might be a big ask.

Follows vaguely (the same start and finish points) the TransAlp route that I did in 2012. That took me 6 days (short days, off-road, not particularly in shape etc...).

He's got limited choices of routes without committing to some serious climbs if he's trying to stick to small roads and that road up and over from Innsbruck to Bolzano is unforgiving and horribly busy - I don't envy him that section (though I know there are cycle paths for some parts of it).

Stunning scenery though so I hope he's enjoying that aspect.

[Dave Barter]

Ian To turned up at our road club a few years ago and got dropped left right and centre. He tried road racing and didn't do so well either. Looking at the tracker he's in the top five!

[Bearbonesnorm]

Just had an email from Chew ...

A lot of type 3 going on.
Germany is as dull as feck.

50/50 at the moment as to continue after the news. Unsure if the risk/reward ratio high enough.

Early stop and hotel tonight to weigh up the options

[ton]

I watch theses events unfold every year, and I ask myself why. why ride yourself to total exhaustion. why risk your life by doing so. not by your own actions possibly, but by being hit by another vehicle. but, to ride yourself to a point where you are falling asleep on the bike is a idiotic thing to do.
go and tour the area, take you time and try to stay safe.

[Alpinum]

I watch theses events unfold every year, and I ask myself why. why ride yourself to total exhaustion. why risk your life by doing so. not by your own actions possibly, but by being hit by another vehicle. but, to ride yourself to a point where you are falling asleep on the bike is a idiotic thing to do.
go and tour the area, take you time and try to stay safe.

Did he get killed because he was tired and didn't pay attention?
I don't know and I don't need to. But do you?

But yes, in general racing on the road (open one) is a stupid thing, no matter what vehicle. Racing off road (out side bike parks) is quite stupid too. But going fast is fun.

So many risky things are fun. I'm not on this planet to live as long as possible.

Don't get me wrong, I dislike the road as much as one can, but love going fast downhill on single tracks. Insensibly fast. ... quite often... it's by my own actions that I get scared, need to rethink etc.
We get away with accidents (we are all still alive), but in a big bunch of cyclists riding large distances it's only a question of time until there's a deadly accident. This seems to be more of an eye opener then the own, minor and little accidents. All those close calls etc. It may be good to think of one self, about how you can stay safe and have fun, instead of wondering what others did and do, a situation you can only speculate on.

Unsure if the risk/reward ratio high enough

The risk level has not changed, "just" because one got killed.
Sorry to use such words, well no, I'm not sorry... it is what it is.

Life is deadly.

RIP Frank

[ton]

Did he get killed because he was tired and didn't pay attention?
I don't know and I don't need to. But do you?

I wasn't being specific about this year. sorry if it came over that way. just my thought really

[Richard G]

I'm really not a fan of road based events that encourage that level of exhaustion.

You're likely to hurt yourself if you fall asleep off-road. There's every chance you hurt others if you do the same on road.

(Also not taking blame for individual incidents here)

[voodoo_simon]

I'm really not a fan of road based events that encourage that level of exhaustion.

You're likely to hurt yourself if you fall asleep off-road. There's every chance you hurt others if you do the same on road.

(Also not taking blame for individual incidents here)

Lets not forget the risks involved in off-road events, fall asleep on the trail (without getting into your shelter etc due to exhaustion) and it could go wrong very quickly. Could be a long time before someone finds you and if it's a winter race or one of the 'scorchio' races, could be a long night if you make it through. Same with a lot of endurance sports, mountaineering, ultra-running etc

Hay ho, if we never pushed ourselves, we wouldn't know what we were capable of achieving

why ride yourself to total exhaustion.

Thankfully we're all wired differently. I have a lot of respect for those who can keep pushing. Whilst myself, once it gets hard, I think 'sod it', what am I proving


Anyways, to put the riders in prospective, I've spent (a much needed) solid 7 hours in the garden today and feel won out. Looking at some of the riders, they've cycled 100 miles in that time. I've now sat down for a well earned coffee, yet they're still cracking on and have been for 67 hours, with more to go Fair play to them

[Dave Barter]

I have extreme views on all of this, sorry. But...

