World Cycle Race has started

dc2

Hi - the World Cycle Race started from London on Saturday with our own Simon Hutchinson the only Irish entrant - follow everyones progress here: http://worldcycleracing.com/live-tracking/

rhapsody

I just heard Simon on the Derek Mooney show on RTE there, he sounds good & has covered a fair bit of ground so far. I didn't realise there were some riders heading east (like Simon) & some west. I'll be tracking him for the next few months I think, great function.

Greenman

dc2 wrote: »

Hi - the World Cycle Race started from London on Saturday with our own Simon Hutchinson the only Irish entrant - follow everyones progress here: http://worldcycleracing.com/live-tracking/

This link might work better. http://trackleaders.com/worldcyclerace

rich.d.berry

Just checked up on the distances covered so far. Two nutters have pushed really hard so far and I reckon that they're risking early burnout:

Mike Hall has covered 832 km pedalling for 45 and a half hours and has only stopped for 10 and a half hours. That's 10 and a half hours for eating and sleeping. He must be wrecked.

Martin Walker is not doing as well as Mike Hall in that he's only managed 700 km in 46 and a half hours on the road with only 9 and a half hours for resting. He must be even more wrecked.

Our Simon is pacing himself far better. He has completed 450 km in 30 and a half hours. He has rested for 25 and a half hours. I don't think it will be long and he'll go sailing past. There's no way that the other two can sustain that sort of pace. They may already have done themselves some damage.

Greenman

Our Irish guy Simon seems to have done very well today.

Well done Simon.:)

Check his position if you like . http://trackleaders.com/worldcyclerace

Carpenter

I think this bloke Sean Conway is on a motor bike :eek:

nmafox

Have just checked online.Kyle Hewitt ( Only Scottish competitor )has made the difficult decision to pull out of the race. Jason Woodhouse is having problems with his bike and has made his way back to the UK. Not sure the status of record attempt though.

Darkglasses

Really enjoying checking in on this everyday! I'm not sure I understand Sean Conway's route though...Why is he going so far north and south if it's around the world?

victorcarrera

Darkglasses wrote: »

Really enjoying checking in on this everyday! I'm not sure I understand Sean Conway's route though...Why is he going so far north and south if it's around the world?

I think the race is about covering a minimum of 28,800Km in the least possible time. The riders can choose their own route and schedule.
More info here http://www.simonsepiccycle.com/

Greenman

Irelands Simon Hutchinson is really steaming along, well done Simon.

Yes its nice to track the riders, just like when I was tracking the PBP riders.

rich.d.berry

victorcarrera wrote: »

I think the race is about covering a minimum of 28,800Km in the least possible time. The riders can choose their own route and schedule.
More info here http://www.simonsepiccycle.com/

There are conditions though, the route selected must circumnavigate the globe and must include at least 3 different continents.

jimm

Carpenter wrote: »

I think this bloke Sean Conway is on a motor bike :eek:

Seems he flew from Gatwick to Malaga. Straight into some warm weather cycling in Spain and now North Africa. Flying again from Marrakesh to Santiago, Chile.

Carpenter

jimm wrote: »

Seems he flew from Gatwick to Malaga. Straight into some warm weather cycling in Spain and now North Africa. Flying again from Marrakesh to Santiago, Chile.

Thank you for letting me know that (I was going to trade in my Giant for what he is on )

dc2

Keep an eye on http://trackleaders.com/worldcyclerace - looks like Simon could go into 3rd position at any time - currently in 4th. Look below the tracking map to see current position of all riders based on distance covered for the time they have been cycling. (Clock stops when on ferries, flights etc.)

Poor Sean Conway has arrived in South America to continue that leg of his route but apparently his bike has gone missing in transit - believed to be still in Europe!

dc2

As I predicted Simon has moved into third position. Come on Ireland!!

dc2

Now second http://trackleaders.com/worldcyclerace

rich.d.berry

Simon is really doing well but Wallace is now in the U S so he will probably move back to second place overnight.

