The Transcontinental Race
Photo courtesy Camille McMillan
The Transcontinental Race is an annual ultra-distance cycling race set in Europe. It is approximately 4000km long and extremely arduous, taking the winner around 10 days to complete.
The race usually runs a zig-zag pattern across Europe, visiting some of the continent’s mountain ranges – checkpoints, of which there are usually just four, are often on mountain passes, and approach routes will sometimes include classic climbs or spectacular scenery. The TCR is unsupported, so competitors are not permitted outside assistance unavailable to other competitors. They are allowed (and need) to buy food, water and other assistance along the way, but it cannot be arranged or exclusively on offer to them.
The race has caught the vogue of bike-packing, long-distance self-contained travel by bike, but in spirit it also harks back to the classic days of cycle racing a century ago in which riders would compete non-stop over a multi-day course, deciding their own routes. The main difference is of course in equipment, both in modern hardware and clothing, and particularly in tech - competitors use phones and gps to select and follow their route. Canny route choice makes all the difference – what seems the flattest might not turn out to be the quickest.
The inspiration behind the Transcontinental Race is Mike Hall, who tragically was killed in an accident in Australia in March 2017, while competing in the Indian Pacific Wheel race (5500km across southern Australia from Perth via the Nullabor, Adelaide and Melbourne to Sydney). He was an extremely accomplished ultra-distance cyclist and organiser of cycling events.
The route of TCR 7 in July and August 2019 was unusual in that it started in the east of the continent, in Burgas on the Black Sea in Bulgaria and ran, via four checkpoints in the Balkans and the Alps, to Brest in the far west of France. It was also notable because it was won outright by a woman for the first time, Fiona Kolbinger, from Germany.
Read a report of the Transcontinental 2018 by Bjorn Lenhard -