Kit Post!

Why yes! I think it’s part of the tradition already and if not, it should be. Almost like rite of passage. How could you possibly do the Transcontinental Race, blog about it, and not do a kit post? For a moment there I was going to avoid it, but then I had two realizations as to why this is so completely necessary:

1. So I can remember, learn from my mistakes and improve for next time and;
2. So that others can learn from my mistakes and make fun of my idiocy. After all, my whole TCR preparation was mainly driven by blog posts from previous years riders.

Basically, just my two cents thrown to the online noise of the interwebs.

Bike

This has actually been discussed earlier (hey, one thing I wrote about BEFORE the race!) here, but I’ll go over it again very quickly just so that everything is together in this post.

The bike is a Cannondale Synapse, in beautiful Cannondale-green and black colors and I pretty much left everything the way it came out of the box.

What went with me

• Full carbon body and fork
• Ultegra Di2 groupset
• Disc brakes
• Crank 50/34
• Cogs 11/32
• Shimano A520 SPD pedals
• 700x28c wheels with Continental Grand Prix II tires
• Cheap, PRO aerobars s-bend
• 1x1L + 1×0.75L water bottles

What needs changing and why

• Saddle: The default saddle is nice. I did long rides with it prior to the race. But not race long. 100km is ok. 200km hurts. 8 days in a row on the bike were unbearable at times and had me stopping every few kilometers.
• Aerobars?: Not 100% certain they need changing, but for sure I need more time on them to make them worthwhile. By the time I got to Belgium I had barely used them so I ended up neglecting them most of the time. Also, as many mentioned before, when climbing they are dead weight and TCRNo4 was 87% climbing! In any case, I need to add shifters to the bars to be able to stay even longer on them, otherwise, gearing becomes a very big annoyance.
• Water Bottles: Luckily I’m used to Israel weather, which is usually very warm and that means I sweat a lot. A LOT. In turn, that means I need lots of water, but luckily weather in Europe (at least until Italy) was much milder which meant I didn’t sweat that much and I barely had water problems. I still want to make a second 1L bottle fit in the frame (small frame problems) and would probably even think about adding a third bottle for long rides in warmer areas so that finding water is not something in my mind.
• Bicycle packing: I did a crappy job, I know that and clearly the bike suffered a bit because my gearing was a bit off after the flight which was caused by a bent derailleur hanger and also the left brifter was turned to a bad angle (not sure that could be avoided with better packing, clearly had a rough flight!)

Luggage

What went with me

• Apidura saddle pack (regular)
• Apidura handlebar pack (regular)
• Apidura top tube pack (extended)
• TCRNo4 musette bag

What needs changing and why

I would definitely not change any of these unless I could make with the waterproof versions, but since they are smaller in size, I would probably need to add more bags or reduce kit, and in any case, Ziploc bags made a great job at keeping things water free under heavy rain, so there.

What I definitely need for comfort and organization, even though I can definitely do without, is an Apidura accessory pocket to add to my handlebars and some (very likely Apidura as well) food pouch(es) to have easier access to food or some other handy stuff while riding.

Sleeping

What went with me

• SOL Escape bivvy bag
• Wildcat strip mat mummy 2.5

What needs changing and why

First of all is worth saying that this was my first experience bivvying, and in a way, it was pretty good.

• Bivvy: The SOL is excellent if the weather is right. Most of the nights I slept outside I only did it for a few hours, but in France, I was usually sweating after a while and in Switzerland and Italy it just got too cold. I would probably need to add an extra warm layer to the kit or change the bivvy to something warmer.
• Mat: It provided enough comfort for sleeping on my back although it is quite bulky (and a bit on the heavy side, although as everyone keeps saying, weight is not actually that important in the long run for an event such as TCR). I would definitely look for something smaller if possible or a different way of attaching it to the bike so it doesn’t take so much space in the saddle bag.

Clothing

What went with me

• Castelli San Remo speed suit
• Castelli Pro Issue Sleeveless base layer x2
• Castelli Merino Wool 9 socks x2
• Castelli Seamless arm skins
• Castelli Nanoflex arm warmers
• Castelli Nanoflex knee warmers
• Castelli Toe Thingy toes cover
• Castelli Sottile Due vest
• Castelli Velo jacket
• Castelli Rosso Corso gloves
• TCRNo4 numbered cap
• Shimano M065 SPD shoes
• Columbia Reflective Warm base layer
• Funkier S-210 B7 shorts (never used)
• Unbranded regular shorts (for off the bike use)
• Unbranded regular boxer (for off the bike use)
• Rayban Wayfarer sunglasses (blue frame)
• One Ten clear glasses for night time
• Travel size, fast drying towel

What needs changing and why

• Gloves: Maybe, not 100% sure, but maybe something with a bit more or better padding. After a few days, my hands were suffering a bit.
• Weather-proof clothing: Maybe it was inexperience, maybe naiveness, or maybe both, but I was definitely not prepared for the weather I got, especially in Switzerland. I didn’t really have rain-proof clothing and although I didn’t suffer the being wet, the being wet AND cold was a completely different thing. Obviously, I didn’t have enough warm clothing either. It seems crazy, at least for me, but summer in the alps sometimes meant 2°C, rain, wind… So definitely need to upgrade the kit for better weather isolation.
• Shoes: After a few days, my very cheap Shimano shoes started suffering with the climbing. They are still today being used, but the part over the toes seems like it’s going to fall apart any day now.
• Toe Thingy: This was pretty useless. Just a bit of covering against the wind, but when it got really cold, I was still feeling my toes freezing and when it rained… well, they were worst than having nothing because of the added weight.

