Day 12: First woman

Day 11: First pair, CP3 closes

Christoph Strasser is the First Finisher at TCRNo9

Day 7 and Day 8 Morning Update, Some Big Moves - Kitty

Day 5: CP1 is dead, long live CP2!

Day 3: CP1

Day 1: Flowing away

## Women’s podium

Congratulations to Jaimi (#004) who is the first solo woman to reach Thessaloniki! Jaimi didn’t seem bothered by any external factors and just rode her own race. Well aware of what she can sustain and trusting her experience, she stayed consistent and delivered a performance that she can be proud of.

Susanne (#191) came in 2nd just 2.5h after Jaimi. She was never outside of the top 5, but with the spotlight on Jaimi and Maria, her ride largely went unnoticed. It is actually incredible how much she managed to close the gap in the end, considering that it was definitely more than 10h just a few days ago. Congratulations Susanne!

Good news is that Maria was discharged from the hospital, but unfortunately she will not continue the last stretch. Get well and hope to see you next year! That leaves Joanna (#049) with a healthy gap to Nicola (#142) as Joanna enters the finish parcour.

## Portrait series

You might have heard about JP Robertson (IG: jprobertson). He’s been a TCR race photographer for many years. He is incredibly talented and has an eye for raw emotion. This year he decided to switch things up and joined the team as a control point volunteer at CP3. However, he didn’t leave his camera behind. Not constrained by any particular photo requirements, he has let his creativity free, and right now is posting a portrait series of riders crossing CP3. Go check it out if you haven’t already!

![jpr-portrait](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/6vUtYOsVpFGo8ztglxwBiZ/d9ac04eae46f9159a9da7c9660d665d1/photo_2023-08-04_16-24-51.jpg)

This is the point where the rate of finishers exceeds the number of scratchers. I’m sure that the emotions are high as incoming finishers are greeted by other finishers, dotwatchers, and family members. And if anyone is at the finish, please check if

## Anyone has lost their sunglasses?

![lost-sunnies](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/eovPxuRLLHZEIqQsUUmJJ/59728b39f33b9ddf4386da5edc934b21/photo_2023-08-04_16-23-03.jpg)

## First pair

__Sherry (334a) and Gereon (334b)__ just crossed the finish line! First pair and 16-17th overall. Riding through your own emotional roller coaster for more than a week is one thing, but doing it together with someone else is completely different. We've seen many friendships suffer and pair riders abandoning each other midway. With their own highs and lows, they've shown what an incredible, powerful, and consistent team they are. Congratulations! You are an inspiration.

## Maria in hospital

__Maria (#041)__, who was battling it out with Jaimi for first place in the women’s classification, has been admitted to a hospital near Katerini, Greece after a crash last night. She commented in a Facebook group that her knee has a deep cut and that she also hit her head in the crash. She also said that the head seems ok, but the knee will need some stitching. She hopes to continue in a few days, but is unsure for now if that’s realistic. Get well Maria, and we all hope to see you back on the road!

![maria-info](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/5gfYAYVO2cwqvNPXjzik1f/2ae0350634321e30892da1381681ace6/maria_reply.PNG)

## Finding strength to continue

What does this race mean to you? Why is it important to finish? These might seem like simple questions at first, but several days into the race, and especially after unfortunate events like Maria’s, one might no longer be convinced by their initial answers. Faced with challenge after challenge and living through a year’s worth of emotions every single day, it’s important to stay honest to yourself about why it is important to continue. The way I see it, the only value in finishing is what you make out of it. Nobody here is fighting for some prize money to support their family or advance their career. Nor will anyone bully you for cycling 2000 km across Europe instead of 4000 km. To overcome the challenges, the motivation really has to come from within. For some the TCR might be deeply tied to their unique life experience and have a special meaning. To finish might mean everything. Others might realize that the challenge is not worth the aches and the pains, and that’s completely ok too. Either way, the length and unique format of the TCR almost guarantees a fascinating journey of self-discovery and tales of adventures that will keep one’s grandchildren hanging around. Let's have a look at some of the stories:

### Tales of resiliance: David Tschan

Remember __David (#050)__? The one who hacked a temporary puncture solution with a garden hose? Well, his streak of bad luck didn’t end there. The bike shop he visited thereafter did a poor job and his tubes just kept on ripping. He had to hike 10km out of the mountains before hitchhiking a car to Trikala where he could get everything properly fixed. Then, he cycled back 70 km with 2000 m of elevation gain to resume his journey, and now he just entered the final parcour. Whatever it throws at him, I’m fairly confident at this point that David will manage it. 

