Getting to the start
To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.
— Leonard Bernstein
I had one week from the end of the Pan Celtic Race until the start of the Transcontinental Race. I hadn’t sorted out my bike or the route. Without time to really unpack my thoughts from the Pan Celtic I had to rush into preparation for the Transcontinental. Here’s how that week unfurled. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t smooth sailing!
Saturday 16th July, 17:00
I crossed the finish line of the Pan Celtic Race. I had a beer and a shower, and then in the evening I went to the pub with some of the clan for food. I couldn’t find any hotels or B&Bs with rooms available, but managed to bag the couch to sleep on at PCR HQ (thanks Becs!).
Sunday 17th July, 04:11
No rest for the wicked; another early start. I cycled up to the Great Orme finish line to welcome the next batch of finishers over the line.
Sunday 17th July, 11:30
Cycled to Llandudno Junction to catch the train back to London.
Sunday 17th July, 17:15
Arrived home.
Monday 18th July
Recovery day. Did my laundry, cleaned the bike, and caught up with things.
Tuesday 19th July to Wednesday 20th July
Route planning. Yes, I should have done this over the previous few months, but there’s nothing like a deadline to motivate things. I allocated myself two days to plan the 4,500 km route I was to take. I used Ride With GPS to plot the route, using Google Maps, Strava, and Ride With GPS cycling heat maps for reference, and worked like a whirling dervish. Once completed, I pulled the the route into Google Maps to easily check that I wasn’t going via any of the race-prohibited roads or tunnels. I downloaded the .gpx file to my Garmin, and to my phone as a backup (importing to BikeGPX app), and saved a further copy to my cloud storage.
Wednesday 20th July, 16:00
Back in March I had been speaking with Brompton to see if there was any way I could get hold of the model of bike I like to race on, which is no longer in their product line-up (a 6-speed with titanium parts on the frame), which I would convert to 12-speed with a front derailleur. They had a better option — they had someone design and build a custom 12-speed bike for me based on their P-line model. I spoke with them and it was ready just in time for the race.
I headed over to the Brompton factory in Greenford to pick it up, and stopped off at their central London shop on the way back to pick up a rear rack and front luggage block.
On the journey home I noticed the gears weren’t playing nicely, and taking a close inspection of the bike, I realised that there were lots of things I didn’t have spares for. This model takes different inner tubes, a different chain and cogs, a different way of getting the cogs off, different gear cables. The gear range was also a bit different from my 12-speed; the low gear wasn’t quite as low as on my bike. I also wasn’t familiar with the new gearing set up in terms of adjustment. It was a great bike, lighter than my PCR bike, and the gearing set-up was a cleaner solution, but there were enough unknowns without time to validate them. I decided to sleep on the decision as to whether or not to take it.
Thursday 21st July
I got up early having made the decision not to take the custom Brompton bike, but instead to switch to Plan B. In early summer I met someone on an audax that was selling a very similar spec model to my Pan Celtic bike - a 6 speed lightweight version. I bought it and put it in storage as a backup plan. The bike had less than 100 miles from new. It had a rack, but I needed to add dynamo lighting, upgrade the brake pads and tyres, and convert it to 12 speed. I had all the spare parts I needed for this. I spent the morning working on the bike. By lunchtime it was ready and I took it for a spin, but again something wasn’t quite right. The front derailleur was not changing cleanly and I spent 30 mins trying to rectify the problem, but was having difficulty getting the bike to behave the way I wanted it to.
With time running out (my Eurostar was booked for lunchtime the next day and I had not started packing), I decided to switch to Plan C ! This involved using the same bike I had just used for the Pan Celtic. I put new wheels on (new rear wheel from my plan B bike, a brand new front wheel with dynamo hub, new tyres), replaced the brake pads, cogs, chain, and chainring. I’d put new cables on ahead of the Pan Celtic, and had a new bottom bracket fitted during the Pan Celtic Race, so I left these as they were. I added some extra reflectors, and by 4pm I was done. I took the bike for a test spin, and everything was great. No! Hang on! A little bit of play on the headset?! Surely not. Checked again.. Yes, definitely play in the headset, and I didn’t have the tools or parts to fix this.
I phoned my local bike shop, Compton Cycles. I explained the situation, and they said bring the bike over and they would take a look. I was there in ten minutes. After some testing of moving the handlebar and listening to the sound came the prognosis, "Now, it’s possible that it’s not the headset, but a fractured steerer. We won’t know until we get it open and if it’s a cracked steerer we won’t be able to fix it today. Do you want us to go ahead?" "Go ahead. If it’s cracked, I want to know about it!"
