Well i'll keep this short, we did the trek mk 2! 364 miles, 5 days, and immense fun!! Unfortunately dan's borrowed bike broke a few times meaning he didn't make all the miles and crossed the finish line on foot, but he was with us all the way in one form of transport or another!
Highlight... probably the 90 miles in one day - 56 of which were before lunch time. Portsmouth to Hastings in one day, not bad.
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Day 3 - It's all Over
So, after the abject disaster that was day one, day two started promisingly. We had another stunning fry up courtesy of the YHA, then sorted out our luggage, mounted up and set off. We decided to start from Penzance reasoning that as two of us had made it to Lands End the previous day, we had basically covered that distance already. Les’ help and advice had taught us that we were underprepared so we went to the bike shop in Penzance to grab a tyre, some tubes, and get the racer looked at. Seemed that there was no other option than to minimise the weight on the racer and fix it if the wheel came out of kilter again as the fella in the shop basically said the hub was old and somewhat shot.
Anyhoo, off we set and we made good time in the morning. West Cornwall has some stunning scenery and lovely villages along the way so we had plenty to look at. The roads weren’t bad and we didn’t get too lost. We ended up in Mullion at lunch time and grabbed ourselves a BLT each along with some lovely Ginger Beer. Ice cream and other sweet bites helped too. We were finding the going relatively easy – especially on the racer, though kudos to Joe and Sam on the mountain bike – it weighed a damn ton (we recon best part of 200kg if not more fully loaded with people on board) – and we all felt good and fit, even on the hills.
Problem 1 struck soon after lunch when we were trying to power up a particularly sharp hill on the racer. As expected the wheel went out of kilter and we had to stop to fix it. Unfortunately it was being somewhat of a bitch, and to add some injury to insult, it was raining by this point. Eventually after much swearing and spanner work, I’d managed to get it free spinning and relatively straight. 20 minute set back, no biggie. Then – and this is my fault – we took a wrong turn in some little village, leading us towards a very steep hill. The mountain bike’s breaks were dubious even with new pads, but by this point they were basically ineffective. I (Ben) shouted to the boys to stop, but on a 1 in 4 there was no chance. I didn’t see the resulting ‘crash’ but what basically happened was they came head to head with a VW Golf on this single track road unable to stop. Somehow Mercer managed to navigate them past and grab a well placed pole by the roadside which swung the bike around and ground them to a stop. Resulting injuries were bruised and cut shins – not so good.
This was a bit of a lesson, from now on hills went like this: Those on the racer walk the bike up so that the gearing didn’t give up; those on the mountain bike walk down so they don’t crash and die. Not a great situation, but the hills had died out a bit so all was well. We decided to switch riders so that Sam could get a break from the heavy mountain bike, so I took the helm with Joe the chief stoker. We continued to make good progress – 40 miles was out of the way heading on 50. I have massive respect for the two mountain bike boys as riding it was tough, but progress continued into Helford where we were to catch our first ferry across the river. Unfortunately, Helford is at the bottom of a steep valley, and the road sloped off before I’d had a chance to bleed off some speed, meaning poor old Joe was on another hell-ride. My hands had the levers pulled to the handle bars, and we continued to gain pace – heading towards what looked like a T-junction with a tight turn left or right. I opted for left, and along with a lot of swearing looked for a suitable bush to bail out into. We made the turn – which was described by Dan and Sam on the racer as looking ‘well cool’. It wasn’t. It was, in fact, ‘well scary’. After the bend, and with a lot of shoe scraping, we bled off enough speed to dismount and bring everything to a stop – lesson learned – no more taking hills lightly on that bike.
Helford is a lovely little village – quintessential south coast of Cornwall with a real hint of community and picture post-card scenery. The ferry – which we found eventually – was actually a small boat, but there was space for the bikes and us, along with some walkers to provide some entertainment to. And boy did they get some entertainment. Whilst loading the trailer onto the boat I dropped my sunglasses into the river. I wanted my sunglasses back, and the river wasn’t too deep, so I opted to jump right in. I did this, and without thinking dipped my whole self under to try and retrieve said shades – with no luck. I should have thought about it and gone for the foot-grip idea – which did eventually come up with the goods. But being a man, hell for leather/lack of thought is usually the first point of call.
