Thursday 7 February 2019

Tri-Athlete or just mad.

Does this make me a Tri-Athlete or just mad?

Back in 2014, someone I met through a discussion about rowing a boat across the Atlantic suggested that I try taking on the Transcontinental race. Back then the race was just in its second running and was already beginning to attract a good deal of attention. By 2015 when I took it on the second time, it was well and truly established on the Ultra-distance calendar for amateur cyclists and now in 2019 it is set to run for the 7th time.

Any amount of information can be found on the race website, 
https://www.transcontinental.cc, but this blog is not about to reproduce the amazing detail that can be found there or indeed on their facebook page, that you can join. As a member of that community you'll find any number of discussions about tyre size, gear ratios, saddles, bikes....the list is endless and most of it a complete mystery to me.

That sounds odd doesn't it? Someone about to cycle 2500 miles with little knowledge about bikes and all things technical in that department. Well maybe. But I would postulate here that this event is about a lot more than bikes. In fact its a lot more about adventure and for me the bike is just the vehicle. I'm not sure that I was ever a 'cyclist', but I love adventure and this is my third attempt to complete this particular one.

If you work your way back through my previous blog posts you'll find out why I never finished the others. I don't want to dwell on either too much, but suffice to say that 'failure' if you want to call it that is informative and no experience however painful is ever wasted. It is also a measure quite simply of how ridiculously tough this race can become.

So for the third time of asking we start a blog following the Transcontinental Race No 7 with me as one of its protagonists once again. I hope you enjoy the ride.


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