### Tales of resiliance: Jesko von Werthern
__Jesko (#249)__ has not had an easy journey as well, and he has been very open about it in his posts on Instagram (@jesko_werthern). A few days ago he crashed and bruised one of his legs. In the beginning it only hurt while walking, but over time it got worse. At this point the road rash has become infected and, after consulting a doctor, Jesko has to take antibiotics to manage the situation. However, he still finds power to continue and currently is on parcour 4A. I hope that reaching the finish will prove that it was worth it!

## Turtles!

To end on a positive note - maybe you have noticed that some riders have been posting pictures of turtles in Albania? According to locals, it's a common sight there. 

![albanian-predator](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/1U2iM36Kr5GVdLOqgdF0VO/73b7383a382be4446a384145d3c2e567/albania_warning.PNG)


It was another attritional day out there on the long road to Thessaloniki but the finishers bar is beginning to fill as weary riders, battered, bruised and incredibly dusty, begin to peel layers of their second skin of lycra off and air their swollen feet.

Cap 146 Simon Geiser is now on the home stretch to secure 9th and the battle for the top 10 will be decided in the night as cap 42 Paul Niehoff attempts to chase down the slim 30km advantage that #173 Christian Englert has going into the final 90. No time for stopping now !

In the pairs race 334a and b. Gereon Tewes and Sherry Cardona are honing in on that last mandatory red line they need to ride to secure their first place. Listening to the podcast today it appears that their pacing strategy on the gravel parcours has been for one of them to ride and then nap whilst the other walks, waking up their partner when they catch up. From the outside it seems like an inspiring story of teamwork and a genius take on Aesop’s ‘hare and the tortoise’ but at this point in the race they may simply have run out of conversation . . .

Slightly further back, negotiating the Pindus mountain roads around CP4 the battle for the women’s crown appears to be heating up. At one point in the day it looked like the gap between lead rider #4 Jaimi Wilson and chasers #191 Susanne Moldenhauer and #41 Maria Holdcroft had all but disappeared however it later transpired that Jaimi was suffering from tracker issues that have now been rectified. Even so, Maria put in a huge effort last night along the off-road section between 4a and 4b whilst Jaimi stopped to recharge. It could be set for a nail biting finish if Maria keeps riding at this pace.

With 10 days on the road, 115 riders have now left the race, that's 1 out of 3 who set out on the now infamous cobbles of Geraardsbergen. It has begged the question if the TCR is getting harder – there definitely seems to be more rough stuff this year wreaking mechanical destruction on finely tuned road setups. Our talented friend over at racebuddy however, calculated that the scratch race at this point last year was only 3% lower at 30%. In TCR no8, 55% of riders made the finish so it will be interesting to see the final numbers with many dots still to enter the hallowed valleys of Meteora. (Source : racebuddy.co.uk)

Whilst interesting data, the emotions and stories unravelling behind the dots on our screen at the moment is other worldly. We heard today about cap 50 David Tschan cutting a garden hose up for a makeshift inner tube and riding it over 60 kilometres to the closest bike shop, all this after a 24km hike over the rocky parcours in cycling cleats. We heard of riders unable to brake because of nerve damage, we heard of feet trouble, back pain and heat stroke. Bikes are giving way, strapped together with zip ties and gorilla tape and slipping seat posts jammed to fit with cut-off coke cans. Everyone who set out on this iconic race has a story we can’t even begin to fathom. Each dot a hero. In the words of founder Mike Hall ‘Nothing worth doing is ever Easy’ and out plaudits go out to them.

