Missed my last post, click here:  CP4 to Macedonia Start from the beginning here: TCR No 5 – The Start Good Sensations I set off, enjoying the cool air and fast road and made good time. Just before Bitola, the dubious sandwich I’d had a couple hours earlier was confirmed dodgy. I made a dash into the loos, and while there checked the tracker on my phone and spotted #80 Nelson was stopped just ahead in Bitola, and hadn’t moved in a while. 6th place wasn’t too far away, and with a bit of renewed nervous and excited energy, I moved onto the border. It seemed to … Continue reading TCR No. 5: The Race to Meteora

Missed my last post, click here:  Poprad to CP4: The Transfăgărășan Highway Start from the beginning here: TCR No 5 – The Start Nearly There Breakfast was inside the hotel restaurant from 8, so I set my alarm. I was up at 7 on my clock and breakfast was already being served. Stephane and I had two fairly amazing breakfast plates with cheese, eggs and some meat, bread, olives and maybe some fruit too. At this time I was a little confused as to why breakfast was so early, but didn’t ask too many questions… (it’ll take me to the finish to realise the time zone had changed … Continue reading TCR No. 5: CP4 to Macedonia

Last post:  Bratislava to CP3: High Tatras Start here: TCR No 5 – The Start Target: CP4 I slept fairly well at the back of the petrol station, woken at around 3.30am by a delivery driver dropping off some fresh (!) 7 days croissants, I imagined. He gave me a quizzical look, I waved and he went about his day. Being disturbed, I was reluctant to try to sleep more so figured I’d decamp and get rolling, aiming to get ahead of the heat wave before it kicked into the day. I also checked the tracker, now very interested where everyone around me was, with both 131 Robert … Continue reading Poprad to CP4: The Transfăgărășan Highway

Catch up with the last post here: https://mattonabike.com/2017/11/13/cp2-to-bratislava/  To read from the start of my TCR, start here: https://mattonabike.com/2017/09/23/tcr-no-5-the-start/ Recovering in Bratislava Having arrived at the hotel in Bratislava at around 4 pm, I had all afternoon and evening to relax before deciding my next move. The hotel was right next door to a McDonald’s and a shopping centre with a food court. I had a long bath, washed my bibs and base layer and headed downstairs to explore in my hotel slippers, off bike shorts and t-shirt. It was a scorching afternoon, and was quite glad at my decision to stop for the afternoon and night, but … Continue reading Bratislava to CP3: High Tatras

I had a relatively good night sleep at the checkpoint in Honau at the foot of the Schloss Lichtenstein Castle, albeit only about 4 hours. There were a few comings and goings in the night, but I needed some sleep and was happy to wait until dawn to get moving. It was chilly when I woke up, but it was a really nice morning with the stream bubbling away next to the hotel garden where I’d bivvied up. I ate what was left of the pizza and packed up my gear, being careful not to wake the fabulous volunteers snoozing in the gazebo. I was still half … Continue reading CP1 Schloss Lichtenstein to CP 2 Monte Grappa

If you’ve not seen the earlier posts, you can catch up from the start of my TCR No 5 journey here: https://mattonabike.com/2017/09/23/tcr-no-5-the-start/ Heading into the Po Valley I was super hungry after the long climb up Monte Grappa, light was fading and was getting a little chilly. After a short chat with the Pedal Ed guys & Stephane, I layered up, said goodbyes then headed down the hill. It was super steep, and wasn’t all down hill. In fact, a considerable ‘reverse’ got in the way of speeding down the hill and left me peeling off a number of the layers as the hard work climbing again … Continue reading CP2 to Bratislava

Having completed the TCR just one year previous, you would have thought I would have been much more prepared second time around. I basically left a load of stuff to the last minute and ended up panicking right up until midnight on the day before travelling to Brussels. Work was really busy in the last few days and I ended up having to work Arizona time for some of that week. As much as there was last minute packing, I’d actually done a good job of lining everything up ahead of time. My route was in a much better shape. My kit was, and has mostly been … Continue reading TCR No 5 – The Start