The Transcontinental is a cycling race which is a bit different. The differences boil down to three things: solo riding, no set stages and no set route. This meant no help as you rode and you could go anywhere you liked as long as it went through two checkpoints.
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| At the start |
We started from Westminster Bridge and waited for Big Ben to toll at 8am. As it rang, we set off as a group toward Dover. The pace was set and it wasn't too bad, it did help that there was a nice tail wind. Just as I was getting settled, I got my first puncture of the race. I changed tubes and set off again. Not much later I got another puncture. Luckily I had my friend with me and we carried on to Dover. We managed to catch the last couple of tickets onto the next ferry and with a group of the other riders that had caught up we embarked on the last real bit of rest until the finish.
Upon arrival, I was refreshed and ready to go, but my friend wasn't. It was here that I decided to split with a couple of others. Riding in a group was technically frowned upon but as we were all together anyway it would have been a bit harsh to call us on it. That first day was a dream as we cruised with a tailwind across France and into Belgium. I had made the decision to go without a map and so I was lucky the guys I was with had a GPS and could get us to the first checkpoint. We had a slight detour when we had to climb up a bank of nettles with our bikes to get on the right road.
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| Riding in Belgium |
As it got dark I was glad for the company and I managed to pick up my third puncture of the day. Fortunately it wasn't far to Geraardsbergen and the Kapelmuur, the first checkpoint. The road was fine until we got closer to the church and it got much steeper and cobbles more cobbly. We finally reached it at 2330 and I went over the other side of the church, pulled out my sleeping bag liner and went to sleep. Today was the longest ride of my life. 269km.
I woke up quite cold, smashed a can of cold baked beans and jumped on my bike towards France. This is where I split off from all the others and spent the next four days alone. It started off well when I was riding out of town and got hit by a van pulling out of a road. Luckily it was a light tap and nothing worse. I carried on and soon enough got my first flat of the day. Belgium has some beautiful countryside and some crap roads. As I got closer to the French border they did improve. I passed through the town of Chimay and then found myself in France shortly after. The rolling hills that I had been going over flattened out and I made good progress.
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| Verdun |
DAY 3
I started off slowly this morning as I went hunting for McDonald's for breakfast but I was up too early. I had some chocolate bars and carried on. I got to warm up with some hills but once over it was flat and the road was amazing. I stopped for some food at a boulangerie, it was delicious. Fuelled I carried on. I was aiming for a town called Nancy but the road signs stopped and I ended up in Toul. I got my customary puncture and carried on. Not too long after, it too went. Now I was getting frustrated. I found out that my patches weren't really doing their job. I got another 100km or so before my tyre went again.
I was in a place called Crépey and after pumping my tyre up I could hear a leak in my tyre. I was deflated in every sense of the word. I was at a bus stop and found out I was at the end of the bus route and no more were running that day. I went to the town hall and was told there was a town mechanic. He had patches but they were for motorcycles. I tried his patches but to no avail, I was stuck. He ran down the road to a friends and got me a spare tube and fortunately he had a compressor so I was away laughing.
I had lost over two hours of my day dealing with flats. I received a text saying I was out of the top ten. I got under way at a good pace. I ran into some hills and they haven't stopped yet. I ended up sleeping on the side of the road in a rest stop on my way to the German border but on the wrong side of a hill.
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| On my way into Germany |
DAY 4
I got a small bit of rain on my face and I was up. Luckily it wasn't much and I carried on. After about 5km of an easy climb I started on one of the most fun parts of the race, a 20km stretch of downhill. Awesome. Once down it was only a short distance until I crossed the Grand Canal D'Alsace and I was in Germany. I was getting a lot of horns blaring at me, I was probably not meant to be on a few of the roads but it is hard sometimes when the signs stop appearing and you have to guess your way around. I didn't have a map, I just knew which towns I wanted to get through.
I stopped in Freiberg and got myself a new tube and had a chat with the owner. He said that once I got over a big hill then it was pretty much downhill into Konstanz. I made a wrong decision at an offramp and ended up going 15km in the wrong direction. I made the journey back but it cost me an hour all up. It was almost incident free to Switzerland apart from the time I almost rode onto the Autobahn. I had a lot of cars and people yelling at me in German.