I’m obviously not going to comment on today’s podium decision for risk of getting burnt at the stake. The statement if you wish to find it is on the TCR Instagram page. All I’ll say is that there are wonderful and amazing stories behind the dots and images on our screen. Little good has ever come from keyboard arguments, lots have from riding bikes.

Happy dot watching as always.
Josh


Day 10. The battle for first lady heats up.

Well yesterday’s predictions of cap 1’s finish time were a little off. By the looks of Christophe’s daily updates he had quite the night losing his tracker, riding back to search in the dark and then taking his bike for a walk through the mud and grit of the mountain parcours. A cruel sting in the tail of this inspiring tale. 

Chapeau to Christophe. To win TCR once is remarkable but to double up in as many years is simply astonishing given the amount of elements that have come together to get yourself and a bike across Europe in little over a week. It’s not just a strong pair of pins – though I guess it definitely helps in this case !

For the riders still battling through Durmitor gravel and Balkan heat the pictures of Christophe’s finish line beers will serve as little to no motivation, especially if they just caught a glimpse of the type of tarmac that still awaits them. After the cold, rain soaked climbs of the alps the majority of riders are now facing an altogether different challenge of rough roads and hot riding. 

“TCR has really been two races – you have the Alps with the cold temperatures, then the Balkans and Eastern Europe with the heat and the rugged roads. I feel like yesterday I entered another race “ said Rodrigue cap 108 (source:TCR Instagram account).

With over 2500 kilometres in most of the riders legs by the point they reach the Albanian heat the problems that riders face are much more than physical. This change in condition and challenge creates a heavy toll on tired minds and motivations. Added to this are the failings of kit, tyres, bike lights, chargers and the whole host of problems that come with living life on the road casually ticking off 300 kilometre plus days. As an indication of the difficulty, over 30% of riders have now scratched from the race and the next few days will be a real battle of attrition. Our love to all those still turning the cranks !! Simply amazing work.

To give some context and one such example of the daily toil that riders are facing we spoke with cap 96, Mannix O’Boyle yesterday. As heavy rain fell in the midst of the night Mannix made his way to a hotel he’d booked in Slovenia only to find that no one was up or opening the door. He found shelter under the porch of a small lodge nearby but awoke to find that his bike had been leant up underneath a broken roof gutter and his whole bag of electrical kit was fully submerged in an over-flowing frame bag. With navigation, lights and di2 gears battery dependent he had no choice but to set off on a hunt for the closest bike shops and hardware stores. Given it was 5am in the remote and rugged foothills of the Dolomites this was no easy problem to solve. 

James Illman, cap 69 has had similar problems, losing his headtorch on the rocky parcours and struggling to find accommodation and shops open not to mention stocked with what he needs. I am pleased to report he had found a new light and an all you can eat buffet at the time of writing. 

Whilst agonising examples, problems like this can quickly spiral at this point in the race. Frayed patience, tired legs and minds all on top of the remote and foreign locations riders find themselves in play on the motivations of previous week’s intentions. At this stage of the race, miles from convenience and the support networks that many maybe used to, initiative, experience and pure stubbornness are far more important to riders hopes of finishing than the cartilage that’s left in their knees.

Back at the front end it looks like Robin Gemperle will arrive in Thessaloniki shortly to share a few more coca-colas with Christophe and after an amazing 48 hours of riding flat out it looks like cap 232 Anatole Naimi may well claim the bottom step. Our bet is that #24 Tim de Witte won’t let up on his chase and with the parcours as brutal as it looks. The race for third is still very much on.

Happy Dotwatching as ever.
Josh


Day 9

After an incredibly closely fought TCR, Christoph Strasser rolled into Thessaloniki. As with every year, we have to wait for the TCR organising team to confirm his finish and crown him the winner, but he crossed the line in 1st for the second time in a row. 

This incredible race was so close in the first few days but, Strasser's uncompromising approach and clever route planning has seen him gaining a larger and larger gap.

