# Miscellaneous Ultra Rides and Races



## Dogtrousers (6 Jul 2019)

I don't think we've had a thread on this.

Trans Alba race 1,600 km with 17,500m of climb in Scotland

Won by none other than Steve Abraham. At least, he was the first to finish. Trans Alba themselves never used the word "won". A bit odd seeing they describe themselves as a race.

Chapeau Steve.

https://www.transalbarace.com/post/trans-alba-race-report-day-5


View: https://twitter.com/TransAlbaRace/status/1147404145193881601?s=19


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## Ming the Merciless (6 Jul 2019)

About the least aero jacket he could wear, not an ounce of bike packing luggage, a carrier bag bungees on top of his rack pack, a fairly standard cheap steel bike, no aero wheels, only mods are aero bars, and only concession to lightweight is he's removed the mudguards. But he finishes first. Brilliant.


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## Dogtrousers (7 Jul 2019)

YukonBoy said:


> About the least aero jacket he could wear, not an ounce of bike packing luggage, a carrier bag bungees on top of his rack pack, a fairly standard cheap steel bike, no aero wheels, only mods are aero bars, and only concession to lightweight is he's removed the mudguards. But he finishes first. Brilliant.


Steve's response to comments about how low tech his approach is


View: https://twitter.com/steve_abraham74/status/1147807957129842695?s=19


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## Ian H (7 Jul 2019)

Steve knows what he's doing. And I reckon that rear luggage is a pretty effective tail-fairing.


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## steveindenmark (8 Jul 2019)

Dogtrousers said:


> I don't think we've had a thread on this.
> 
> Trans Alba race 1,600 km with 17,500m of climb in Scotland
> 
> ...




Its the same in a lot of ultra distance races. No winners and no prizes.


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## Dogtrousers (8 Jul 2019)

steveindenmark said:


> Its the same in a lot of ultra distance races. No winners and no prizes.


Well if there's no winner - it's not a race. It's an event like an audax, that just happens to have a first finisher.

Take Ruska in Finland as an example, https://www.randonneurs.fi/ruska-ride-across-finland-2019/ they are very clear it's not a race. "_Ruska is* not a race*, there are just a closing time of the finish line and 2000 km of Nordic roads to compete against."
_
TCR on the other hand is clear that it's a race (the clue is in the name). https://www.transcontinental.cc/about _"The Transcontinental *Race *is the definitive self-supported bicycle *race *across Europe."
_
That's why I found Trans Alba's use of language a bit odd. They seem to have a bit of an identity crisis. The website says Trans Alba Race in big letters. The domain name is transalbarace and yet in it describes itself as a ride, not a race https://www.transalbarace.com/about "_The Trans Alba *Race *is a self supported cycling *ride* around Scotland."_

I guess I'm just being pedantic and picky about this, but is it a race or not? It's probably also important for matters of insurance and compliance with local laws about racing on the highway.

Not a big deal, I was just interested in their use of language.


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## Ian H (8 Jul 2019)

I think the terminology is less important in ultra-distance racing/riding. They are effectively much more like long time-trials.


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## Dogtrousers (8 Jul 2019)

Ian H said:


> I think the terminology is less important in ultra-distance racing/riding. They are effectively much more like long time-trials.


You're probably right. I do tend to get a bit carried away obsessing about words and language at times.


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## steveindenmark (9 Jul 2019)

Dogtrousers. You are right that rides like TCR is a race as are other ultra distance rides. But it is widely accepted in ultra distance riding that a lot of people will turn up to get to the end as quickly as they can, or just get to the end. The lantern rouge gets just as much respect as the guy who comes in first.

I am 61 and will be riding TCR on my Brompton. Am Racing? I dont think so. But I am trying to get to the finish.


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## Dogtrousers (16 Jul 2019)

View: https://twitter.com/TransAlbaRace/status/1150848584541200384?s=19


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## Dogtrousers (16 Jul 2019)

I've changed the thread title to cover various events with a lower profile than big ones like TCR


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