TCR No.11 · Galicia → Romania · July 27 – August 9, 2025
4,595km.
12.7 days.
TCR No11.
12.7 days.
TCR No11.
305hElapsed
55.8kMetres up
7,528TSS
45°CPeak temp
View:
Peter vs Martin Moritz — TCR No.11
The Route
Galicia to the Black Sea
4,595 km across 12.7 days
Trace route
Day 13 · 305h
Pacing
How 4,595 km actually gets ridden
Average power as % of FTP · 3-hour rolling window
172WOverall avg (riding)
62.5%% of FTP
–7.9%1st → 2nd half
Night windows highlighted in amber. Power barely drops during the dark hours - body adapted to ride through sleep deprivation rather than slow down for it.
Power Fade
Day by day the watts bleed away
Daily average power · riding data only (stopped time excluded)
Day 10 spike (186W, 148 bpm avg) is the anomaly (ferry + flat tire challenges in Albania). After the 15.8h forced stop on days 8-9, the legs came back. A long recovery seem to reverse the fade.
Cardiac Decoupling
The same watts, a quieter heart
Average HR at identical power zones - across six equal time bins throughout the race
At 250–300W: HR fell from 140 to 128 bpm - a 12 bpm drop at the same effort. Classic autonomic suppression under chronic fatigue. The heart becomes efficient under duress, or simply too tired to race ahead of the pedals.
Day vs Night
The night shift
Power and HR split between daylight and darkness (22:00–06:00 UTC)
178 / 179W
+1W at night
Day / Night power
128 / 126
–2 bpm at night
Day / Night heart rate
The night was not a weakness. Power held and HR was actually lower - a quiet, efficient effort. Sleep deprivation's toll was carried differently: in fog, not in watts.
Power by hour of day - averaged across the entire race
Heat
The Balkans tried to cook the engine
Average riding power by temperature band · 9°C to 45°C recorded
45°C was reached somewhere in the Balkans. At that temperature, power collapsed to 116W - less than half of threshold. No mental override works when the thermostat is broken (or was it the stress from the tires)
Sleep
Time not racing
Off-bike gaps throughout the race · 305h elapsed · 227h riding · 78h off
78hTotal off-bike
3.9hAvg stop duration
15.8hLongest stop (day 8)
The 15.8h stop on day 8 was the race's pivot (ferry + tire issues) Before it: stops averaged 4–5h. After it: compressed them to 0.5–1h. Something changed - realization that the finish was finite + avoiding another night outside.
The Numbers
What the data says you are
7,528Training Stress Score — roughly 600 TSS/day. A normal hard week is 500–700 TSS total.
0.625Intensity Factor — sustained at 62.5% FTP for 12+ days without collapse.
–7.9%Power fade across the race — well within the 15% benchmark from the literature.
716WPeak recorded power — proof the legs still had something when the road demanded it.
4,595 kmTotal distance — Galicia, Spain to Constanța, Romania.
55,788mElevation gain — equivalent to climbing Everest 6.3 times.