December Musings
So the route for the revised tcr#8 is out. Its still west to east, but a little different now.
TCR#8 2021
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TCR#6 Race report
WORK IN PROGRESS!!
I’m only a year late with the race report 🙂
I had a whale of a time, got there in under 14 days, which was my target – shame the party was actually on the 16th day this year! The EKO was lovely
I learned how to commit to the ride often riding late into the night into checkpoints 2 and 3, and overnighting in fields in the czech republic. This made a massive difference to the time I had on the bike compared to tcr3.
I actually crashed at a hotels more often than not, but these generally were not planned, and I was prepared to ride into the night, then found a hotel / pension just about to close at 10 at night, so it seemed rude not to roll in 🙂
Packing for tcr#6
I’ve been making good use of the sales over the last 6 months, to try to keep the cost down to non-divorce levels.
My Clothing / Personal Kit
- Shorts – Castelli Free Aero bibs – only worn them once, but they are very comfy. They have aero dots on them to make me faster. That will make absolutely zero difference to me.
- Socks – Morevelo stripy socks – the meet Emma Ossenton’s minimum sock length requirements
- Jersey – Pirate top – its bright and yellow, and hideous.
- Cap – #39 – I’ll get that at registration
- Cycle shoes – Bont riot MTB shoes. These are half a size up from my normal 44s, but I’ve been struggling with the width of cycle shoes. I got these a month ago and have been riding in them ever since including 2 long rides. My old faithful specialized sport shoes were about 8 years old now and showing their age. They are now in the bin.
- Glasses / Sun Glasses – Oakley prescription half jacket sunnies – they are brilliant, and so good not to have to carry contact lenses this time. – in left rear pocket or on face
- Leyzyne wallet – holds passport, money etc – in central rear pocket
- Phone – Sony xperia 5 – in central rear pocket. Its waterproof,
- komoot on it with all the route gpx’s as emergency navigation backup – all maps pre-downloaded
- OpenStreetMap for android for searching for food when I have no wi-fi
- google translate – polish menus..??
- music
Training – What is it good for?
Its been an interesting 5 months.
When I found I had a place in the TCR, I knew I had a lot of work to do – I was nowhere near as strong on the bike as I’ve been in the past.
So, how did the training go?
Anatomy of a tcr bike
Its easy to spot bikes being prepped for a bikepacking race out on a training ride – the bike packing bags are obvious markers.
But what else has turned an ordinary bike, (a 2015 Cannondale Synapse in this case) into a bike capable of epic adventures. Some alterations are obvious, others are more subtle.
The final countdown
It’s the 1st of July, and I feel I am now just waiting for the race to begin – in fact I can’t wait.
Weighty Issues
- 2008 – 85kg + I was fat. Despite some bike commuting I was still fat. I started regular running, then triathlon.
- 2013 – 73kg. That was my ironman racing weight. Could fit into small kit on occasions, but all my kit was medium.
- 2015 tcr#3 – 75kg
- 2016/17 – 86kg – broken, and putting on weight again. Moved from medium to large. I am fat!
T-12 weeks to go – Snowdonia – Hubble, bubble, boil and trouble!
Training Summary – w/c 05/05
Total – 20 hrs
Long ride – Double weekend ride – 7hrs + 8 hrs,
Continue reading T-12 weeks to go – Snowdonia – Hubble, bubble, boil and trouble!
T-13 weeks to go – Ouch! – shoulder issues!
Training Summary – w/c 28/04
Total – 21 hrs
Long ride – Double weekend ride – 5hrs + 5:45 hrs
I. Am. Broken.
Continue reading T-13 weeks to go – Ouch! – shoulder issues!
T-14 weeks to go – Back on Track
Training Summary – w/c 21/04
Total – 21 hrs
Long ride – 4:45 hrs
Zwift Tour of watopia – completed.
2 runs!
