Having followed the Transcontinental bike race for a few years, and watching/ reading/ hearing about the recent upsurge in ultra distance / bikepacking races, my urge to race has been growing.
I had never heard about the Transcontinental, until a few years ago I read an article somewhere online about a participant. It had a photo of the rider, the bike and his gear. It was about the same amount of stuff I would take to work with me every day on the bike. I read on. This is what he was taking on a 3500km race across Europe. Turns out the Transcontinental had been running for a few years and was one of the first ultra distance, unsupported, road cycling events. Bikepacking is another term for this sort of event. I will not go into details of this sport, as many more people are heavily involved in it, and have been for many years. All I know is Mike Hall was an ambassador and trail setter for Ultra Distance/ Unsupported races and he created the Transcontinental Race. Unfortunately, Mike died after being hit by a car, whilst competing in the Indian Pacific Wheel Race, in March 2017. His legacy and spirt lives on through the Transcontinental alongside a number of events/ races, in a strive to #bemoremike.
Entering the Transcontinental 2017 on a last minute whim, and not being selected, had sown the seed for me to enter a similar sort of race. Having raced road bikes from the age of 12 to about 20, and consequently falling out of love with all things cycling and racing, it took me an unplanned bike tour in New Zealand to get my body breathing cycling once again. In the Autumn/ Winter of 2017, I was starting to ride regularly and rode an Audax and was enjoying riding longer distances, when flicking through articles online about the Transcontinental, brought me to another race, The Transatlantic Way.
The Transatlantic Way is a 2500km unsupported bike race along the Wild Atlantic Way West Coast of Ireland. Its very hilly, wet and windy, according to the website and various blogs I have read. It took a few weeks of sorting out whether I would have enough holidays, worrying whether my legs would take me that far and if I thought I could actually do it, before I put my entry in. I was in, that was it, no turning back. The planning began.
I mean, I like planning, the details of the plan excite me. I love map reading, going for walks in the lakes, finding new routes on the bike, but with my entry into The Transatlantic, my planning head has gone into overdrive. I love it. What route to take from Dublin to Derry/ how to get the the start/ how to get home after I finish/ what food will I eat/ where will I sleep/ how will I sleep/ how will I know whether to turn left or right at every junction/ how will I fare against all the other riders/ will i make it to the end/ will I make it to the start/ what tyres are best to use/ what bike/ what saddle…and so on.
Apologies for my word blabber, but this is probably about 0.1% of the thoughts going around my head about this race. I am unbelievably excited for the start of this race, but for the past couple of months and for the next 5 months, the planning and training I cannot wait for.
But why? I believe that finding something you love doing is hard enough, so when you find it, give it 100%. I could bee seen as obsessive, but if you are not going to give it your all, then why start in the first place.
The Transatlantic Way, it’s a race, and I can’t wait.
Jordan Matthews 