Finally, all regular “day recaps”, i.e. diary-like recounts of my days during the TPRNo1 ultracycling race in the Pyrenees, are available (and updated). They should now be more ore less coherent 😉
Easiest to find and read all my TPR-related posts in one go is to click this link, and it will just load everything relevant to the Trans Pyrenees Race on tiggertracks.com. For roughly the first half of the journey, especially over the first four or five days, there are additional posts. Those “Extras” consist mostly of photos, but some also contain fond, or frightening, memories as well as rants:
https://tiggertracks.com/tag/tprno1cap101
Ah, yes: Remember to start at the beginning, i.e. on the last page, as the stories evolve blog-style from bottom to top.
Photo above:
Back on the road, after crashing about one hour into the race — Kudos & © Tom Hardie
What is the TPR?
The “TPR” — short for “Trans Pyrenees Race” — started in Biarritz on October 4, 2019. This year was its inaugural first edition, hence “TPRNo1”, and very experienced riders who finished within the time limit (or even in top spots) have commented about it being among the hardest races they’ve ever attempted.
Some details (taken from my Strava page):
- My start number or “cap number”: 101 (#TCRNo1cap101)
- Total distance travelled: 1,716.62 km (average of 122.62 km/day)
- Total vertical ascent climbed: 33,727 m (average of 2,409 m/day)
- Number of days: 13.6
Looking back
I proudly finished as “Lanterne Rouge”, after another 65 women and men had successfully ridden the entire course and 39 had scratched, out of a total of 105 riders (93 solo starters, 12 riders starting in pairs).
The TPR was my first ever attempt at “Ultracycling”. I have quite some experience with long days in the saddle, though most was in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Therefor, preparation was OK, but can definitely be improved upon.
To finish within the time limit — “in GC” — was never my goal. Making the time cut would have meant to ride everything within seven days — or 168 hours — from the Atlantic ocean to the Mediterranean sea, and back, along some of the highest peaks of the Pyrenees, and on sometimes sketchy terrain. My hope had been for something between eight and eleven days, with a faint dream of reaching the finishers’ party just before midnight on the eighth day.
But all this went out the window early on:
For various reasons, after a good 5 to 6 months of gearing(-up) and training, my preparation became less thorough from around end of July. While I slightly ramped up physical training, I had trouble finding time for logistical planning and to map out details of route and race. I also didn’t rest sufficiently in the week prior to the TPR. The night before the start, from October 3 to 4, I hadn’t slept at all. I then crashed in the first hour of my race and probably spent more time than necessary on repairs and self-care (including ample time for sleep and breakfast) over the following days.
Eventually, the decision crystallized to go easy on myself and not push any more than I really felt comfortable with. But I didn’t feel like scratching. My idea had been to rest and recover on the Atlantic coast, post-race. Having rented our tiny 2-room-AirBnB in Biarritz until and including the 18th of October, this now offered me a full two weeks for the journey and took away all pressure. It allowed me to “simply finish”. After all, I didn’t have to please anyone, there was no money to win*, and I needed to return in reasonable shape. Moreover, I’d rather feel fit enough to continue riding my bike through the winter than to dig myself a hole health-wise.
I downshifted from “Race Mode” to “Touring Mode”. This also meant I had a lot of time to take in the absolutely stunning landscape, enjoy encounters of every kind, take pictures and collect stories.
*=No money to win, yes, but of course every extra day on the road incurred additional costs.
Notes
- Many, but not all pictures are “clickable”, i.e. you will be able to view them in full size within the blog or on Flickr. Those that are not, I will fix and add links over time. But I am not yet fully satisfied with picture representation, so, please bear with me while I finish things.
- As I find the time, I will add more posts about (a) preparation, (b) equipment, (c) aftermath (reflections on what I learned from all of this). New content will most likely also be highlighted by updates to this post.
- Also: the entire tiggertracks.com site was started on occasion of the TPR. The original idea was to give family and friends some place to track my progress as well as enjoy some pictures and stories without the need for any specific social media account. The blog will, little by little, also host tales from the past decades, all related to (cycling) adventures and travels.
- Existing posts may be changed as I see fit, especially if I remember more (funny) details.
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