THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RACE
16 days // 15 hours // 48 minutes
At midnight on July 25, 2015, I set off on the third edition of the Transcontinental Race, alongside 172 other cyclists from the four corners of the globe. The rules of the race are simple: cycle from Flanders to Istanbul via 4 checkpoints in Europe, unassisted and unsupported. The first of us will arrive in just under 10 days, averaging 425 kilometers a day.
“In the early days of bicycle racing there was a time when plucky riders took on long hard races alone with no team cars and soigneurs to look after them. They were hardy and desperate men who ate what they could find, slept when they could and rode all day. They weren’t professional athletes or men of means, they were mavericks, vagabonds and adventurers who picked up a bicycle and went to seek their fortune.”
Day #0, Grammont, Belgium. H-5 from the start of the race. Matthias Wjst
Day #0, Grammont, Belgium. Briefing before departure. Matthias Wjst
Day #0, Grammont, Belgium. Departure for a race of over 4,000 kilometers. I have particularly nice shoes, thanks Dad.
Day #0, Grammont, Belgium. On the Muur, a monument to cycling history, start at midnight.
Day #0, Flanders, Belgium. At each checkpoint, we have to get our ‘brevet card’ punched.
Day #1, Belgium 3am. I’m number #148, and we’re each equipped with a GPS tracker so we can be followed every 5 minutes!
Day #1, Champagne-Ardenne, France. On the verge of hypothermia for the first night of the race, I treat myself to the luxury of a Formule 1 hotel for the second, on the outskirts of Châlons-en-Champagne to sleep better and dry out my gear.
Day #2, Burgundy, France. Bed and breakfast in Saint-Seine-l’Abbaye.
Day #3, Louhans, France. Disaster! Achilles tendonitis prevents me from continuing the race. I’d underestimated my training and my tendons weren’t ready for such an intense effort. I stop for 36 hours, on the verge of giving up.
Day #4, the pain subsides a little, and I adapt my pedaling technique by putting the tip of my right foot forward to minimize strain on my Achilles tendon. I don’t meet my daily target of 250 kilometers. Today, I’m only doing 170 kilometers.
Day #4. Passing Lyon. Objective: South.
Day #4, Beaurepaire, France. Overnight under the stars in Isère.
Day #5, Bédoin, France. Ready to climb the Géant de Provence, classified as hors catégorie by the Tour de France.
Day #6, Mont Ventoux, France. At the summit of Mont Ventoux at 1,911 m, the night is cool. I sleep in a garage.
Day #6. First checkpoint at the summit of Mont Ventoux, France (altitude 1,911 m). Climbed by night the day before, heading for Italy.
Day #6. Lunar landscape at the summit.
Day #6. Icy descent to Sault, France.
Day #6, Lac de Serre-Ponçon, France. Past Mont Ventoux, I’m approaching the race with a little more serenity.
Day #6, Briançon, France. Sunset over the Alps, I rediscover my own country.
Day #6, Briançon, France. 10 kilometers from Italy. My tendonitis is still sore, but I’m trying not to think about it too much and to keep moving forward as much as possible.
Day 7, Casale Monferrato, Italy. A taste of Turkey, refueling at a kebab shop.
Day #9, Italy-Slovenia border.
Day #10, Ljubljana, Slovenia. After more than 2,100 kilometers since the start, I’m pretty tired. I collapse a little after lunch on the outskirts of the Slovenian capital, exhausted.
Day #10. Slovenia brings its fair share of green hills and plains, a welcome change after three extremely gloomy days in northern Italy.
Day #10, Slovenia. Ouch. With the Alps behind me, I’ve completed just over half of the race’s total ascent (42,000 metres of D+).
Day #10. Night-time border crossing between Slovenia and Croatia.
Day #12, Vukovar, Croatia. Passing the third checkpoint! The heat is overwhelming, and I can hardly ride between 1pm and 4pm. The mercury climbs to 46°C.
Day #12, Croatia – Serbia border. After a few days’ reflection, I make a difficult decision. I choose not to go to checkpoint #4 in Montenegro and thus abandon the race and an official ranking. Unfortunately, my tendonitis slowed me down too much in France and I won’t be able to get to Istanbul before the organizers’ departure. As well as being all alone on arrival in Istanbul, I’d also have to postpone my flight to Irkutsk in Russia, which I’d taken to start a new adventure, this time in a 4L! (see the adventure entitled “Crossing Central Asia in a 4L”)
Day #13, Serbia. Beginner’s mistake. Not taking the shortest route on the map.
Day #13, Kraljevo, Serbia. My iPhone, which serves as my GPS, gives out on me. It won’t charge. I hurry to find a hotel and methodically write down the rest of my route to Istanbul on a piece of paper. I’ve got just under 900 kilometers to go, blind.
Day #14. Penultimate border before Turkey. This is the second time I’ve cycled through Bulgaria. The first was in summer 2011 (see the adventure entitled “Budapest – Istanbul”).
Day #15, Kapıkule, Turkey. Entering the eighth country of my race. I’m 300 kilometers from the finish line!
Day #15, Lüleburgaz, Turkey. Shortly before 11pm at a gas station, exhausted after a 300-kilometer day.
Day #15, Lüleburgaz, Turkey. On my last night of the race, after more than 16 hours in the saddle, I find shelter in a copse 20 meters off the E80 freeway in Turkey.
Day #16, Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosphorus.
3,775 kms, 16 days // 15 hours // 48 minutes
The difficulty of the Transcontinental Race is reflected in the number of withdrawals: half of us didn’t make it to Istanbul. Although I crossed the finish line after 16 days of effort, I still don’t have an official ranking since I didn’t go to checkpoint n°4 in Montenegro. A difficult decision, but one I don’t regret. Following my injury in France in the early days, my only objective was to get as far as possible in the race. Every day was a real struggle in which I had to cope with fatigue, bad weather, boredom, loneliness and suffering… A unique experience of self-sufficiency, both sporting and mental, which opened the door to resources and potential I’d never imagined I had.
Find all the photos by Matthias Wjst, official photographer of the Transcontinental Race 2015 on wjst.de.
