TRANSCONTINENTAL RACE 2025 LAUNCH; most women ever, new check points, longest ever edition!

[@FincAGalicia]

Thanks, Josh. Starting in my backyard in Galicia. You are in for a treat. No flat roads in Galicia... TCR#08 was my challenge. DNS, but it was an absolute pleasure. Might see you there if I get a place as a volunteer

[@TheNWaite]

Outstanding summary Josh. Many thanks . Here’s a heads up for potential participants on routing from CP3-CP4 from someone who has ridden that route several times and lives part time down there . Head straight from Turin to the Passo Della Cisa (via Piazenza) and down to Sarzana then Pisa to Siena . Leaves you only one serious climb of that entire sector . Rest of it is flat as flat. Oh… and don’t underestimate the short sharp hills of Tuscany. Though not long they are taxing. Especially in July/August heat.

[@yoda848]

Thank you for the Video, i missed the live feed😢 and a big Thank you for your effort and the concise summary🙌🙌

[@Jacobvby]

Great video man! Looking forwards to more analysis, as this will hopefully be my first TCR!

[@ig2d]

when i cycled to santiago i found the N 634 and assorted other N roads very cycleable - perhaps owing to the heavy traffic/lorries using the A roads that follow the major N roads

[@teddykayy]

Hadn't heard of thos rsce before. Looks wild!

[@PatriceGLAIRON-RAPPAZ]

Very great and interesting parcours...Thank's for the presentation.

[@woutervdh932]

Regarding to start-CP1: This must be (one of) the shortest 'first leg' in TCR history? Also, I expect this to be one of the most condensed starts we've seen in recent years too? There really aren't more than a couple of sensible ways to ride from start to CP1 (and onwards to CP2). Quite a change from the start of TCRNo10, where we had one of the most extreme splits in the first 1000km!

[@pip119]

Really great interweaving of the interviews. The question on the viewer's mind: does Josh have an entry? (Sorry if I missed this in the video)

[@joshibbett]

No entry for me I'm afraid

[@HeadPack]

This could be a hot TCR. Love the initiative for bringing more women to the race. Personally, I hope Isa Pulver will be one of them.

[@ig2d]

shout out as well to Fiona kolbinger who won the whole thing in 2020...

[@samuelthompson5094]

2019

[@fpeter01]

Gender isn't really important in ultra races. Of course they want more female riders, but insane men are easier to find. I can't blame them, not everyone wants to spend her holiday riding 280 km/day on average with a lot of elevation change and heat.

[@firsthippy]

Transiberica has become a bit like a TCR and TCR is starting off like a Transiberica. As well as Llama drama there's a bar on top of the Tourmalet (of course you know where all the bars are, hippy) so that could function as a CP. *hiccup*

[@alexjohnson6462]

Hey, Josh. Random question I neglected to ask before about your Mason Macro hardtail. What size is yours? An Extra Large or regular Large? I looked at the geo charts; just trying to get a feel for the size (to judge if my frame bag fits). All the Macro photos on their website appear to be super small sizes. Not sure why manufacturers do that. Am trying to figure out if they changed the geometry (radically lowered the seat tube and shortened head tube) since you got your prototype. Your model seems correctly proportioned.

[@joshibbett]

Its an XL frame

[@jameshcox]

Thanks for this Josh. The interviews added nicely to the summary. Nothing wrong with middle aged white men though - we were born this way.

[@JT-uh6je]

July could be the heat wave as biggest challenge

[@ig2d]

savvy riders (if allowed) should register for the camino to take advantage of the pilgrim hostels...

[@christopherhood9241]

interesting route.

[@markbellinger1096]

TCR just lost a fan with their equality bs. It's a bike race and women have always been involved. Why? Seriously.

[@JT-uh6je]

The ferry transfer is mere idiocracy

[@yannickbanville7723]

Why?

[@JT-uh6je]

@yannickbanville7723 because, compared to this year's ferry, it goes rather seldom, only every 12 hours, what makes it kind of a gambling

[@woutervdh932]

@@JT-uh6je Have you ridden any ultra races before? In many cases a form of 'gambling' is part of it, and it surely has been the case in the 3 past TCR's I've ridden. In regards to the fairly long and infrequent ferry in TCRNo11: it's not just a gamble, but it requires a lot of thought both in advance and flexibility during the race. Which is a good addition to the event.

[@JT-uh6je]

@woutervdh932 first answer: yes. I know what I am talking about. Other unforseeable obstacles are part of the game. A ferry only twice a day is total gambling

[@woutervdh932]

@@JT-uh6je So you've ridden a TCR or another 4000km free-routing event? I wasn't talking about 'unforseeable obstacles'. I was talking about actual gambles, which one sometimes has to make when f.i. routeplanning (there is no street-view all over Europe, you know). I am sure a lot of people have been in something of a 'gambling' situation during TCRNo10, perhaps at the end of the parcours in Bosnia. That includes myself and I lost.

[@JT-uh6je]

Instead of a politically correct looking policy, the Lostdot should reflect about the parcours and scratches... they allow many to start, knowing that more than half of them are not ready for this hardship of 4000km without break. Be it they change the CPs and parcours, be it they accept only the best prepared people.... just asking 100 women to start is mere political

[@joshibbett]

Best way to find out if you can do it is give it a go and learn from your mistakes

[@JT-uh6je]

@joshibbett This is too easy, since we don't talk about just any race but one of the more difficult one

[@woutervdh932]

Why does it always seem so hard for men to accept that FOR ONCE we're not the ones being somehow favored? Sorry to bring you the news but the fact that we're still living in a patriarchal society IS MERE POLITICAL too. That said, on the topic of The Transcontinental: I'm sure that there is an intention in making the race this hard so that a large portion have to scratch. If each rider (or a large majority) of those who starts would also finish perhaps it wouldn't be an 'ultra race'? I mean, there are thousands of reasons why people scratch.... And a lot of the 'scratchees' are hard and experienced folks, who just end up on the wrong side of luck. That's inherent to an event like this. I do not support every past choice of the Lost Dot race direction, but you're really just mixing up lots of unrelated things here.

[@Foxtrottangoabc]

Middle aged white dude 🙄 very discriminatory . How many entries are there in total out of interest , by all means guarantee a percentage of females , but the people who really enjoy these events the most are middle aged white dudes

[@fpeter01]

@@woutervdh932 4000 km with 40000 elevation gain is a really nice yearly achievement for an amateur athlete. Covering this in two weeks is just completely insane. This is why we dotwatch the race and not participate in it. :-)

[@Gac72]

So sounds like I’m disadvantaged being a middle aged white male nice, thanks