Transcontinental Race Blog

Photo by James Robertson

The Transcontinental Race is an annual, self-supported, ultra-distance cycling race across Europe. It is one of the world's toughest ultra-endurance races. The route and distance varies for each edition between about 3,200 and 4,200 km, with around 300 independent riders attempting to complete the race in under 10 days. It attracts ‘bike-packers’'; endurance athletes that pride themselves on being self reliant, whilst achieving phenomenal distances across harsh conditions, using their problem solving skills and mental grit to get ahead of the pack.

The race concept was designed by the late Mike Hall, an elite ultra-endurance athlete who was officially the fastest man to race from north to south USA, fastest man east to west USA, and unofficially fastest man around the world.

Mike asked for us to help him with a blog for TCRNo3 in 2016. He wanted something from the ‘dot-watcher’ perspective, essentially all those who support the race from their sofas, watching the GPS tracked dots as they move slowly across the map.

The blog evolved into a daily round up of ‘the pointy end’, and a collection of stories from individual riders, researched from social media posts and anything shared directly with the organisers. It took a humorous tone of self-deprication which reflected the spirit of the racers. The blog was quickly considered to be an essential part of race viewing, and quotes from the blog were used in national papers and mainstream podcasts following the race.

Following the success of the 2016 blog, we were asked to write it again in 2017 and 2018. Due to the death of Mike Hall in 2017 we declined to write the blog, but returned in 2018 for a second edition, which received similar feedback.

The 2018 Blog can be downloaded here.