During this ride Anna and Mike bet on social media, pretty much. Which definitely makes big sense!

As a not-member of the social media world, I have my wife who follows up on these channels for me, at least for TCR stuff.

TCR sent out two race cars and a media car/ van.

I met the media van quite some time, although I almost never met the race cars. Good indication that I was not riding upfront the race.

I must have been an internal decision to focus on the faster riders. In my imagination the stories are more being written by other racers. The ones that might struggle and get back into the race. Nevertheless, the clips that are online until today, are really really well done.

Even more the images that are being taken during this race are more than just beautiful. You should consider that it is not really easy to actually find a spot out on the road. Driving the car all day long and looking for riders. Then getting these riders into some good shots. For me this is one of the most challenging jobs during this race, aside from the riders doing their race.

There is a general youtube channel from TCR, as well as an Instagram Account.

Camille (instagram)and John, thank you for your great work! Even I do really like your pictures. Now, I can even enjoy them, during the ride it was not something I got really into, until some friends sent me screenshots of myself in any of the social media channels.

Francis Cade (youtube), thank you as well. I enjoy watching your movies, keeping this ride and many sceneries even more alife than my own pictures, not my memories!

As my wife Nico is excellently following the TCR details and news, here are some updates and details from my ride, that really surprised myself.

(The link in general: http://www.frrt.org/tcrno4/riders)

The recorded route via tracking and routing from TCR differs to mine, but only in a smaller range:

3622km TCR measurement

3678km Max garmin

 

My dots:

http://www.frrt.org/tcrno4/r/82-max/map?bounds=39.50404,-13.53516,51.17934,43.37402

 

Dates and classement for check point passing. Surprising for me is the small variance in the classement during the entire race. From 51st to 39th, so only 12 places variance during 13 days of riding. Big surprise for me, indicates a relatively constant cycling, which I do not feel at all. Also the daily distances are variing quite a lot.

Start: Geraardsbergen

22:00 Jul 29th

Control: Clermont Ferrand

13:42 Jul 31st (51st)

Control: Col de Ceyssat

14:54 Jul 31st (46th)

Control: Grindelwald

12:50 Aug 2nd (51st)

Control: Furkapass

20:23 Aug 2nd (53rd)

Control: Alleghe

19:26 Aug 4th (51st)

Control: Passo di Giau

20:26 Aug 4th (47th)

Control: Pluzine

12:25 Aug 8th (44th)

Control: Zabljak

17:53 Aug 8th (42nd)

Finish: Canakkale

7:09 Aug 12th (39th)

The daily breakdown indicates quite obviously that there had been some serious climbing, at least for my experience. The climbing itself and the lack of my brakes functionality directly shows the low mileage on the climbing days. And yes, the chase to Canakkale from Alexandoupolis had really been the fasted part of my entire race, so not only in my mind also on the records. Simply looking at the climbing figure, I get dizzy, really dizzy. I like climbing, but I do not like racing up the hill if I know another thousand kms are waiting to be pedaled:

Day 1

0:02 – 21:19 Jul 30th

Track / Route: 340.2 / 369.2 km

Climbing: 3508.0 m

Moving: 17.3 hours, 21.3 km/h

Day 2

9:26 – 21:52 Jul 31st

Track / Route: 324.3 / 354.4 km

Climbing: 3768.0 m

Moving: 23.6 hours, 15.0 km/h

Day 3

22:02 – 20:27 Aug 1st

Track / Route: 199.2 / 220.9 km

Climbing: 3343.0 m

Moving: 12.4 hours, 17.8 km/h

Day 4

22:07 – 20:23 Aug 2nd

Track / Route: 179.8 / 236.7 km

Climbing: 7593.0 m

Moving: 17.1 hours, 13.8 km/h

Day 5

22:11 – 21:46 Aug 3rd

Track / Route: 159.5 / 202.8 km

Climbing: 9095.0 m

Moving: 15.3 hours, 13.3 km/h

Day 6

22:37 – 21:59 Aug 4th

Track / Route: 209.6 / 259.5 km

Climbing: 11292.0 m

Moving: 17.5 hours, 14.8 km/h

Day 7

22:08 – 21:46 Aug 5th

Track / Route: 206.0 / 241.3 km

Climbing: 5223.0 m

Moving: 11.7 hours, 20.6 km/h

Day 8

22:05 – 21:50 Aug 6th

Track / Route: 204.5 / 225.8 km

Climbing: 4918.0 m

Moving: 12.9 hours, 17.5 km/h

Day 9

22:10 – 21:56 Aug 7th

Track / Route: 211.3 / 232.0 km

Climbing: 3578.0 m

Moving: 11.0 hours, 21.1 km/h

Day 10

22:06 – 21:54 Aug 8th

Track / Route: 200.2 / 253.4 km

Climbing: 11337.0 m

Moving: 16.2 hours, 15.6 km/h

Day 11

22:36 – 21:54 Aug 9th

Track / Route: 170.2 / 223.8 km

Climbing: 8014.0 m

Moving: 14.3 hours, 15.7 km/h

Day 12

22:04 – 21:53 Aug 10th

Track / Route: 279.9 / 304.2 km

Climbing: 3318.0 m

Moving: 15.6 hours, 19.5 km/h

Day 13

22:03 – 21:59 Aug 11th

Track / Route: 294.8 / 327.3 km

Climbing: 3514.0 m

Moving: 17.5 hours, 18.7 km/h

Day 14

22:20 – 7:09 Aug 12th

Track / Route: 150.3 / 170.2 km

Climbing: 1460.0 m

Moving: 7.5 hours, 22.7 km/h