Mike Hall is keeping up a phenomenal pace. My prediction that he will not be able to maintain the pace seems to be incorrect. I am amazed.

rich.d.berry

Our man, Simon, is still in second place, but only by 7 km ahead of Dunnett. He and Richard Dunnett have been neck and neck since the start.

My prediction that Wallace would move past failed to materialise. He only put in 3 hours the day he arrived in The States which now has him 100 km behind Simon and Richard.

Mike Hall continues to stretch his lead though. He is nearly 1000 km ahead of Simon having completed 2737 km. He will have completed one tenth distance during today (2897 km) after only 11 days.

His current pace puts him on track for completing it in 110 days. That's 53 days better than the current record! :eek:

rich.d.berry

Two weeks since the start.

Current positions:

1. Mike Hall: 4006.12 km
2. Simon Hutchinson: 2730.72 km
3. Martin Walker: 2497.27 km
4. Sean Conway: 2429.71 km
5. Richard Dunnett: 2302.23 km

Irish entrant, Simon Hutchinson, is back firmly in second place. Richard Dunnett seems to be on a ship sailing somewhere because his position has not been updated in over 2 days. It also appears that Jason Woodhouse, who had bicycle problems and returned to London, is out of the race.

Although the leader Mike Hall's average speed seems to be coming down, the fact that he spends 18 hours a day on the road has put him way out in front. He's opened up a lead of almost a third of the distance covered. A superhuman effort if he can keep it up.

rich.d.berry

Quick update.

The Trackleaders website appears to be having some problems today. It incorrectly shows Stephen Phillips in the lead with 6750.47 km. This distance includes his trans-Atlantic journey and needs to be corrected. Mike Hall, Martin Walker and Jason Woodhouse have all lost the early portion of their journeys from the logs.

The best I can work out for the actual positions at this stage are:

1. Mike Hall - over 4700km
2. Simon Hutchinson - 3348 km
3. Mike Walker - over 3290 km

The 2 front runners, Mike Hall and Simon Hutchinson have both completed their European legs and are now headed for India.

Stuart Lansdale crashed in the UKraine yesterday when a car pulled out in front of him. He is only superficially injured but his bicycle fared worse. He has been driven to Kiev for repairs. His blog gives a lot more detail for those who are interested.

rich.d.berry

The website finally seems to be mostly back in order, placing Simon fifth. The unfortunate reason for his slip in the rankings is that he has been struck down with Delhi belly. On Tuesday he spent the day in hospital on a drip because he was so badly dehydrated. He is back on the road now, but his average distances have dropped because of his weakened state.

His girlfriend has posted a couple of entries on his blog which give more detail.

Mike Hall's superhuman effort continues. He is extending his lead at the front of the leader board which which currently stands at:

1. Mike Hall: 6298.01 km
2. Martin Walker: 4929.45 km
3. Sean Conway: 4919.77 km. This distance includes a 637 km leg, travelled at an average of 39.3 km/h, between Lima and Chiclayo in Peru. This was obviously not cycled and needs to be removed from his log. The adjustment would place him in 4th, still slightly ahead of Simon.
4. Richard Dunnett: 4465.13 km
5. Simon Hutchinson: 4227.75 km

Stuart Lansdale, due to strict entry and exit dates on his Russian and Kazakhstani visas which he will miss due to his collision, will be amending his route and will travel directly to India. He is still in Kiev at the moment.

dc2

Thanks for the nice summary Rich

rich.d.berry

Road.cc published an article yesterday giving a race update. It includes a 15 minute video with pre-race interviews and shows the start.

jimm

Heard on RTE1 radio just now that they will be talking to Simon on the Mooney show this afternoon. He's in India at the mo I think.

rich.d.berry

It's been a while since my last update and there's been a fair bit of drama in the interim. Current positions are:

Mike Hall: 9018.64 km
Martin Walker: 7945.87 km
Richard Dunnett: 7194.20 km
Simon Hutchinson: 6690.93 km
Sean Conway: 5917.42 km

There has been no feedback from Mike Hall, however, an Australian, Adrian Ward, posted on his blog about meeting him in Bunbury and chatting over a pizza. It seems he's still going strong.