Once in Switzerland I carried alongside the beautiful lake to a town called Rorschach when a huge thunderstorm rolled in. I stopped for some dinner before carrying on once it had passed. It was dark and the road was very nice to ride on. After a while I got another puncture, this time on my front wheel. It had a big chunk of glass in it. Joy. I was about to carry on when I spotted an open old warehouse and stayed in for the night. This was the biggest ride of my life. 305km.
It began to rain as I started and as I got to Feldkirch I spotted a bike shop and bought some more tubes. From here it was into the Alps and I was feeling a bit tired from the day before. There was a solid headwind and a lot of the time I was barely going anywhere. Also I was going on some bike trails every now and again except they would turn into mountain biking trails with lots of gravel and dirt which made my road bike a tad hard to use. I finally got to Landeck and the hills kept going up. I got another flat just before Nanders and there was a bike store so I could pump up my tyre. It was downhill from here and with a valley open in front of me and lots of speed I was happy. This is why cycling is fun. I turned off towards the Stelvio Pass and the second checkpoint.
I met the Event team at the start of the climb and enjoyed talking to people for a bit. I knocked back a couple of energy shots before beginning the ascent. I covered the first half in less than an hour. It was constantly up, but not too bad. Soon the hairpins really began. There are 48 and I made it my goal to get to 15 without stopping. By 30 I was hurting and by 20 I needed to stop. When the tree line disappears, you become exposed and there was a head wind coming down the mountain. It stalled me a few times around a few of the last hairpins. I stopped at 12 to go for an energy gel and pushed on. The last kilometre was tough. I did the climb in 2 hours 24 minutes and I was freezing cold. It was August and there was still snow up here. I stayed in a hotel overnight and put away lots of spaghetti bolognese and tea. I had an extra heater and was suffering from a bit of shock as I felt ill and could not stop shivering.
DAY 6
I woke up and met another rider that had arrived after me. We decided to ride together for a bit to alleviate some of the boredom. A front had come through and we had to descend in freezing cold rain. It took an hour to get to the bottom and as we weren't cycling it was not pleasant. We came across two guys on their way up and wished them luck. As we got further down it became so much warmer and the sun came out and going downhill was amazing. We went through Bolzano and Anton got a flat and I carried on.
I made it to the town of Rovereto and decided to cut east. I didn't realise that this meant climbing up to 1300m again. I almost stopped for the night just before the top, but I carried on and was rewarded by descending for about 45 minutes into Schio. I found a garden to sleep in and I checked out my feet. I hadn't been wearing socks and it was a big mistake as my feet were raw and in some places infected.
DAY 7
I was woken up in the middle of the night to a thunder storm and so I went looking for some shelter. I started off relatively well and stopped in Vincenza for some food, medical supplies and socks. Finally I had a tail wind and I enjoyed it to Treviso where disaster struck.
One of my spokes snapped and as I was cycling around trying to find a bike store my tyre burst. I found a McDonald's to do an internet search and found a store. I ended up at the official Pinarello store where I presented my bike with its spoke to be told that they were going for lunch and would be back in two hours. I explained that I was in the middle of a race but it didn't help.
I was meeting up with the event team anyway as my GPS tracker wasn't working and needed a new one. So I waited for them to turn up and took them to the store when it opened. They finally believed me and got to fixing my bike. One tube, tyre and spoke later I was ready to get going again. Five hours wasted, oh how it chafed.
Once on the road, I hammered it to the Slovenian border desperate to get some miles done.
For Part 2 click here
I got a small bit of rain on my face and I was up. Luckily it wasn't much and I carried on. After about 5km of an easy climb I started on one of the most fun parts of the race, a 20km stretch of downhill. Awesome. Once down it was only a short distance until I crossed the Grand Canal D'Alsace and I was in Germany. I was getting a lot of horns blaring at me, I was probably not meant to be on a few of the roads but it is hard sometimes when the signs stop appearing and you have to guess your way around. I didn't have a map, I just knew which towns I wanted to get through.
