This is an account of the TransAtlanticWay Race which I completed in 2019. It attempts to capture the thought and effort made in preparing for the race, and then the endeavour of actually undertaking it.
The seed of ultra-endurance racing had been planted in my mind over the last couple of years. From following races such as the TransContinental Race, Race to the Rock, or Race Across America, my curiosity was being stoked slowly, but surely. Despite having cycled in various forms for almost a decade, touring by bike was something I had never done until just over a year ago, when I cycled from London to Land’s End with colleagues over 3 days, followed by another ride a few months later from London up to Edinburgh over 4 days. For these adventures I had eagerly bought the relevant equipment required, namely a saddle pack, and off we went, staying in hotels or hostels each night, riding respectable distances most days, partaking in generous sit-down lunches, and generally having a grand old time. They were tough, and some of the biggest consecutive days riding I had ever done, but as the months went by, I started to do more and more research into bike-packing, which led to investigating ultra-endurance events, which led to me thinking about doing an event, which led me to eventually vouching the subject to the colleagues whom I had done my last two tours.
I had been following the TransAtlanticWay (TAW) Race for its previous two editions and was really fascinated with it. The TAW was setup by Adrian O’Sullivan and is a self-supported, ultra-endurance cycling event over 2,350km. It starts in Dublin where the riders then make their own way up to Derry in Northern Ireland, where the first checkpoint is, and from there you essentially follow the entire West Coast of Ireland down to Kinsale, following a pre-set route. The self-supported aspect of it means that you’re not allowed any outside assistance that isn’t available to the other riders, so you’re not allowed to receive food or other supplies from a friend or relative on the road, but you could buy food or whatever you needed in a local shop (as the other riders could too). You’re also allowed to stay in hotels or B&Bs (as other riders could also purchase a bed for the night if they wanted), or you could sleep rough in a tent if that was your preference.
I have a strong connection with the West Coast of Ireland having spent every summer of my childhood in a caravan in Connemara, but beyond that area, I hadn’t seen or travelled around other areas of the West Coast. The Wild Atlantic Way is a designated 2,500km touring route from Derry in Northern Ireland along the entire West Coast of Ireland down to Kinsale and was launched in 2014. Once I heard about it, I thought that it would be great to drive it, then thought that it would be even better to cycle it at some point in my life. But the idea was parked until it became a more practical proposal. When I found out about the TAW Race, I thought maybe this is my answer, but again, I had never done any ultra-endurance cycling events and I just followed the TAW from the side lines.
Another reason for taking on this challenge was inspiration from two riders. The first was James Heuston whom I met at the Brompton World Championships in 2018. I was working registration for the day and he came to me to sign in and I noticed that he was wearing a TAW T-shirt and I asked enthusiastically if he had ridden the event that year. He told me he had and on a Brompton folding bicycle no less! We had a brief chat about it, but really this was the moment the possibility of doing the TAW Race became a reality and I really started to think about doing it. James had also written a blog (LINK) about the race which gave some great insight into the race and allowed for a more informed understanding of doing the race on a Brompton. The second rider was Roger Seaton who soon after the BWC was taking on the TransContinental Race (TCR), on Brompton as well. The TCR is the pinnacle of the ultra-endurance racing scene and to see Roger also tackling it on a Brompton folding bicycle was another incentive to have a go at the TAW.
So, having done some bike packing rides, knowing about the TAW and wanting to do it at some point, and seeing James and Roger riding big ultra-endurance races on Brompton folding bikes, I vouched the subject of doing the TAW Race to some colleagues in September 2018. Initially, three were interested, but eventually one colleague locked himself in for the ride. This was Jack Shuttleworth, who would be my riding partner for the race. When entering the race, you can enter as a solo rider, or a pair. There’s pros and cons to riding as a solo rider or a pair, and I’ll touch on these during this account, but one of the main advantages of riding in a pair is that you’re allowed to draft behind each other, which can save a huge amount of energy over a race. As a solo rider, it is forbidden to draft behind anyone. Jack and I discussed some of the basic logistics of doing the race, we spoke to our girlfriends about fecking off for two weeks, and we put our names down for the race!
I should touch on the whole folding bike situation now. I have been working at Brompton Bicycles as a Project Manager for almost 3-years, and for those that don’t know, at Brompton we manufacture folding bikes designed for commuters and people who live in urban areas. The bikes fold down into a fraction of the space a normal sized bike would take, the idea being you can bring them onto public transport when required. I had been riding one for over a year on my commutes and was very impressed with how it rode. I had always thought of Bromptons as heavy, clunky, and clumsy bikes, but having started riding one, my opinion completely changed. They’re very nimble, you can really push big speeds if you want to on them, and oftentimes you wouldn’t even know you were riding one.
As you would imagine, if Jack and I were going to do the TAW race, we had to do it on Bromptons. We didn’t have a choice really if we wanted to save face amongst our colleagues. This added to the challenge of the race, as Bromptons have a greater rolling resistance, meaning you needed to cycle harder to keep going at the same speed. We reckoned that compared to a normal road bike, we would be losing approximately 15-20% efficiency, meaning if the ride took 10 days, we’d have been 1-2 days quicker on a road bike for the same amount of effort. Another challenge of riding on a Brompton that affected us substantially during the race was our positioning on the bike. I’ll touch on this throughout this account, but it was something that really caused significant issues for both of us and nearly scuppered the ride. Despite knowing there would be issues and difficulties associated with riding the race on a Brompton, we wholeheartedly committed and began the process of preparing for the race, which involved numerous training and equipment testing rides.
From when we signed up in September until the New Year, Jack and I didn’t do any particular training or equipment testing. We spoke more about the logistics, tactics and distances we’d use during the race, and reviewed the route from the last year’s race. Once we got back to work after the Christmas Break, we organised a number of test rides over weekends where we would attempt to ride the sort of distances we were aiming for in the race and start testing various equipment setups.
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