This is a short version of my ride story with pictures, a link to the full version is at the bottom of this page.
I flew to London a week in advance with my bike in a box and a small "support" crew.
The week passed quickly, we were running from one museum to another, and on 3 August I, with 30 other riders, was standing at the start line of the first Transcontinental Race, equipped with Spot satellite tracker, every possible piece of camping gear, 11 packages of freeze-dried food and my running shoes. My intention was to finish the race in 10 days and, in the remaining 5 days, explore every corner of Istanbul on foot. My flight back was booked on 18 August.
I was "dropped" in the first few kilometers of the race at the traffic lights and continued on my own through the narrow green "tunnels" of rural England.
By the time I arrived to Dover my ferry across the Channel was gone and I lost 2 hours waiting for the next one.
From Calais, France, I rode non-stop for 12 hours and reached first checkpoint - Muur van Geraardsbergen - at 6 AM in 17th position.
On a 5th day I was at the bottom of Stelvio Pass in Italy - our second checkpoint - in 10th position. And on the following day I climbed over Stelvio Pass (6th highest paved road in Europe at 2757 m) and Gavia Pass (11th highest paved road at 2621 m) in the heavy rainstorm.
Transition across Eastern Europe (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Bulgaria) took a whole week and all my hopes of finishing race in good time were smashed. It was too hot and most of the time I spent hanging out at the gas stations and supermarkets eating ice cream and sipping cold water.
Finally, on 14th day of riding, I reached Turkey. Here my progress was slowed even more by strong winds.
On that day I set a new speed record - I covered last 100 km in almost 10 hours. I stopped in the hotel 150 km short of Istanbul.
Next day saw me arriving to the finish with my navigation equipment failing in the last 10 km. I missed a photo shoot at Rumeli Hisari fortress, but made it in time for the drinking party and awards ceremony. Next finisher - Eelco W. - arrived several minutes past midnight, outside time limit, and I was pronounced a last placed rider and awarded a prestigious black Pinarello jersey.
At 3 AM everything was over and all the bottles were empty or stolen by local teenagers. Everyone returned to their hotels and I continued my ride to the Ataturk airport. According to my GPS I had traveled 3522 km.
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