Endurance of a long distance cyclist -Transcontinental Race 4,000 km

[shootingstar]

An excerpt from a blog:

The race website describes the event as follows:

The Transcontinental is a single stage race in which the clock never stops. Riders plan, research and navigate their own course and choose when and where to rest. They will take only what they can carry and consume only what they can find. Four mandatory control points guide their route and ensure a healthy amount of climbing to reach some of cycling’s most beautiful and historic monuments. Each year our riders cover around 4000km to reach the finish line.

"Doesn’t that sound so amazing? And so hard? Fiona did it in 10 days, 2 hours and 28 minutes. She slept for about four hours a night. What a champ! (Personally, I couldn’t sleep for hours a night for 10 days without being in a 4,000km cycling race. I would be curled up in a corner snoring on day 2.)

Of course, Fiona being a woman, this is a big deal. Out of the 265 starters in the race, 39 were women. And one of them won! This is actually not all that surprising: women have shown again and again that they are amazing endurance athletes. In ultra-long distance events such as ultra-marathons, or ultra-long distance swimming, women have been managing to close in on the gap over the past decades. If you look at the record-holders for the longest recorded swim distances, there are a lot of women (note that this doesn’t necessarily have to mean they are faster than men, although there is a study saying that too, at least for swimming. But it seems they can often go for longer). [Update 11 Aug 19: The BBC just published a piece about women and endurance sports following Fiona’s win. It’s very interesting, a lot of this is apparently also down to how women manage these events emotionally and mentally.]"

Race map:

 

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God, how to manage on long distance ride with only 4 hrs. of sleep per night. 

May I tell say this:

My dearie cycled 4,000 km. from Vancouver to Toronto in 45 days solo with his loaded panniers on 2nd trip.  He was given 1 car lift for 45 km. somewhere in northern Ontario. I can't remember the circumstances, but it was a local politician (a mayor?) who noticed him.  He has scaled mountain passes, cycled for hrs. in rain...into headwinds for hrs. This was in 2009. He would have been 65 yrs.  He has done this twice solo.  The lst trip, he took longer and he was younger...I think it was 2 months.  

For once in my life, I was SO glad I am a cyclist..to support him every night he phoned me.  To understand and be with him psychologically by phone. Not to tell him, that I was afraid for him. That I was instead, cheering him on.  This is before days of Skype. 

 

[Razors Edge ★]

Zealot got this story a couple days ago!

But, yay for Fiona!

[shootingstar]

1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

Zealot got this story a couple days ago!

But, yay for Fiona!

Yea, I'm a luddite. I don't visit here all the time.

But can tell story of others..

[Ralphie ★]

2 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

Yea, I'm a luddite. I don't visit here all the time.

A Luddite with a blog? I think not!

[late]

For mere humans, there is still PBP, the Paris-Brest-Paris rando.

https://www.paris-brest-paris.org/index2.php?lang=en&cat=accueil&page=edito