Once off the ferry and safely back on dry land, we walked the bikes out of Helford Passage up a big old hill and pushed on towards Falmouth, no more than 6 miles away. Disaster struck, however, about 3 miles out from Falmouth town centre where the gearing on the racer finally gave up the ghost. There was no means of forward propulsion – the pedals free-spinning wildly. The one piece of good luck was we broke down outside a campsite which we opted to use. I think we knew that it was game over this time. If the bike was fixable it was going to be expensive, as there aren’t many 1960s Claud Butler tandem specialists in the area. We’d already thrown lots of money at this and throwing more at it was silly. It was time to call it a day – cut our losses, call it experience and do something else. The mood walking the 1 mile to the nearest pub in the pouring rain was sombre. The mood in the pub where we thought of a variety of ‘Plan 2/3/4/5/6s’ was strained to say the least. We feel that we have a duty to go and do something – complete the challenge – make people’s sponsorship worthwhile as people have given us money to do this. It’s a duty of trust and responsibility which we didn’t want to break, and apart from anything else we were loathed to stop from a personal point of view because after 55 miles during which we felt great and ready for another 9 days of 60 miles. It was galling to make the decision to write off the Tandem Trek.
On the plus, we now have ‘The Trek’ – which we will hopefully start Thursday. This is a loop down onto the Isle of Wight, all the way around it, then back up to North Foreland – Starting in Ashford but following the coast where possible. It’s our contingency and our attempt at gaining something from this abject disaster, and you know what, we can’t wait. We’ll be on our own bikes which won’t break down even if you hit them with a nuke, riding a lovely route which still works out at close to 350/400 miles round trip. We implore you to no longer sponsor, we apologise if you feel a little let down, but we’re doing our best to make your money worthwhile and no one feels more pissed off than us.
So here’s to ‘The Trek’. We’ll let you know how it goes!
Sunday, 19 July 2009
Day 2... Worst day ever!
Day two started with such optimism. After the disasterous journey down to Penzance, surely the only way was up...oh how wrong we were! After a nice hearty breakfast, the four of us were full of optimism...which was very quickly destroyed. We had the task of first making it to Land's End before we could even begin our long awaited trek. However, after just 6 miles of cycling we got our first puncture. This was more of an annoyance than anything and was sorted by Ben in no time, however, just a few minutes after setting off again we got our second puncture. This was more of a concern seeing as it was in the same place as the previous one. We found the source of the problem and after help from a nice man in a caravan (he gave us some Bostick!!) we started sorting out the tire. This was our biggest mistake. Through no fault of his own, Ben accidentally pierced the inner tube with a screw driver. This meant that we had no more inner tubes and a tire of which was useless to us. We decided that as we still had one working tandem, two would cycle to Land's End, come back, and then the other two would do the same. This was a good idea...in theory. Unfortunately luck was not with us and Sam and Joe (the first pair) made it to Land's End OK but when ready to leave had trouble with the rear wheel which meant that it was not only unridable, but very difficult to walk back.
In the meantime, myself and Ben were waiting patiently for our friends' return. We kept ourselves occupied by doing a bit of exercise (sounds daft I know, but really, we were THAT bored!). However, after a while of waiting we became a tad concerned and after conversing with Sam, found out that problems were beginning to be our speciality! After getting monumentally drenched by a wonderfully timed rain shower, we decided to walk back the punctured tandem and meet the other two at the hostel whenever they managed to make it back.
This is when our own angel appeared...in the form of a fellow cyclist. His name was Lez (a postman) and he was just completing his 8th (that's right...EIGHTH!!) finish of the Land's End to John O'Groates journey. He stopped us while walking, gave us another inner tube and actually helped us inflate (and keep inflated) the tire! This allowed us to cycle the bike back which was an unbelievable relief! But that is not all, Lez bumped into Joe and Sam also and fixed their broken wheel, which was enough to make it back! We all arrived at the hostel (not our previous plan), both irritated and tired. We worked on the bikes to make sure everything was in working order, and as it was 3pm by the time all was ready, we decided to cut our loses and delay our "start" until tomorrow.
So after a long and tiring day, we have made it to Land's End (at least 2 of us have) and when we leave tomorrow we will have done just 10 miles of the trek. Lots more to do and a day behind! Not a great start! However, we are now sitting in Wetherspoons enjoying some much needed food (and drink!) preparing to leave Penzance tomorrow (at least that's the plan!). So we will leave it there and hope that today really will be the worst day of the trip!
Love, The Tandem Team.
