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TCR No. 4 Part 6: The Final Push to Çanakkale – Part 1

Matt Falconer

While resting at CP4 on the Sunday afternoon, checking Facebook when I saw some from family indicating that sadly, my Nan had passed away over the weekend. This was a bit of a shock. My gran was a vibrant character, even at 95 years of age was very active. I made some calls home to see how my mum and sister were doing, and came away lost in thought, but also with some added determination to get to the finish for my Nan. Before the race she had been really interested in all the training and the riding I had been doing and had sent a good luck … Continue reading TCR No. 4 Part 6: The Final Push to Çanakkale – Part 1

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TCR No. 4 Part 5: Storms and CP4

Matt Falconer

I finally plucked up the energy to push on. A few km’s down the road before Sinj, I found a grocery store and loaded up on food and water. I was fairly baked from the last couple of days and a really bad night so refreshed my water and food reserves, enjoying the ‘delights’ of 7 day croissants yet again. Once I sorted myself out, it was time to push on in a break in the weather. This break didn’t last that long as the rain and storms kept escalating. At one point I swerved off the road and took shelter under someone’s porch in a … Continue reading TCR No. 4 Part 5: Storms and CP4

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TCR No. 4 Part 4: Escaping the Mountains and South to the Balkans – CP3

Matt Falconer

Breakfast I slept badly on the hotel lobby couch. There were a few coming and goings through the night with riders arriving late at the checkpoint, but I didn’t wake to see who as I was pretty tired. Stephane  #12 must have made an early start as he was gone by the time I woke up. My iPhone, Garmin & Wahoo batteries was flat too, so I would need to get moving in order to charge devices. Frustratingly, when changing over batteries in the tracker it became faulty so was given a replacement tracker. This would cause some problems later. The first order of the day was … Continue reading TCR No. 4 Part 4: Escaping the Mountains and South to the Balkans – CP3

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TCR No. 4 Part 3: The Mountains. CP2 – CP3

Matt Falconer

I woke up much later than planned, but I really needed the sleep. After fueling up on the hotel breakfast buffet, I retrieved my bike from the cellar and headed up to Grindewald to start the CP2 parcours. I nearly missed the hotel checkpoint, with the name on the buildings on both sides of the road, but safely pulled in to get my brevet card stamped in about 32nd position. I bumped into Darren Franks #114 and met the pairs #212, Andrew Boyd & James Stannard for the first of many times on this journey. It was great to meet up with and chat to some … Continue reading TCR No. 4 Part 3: The Mountains. CP2 – CP3

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TCR No.4 Part 2: Attacking the Jura

Matt Falconer

As much as I had realised I would be unlikely to compete with my choice of route, I thought that I should at least make a good go of it. Had a quick clean up at McDonald’s, stowed the emergency cheeseburger, packed up the bike and pointed it to the lumpy horizon. I had to laugh at myself as they came closer. Hills 1: Thiers, Col St Thomas, and down to Roanne There was a mostly flat and reasonably quick run to the first of the hills, but boy did it step up in Thiers. The town has an almost vertical ramp up into the town followed … Continue reading TCR No.4 Part 2: Attacking the Jura

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TCR No. 4 Part 1: Start to CP1

Matt Falconer

Wow. The start was pretty incredible. I had barely time to process it before I was trying to work out which way to go next. A cobbled descent off the Muur, hang a right, spot Paul #67 and gave him a shout, then hang a left where almost everyone seems to be going straight. A pair went past shouting “another one for the cool route!”. No sooner had they passed me and were pushing on they took another turn, then I was alone. It might have been 2o minutes, but that’s all it took. for the next hour or so at various junctions you would spot … Continue reading TCR No. 4 Part 1: Start to CP1

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Starting the Transcontinental Race

Matt Falconer

Getting there Crunch time! I booked my bike and I onto a Eurostar to arrive in Brussels the day before the race to allow me an easy night in Brussels, using a free night with Hotels.com to get a fairly decent hotel. I dropped the bike off at eurodespatch where I had arranged to meet with Neil from Bowman, who wanted to do a short interview for the Bowman video blog, and to hand over a spare mech hanger. Just in case. You can see the interview here on their Between the Lines Blog. Bowman Cycles also did a nice pre-race blog post with questions and answers from all the BC … Continue reading Starting the Transcontinental Race

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TCR No. 4 – Final Preparations & Kit List

Matt Falconer

The last few weeks of July was all about getting all those final preparations complete. The bike, kit, route and final travel preparations. I spent an awful lot of time tweaking my bike, with some critical last minute adjustments that really made a difference on the race. Service With three weeks to go, I put my bike in for a service with Jonny over at Noble Wheels, who also built up my custom wheels. I also handed him a set of ACOR semi-hydraulic disc brakes to fit with the new drive train components. My disc brakes were a last minute switch from TRP Spyres which were woefully inadequate … Continue reading TCR No. 4 – Final Preparations & Kit List

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Pre-Race: Final Training – June & July

Matt Falconer

I’ve been a bit lax with blogging in the lead up to the Transcontinental Race. I was busy with work, riding and the final preparations and it was one more thing that I figured I would put off until the end. There is now an awful lot to tell you about! First up, I had some great fun in June & July with some awesome rides, carrying on from my theme in May, #RideWithMates, and some TCR training rides I’d been putting off. It was a very good couple of months! Wiggle Dragon Ride I was fortunate to win a place in the Dragon Ride thanks to … Continue reading Pre-Race: Final Training – June & July

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May Update: Ride with mates!

Matt Falconer

May has been a great month for enjoying riding my bike. I’ve ridden further in May than any other before, and have had the best time doing it. Riding with mates makes training so much easier, and much more fun! I’m really quite fortunate to be part of a small group of really good friends who are more than crazy enough to take on some bizarre challenges on two wheels. This month especially so. London 2 Paris 24h / Paris 2 London Solo 24h So what’s been going on? This month started with an absolutely fantastic weekend cycling to Paris and then back again. You can read (and probably … Continue reading May Update: Ride with mates!