Day 15: While we were sleeping

Xavier Massart’s finish last night takes our total up to 51 riders who’ve made it over the line. There’s seven more caps closing in on Brest at the time of writing – including pair Michal Durec (Cap 249a) and Zlatima Petrova (Cap 249b) – and a whole load more making their way west.

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For many, realisation of their continent-crossing accomplishment will be slowly sinking in ahead of the finishers' party on Sunday. Here’s Lloyd Williams’ emotional insight into what it takes to complete the TCR (plus some tips on doing it inside two weeks):

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Jesus, did I just do that! I set myself a goal 10 months ago to cycle from Bulgaria to France in the #tcrno7. With one thing in mind and that was just to finish within the timeframe of 15 days and make it to the finishers party. My strategy: to cycle the minimum 300 kms with the expectations of cycling more, if you find yourself in a good position to bank up kms due to favourable conditions, reward your efforts with a hotel, manage your mental state with a shower and good quality sleep. 5 hours in a bed is better than 5 hours on the ground outside and your physical state thanks you also. You physically don’t get better over time but there was not a day that I didn’t want to get back on the bike and ride. My strategy worked and I can now say I’m a finisher of the @thetranscontinental. I clocked in yesterday in 13 days, 16 hours, 45 min and in 43rd place out of 275 riders. I have now set myself a baseline, I now know I can go further, push harder and compete in one of the hardest races in the world. Thank you to all the riders on the road it’s just good to see another struggling face from time to time. Lol. Thank you to everyone who supported me Over the past 10 months and the countless messages of encouragement, they meant a lot through the tough times and there were a lot of them. I hope my story provided you with lite entertainment. Enjoy life, Do what makes you happy. Thanks. #tcrno7cap149 #tcrno7riders #jobdone

A post shared by Lloyd Williams (@lloydiewill) on Aug 10, 2019 at 12:02am PDT

4 months ago