In the meantime, myself and Ben were waiting patiently for our friends' return. We kept ourselves occupied by doing a bit of exercise (sounds daft I know, but really, we were THAT bored!). However, after a while of waiting we became a tad concerned and after conversing with Sam, found out that problems were beginning to be our speciality! After getting monumentally drenched by a wonderfully timed rain shower, we decided to walk back the punctured tandem and meet the other two at the hostel whenever they managed to make it back.
This is when our own angel appeared...in the form of a fellow cyclist. His name was Lez (a postman) and he was just completing his 8th (that's right...EIGHTH!!) finish of the Land's End to John O'Groates journey. He stopped us while walking, gave us another inner tube and actually helped us inflate (and keep inflated) the tire! This allowed us to cycle the bike back which was an unbelievable relief! But that is not all, Lez bumped into Joe and Sam also and fixed their broken wheel, which was enough to make it back! We all arrived at the hostel (not our previous plan), both irritated and tired. We worked on the bikes to make sure everything was in working order, and as it was 3pm by the time all was ready, we decided to cut our loses and delay our "start" until tomorrow.
So after a long and tiring day, we have made it to Land's End (at least 2 of us have) and when we leave tomorrow we will have done just 10 miles of the trek. Lots more to do and a day behind! Not a great start! However, we are now sitting in Wetherspoons enjoying some much needed food (and drink!) preparing to leave Penzance tomorrow (at least that's the plan!). So we will leave it there and hope that today really will be the worst day of the trip!
Love, The Tandem Team.
Day 1...
22:19 – Sam and Dan finally arrive.
After a lot of waiting, 4 hours at Paddington and then 6 and a half on the train, we have finally made it to Penzance with a smile still on the face. Someone decided to kill themselves on the track and so that slowed us down some more but we are here. We have the bikes nicely tied up. We have the bags in our room and we are going to turn in soon... breakfast is at 7:30, then hopefully at about 9 tomorrow morning we will be setting off from Land’s End on the marathon journey back.
There is excitement and apprehension amongst the group, as well as a lot of tiredness which is creating a little tension, dum dum dum. But we know vaguely how we are going to attack it all tomorrow, so hopefully we will have a better blog than this, merely stating that we are here in Penzance and ready to start riding back. Speak to you all soon, thanks for all the sponsorship!! Peace and love. Xx Sam and Dan
22.27 Joe and Ben
Well speaking from a personal point of view, all has gone swimmingly. Our train was on time, comfortable, full of people i didn’t want to kill, and even served a good coffee. Thankfully for us we got the early train at 11.06 so we hit no delays, though 5 ½ hours on a train is dreadfully boring. We got to Penzance at about 4.40 and dragged the trailer to the hostel – which was a bitch in terms of weight and akwardness. Once we were checked in we headed to town – to wait.
Thankfully for us, Wetherspoons serves a good real ale and egg and chips is a good combination, so our wait was less than awful. From a personal point of view (Ben) I would give the ‘Silver Stalion’ ale about 7.5/10 and the Top Banana about 7/10. The egg and chips was good too. Anyway, i’m looking forward to starting tomorrow, there is a sense of the size of what we’re attempting, but overall I think we’re up for it.
Much Love, Ben and Joe
After a lot of waiting, 4 hours at Paddington and then 6 and a half on the train, we have finally made it to Penzance with a smile still on the face. Someone decided to kill themselves on the track and so that slowed us down some more but we are here. We have the bikes nicely tied up. We have the bags in our room and we are going to turn in soon... breakfast is at 7:30, then hopefully at about 9 tomorrow morning we will be setting off from Land’s End on the marathon journey back.
There is excitement and apprehension amongst the group, as well as a lot of tiredness which is creating a little tension, dum dum dum. But we know vaguely how we are going to attack it all tomorrow, so hopefully we will have a better blog than this, merely stating that we are here in Penzance and ready to start riding back. Speak to you all soon, thanks for all the sponsorship!! Peace and love. Xx Sam and Dan
22.27 Joe and Ben
Well speaking from a personal point of view, all has gone swimmingly. Our train was on time, comfortable, full of people i didn’t want to kill, and even served a good coffee. Thankfully for us we got the early train at 11.06 so we hit no delays, though 5 ½ hours on a train is dreadfully boring. We got to Penzance at about 4.40 and dragged the trailer to the hostel – which was a bitch in terms of weight and akwardness. Once we were checked in we headed to town – to wait.
Thankfully for us, Wetherspoons serves a good real ale and egg and chips is a good combination, so our wait was less than awful. From a personal point of view (Ben) I would give the ‘Silver Stalion’ ale about 7.5/10 and the Top Banana about 7/10. The egg and chips was good too. Anyway, i’m looking forward to starting tomorrow, there is a sense of the size of what we’re attempting, but overall I think we’re up for it.
