Indian Pacific Wheel Race

bluemoon17
bluemoon17 Posts: 718
edited October 2017 in Road general
This kicked off a few days ago, was wondering if anybody had been following it? For those that don't know, it's along the same lines as the Transcontinental, but as the title suggests it's across Australia:

The Indian Pacific Wheel Race is a solo, single-stage, unsupported, 5,500km road cycling race ocean-to-ocean across Australia. The course is 100% sealed. The race starts on 18 March 2017 at 6:00am in Fremantle, Western Australia and finishes at the Sydney Opera House whenever you get there. The clock does not stop. There is no prize money. Nothing is at stake except honour.

This race was inspired by the other grand tours of bikepacking: the Tour Divide, the Trans Am Bike Race and the Transcontinental. Similar to these races, the rules for the Indian Pacific Wheel Race are simple and largely self-policed. The rules attempt to embody the spirit of self-support and fairness for all riders.


Kristof Allegaert is currently leading and is about to break through the 2000km barrier, with Mike Hall in second. Have found myself staring at the dots for a few minutes over the course of the race so far, trying to imagine how hard they must be pushing themselves. Absolutely phenomenal stuff.

Tracker is here for those that are interested: https://www.curvecycling.com.au/pages/indian-pacific-wheel-race

Comments

  • onionmk
    onionmk Posts: 101
    Yep, been keeping track since the start.

    It's great that it got a lot of hype in the lead up to it (if you follow certain people I.e DR, Cycling Maven, Glucose Network and Curve cycling). The fact that these guys are YouTube vloggers we got to see such a detailed perspective on their motivations and the struggles that come with such an epic race! Makes it much more appealing than pro cycling I'll tell you that! I can't believe DR and Carlson are out of the race! Maven is doing so much better than I expected I really hope he finishes.

    And you're right. I look at alegaert, mike hall and Sarah and think this is just completely different breed of tough men/women. Hats off to them. All in all a truly amazing race which deserves more coverage.
  • marcusjb
    marcusjb Posts: 2,412
    Cracking race so far. It will be a proper slugging match as the days go on.

    Couple of other Brits (both TCR vets), Frank and Shell, moving nicely in the midfield.
  • bluemoon17
    bluemoon17 Posts: 718
    I've loosely followed the TCR in the past couple of years, but yes you're right the presence of YouTube vloggers has really elevated the profile of this and for me, enabled me to get 'into it' a bit more.

    Mike Hall has closed right up to Kristof now, but really hasn't slept much. Going to be a nailbiting next 3000km...
  • bigmitch41
    bigmitch41 Posts: 685
    Yep really brings it home seeing the youtube vlog's how tough this is. Gutted DR's out, and Maven... has gone up in my estimation 100%

    The front runners are superhuman!
    Paracyclist
    @Bigmitch_racing
    2010 Specialized Tricross (commuter)
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  • scott5
    scott5 Posts: 83
    Been following it from the start it an intriguing race to follow. Allegaerts aunch at the start looks like it did the damage to Mike Hall who just can't seem to catch up.
  • Nick Payne
    Nick Payne Posts: 288
    The leader (Kristof Allegaert) rode through Canberra this afternoon, so I rode across to the route the race takes through town to see him go by. He now has only about 400km to the finish, so should get there some time tomorrow. He seemed pretty relaxed for someone who'd managed to cover about 650km with 8000+m of climbing in the past 36 hours, particularly as that was on top of 4500km in the previous 11 days. Here he is waiting at some traffic lights in the middle of town.
    allegaert.jpg
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    Some horrible news coming out of this over (UK) night.

    I volunteered for last year's TCR as a dot watcher and so e-met him and his family. I can't​ really think of something to write....
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • vimfuego
    vimfuego Posts: 1,783
    Yeah that's just horrible news. RIP Mike.
    CS7
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  • andy9964
    andy9964 Posts: 930
    Terrible news.
    Just been watching a program on Bike channel about the (1st?) Trans-Am race, in which he featured heavily.
    Seemed like a really nice guy RIP
  • lostboysaint
    lostboysaint Posts: 4,250
    Just picked this up from Twitter. Absolutely gutted.
    Trail fun - Transition Bandit
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  • Ben6899
    Ben6899 Posts: 9,686
    This is tragic news. :(

    RIP
    Ben

    Bikes: Donhou DSS4 Custom | Condor Italia RC | Gios Megalite | Dolan Preffisio | Giant Bowery '76
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  • RIP...........................Mike....................
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    :(

    .
  • Horrible news, simply horrible.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,196
    Just saw this on BBC, terrible news.
  • Dorset_Boy
    Dorset_Boy Posts: 6,876
    Very sad. RIP
  • luv2ride
    luv2ride Posts: 2,367
    Am sure many BR forum members have donated already:
    https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding ... =Rkx4nxve5

    Truly tragic news....
    Titus Silk Road Ti rigid 29er - Scott Solace 10 disc - Kinesis Crosslight Pro6 disc - Scott CR1 SL - Pinnacle Arkose X 650b - Pinnacle Arkose singlespeed - Specialized Singlecross...& an Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray 4 string...
  • BlueNGT
    BlueNGT Posts: 119
    Film on IPWR released yesterday here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5b9or1rGp8&t=3s