Martin Walker is half way across the USA and regularly updates his Facebook page. His last comment was "Nebraska kicked the living daylights outta me. Knocked off bike so many times I just had to laugh in the end. When your all out top speed is 5 mph you know you're in for a tough 12 hours"

Richard Dunnett is almost all the way across the USA and also communicates regularly via Twitter to which there is a feed on his web page. His latest update is that he had to cycle back 15 miles to collect cycling shorts that he'd forgotten in his hotel room.

Simon is nearly into Malaysia from Thailand, but he has a mountain range to cross first. His pace has picked up again but he has lost a lot of ground to the front 3. Very little news from him, the last time his blog was updated was on the 13th of March.

Here starts the big news, but it is bad news.

Sean Conway has been run over by a truck in Arkansas. His blog was updated today telling the news. His injuries are quite severe with a spinal fracture, torn muscle in his right leg, chipped tooth and concussion. He is saying that he wants to continue once he recovers. The bicycle is also a right-off.

Stuart Lansdale has also had another collision, this time with a motorised rickshaw while in India. He writes a saga in his blog of his efforts to get to Nepal to have the bike repaired.

So, it seems that it's now a 4 horse race.

mrbike

Does anybody know how Simon is doing? According to his local paper last week (http://www.bailieborough.com/) he had a pretty bad crash in Perth. He crashed into a stationary truck and ended up unconscious. He had to get a few stitches but I think was pretty much ok.

He should be back on the road by now...

LastGasp

From the live tracking page it looks like he hasn't moved for 22 days. I didn't know he had crashed, but I was assuming he had pulled out for some reason. Anyone know anything ?
http://trackleaders.com/worldcycleracei.php?name=Simon_Hutchinson

gmoorewest

He tweeted yesterday to say he had covered 2800 km since the crash and a few days ago said something about a bag missing with his passport, tracking gear etc. He seems to update very little, compared to some of the others. Still suppose he's busy cycling round the world!!!

dc2

Hi this is Simon's post on Facebook for 6th April.

"straight off the plane and straight into the back of a parked ( yes i know the tirade of slagging that will come after) lorry and trailer. What a way to start my Aussie leg. But the fantastic people in Perth Royal Hospital looked after me really well and i was able to get discharged later this afternoon. Being looking after by the lovely Whitelaw family in Perth. Thanks David&Davrile ( and to the kids as well... there not really kids though!ha) head is a bit sore and shoulder took a bit of a brunt, face is slightly fractured but nothing a whole load of ic cream& fine aussie steak mend.Front forks are completely bend back will most probably need to replace them but all will be taken care off."

What this post doesnt mention is that while he was concussed after his crash, one of his panniers with all of his valuables went missing. That included, his cash, credit cards, passport, IPhone, dictaphone, SD cards with photos and his tracker. He has just been using a cheap phone for communication with his family since then but has not been able to use Twitter, Facebook etc. I know they have been trying to arrange a replacement tracker since his crash but were having difficulties one sorted.

His girlfriend posted on Facebook yesterday "Si has covered 2896.7km since arriving in Australia. Woohoo."

I understand he was in bad form after his crash and the loss of all his stuff but he never even considered it a option to throw in the towel despite his setback and his injuries!

mrbike

Great news. Simon has got his tracker back. He's made it through Australia, which was the toughest section according to Mark Baumont's book. He's halfway across New Zealand.

Note the SPOT Distance covered is inaccurate. Check the first comment.

http://trackleaders.com/worldcycleracei.php?name=Simon_Hutchinson