Electronics

What went with me

• Garmin Edge 1000 GPS
• Nexus 5X phone
• GoPro Hero 4 camera
• Fitbit Surge watch
• MI 20000mAH USB battery
• Serfas USL-305 Lumens USB front light
• Serfas SL-155 Lumens 2xAA battery operated front light (backup)
• Serfas TL-411 2xAAA battery operated safety taillight
• Knog Frog led position lights (2 white in the front, 2 red in the back)
• USB cables for everything that needed one
• 4 USB port wall charger (x2)
• Di2 charger
• Generic cheap head-lamp
• Old iPhone to be used as iPod and spare phone
• Extra batteries of all kinds for the lights that required them

What needs changing and why

• Watch: Drop it. No need, it was only good to check the time of the day. Never actually checked the heart rate (as it doesn’t pair with Garmin) and in the end, it’s just and extra cable needed to keep it charged for no actual gain.
• Camera: Need to find a good mount for the GoPro that allows for easy extraction of the camera. I had two different mounts (flybar and seat post mount) and I ended up zip tying the case to my aero bars which were rather inconvenient whenever I wanted to use the camera off the bike.
• iPhone: Drop it. I didn’t listen to as much music as I thought I would (especially considering that it’s forbidden in France) and I took it to spare the battery on my actual phone, but with the external battery, honestly, I think I could listen to music on my phone and not suffer it. Also, one less cable.
• I should have also brought the required cables to connect my phone to my GPS. That would have allowed me to create Strava routes on my phone, download them and transfer them to the Garmin.

Still need to keep considering changing to dynamo, but I heard so many bad stories that I’d be afraid to rely just on that, so I would probably end up taking non-dynamo spares, which would kind of make it pointless, wouldn’t it? Also when going uphill, at least for now, I very often go under the usual 15km/h required to power the lights by most dynamos, which again would mean I need a spare battery light if I intend to climb at night… decisions, decisions…

Accessories, Tools & Spares

What went with me

• Topeak Road Morph Pump
• Topeak Torque 5
• Topeak Hexus II multi tool
• Swiss Army multi-tool knife
• X-Tools patching kit
• X-Tools pedal wrench
• 700x28c Schwalbe inner tube x2
• Continental Grand Prix 4000 S II spare tire
• Spare breaking cable
• Chain lube
• Abus Combiflex 201 (70cm) lock

What needs changing and why

• Topeak Torque 5: Drop it. I never used it, not even when I assembled my bike back after the flights. Not even at home. I was very scared because this was my first time dealing with carbon components but I ended up trusting my instinct and using the Hexus II for EVERYTHING. Well, except the pedals, obviously.
• Abus lock: This one was actually bought by mistake, I intended to get the Combiflex 202 that has a longer, 90cm, cable but, in the end, it just kept my head at ease just as well whenever I had to leave the bike unattended for more than 30 seconds. I would still maybe try to find something that looks a bit sturdier since this one (although I haven’t tried) looks like can be cut with any regular plier/cable cutters.

I never got to use the spare cable, tire, inner tubes or chain lube, but I would still take them again on my next trip, just to be on the safe side. Maybe I could drop the tire if I know the roads are going to be good, but then again, it’s a 4000km race, you can never be sure about ALL the roads.

Toiletries & Pharmacy

What went with me

• Basic first aid kit (Plasters, antiseptic spray, spray-on plaster, alcohol embebed wipes)
• Assortment of pills to handle pains/stomach issues/migraines
• Travel-size liquid shower soap
• Tooth brush and tooth paste
• Travel-size deodorant
• Travel-size wipes
• Citronella wristband to fend off mosquitoes and bugs
• Lansinoh lanolin (used as chamois cream)

What needs changing and why

Not sure the citronella wristband actually helped, I was quite annoyed with mosquitoes some nights sleeping under the stars, so maybe I should try something else. Other than that, everything was pretty basic and needed on regular basis, so not much to work on here.

Ziploc-Wallet (Later would become Lezyne-Wallet)

What went with me

• Passport
• Driving license
• Cash
• Brevet card (later on, once I got it after the registration and it came with a really handy weather-proof Lezyne lights bag, that ended up replacing my Ziploc bag as the wallet)

What needs changing and why

Nothing can be changed here, all of these are essentials clearly (the driving license was there just in case some unforeseen situation had me in the need of driving) although a whole lot more of cash would be deeply appreciated for more comfy nights in hotels 😉

Wrap-up

And that’s about it I think, hopefully, I didn’t forget about anything, but if I did, I’m sure it shouldn’t be too important (still I will edit if I need to). Now that I freed my consciousness of this post I can move to what everyone is (I think) really waiting for: The actual adventure.