Transcontinental Race No. 10 // recap // day 2

I wake up before my alarm, and the sun is just rising over the lake. With more time, staying longer would have been nice. While packing up my things I realized that everything is still wet from the morning dew. I had actually hung my clothes over my bike to dry overnight. A better solution for this is needed for the next night. Packing up takes longer than I expected, and now I’m starting to wonder if bivvying is really faster for getting sleep than checking into a hotel. For breakfast, I have two leftover burgers from yesterday. The route is very flat, following the river Main. When I reach Tauberbischofsheim, it’s only 33 km to my hometown Würzburg. It’s a very special feeling to race on roads I know. In the second half of the day, the landscape becomes more rural, and I start to feel tired for the first time in the race. So I decide that tonight I’ll stay in a hotel. It feels like a good idea, especially because the power banks are empty and could use an overnight charge. This evening, it rains for the first and only time during the race. So I stop at the first bus stop I see and use the rain break for a power nap. Afterward, I continue into the night. Because the area is super lonely, almost no hotels show up on Booking. The few that do have already closed their receptions, and it’s only 22:00 pm. So, I start searching for bus stops on Google Maps again. I just want to sleep. Around 00:30 am, I find a bus stop in front of an old farmhouse. Perfect. Unfortunately, it rained again on the last few kilometers, so everything is wet. I take the wet clothes with me into the sleeping bag to avoid the same mistake as last night. Maybe this will work better. The bus stop had a light with a motion sensor, which was great for setting up my bed. When I’m in the sleeping bag, the goal is simple: don’t move anymore.

distance // 298 km,
elevation // 2.065 m,
moving time // 13:36 h,
break time // 4:26 h,
sleep duration night before // 3:55 h,
location // bivouac,
highlight // Dinkelsbühl,
problems // rain in the night

The entire route is compiled in a collection on Komoot. You can also find the individual stages of the tour on Strava!

https://www.komoot.com/de-de/collection/2943976/-the-transcontinental-no-10-an-ultracycling-race-across-europe-from-france-to-turkey

Komoot: Joschka Völkel Strava: Joschka Völkel Instagram: @joschka_voelkel