In late 2016 we had the rare chance to see behind the scenes at the Kona IRONMAN Championship. Running, swimming, and cycling for nearly 24hours straight is gnarly. Now consider cycling for upwards of 12 days, resting only when and where the body simply gives up. This is the spirit of The Transcontinental Race—something better observed than attempted, if you ask us. The young race acts like a crazy long alley-cat, in the sense that riders have 4 designated checkpoints, but the route to get from one to the next is up to each individual rider. It starts in Belgium and ends in Montenegro. Design-driven cycling apparel maker PEdAL ED followed one of their riders this past July for the race’s fourth go around, and the above film is the end result.
Though Belgian Kristoff Allegart won the race for his third year in just 9 days, the film follows Italian rider Jacopo Porreca along his remarkable ride, spanning 3693 km (with 40779 m of elevation gain) across 11 boarders—Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey.
Whether you're a roadie yourself, or more of an armchair enthusiast (or even if you don't give a shit about cycling, really) this well-produced short film is a great way to burn some time and get inspired as we enter 2017.