Much Love, Ben and Joe
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Not Long to go...
So we're pretty much there. The date is nearly upon us to catch the trains down to Penzance. Are we prepared? Good question, the answer to which will become apparent on about day 2 or 3 when our legs either go on strike, or we find that we can actually keep cycling. From a personal point of view I'm worried about two things. Firstly is my knees which have always been a weak link in my walking ability. I've done my best to work on them, but will be wearing a support on my right knee at least (the weaker of the two). The secon thing i'm worried about - as are the others - is good old Swine Flu! Unfortunately my nearest and dearest has it, so i've been completely unable to do anything other than carry on and hope for the best. Without wishing to tempt fate I actually feel fine - better than fine in fact. But the chances of me carrying it are better than good.
Anyway, enough about worries. We have the stuff we need (we think) and the means to carry it as well as a map - which might be handy - and the budget for a steak dinner each night. We're all as ready as we'll ever be in terms of fitness and I recon that we'll be able to get along fairly well for at least 2 days. After 3 one of us might get thrown from a cliff, but i'm sure we'll carry on regardless.
I think I speak for everyone in saying that we're bloody excited. This will be the trip of a lifetime and the fact that it'll benefit some good causes makes it all the better. Follow this space because we will update this blog when we get the chance to stop at a place with interweb connection and power. Until then, keep donating and wish us well!
Ben
Anyway, enough about worries. We have the stuff we need (we think) and the means to carry it as well as a map - which might be handy - and the budget for a steak dinner each night. We're all as ready as we'll ever be in terms of fitness and I recon that we'll be able to get along fairly well for at least 2 days. After 3 one of us might get thrown from a cliff, but i'm sure we'll carry on regardless.
I think I speak for everyone in saying that we're bloody excited. This will be the trip of a lifetime and the fact that it'll benefit some good causes makes it all the better. Follow this space because we will update this blog when we get the chance to stop at a place with interweb connection and power. Until then, keep donating and wish us well!
Ben
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Racing Tandem!
I'm glad to say we have now picked up our second bike, which currently resides in my kitchen. It is quite a beast - sleek and fast, effortless to ride... until it stops working. Which it did within 2 miles of getting on it.
Myself and Mercer went to London town to pick the beast up. Crack of dawn start to Paddington to meet the fella who'd been kind/foolish enough to lend it to us (Thanks to Rob Lewis of Scott Wilson fame), and then the simple task of cycling the 30 miles back to mine via central, south and outer London and Croydon. Easy enough - 30 miles is no more that 2 1/2 hours on a tandem when going for it a bit.
Anyway, we walked it to a suitable central London side-street (meaning only 50 people were looking at us) and mounted up, A to Z in pocket. We started off brilliantly - apart from Mercer having to sit like a Baboon - and caused much attention through Hyde Park. Heading towards Victoria became chocca though, so we opted to dismount and walk - it was quicker. Then beyond Victoria on Vauxhall Bridge Road I was forced to tell Mercer to put his legs into it. He was. I was. And we weren't particularly moving.
Sods law had dictated that our journey was over. The rear wheel was about as straight as Graham Norton in a Dutch Gay club. I can assure you that walking the damn thing to Victoria to catch a train home was difficult - the bike weighs a damn ton! And from Victoria to Sevenoaks is the most convoluted route ever known to man.
Anyway, we eventually made it and were looking forward to a three mile walk home carrying the equivalent of the QE2 in terms of weight. On the off-chance I suggested we try Kwik Fit for a spanner and some mechanical help, worth a try at least. The bloke who we talked to not only knew his way around bikes, he was totally up for helping us - result. 10 minutes and some fettling later we had a completely ridable bike once again, and home we zoomed!
Not quite the trip we envisaged, but a mini adventure none-the-less.
Myself and Mercer went to London town to pick the beast up. Crack of dawn start to Paddington to meet the fella who'd been kind/foolish enough to lend it to us (Thanks to Rob Lewis of Scott Wilson fame), and then the simple task of cycling the 30 miles back to mine via central, south and outer London and Croydon. Easy enough - 30 miles is no more that 2 1/2 hours on a tandem when going for it a bit.