More updates to follow.


Seven days ago, after the adrenaline of the fire lit grand depart had burnt off, many riders were finding hostels, bus stops and bivvy spots in the peripheries of the Grand-Est. Now, just over one week on, the once dense cluster of dots has thinned to a long satisfying snake whose head is tantalisingly close to the fiery flickering red of the final parcours. 

Last week at this time, Christophe Strasser was just passing into Switzerland having hugged the lowlands of the French-German border. For our lead dot this was just the second of many national borders to pass through on his way South. This past week, he and the rest of the riders have scaled the alpine parcours of the central European block and found themselves sweating through a blistering Balkan heatwave. CP2 has now closed and the race to the time cut at CP3 is now a stress fuelled evening for those with dreams of a GC finish.

By our predictions and geographical extrapolations, dot no.1, Christophe Strasser may well get as close to 27km from the finish line in the next few hours before having to deal with the small matter of a 215km detour that includes 3000km and 30km of off-road to negotiate the parcours. Matt Falconer’s guess is 10am for a bouncing dot, but this is Christophe we’re talking about. We recommend setting an early alarm tomorrow if you’re dot watching obsession needs some closure.

Back in the chase pack the heat is having an effect. The control car dashboard was reading 33 degrees today and with little breeze and no shade on exposed soviet highways, sleep tactics and routing choices are becoming critical. The battle for the bottom step of the podium and a single digit finishing number is going to be fascinating. Game plans for the final stint will be important and with over 3000 kms in the legs and spokes it’s all to play for. That is, unless you are wearing cap 4. When the media crew caught up with lead female rider Jaimi Wilson today she explained that she doesn’t have a game plan for the rest of the ride. She’s just carrying on doing what she’s doing, riding hard day after day; ‘I cycle to midnight and then stop’. Seems a fair enough plan to me and as a fellow Cumbrian I will break commentary impartiality to shout. Big up Jaimi ! Smashing it! A performance like this will surely get you the keys to Keswick. 


Day 8. The Great Greek Snake.

Kitty here! Hello and welcome to my first update, as usual it'll include Instagram stories galore and some expert insight from our panel.

__TLDR__ Christoph is still in the lead with Robin just at CP4. Marin has  taken the decision to scratch, his heart wasn't in it and we commend him for an amazing race. Sherry and Gereon are still storming ahead in the pairs and Jaimi is just climbing Parcours 3 with Maria trailing relatively closely behind.

## Let's GOOOO!

There was some early morning contention yesterday on whether or not Christoph and Robin would take the gravel track (explained below in Matt's update) between Parcours 4A and B. It could save time but, with severe punctures already for Robin it was a close call. With our expert Rob Gardiner adding the sensible thought that at over 10% gravel on under 32mm is pretty much unrideable unless it's the compacted kind.

Christoph, an extremely strong climber and road rider, opted to take the road section and Robin opted for the gravel track. A great way to see it unfold is via the replay option on Follow My Challenge, it's an interesting watch but spoiler Christoph reached the end of the Parcours section at 5pm, with Robin reaching at 9:40 pm (a good 4 and and half hours later). Christophe reached the next section of the Parcours at 10:40pm, meaning his route took __5 hours and 40 minutes__. Robin reached the next section at 2:40 am, so another __5 hours__. It means Robin saved 30-40mins with the gravel track but did it save energy? There was a section where he walked siginificantly!

![Screenshot 2023-07-31 at 11.02.42](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/6eAhDYzsXTkmhL8GBCGwDO/b83251671531081986c7fbea4ee0637b/Screenshot_2023-07-31_at_11.02.42.png)

## Matt Falconer's Updates

Many of you will have seen [Matt](https://www.instagram.com/b1rdmn/)'s fantastic updates on his instagram stories. Each morning and night he's going over the antics providing Follow My Challenge snapshots and leaderboard insights.

What's he found out?