Within a couple of minutes, they confirmed it was the headset (big sigh of relief!). My Chris King headset was worn, but they would be able to swap out the headset for a standard Brompton one and give me the Chris King parts back. Yes please. A few minutes later the bike was ready. Thank you Compton Cycles.
That evening I prepared a list of things to take.
Friday 22nd July
In the morning I packed my bags. Having had a similar set-up the week before meant that everything was more or less at hand, but it was whilst packing that I realised I’d mislaid my wallet. I checked everywhere but couldn’t find it. It had my bank cards in it and about 300 Euros. These were the cards that would be used for booking hotels etc. Not good. With a lunchtime Eurostar booked, I didn’t have much time. I didn’t find my wallet, but whilst looking, I discovered an old Monzo bank card. I checked and it still worked ok - I was able to transfer money onto it from my bank account. I was also lucky to be able to borrow £250 cash which I planned to change for Euros at an exchange. Phew! Let the adventure continue!
At this point in time it wasn’t possible to take regular bikes via Eurostar, but an(other) advantage of the Brompton is that I was able to take it on the Eurostar as regular carry-on luggage without making any special arrangements - it just requires to be in a bag. This made my journey to Brussels very easy.
I caught the 1pm train and arrived in Brussels shortly after 4pm local time, then cycled the 43 km to my guesthouse in Geraardsbergen. When I arrived at the address provided by booking.com, the gates were closed and locked. I tried phoning the number, but after dialling, the connection cut off immediately. I contacted a friend in London who was able to phone the number ok, and relayed the crucial information that the entrance to the guesthouse was 100m up the road via an alleyway!
I spent some time in the evening re-working some of my route through Germany - a stretch of cobbles I encountered cycling from Brussels to Geraardsbergen was enough to put me off my initial route. I’d brought my laptop with me and planned to leave it with a friend in Belgium before starting the race. I’d forgotten to bring a UK > Europe power adaptor with me though, so I decided I would spend the Saturday shopping for one, getting my money exchanged, and double-checking my planned route.
Saturday 23rd July
The shops in Geraardsbergen weren’t open so I caught the first train to Brussels and was able to get what I needed quickly, then I headed back to my guesthouse. On the way back though, I noticed the bottom bracket had a bit of play in it! This had only been fitted a couple of weeks before, and would definitely need tightening before the race, and this would require the services of a bike shop.
I opened Google Maps and headed for the closest bike shop, which was a little way out of Geraardsbergen. When I arrived at the address it was clearly someone’s house and not a bike shop.
I headed for the second option on the list, in the next town. This time, it was definitely a bike shop. I explained my situation and got the answer that they would not be able to help me as they were too busy today. Did they have the tools I needed so I could buy the tools and do it myself? No!
I headed to the third bike shop on Google Maps. There was a sign in the window saying they were on annual leave.
I headed to the fourth bike shop on Google Maps. When I arrived I found a workshop with a mechanic, and four fellow Transcontinental racers in a queue waiting their turn. It was nice to meet them and have a chat. Most of them needed their hydraulic brakes done after travelling. The workshop was quite small and I was wondering whether he would have the correct tools to assist me - specifically the crank removal tool for the square taper bracket and correct BB spline tool. These are fairly common items, but as I have discovered before, if a small bike shop is set up specifically for modern or high-end type bikes they may not have these. But I was in luck. And when he finished the job he said ‘no charge’! I gave him some beer money instead, then cycled back to Geraardsbergen, feeling somewhat relieved that I was now more-or-less race ready!
In the evening I headed into town to get something to eat. I bumped into Olivier, a cycle buddy from London who had also signed up for the race, and we had a couple of pints in the town square.
Sunday 24th July
The race was due to start at 10pm on Sunday, which I find a cruel time to start an endurance race as it means your body clock is thrown off right from the get-go. I spent most of the day at the registration area. I got there soon after it opened to give myself time in case there were any issues. I collected my brevet card (a card that gets stamped at each control point) and cap. During the bike check the mechanic wiggled the cranks to check for play in the bottom bracket. I kept schtum. The bike passed with no warnings. Brilliant! I was all set.
The Brompton did raise a few eyebrows with fellow competitors, generally with comments of ‘good on you!’, ‘you’re crazy’, or ‘good luck with that!’.
In the evening I went for a leisurely curry with fellow racers Nadine and Niel, and supporters Graham and Emily, and then we headed out onto the town square to soak up the nervous atmosphere as all the riders assembled. Music played and the mayor gave a speech to wish us well, as time slowly, unstoppably, made its way to 10pm.
