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Just chillin' out here in Banja Luka with Londoner #44 Lionel Bobb, discussing my entry for next year's TCR, haha.

#44 posts daily updates in TCR FB group.

Psytrance is always a good idea ;-).

I met up with Will Armitage (mentioned in The Times article) just yesterday :-). He knows of the forum and has visited it a few times in the past.

Today's catch - all completely awesome people! =)

#58, #78 and #56, followed by #22, #109 and #166.

Their excitement to have someone unexpectedly meet & greet them is priceless!

And I'm pretty excited to have met them myself.

I started a heated argument on FB about the use of suspicious Regional roads (primarily in Bosnia, Montenegro etc) without checking them in detail vs using main automotive (Magistral) roads, e.g. using Google Maps instead of ViaMichelin for initial routing.

Therefore, I made a quick comparison of Brno to Sarajevo to Meteora - James Hayden's cycling route vs one minute ViaMichelin's automotive route. The routes only differ somewhat in the final stage through Albania and Greece. I rest my case :).

Poor #30 - yet another victim of R440.

#85 is the first rider to take a beautiful scenic road, longer but with less climbing, along the river. Interested to see how it will compare to the usual route in the end.

I'm sure you can get problems happen to you in rougher areas of... well, let's say everywhere in the World, including major cities.

@Anthi
They may have been referring to stray dogs. They tend to gang up and attack cyclists :-D.

#20 for the win! :-) Poor old guy had a nightmare with his navigation, I spotted a Control Car 2 going up there to put him on the right track (good job!). Then he blitzed down to near Sarajevo, only to briefly get lost again on the way to Bjelasnica! His persistence is amazing though.

Anyway, he must have told the CC2 about the problem with his route, as they headed to that muddy singletrack road to help out other riders going in that direction but luckily most of the people heading that way had opted for a better road in the end, so they (CC2) seem to have positioned themselves in another spot, to welcome them all.

And #42... oh my! He's now in Montenegro but it looks like he went over an unmarked border crossing - if he didn't get his passport stamped - he might have serious problem on the way out!

But what I really don't get is how people choose these irrational routes? Ultimately the quickest and safest way through a rugged terrain will be along the main automotive roads. Google Maps do not differentiate between asphalt roads and goat tracks marked as road - one should use ViaMichelin for routing, followed by corrections using RideWithGps and satellite imaging. That's how I do it anyway.

What's up with him? I've heard about some problems but can't find his posts.

Yes, exactly. His route choice has had him constantly wandering in the region for the past 7-8 hrs while at the same time #162 is getting a good rest for a very early start (planned at 2 AM) along the better route - and he was nearly an hour behind #20 at the border crossing...

#104 has luckily done a right turn (literally right, haha) for a route that's actually doable. #150 is right here in the town now, so we'll soon see what was his choice for the route towards Sarajevo. Edit: He's on a good track!

Oh no, #20 is doomed... he's taking the same muddy road/path as #148 had last night :-(.

#162 safe and sound. Calling it at a day in Banja Luka and doing a very early start tomorrow. He's been following the race blog, so he bought some shoes yesterday, for walking to the summit of Bjelasnica :-).

However, I feel very sorry for #20 - he lost a couple of hours on hilly local roads (taking a "shortcut") only to get on the dreaded wrong route, that of Bjorn and #148. Well, there's still hope, providing he makes a RH turn soon...

I'm looking at #20 now - he seems to be a bit lost...

^ Hope he doesn't get arrested for filming at a border crossing, LOL.

I'm sure everyone (including myself) would do the same :-). You have a route planned months ahead of the ride - you're not going to change the decision in a heartbeat because someone who maybe doesn't know what he's talking about told you something, LOL.

I haven't said anything like what @Squaredisk suggested. I had asked him if he knew where he was going and informed him that there may be an off-road section along the way. Of course, I couldn't have been completely sure he'd go down that exact route as there are some other roads there that he could have taken too.

He has passed through here early this morning :-). Appears to be in good position at the moment.

148 has made it through to the other side for the mountain but it posed a significant loss of time/ground as compared to 146 he was trailing by only 20 mins yesterday. Meanwhile, 195 and 68 made a good push through the night. 12 has definitely taken a wrong road...

146's (and most other people's) choice of route has proved to be a much better one. Everybody should warn people they know not to use the road that Bjorn and 148 had chosen. Or to wait a few years as there are plans in place for an extension of that road :-D.

While Bielašnica was testing our leader, Bjorn was crossing the border into Bosnia. At Banja Luka he chose a road via Celinac, what began as poor asphalt soon turned into a stony track finally dwindling into singletrack. Evidently deciding the route was impassable on his set-up it looks like he decided to double back and rest.

I believe 148's setup is a liiitle bit more offroad-friendly than Bjorn's. And considering they all have to take a horrible rocky service-road above ski-resort to reach the summit of Bjelašnica - and that there's an off-road section between Bosnia & Montenegro too - I think he'll survive the section he's currently on as well.

253b is just about to descent off a mountain but it's getting darker by the minute here. 146 will have to spend a night in the mountains but he's just about to reach a town there. 148 is about to run out of road in a couple of minutes but at least he's reaching a small town as the night sets in (he said he'd planned to ride until 10 PM but that would be a suicide given the conditions).

I warned him but he said the route had been planned a long time ago. I was hoping he would make a RH turn a bit sooner - that's a brand new asphalt road with only a few km of off-road remaining but the road he's taking... he'll soon run out of asphalt and there will be probably 30-40 km off-road... He's got a bit bigger tyres, so he may be OK?