__CP4 Parcours__ is separated into 3 separate sections: A, B and C. The gap between A and B is the aforementioned gravel section or backtracking to the road for an extra 60km and 1300m of climbing. The gravel section is gruelling, steep segments and definite hike-a-bike. It was used as part of the Hellenic Mountain Race route and looked like Robin was heading to tackle it at night! [Lissa B](https://www.instagram.com/caughtinthevoid/) who completed the Hellenic has posted the photo above to provide some context for the difficulty of this track. 

__Changes in the pack__, Tim and Anatole are fighting it out for 3rd finish and Marin was pushing on despite the lack of energy he was fighting against on the Parcours. These Albanian roads are particularly hard on the body - hopefully there'll be relief in North Macedonia.

__Dogs__. Last year a lot of riders had issues with dog bites, particularly the further South East they went. This year it is slightly less prevalant but as riders head into the more remote sections, it's definitely something to watch out for.

__Women's race__ Jaimi is still leading but a comfortable break for Maria at CP2 has certainly paid off. She's covered some big ground and is closing in ever so much on Jaimi.

__Route choice__ there seems to be a split along the Balkans with some riders erring to the West and some to the East. On average, it seems those who've ridden closer to the coast on the West are finding it a little more slow going than the others.

![Screenshot 2023-07-31 at 11.04.28](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/2jEfRgOOhAt59HwmVu2hgj/5e9a921863cb63880726b1c4efa6047b/Screenshot_2023-07-31_at_11.04.28.png)

## Day 8 Morning Update (Matt too!)

Christoph got a hotel before descending 4B and had a couple of hours of R&R meaning he was fresh for the rest of the Parcours. This has left a clear gap between the two as he heads for the monasteries at Meteora. Christoph made it through the CP before all the tourists were out and didn't stop for long. Robin was at the CP for longer and is currently on the last section of the Parcours.

Christoph has opted for a longer but more rideable route heading East and then South and has put significant time into the leaderboard.


If you could ask 1 question to either __Christoph (#001)__ or __Robin (#003)__, what would you ask? I would ask Robin if all those Fantas he seems to be drinking is the reason why he is having such a Fantastic ride?

## The road ahead
On Instagram more and more riders seem to be reporting tired minds and bodies. The number of DNFs is steadily increasing...

It doesn’t matter if you are pushing the limits at the front or fighting to make the CP deadlines - at this point it is tough for everybody and it is going to get tougher still. The bout of joy at the CPs or when the Media team drives by is deceivingly hiding the many lonely hours riders spend trying to occupy their minds away from whatever aches they are experiencing.

Although Christoph and Robin are already past the off-road parcour after CP3, more off-road awaits in-between the last parcour segments in Greece. In any case the line between road and off-road can easily get blurry along some of these roads.

![road1](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/Kzn8h3AWtWOSH1XR1Cr8H/a325eb91805a5fed50dffefdd7f5db86/photo_2023-07-29_20-08-36.jpg)

![road2](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/2DAYv9RRkj097NcB1Xy2dO/462a631ee5c6ffbfc0d4223bc0f5e521/photo_2023-07-29_20-08-41.jpg)

![road3](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/1LZTNGQGvmPMtv3riC44Mh/d619ba38e9025a2cd159ada17316110b/photo_2023-07-29_20-08-45.jpg)

Last year’s toughest off-road section was the 45km long Drumul Strategic parcour after CP4 in Romania. For reference, the fastest rider there was __Marin (#002)__ and it took him about 3.5h to complete it. It took 4.5h for Robin and 5.5h for Christoph. The significance of off-road sections cannot be underestimated as the only other place where riders could gain or lose so much time in such a short distance is maybe the high mountains. 

Robin comes from a mountain biking background and this year he beat Marin’s course record in one of Europe’s toughest MTB races - Hope 1000. However, off-road on a road bike is a whole different jam and Marin seems to have an upper hand here. Meanwhile Christoph was very open last year about his lack of off-road skills and looked to gain time over his competitors before the off-road sections. He might be playing a similar strategy here, and that would explain why his gap to Robin has increased. I hope all of this convinces you that it’s not over till it’s over, and so much can still happen. Super exciting!