When you take command of a moving object your absolute priority is to not hit things and keep it moving forward safely. This is regardless of whether you are on a bike or in a car. Not hitting things needs anticipation and diligence. Which in turn requires piloting said object in a manner that has some contingency when the road ahead is not as you expected. Your responsibility increases in line with the physical carnage a lack of diligence will create.

The overtired endurance rider is no different from the commuter who's put in a hard day's graft or one who's given everything to complete a loop in a PB time. They all may make mistakes on the bike but anticipatory driving will make up for that and let them off with a stern toot. Because I do not believe for one second that any of the recent casualties fell asleep and drifted under a wheel. The point is the price paid for falling asleep on the road should be some bruises because drivers leave a little room/speed for issues that may occur ahead. Not death. I'm in the minority who believes that I should be able to ride in the dark with no lights wearing black safely. Because a car's headlights should pick me out.

If we all give in to this then cycling will ultimately be forced off the roads. As where do we stop? Do we have to have trackers fitted to make sure we've not exceeded our allocated safe miles? Does it become a crime to ride a bike whilst shagged out ? (that's me retiring then)

Cycle racing was on the roads before the cars were in many more extreme fashions than we see now, I know as I've researched it. We cannot have it driven off the roads in the name of safety when it is not us that are primarily responsible for the deaths. I live in an utter dreamworld thinking that there is an immediate solution to this and I know that many will strongly disagree with my points. But if we're banning tired riders from the road, then I assume pissed up pedestrians are next?

[Richard G]

Does it become a crime to ride a bike whilst shagged out ? (that's me retiring then)

It is if you're in charge of a car / truck / motorbike. Same for alcohol. I genuinely don't know the rules with regard to pushbikes though.

Alas, this is all a bit off topic.

[mountainbaker]

A lot of type 3 going on.
Germany is as dull as feck.

He seems to find everything boring.

[whitestone]

Does it become a crime to ride a bike whilst shagged out ? (that's me retiring then)

For motorised vehicles it's certainly the case, perhaps one of the better known was the Selby train crash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Heck_rail_crash in 2001

It's an offence to ride a bike whilst under the influence of drink or drugs in the same way as it is for motor vehicles - https://www.slatergordon.co.uk/media-ce ... hen-drunk/, can't find anything about riding whilst fatigued.

[Chew]

A lot of type 3 going on.
Germany is as dull as feck.

He seems to find everything boring.

Good to know it's one friendly family, after we lost Frank earlier in the week....

Receiving news like that when you're out on the road isn't something I'd want anyone to experience. When you know that it could easily have been you, it puts things into perspective.

A lot of thinking over the past 24 hours, and the the event and a decision today to scratch.

I'll write more once things sink in.

If anyone has any ideas of routes from Innsbruck back to Calais that would be great.

[voodoo_simon]

I've scratched in a race before and it's a hard decision to make, well done on taking that decision.

I beat myself about for months afterwards, but given time, it was all ok. I just changed my riding once I got back home (no GPS, no silly morning rides etc) and I'm loving riding more than ever!

If it were me for the return journey, grab some beers, get some good food and take the train back. Will give you some time to reflect but in a chilled environment

[gairym]

Chew,

No simple (or cheap or quick) train routes that I can see but easyjet fly to Gatwick from Innsbruck for £100 tomorrow if you can source a box from a bike shop.

Be easy enough to then get the train from there ooop North.

Sorry the trip didn't pan out but totally get your decision - live to ride another day etc...

Cheers, Gairy.

[Scattamah]

@Chew & Kev - good going fellas. Didn't go to plan, but you got there and gave it a shot. That's the part that takes the balls. Another time.

RIP Frank. Sad to hear of another rider going down.

Greetz

S.

