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Look, the bottom line is, a lot of what Neil said on Facebook was spot on, yet he got nothing but pelters on here. Let's look at the facts:
- 40 miles of continuous dog attacks
- Hot weather
- Batteries ran out on nav
- Stolen hat
These are things that no racer should have to put up with. Look at the trouble he had getting to the start line on time from the earlier FB post put up by WornCleat; train issues, ferry issues. The rider support was nonexistent. If he hadn't have cadged a lift off someone it'd have been game over.
By way of comparison, when Neil did his LEJOG he had a full support vehicle. This is a guy who's used to elite-level organisation. He clearly feels that on the TCR the organisation & support was mickey mouse, and I think you can all agree he has a point.
- 40 miles of continuous dog attacks
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I've been following this thread for some time now and have been disgusted by some of the posts written by our resident keyboard warrior Hippy! Neil Matthews has had a very unfortunate tour facing challenges other riders hadn't had to deal with and yet slogged it out to the bitter end to finish the tour in incredible fashion. Neil has shown grit and spirit Hippy could only dream off and age for age is by far the better athlete and cyclist. I would like our resident keyboard warrior to man the f up and issue a public apology to #thelastmanstanding Neil Matthews!
In isolation, of course a stolen hat is no game-changer, but when it leads to sun stroke, which leads to riding nocturnally, which not only leads to the aforementioned dog attacks, but also reduces his TITS to the levels of your average commuter cyclist, then it's a pretty big deal.
Anyway, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Have a look at the attached - He had to contend with a hurricane, plus multiple lightning strikes. With not a dickie bird by way of warning from Race Support (or the Dot Watchers, I might add). It's a good job he had the presence of mind to check into that hotel, or we could have been looking at a fatality.