If you want to learn more about stats like this from last year, I wrote a whole article analysing every participant's performance in the Drumul Strategic from last year. You can find it on my blog https://medium.com/@davis.pazars.

Meanwhile the leading women have split up along 2 different routes and right now it’s unclear in what order the top 5 will arrive at CP3. In the pairs race __Sherry Cardona (#334a)__ and __Gereon Tewes (#334b)__ are leading by almost 2 countries. The synergy between them is absolutely incredible!

## Rider Spotlight #3
__Sara Hallbauer (#203)__ is an experienced cyclist from Germany. She has already competed in many ultra endurance races, organised local events and shares bikepacking knowledge on her website bikepackers.de. One of her goals is to inspire other women and, translated from German, her motto is “*get out of the slipstream and into adventure*”.

__Sebastian Sarx (#139)__ would definitely be good friends with Ash Ketchum because he totally shares the *gotta catch ‘em all* mentality. In his case it’s just ultra endurance races instead of Pokemon. Since June 2022 he has competed in 7 different races excluding this TCR - Trans Balkan Race, Basajuan, 2 Volcano Sprint, Atlas Mountain Race, The Unknown Race, Mittelgebirge Classique, and Ascend Armenia. He DNFd in the most recent one (Ascend Armenia), but in all others he has placed 7th or higher. 

## Special Shoutout
If you are on Instagram make sure to checkout Marcel Sketches (@mrcl_sketches) for a unique perspective on the TCR. This person's sketches are absolutely amazing and it's incredible how much thought and detail goes in every single work. I'm in awe!

![mrcl1](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/2b5O9wpqWqFpob6x1ZBNVW/2047b7f18412461d9ecd41ce67b08f50/photo_2023-07-29_20-08-52.jpg)

![mrcl2](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/u1S1sNTYxMVaICti5TTo7/5c0ba221906f71f9686989935f572472/photo_2023-07-29_20-18-09.jpg)

Day 6: Road ahead

*Time of writing: July 28th, 18:30 (GMT +2)*

## CP1 closes
As the last hours before CP1 was about to close ticked away, many riders started to realize that they aren’t going to make it, and that feeling is definitely a hard pill to swallow. In desperation, some even completely skipped the first parcour to make it on time. To give you an idea of how many didn’t make it, here’s a snapshot of the map minutes before CP1 closed:

![cp1-cutoff](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/5kw04fQhzWURIx2quumJOt/d2fb0eec40289dda375554cb48d7f9cb/cp1_cutoff.PNG)

If one fails to make it to CPs in time, it’s still possible to officially finish the race. In such a scenario one will be marked as a finisher instead of being ranked in the finish time leaderboard called the general classification. However, one still has to follow the rules of the race, and that includes completing the parcours!

## Movement in the women’s race
Yesterday __Maria Holdcroft (#041)__ surprised everyone when she turned South towards the Po Valley after being the 2nd woman to reach CP1. No matter how you look at it, the valley route is slower and only a handful of riders opted for a similar strategy. To better understand why she might have done this, here’s an excerpt from __Jesko Werthern’s (#249)__ recent Instagram (@jesko_werthern) post:

*I've been cold since Belgium. Never fully dried out. I don't manage to get warm in my summer sleeping bag outside, so move into the reception area of the campsite. When I leave, the thernometer shows 3 degrees. Climbing Bernina and Forcola in all layers and still freezing. At the CP I cannot feel my fingers. The sun is out now and Stelvio is better than I remember it from nine years ago. But I'm sure there was snow up here back then, in August. And the glacier is gone, too. The sun takes all day to slowly warm me up again.*

Lack of warmer gear, health issues or just a worse tolerance for cold could be good reasons to choose the valley route. Roughly looking at the times, Maria lost maybe 5-7h in the valley, but she is still in the race as she approaches CP2 in 4th position. Just behind her is __Nicola Shaw (#142)__ who has lost some time due to electronic device issues - her phone is not charging properly and her dynamo charger is not working at all. As Maria and Nicola approach CP2, __Susanne Marei Moldenhauer (#191)__ and __Joanna Ruminska-Pietrzyk (#099)__ have recently left it, turning their few hour deficit at CP1 into a few hour lead. Still in first place ahead of the bunch is __Jaimi Wilson (#004)__. Her lead is significant but not decisive. 

