Originally Posted by ken cummings
How about the name of the ride? Some of us live in Great Britian and might show up to support you. Try having a few kegs of Real Ale out before the start. Have the other riders blitzed before the start
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Why no support from the vans. You two pay an entry fee, you are entitled to support. Just use rims and tires the vans carry. Or use as many single bike components as you can, they only need to last the 12 hours. On another topic I always thought the Lands End to John o'Groats time was just under 2 days. Now I hear it is about 45 minutes set by an F-14 military jet. Hardly seems fair
I may do the LeJog run soon but not the 1200 to 1300 miles recommended by Sustrans. 850-900 seems better, I like what you call A roads.
Ride is the South Downs Way in one day, and is run by the British Heart Foundation who took it over from Gavin Rogers in 2004. 100 miles from Winchester to Eastbourne, 10,000 ft of climbing and 95% offroad. Sounds easy but work out your average for a 2 hour hilly offroad ride and take 2mph off it and you can see that a 9mph average will be good. Only a couple of tandems will attempt this ride- you always attempt it and never talk about doing it till you have finished. Of the 400 starters-only 50% will finish. The Tandem does not use standard parts, so the back up van we do use will carry spare wheels- extra spare tyres, handlebars- yep we break those aswell, seatposts, and as many things like deraillers, brake parts and food and water as we can cram in it. This vehicle will also act as a sag vehicle to take the unfortunates that have to abandon onto the next checkpoint. Depends on the weather, but if the trail is difficult on the day- every time we cross a road, the vehicle will be there just in case we need anything. If fine- it will always be at the end of a mobile phone but will only be met on 3 or 4 occasions as the coffee is a must for me on this ride. Keeps me awake when I get bored of just churning away up the many rutted 15% climbs that go on and on and on and........
This ride is hard and gets harder every year. We cannot afford to be complacent about fitness or the preparedness of the bike. That is why so many drop out. Luckily, other than punctures- and a broken chain one year, we have yet to have a mechanical.
Just out of interest- Will this count as a birthday ride? I won't treat it as such, but the distance will cover the combined age of the two riders this year- Next year we'll have to get lost or make a detour to cover the age gap.