"B" is for "Bikes & sponsors announcement"

I am delighted to announce the first group of generous sponsors and briefly introduce them: 

Introducing...

Velocite Bikes: providing Fast, Stiff & Comfortable Aero Framesets

Venn Wheels: providing Strong, Aero & Fast Deep Section Carbon Wheels

Mitchell's Cycles / TMC: providing Excellent Servicing, Mechanical Repairs, Bike & Wheel Builds

Tripeak Bearings: providing Super-Smooth Ceramic Bearing Bottom Brackets & Carbon Rear Derailleur cages

Recon Cassettes: providing Super-Light, Beautiful & Durable Cassettes

Torq Fitness: providing Advanced, Scientifically-Driven, Pure, Organic or Fairtrade Nutrition

With support from:

Dash Cycles: uniquely-shaped, comfortable & light saddles.

Thank you to all these sponsors who generously provided equipment to race firstly in the Race Across Italy, then Hard Cro, and the Transcontinental Race.  Further details will follow of what equipment I'll be using!

I am still keen to hear from people who are enthusiastic about cycling, the world of ultra, or simply pushing the limits, and would like to provide support, either in equipment or coverage for race expenses.  If you would like to provide support, I would love to hear from you -  please contact me via Facebook or email: ian.to2k9@googlemail.com.

"A" is for "Aero"

2017 is All About Aero!  The dream is bike, wheels, and kit, all of it slipping smoothly through the air in the pursuit of going faster for longer.

As with every ultra race, this year's Transcontinental Race has plenty of flat sections (think of flat-as-a-pancake-Slavonia in the Hard Cro route, a candidate to rival the pancake flatness of Kansas), which is a bit disappointing, as I love mountains and climbing.  Also, Croatia won't feature in this year's TCR route (booo hissssss), unless you get really lost...

Weight is always a consideration, but the aerodynamic drag created by rider and bike consumes more power, even on uphill sections.  There are plenty of good, informative videos by Fastfitnesstips on YouTube, Specialized, as well as many other scientific studies (not GCN, bless 'em).

I'll make some compromises on the optimal aerodynamics, such as disc brakes and drop bars, but these will be (typically) very much about safety (eg: fast mountain descents - you'll kill your hands on TT bull horn bars, and probably kill yourself if it's wet and you have rim brakes and carbon wheels) and comfort over huge ultra distances, rather than pure speed.

All About Aero!  Watch this space for the unveiling of the aero setup...

Flatness of pancakes versus Slavonia versus Kansas - discuss...

"A" is for "Adventures in 2017"

Firstly, a belated happy new year to you all!  Secondly, apologies.  I haven't written for a number of months and realise that I've left my blog to rot.  Being back in the UK during November and December was a depressing time, what with dark days, dreadful weather, dirty, wet, muddy, icy roads, news of our awful UK motorists running-over cyclists and friends reminding me about my own traumatic experiences, the mental torture of turbo training indoors, and not wanting to write about the adventures I'd recently had and wanting to be out riding in those places, rather than in the UK, writing about them and not being able to ride.  In my defence, I did confess to being a cyclist, and not a blogger/author or photographer!

The new year and January is definitely looking up, with the days growing longer and warmer, a number of sponsors pledging their support for various things (I'll make an announcement in February) and providing new sexy bits of kit, feeling closer to race dates including acceptance to the Transcontinental Race (2017 is the 5th edition ), new adventures (I've already spent two weeks in Croatia and am currently writing this in Tenerife) on new roads in new countries and meeting new people.

At the moment, my planned race schedule for 2017 is:

• April 29th - "Race Across Italy" - 800km with a support crew
• June 19th - "Hard Cro" - 1,400km around the four corners of Croatia
• July 28th - "The Transcontinental Race" (5th Edition) - 4,000km around Europe, from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Romania, to Meteora, in Greece
• August onwards - who knows!

Leaving 2016 in the past, I promise to write a short piece, every week, on an interesting and amusing topic (hopefully you'll think so) rather than thrash-out a blow-by-blow War And Peace account, which I've read a few of (past editions of the Transcontinental Race resulted in a glut of mind-numbing accounts in this style - maybe I was also guilty of this), starting with A, and cycling through to Z.

For 2017, I wish you all good fitness, fortune and new adventures!  Be fast, stay safe :-)

I've climbed Teide, on Tenerife, five times, whose peak is 3,718m.  Many more climbs to tick-off the bucket list!