Anyway, we walked it to a suitable central London side-street (meaning only 50 people were looking at us) and mounted up, A to Z in pocket. We started off brilliantly - apart from Mercer having to sit like a Baboon - and caused much attention through Hyde Park. Heading towards Victoria became chocca though, so we opted to dismount and walk - it was quicker. Then beyond Victoria on Vauxhall Bridge Road I was forced to tell Mercer to put his legs into it. He was. I was. And we weren't particularly moving.
Sods law had dictated that our journey was over. The rear wheel was about as straight as Graham Norton in a Dutch Gay club. I can assure you that walking the damn thing to Victoria to catch a train home was difficult - the bike weighs a damn ton! And from Victoria to Sevenoaks is the most convoluted route ever known to man.
Anyway, we eventually made it and were looking forward to a three mile walk home carrying the equivalent of the QE2 in terms of weight. On the off-chance I suggested we try Kwik Fit for a spanner and some mechanical help, worth a try at least. The bloke who we talked to not only knew his way around bikes, he was totally up for helping us - result. 10 minutes and some fettling later we had a completely ridable bike once again, and home we zoomed!
Not quite the trip we envisaged, but a mini adventure none-the-less.
Friday, 12 June 2009
Progress so far...
The blog has been started by my fellow cyclists, and I feel I should also add my special words of wisdom at this early stage.
As has previously been mentioned, we are well under way with our training and feeling steadily confident about our ability to not only ride a tandem, but do so without falling off! Testing the tandem has been an interesting experience which has given us an idea of what will be expected of us when we are in the South-West of the country with very little with us...basically ride like mad to get home!
So far we have tested one of the two tandems we hope to take with us, with Sam and Ben collecting the second one tomorrow (Saturday 13th July). Once we have both tandems in our possession, we aim to do a few test runs as a group to see how we get on. As of yet, the chances are that we may not be able to do this until the first week in July, however we will keep you posted with any developments.
On the plus side, I have been contacting some of the local media to try and boost the publicity with the aim of bringing in more sponsors for our chosen charities. I have heard back from the 'Thanet Gazette' who have suggested writing a report about it. We are in talks at the moment but will keep you posted of any developments in the near future.
So far we have had a few people who have donated through the JustGive website, and some via the sponsor forms we created. Many thanks to those of you who have been able to sponsor us so far. Your help is much appreciated!
We hope the rest of you are able to sponsor as soon as you can, either through the JustGive website or via one of the 'tandem trekkers'. All of your help, support and sponsors mean a lot to both ourselves and the chosen charities. In the words of those over repeated yet catchy Tesco adverts..."Every Little Helps".
Remember to follow us on the Facebook group as well as on this blog to keep track of any developments and progress we make!
Justgiving - The Tandem Trek 2009 (to sponsor - The Kent Air Ambulance)
Justgiving - The Tandem Trek 2009 (to sponsor - The Pilgrims Hospice)
http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=75279440807 (Our Facebook page)
Thanks again for all of your support so far.
Dan (and the team)
As has previously been mentioned, we are well under way with our training and feeling steadily confident about our ability to not only ride a tandem, but do so without falling off! Testing the tandem has been an interesting experience which has given us an idea of what will be expected of us when we are in the South-West of the country with very little with us...basically ride like mad to get home!
So far we have tested one of the two tandems we hope to take with us, with Sam and Ben collecting the second one tomorrow (Saturday 13th July). Once we have both tandems in our possession, we aim to do a few test runs as a group to see how we get on. As of yet, the chances are that we may not be able to do this until the first week in July, however we will keep you posted with any developments.
On the plus side, I have been contacting some of the local media to try and boost the publicity with the aim of bringing in more sponsors for our chosen charities. I have heard back from the 'Thanet Gazette' who have suggested writing a report about it. We are in talks at the moment but will keep you posted of any developments in the near future.
So far we have had a few people who have donated through the JustGive website, and some via the sponsor forms we created. Many thanks to those of you who have been able to sponsor us so far. Your help is much appreciated!
We hope the rest of you are able to sponsor as soon as you can, either through the JustGive website or via one of the 'tandem trekkers'. All of your help, support and sponsors mean a lot to both ourselves and the chosen charities. In the words of those over repeated yet catchy Tesco adverts..."Every Little Helps".
Remember to follow us on the Facebook group as well as on this blog to keep track of any developments and progress we make!
Justgiving - The Tandem Trek 2009 (to sponsor - The Kent Air Ambulance)
Justgiving - The Tandem Trek 2009 (to sponsor - The Pilgrims Hospice)
http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=75279440807 (Our Facebook page)
Thanks again for all of your support so far.
Dan (and the team)
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