## Some hiccups in the men’s race
Leader __Christoph (#001)__ started the day earlier and was about 20-30km ahead when __Robin (#003)__ got going. As Christoph crosses the border to Montenegro, Robin is looking to close a larger gap than in the morning because he lost at least 30 minutes replacing a punctured tire. His plugs (presumably for a tubeless setup) didn’t work, but he was lucky to be on the outskirts of Sarajevo and could stop at a bike shop to replace the tire. __Marin (#002)__ is now in a breakaway from the chasing group and seems to be in good spirits as he’s been spotted track standing and bunny hopping to pass time while waiting for traffic lights. From the leaders __Will Vousden (#119)__ is the only one who has chosen a route closer to the coast through Croatia.

CP2 is now bustling with activity as the bulk of the riders star to arrive. The temperature is getting warmer and riders turn from undulating high altitude climbs to shorter and steeper hills. The second parcour will also introduce gravel to whoever didn't already face it after CP1.

*Time of writing: July 27th, 13:00 GMT +2*

You are on a holiday driving through the Alps. You pass 1 rider on a climb and think to yourself that it must be crazy cycling all the way up here. Then a few hundred metres later you spot another rider. And then another one. And another one. You feel surprised and wonder if this is some sort of a race? But can it be? There are no blocked roads, no team cars or screaming fans. It all seems a bit odd. As you continue your journey, you pass tens if not more than a hundred different riders. The sight leaves you curious and once settled for the evening at a hotel, you turn to the internet to learn more. You discover the Transcontinental Race and this very Dotwatcher blog, and a whole new world opens up to you. If that’s your story - welcome! You have a lot to catch up with. If not, then just try and imagine what a wonderful sight it must have been today as the bulk of the Transcontinental caravan went to and from CP1 in Livigno before it closes today at 23:59 (27/07) local time.

![cp1-riders](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/1UouWwtrKwHON5RywDcoiP/8fb5e40fe377e78493669a6f9934ccb5/stream_of_riders.PNG)

## Leaders
In the mean time the leaders seem to have teleported to CP2 in Slovenia and have already gone past it. Both are feeling good. There’s a bit of room for interpretation what good actually means here though. It’s probably not the same type of good as how one feels on a relaxing, sunny Saturday morning ride with friends. Whatever the meaning, it’s a good sign because as they turn South towards Albania, an elevated mood and positive attitude might come in handy.

Although cycling in the Alps is still challenging physically, that part of Europe is much more cycling friendly and familiar to many riders than the Balkans. Roads are good, a water fountain or a bakery is never too far away and repair shops are plentiful. While this can be true in the Balkans as well, there will be more places where riders are quite isolated and solving a problem could take significantly longer than in Germany or Northern Italy. For example, I was cycling in Romania last year and had to get a spare tube. There was a bike shop about 10km away, but they didn’t have tubes with an 80mm long valve. My wheels were 60mm deep, so I couldn’t fit a shorter one. The next shop was 100km away and there was no direct or fast way to get there besides a car. It was a small issue that suddenly took about half a day to resolve. Of course, riders should be prepared for all sorts of situations to avoid silly mistakes like that but unexpected things can happen, luck can play against you, and a 100km lead can still melt away like it was never there.

## CP1 Updates
In the last post 3 different route choices beyond CP1 were described. As it turns out, there are at least 9.

