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Vibe in focus


 “It’s not a race” and “It’s your own ride”.  Two mantra often heard re and on the TA.  There is no prize for being first, second, or any place to arrive at the end, and you can choose any way to get from A to Z as long as you keep to the core rules.  They are basically the rules of Brevet including doing it in the allotted time, 10 to 45 days in this case, being self supported and collecting the control photos.  There are others.

Another phrase I just heard again today is “It’s about the journey, not the destination”.

These phrases belie the unspoken truth that the TA is at least partly about how quick you do it for many participants.  That’s okay I think. One implication of “It’s your own ride” is that you might have your own expectation how long you want to take doing it within the rules.  You also have your own sense of where the happy balance lies between getting there and seeing stuff.  

It is only recently that the upper limit on time has been extended to 45.  It used to be 30 and many people keep 30 days as their goal.  This year, many completed the TA in under thirty days. In fact the quickest time through the course this year was about 15 days I think and lots of people/teams were in the twenties.

It seems lone riders often do it in fewer days, possibly because they need to spend less time socialising and pedalling is probably the best away to spend their time.  I have heard of a number of solo riders doing 200k+ days at times.

The different paces and goals don’t seem to be detrimental to the culture in general.  It does mean people doing it at the same or similar speed seem to be together, and conversely it does mean you don’t see those for long who have different goals from you.  Also, an air of competition can be felt between parties and rider at times.  That’s not surprising either.  You are amidst a bunch of driven people on a major undertaking.  Overall though, as long as you accept the transient nature of acquaintances in an event where everyone is basically doing their own thing, you get pleasure from the miriad of small encounters that do happen however long, frequent, or repeated.   You have some lovely evenings, mornings and adhoc meetings with people who share a passion with you, and you even somehow manage to make a few friends that you feel you will see again when it’s all done and dusted.






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