{"id":40271,"date":"2022-08-08T18:18:36","date_gmt":"2022-08-08T16:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bikeradar.com\/?p=692746"},"modified":"2022-08-08T18:31:15","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T16:31:15","slug":"4300km-in-10-days-how-hard-is-the-transcontinental-race","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/rss_feed\/4300km-in-10-days-how-hard-is-the-transcontinental-race\/","title":{"rendered":"4,300km in 10 days: how hard is the Transcontinental Race?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Jack Evans\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 08 August 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

The Transcontinental Race <\/a>is billed as the world\u2019s toughest self-supported, non-stop ultra-endurance cycling race.<\/p>\n

Riders pick their own Transcontinental route from A to B, passing through checkpoints and usually racking up in excess of 4,000km and 40,000m of elevation.<\/p>\n

Some riders, such as double-winner James Hayden,<\/a> take a direct approach on faster roads; others avoid busy thoroughfares but have to do more climbing.<\/p>\n

As the cut-off time for the penultimate checkpoint 4 approached, 100 or so hardy athletes were still out on the road 16 days after setting off.<\/p>\n

The fastest finishers, on the other hand, sped from Belgium to Bulgaria\u2019s Black Sea coast in 10 days.<\/p>\n

But how hard is it exactly?<\/p>\n

No one here at BikeRadar has ridden it \u2013 not even our in-house ultra-endurance competitor<\/a> and video manager Felix Smith<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unlike the majority of ten-10 finishers, Ulrich Bartholmoes, who came sixth overall, posted his full route on Strava<\/a>. We\u2019ve picked some stats from his upload to the cycling app<\/a> and examined his bike tech choices below.<\/p>\n

The ride<\/h2>\n
\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Bartholmoes was moving for three-quarters of each of his 10 days of racing.<\/span><\/figcaption> @ubartholmoes<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

The German was lying just 20 minutes behind eventual winner Christoph Strasser at the penultimate checkpoint before a ferry fiasco cost him four places.<\/p>\n

Bartholmoes kept his Garmin Edge 1040 solar<\/a> recording throughout the event, so we can see his 4,324.59km-ride in its entirety. Other riders stopped and saved their activity on their bike computers<\/a>\u00a0every day or two days.<\/p>\n

The sixth-placed rider\u2019s finishing time of 10 days, one hour and 51 minutes converts to 241 hours 41 minutes.<\/p>\n

Of that elapsed time, he spent 183 hours 42 minutes moving at an average speed of 23.5km\/h.<\/p>\n

Roughly 60 hours paused time over 10 days doesn\u2019t allow for much sleep.<\/p>\n

Bartholmoes averaged 425km a day and climbed 42,200m in total, or an average of 4,200m a day.<\/p>\n

In comparison, Strasser averaged 480km a day, finishing in nine days and 14 hours.<\/p>\n

Bartholmoes\u2019 average power is 134 watts on Strava, but he told BikeRadar this is an estimated not actual value and preferred not to disclose his true output.<\/p>\n

Strava\u2019s calculations are less accurate than the best power meters<\/a>, so its estimate of Bartholmoes\u2019 calorie expenditure (40,512) is likely to be an undershoot.<\/p>\n

Given how many calories cycling burns<\/a>, 4,000 a day on average does look low.<\/p>\n

The bike<\/h2>\n
\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
A lean, racy build for an ultra-endurance event.<\/span><\/figcaption> @ubartholmoes<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

The standout components on Bartholmoes\u2019 BMC Teammachine SLR01 Team<\/a> were the tyres: prototype 32mm Hutchinson Challenger Tubeless<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t puncture, according to an Instagram story the rider posted after the race.<\/p>\n

Ceramic bearings in the bottom bracket<\/a> and wheels and oversized rear derailleur pulley wheels<\/a> from Kogel also catch the eye.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Bartholmoes ran prototype Hutchinson tyres and an oversized pulley wheel system at the TCR.<\/span><\/figcaption> @ubartholmoes<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Numerous weight-saving measures brought the fully loaded bike to 13kg, according to the rider.<\/p>\n

These included carbon Tune Rechtstr\u00e4ger bottle cages and a prototype Schmolke saddle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The rider defended his choice of lightweight Meilenstein Evo Disc wheels<\/a>, saying before the race he had topped 100,000km on them without breaking a spoke and praising their stiffness to weight ratio and aerodynamics.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Like many riders, Bartholmoes ran aero bars at the TCR.<\/span><\/figcaption> @ubartholmoes<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

But rim damage on the 45km gravel<\/a> secteur in Romania\u2019s Transalpina forced Bartholmoes to walk through the cold.<\/p>\n

The bike is built from a mixture of largely SRAM components. The shifters and brakes are SRAM Red eTap AXS HRD<\/a> with Centerline XR 160\/140mm rotors.<\/p>\n

A SRAM Red 12-speed chain was lubed with Muc-Off C3 Ceramic Lube<\/a>. The cassette<\/a> is the brand\u2019s Force XG-1270 10-36T.<\/p>\n

He used Aptonia Long Distance handlebar extensions and Apidura bikepacking<\/a> bags.<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n

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By Jack Evans Published: Monday, 08 August 2022 at 12:00 am The Transcontinental Race is billed as the world\u2019s toughest self-supported, non-stop ultra-endurance cycling race. Riders pick their own Transcontinental route from A to B, passing through checkpoints and usually racking up in excess of 4,000km and 40,000m of elevation. Some riders, such as double-winner […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":40272,"template":"","categories":[1,36],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/08\/4300km-in-10-days-how-hard-is-the-transcontinental-race-scaled.jpg",2560,1920,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/08\/4300km-in-10-days-how-hard-is-the-transcontinental-race-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/08\/4300km-in-10-days-how-hard-is-the-transcontinental-race-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/08\/4300km-in-10-days-how-hard-is-the-transcontinental-race-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/08\/4300km-in-10-days-how-hard-is-the-transcontinental-race-1024x768.jpg",800,600,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/08\/4300km-in-10-days-how-hard-is-the-transcontinental-race-1536x1152.jpg",1536,1152,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/08\/4300km-in-10-days-how-hard-is-the-transcontinental-race-2048x1536.jpg",2048,1536,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Jack Evans Published: Monday, 08 August 2022 at 12:00 am The Transcontinental Race is billed as the world\u2019s toughest self-supported, non-stop ultra-endurance cycling race. Riders pick their own Transcontinental route from A to B, passing through checkpoints and usually racking up in excess of 4,000km and 40,000m of elevation. Some riders, such as double-winner…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/40271"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}