![cp1-options](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/1I2iloujD7Hp5rb1VKzmak/f6769c513fc8fc0cfbe8272f7298dfb9/image.png)

1. Stelvio Pass.
2. Umbrail Pass.
3. Off-road variant 1 (Robin’s choice).
4. Off-road variant 2. More gravel, less distance. (Marin’s choice).
5. Prohibited tunnel road. However, __Joep van Luijt (#295)__ managed to find a trail around it (see picture below).
6. Choice for the adventure seekers pioneered by __Charlotte Hodgkins Byrne (#270)__. It takes the good gravel bits and then still climbs Umbrail/Stelvio Pass. Charlotte chose Stelvio!
7. Replaces Umbrail/Stelvio with Passo di Gavia. It’s a similarly massive climb with more distance to cover, and only __Marc Büchel (#316)__ has gone here at this point.
8. Avoids the higher passes by ascending the comparably minor Passo d'Apríca and then connecting to the road on the other side of Passo di Gavia. __Harry Johnson (#009)__ chose to go this way.
9. Heads completely out of the Alps, and this is what __Maria Holdcroft (#041)__ is doing. She was the 2nd woman to reach CP1, so this seems like a bold move. A possible explanation for such a choice is that tomorrow afternoon the forecast shows rain over much of the Alps while the Po valley remains dry. With low temperatures and rain in the mountains, going south might pay off if she plans to ride during the night. We’ll see.

Here is a picture of the trail around the tunnel (5).

![path-around-tunnel](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/6MQfXMgpZcYqHzlFbQk5r8/e0900c45ee958e777aa5ab264b3d57e4/photo_2023-07-27_13-58-10.jpg)

Beautiful view from the top of the Stelvio Pass (1).

![stelvio-pass](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/7Btd7lGNrNnqe3Sk3cdHUu/6c97e568f66c5d4ea90ab41af6214626/photo_2023-07-27_14-00-46.jpg)

It's really exciting to see riders going so many different ways. It goes to show how much thought has been put in the race by the Lost Dot team because situations like this are not accidental. Let's hope that most riders will make it to CP1 in time and, if not, that it won't discourage them to continue.

## Rider Spotlight #2
__Shiz Gerami (#322)__ - has her roots in triathlon that she picked up back in 2011 during university in the UK. Being a citizen of Iran, she was denied participation in her first championship by her country’s sports ministry because her race outfit did not adhere to Islamic law. This did not deter her and over the next couple of months she fused together a new set of clothing and went on to become Iran’s first woman triathlete. In 2016 she participated in the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, which is THE event in triathlon. Just qualifying is a massive undertaking and achieving that in just a couple of years with additional challenges along the way is seriously impressive. After Kona she participated in several other events but seems to have quit triathlon in recent years. At least publicly. Her last social media presence is back in 2021, her website is down, and most of the interviews and articles date to before 2020, so it’s great to see her at this year’s Transcontinental trying out something new.

__Will Vousden (#119)__ - If you followed last year’s TCR, you might remember Will’s story. He DNF’d shortly before CP4 in Romania after noticing that his down tube had almost disintegrated in two halves. He had been involved in a road accident as early as Germany and his bike had been making noises ever since. The initial crack was fairly small and hidden, so he made it about halfway across Europe before it grew almost to a complete frame failure. I think he even noticed the issue on a descent and was grateful that he himself stayed in one piece. It still bamboozles me to this day that it’s possible to fracture the down tube without damaging the front wheel after a frontal crash. If there is an engineer here with an explanation, please let me know. In any case, you can find out more about his story on his personal website vousden.me and, just like last year, you can find Will’s dot at the front end of the race.

Day 4: Too many options

Davis Pazars

Josh Murphy

Transcontinental Race No9 Tracking + Commentary: The TCR has been the inspiration for much of the European calendar and its influence on the sport is hard to overstate. Pegged as one of the shortest but hilliest editions of the TCR, No9 is sure to be on to watch.

Transcontinental Race No9 Tracking

Considered by many as the halo event of the season, the TCR has been the inspiration for much of the European calendar and its influence on the sport it hard to overstate. Pegged as one of the shortest but hilliest editions of the TCR, No9 is sure to be another jewel in the crown of the dotwatching calendar.

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