[burty]

never mind chew , well done for getting as far as you did, you put some miles in
there is always next time

[jameso]

Sorry to read that Chew. Enjoy a bit of a tour back perhaps. I have a load of GPXs of the routes I've ridden between lake Constance and Calais if you want them, will fwd over now anyway. Germany in that area is lovely and the Vosges is a fave. N France can get a bit samey but it's France, hard not to enjoy being there and the Parc Marais Opales (sp?) NP near Calais is worth a trip in itself for the rural countryside.

RE the incident, if it helps, it could be any rider any time - just sub standard luck to be in the same space as a drunk/idiot driver. Same thing takes out other drivers, motorbikes, any of us.

And well said Dave B. Can't agree more.

[gairym]

Ah, Chew when you asked for routes back I thought you meant public transport.

Reading James' suggestions I realise now you meant ways to ride up. Sorry, I'm not so bright, ignore me.

Also +1 for Daves words on safety etc...

[Blackhound]

Back home now and see Chew also quit last night. Below is a few of my thoughts as to how it ended spectacularly early for me - as you can all appreciate it is a mix of emotions all tangled up and not all mentioned below and perhaps 4am is not the best time to make a decision.

It had become clear in our rides this spring and summer that the new fit, slimline Chew was far faster than I was and it was always going to be a matter of when we would split up rather than if. We had discussed it but perhaps I had not envisioned it to be about 8km from the Muur. Initially I felt positive as I could ride my own pace and I would have an extra day as Chew had to back for work unlike myself.

I was feeling good, it was a nice night for cycling but then I made a mistake. I saw a right turn coming up took it and then rode along for a bit. The Garmin backlight was not on so I had to touch the screen to bring it to life and when I did so noticed I was off route. I could see the purple line over to the right of the screen and headed towards it. When I got back to the route I realised the signpost was to a village I had already been to! I lost 35-40 minutes hear (I noticed it was about 11:50 first time thorough and it was now 12:30am. I nearly made the same mistake again because there were two right turns and I only saw the first but spotted it in time

Some km later on the N59 bike path I came to a roundabout that clearly had a no cycles or mopeds sign at the entrance to the next section of road. Being about 1pm I considered ignoring it but knew that was wrong. Consulting the map my first correction took me to a dead-end and the second to a road blocked with heavy plant and a diversion. Eventually I found a way out losing another 30 minutes or so looking at my tracker trace.

This was when I started to unravel mentally. I was useless, not fast enough to afford errors and there were two in about 40-50km. I remembered I never cycled with people anymore because I could not keep up. I get dropped in audaxes and in the Tour Aotearoa last year I only passed two people in three weeks unless they were stopped. My race partner had left me after 8km - which a couple of hours earlier was a positive - and how could I ever expect to finish this thing. I have hoped to go back to the Tour Divide in 2019 if I felt I could put up a better ride than '11 but I realised that was not going to happen. What was the point of continuing?

I thought about quitting but decided I had to at least leave Belgium and I thought about touring from Karsruhe up the Rhine to Venlo and pocking up the long distance bike route to Antwerp and then to Dunkirk. But I had no real kit for touring just basic bivy kit and I did not fancy that at the time. I stopped for a wee at the top of a big climb out of Charleroi and wondered what I was doing out here. And yet it was a lovely warm night for riding and I felt good - just slower than everybody else.

So yes, I will never race again but will tour from now as there is loads I want to do. That is a difficult decision for me take as I have enjoyed racing ever since school cross country in September 1970 and always done stuff over the decades. I am just to slow nowadays.

I did not hear about Frank's tragic death until I got back to Geraardsbergen, so sad. I know no more than it was a hit and run and that the person has handed themselves in to the police the following day. The thing is Belgium did seem a safe place to ride overall, but things still go wrong.

Best wishes to all the riders still out there.

[Bearbonesnorm]

I have to say Kevin and I hope I'm not speaking out of turn but I think you're being very hard on yourself. 'Bikepacking races' are about so much more than simply who's at the front. Don't be too hasty and never say never because missed opportunity lies down that road.