I stopped in Freiberg and got myself a new tube and had a chat with the owner. He said that once I got over a big hill then it was pretty much downhill into Konstanz. I made a wrong decision at an offramp and ended up going 15km in the wrong direction. I made the journey back but it cost me an hour all up. It was almost incident free to Switzerland apart from the time I almost rode onto the Autobahn. I had a lot of cars and people yelling at me in German.
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| My bed for the night |
Once in Switzerland I carried alongside the beautiful lake to a town called Rorschach when a huge thunderstorm rolled in. I stopped for some dinner before carrying on once it had passed. It was dark and the road was very nice to ride on. After a while I got another puncture, this time on my front wheel. It had a big chunk of glass in it. Joy. I was about to carry on when I spotted an open old warehouse and stayed in for the night. This was the biggest ride of my life. 305km.
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| Some of the locals |
DAY 5
It began to rain as I started and as I got to Feldkirch I spotted a bike shop and bought some more tubes. From here it was into the Alps and I was feeling a bit tired from the day before. There was a solid headwind and a lot of the time I was barely going anywhere. Also I was going on some bike trails every now and again except they would turn into mountain biking trails with lots of gravel and dirt which made my road bike a tad hard to use. I finally got to Landeck and the hills kept going up. I got another flat just before Nanders and there was a bike store so I could pump up my tyre. It was downhill from here and with a valley open in front of me and lots of speed I was happy. This is why cycling is fun. I turned off towards the Stelvio Pass and the second checkpoint.
I met the Event team at the start of the climb and enjoyed talking to people for a bit. I knocked back a couple of energy shots before beginning the ascent. I covered the first half in less than an hour. It was constantly up, but not too bad. Soon the hairpins really began. There are 48 and I made it my goal to get to 15 without stopping. By 30 I was hurting and by 20 I needed to stop. When the tree line disappears, you become exposed and there was a head wind coming down the mountain. It stalled me a few times around a few of the last hairpins. I stopped at 12 to go for an energy gel and pushed on. The last kilometre was tough. I did the climb in 2 hours 24 minutes and I was freezing cold. It was August and there was still snow up here. I stayed in a hotel overnight and put away lots of spaghetti bolognese and tea. I had an extra heater and was suffering from a bit of shock as I felt ill and could not stop shivering.
DAY 6
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| Great weather |
I woke up and met another rider that had arrived after me. We decided to ride together for a bit to alleviate some of the boredom. A front had come through and we had to descend in freezing cold rain. It took an hour to get to the bottom and as we weren't cycling it was not pleasant. We came across two guys on their way up and wished them luck. As we got further down it became so much warmer and the sun came out and going downhill was amazing. We went through Bolzano and Anton got a flat and I carried on.
I made it to the town of Rovereto and decided to cut east. I didn't realise that this meant climbing up to 1300m again. I almost stopped for the night just before the top, but I carried on and was rewarded by descending for about 45 minutes into Schio. I found a garden to sleep in and I checked out my feet. I hadn't been wearing socks and it was a big mistake as my feet were raw and in some places infected.
DAY 7
I was woken up in the middle of the night to a thunder storm and so I went looking for some shelter. I started off relatively well and stopped in Vincenza for some food, medical supplies and socks. Finally I had a tail wind and I enjoyed it to Treviso where disaster struck.
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| TCR team with friends from Bar Filo |
One of my spokes snapped and as I was cycling around trying to find a bike store my tyre burst. I found a McDonald's to do an internet search and found a store. I ended up at the official Pinarello store where I presented my bike with its spoke to be told that they were going for lunch and would be back in two hours. I explained that I was in the middle of a race but it didn't help.
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| Getting it fixed |
I was meeting up with the event team anyway as my GPS tracker wasn't working and needed a new one. So I waited for them to turn up and took them to the store when it opened. They finally believed me and got to fixing my bike. One tube, tyre and spoke later I was ready to get going again. Five hours wasted, oh how it chafed.
Once on the road, I hammered it to the Slovenian border desperate to get some miles done.
For Part 2 click here
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