www.dadswell.co.uk Mostly cycling records, mostly on three wheels
6 October 1990 : 50 and 100 miles
The chosen course was the A12 from Brentwood to
Kessingland, near Lowestoft.
There was a short detour from the Chelmsford bypass into
Chelmsford, and back to the bypass.
This was necessary to fit 100 miles in without starting inside
the M25, or finishing in the sea.
I had immense problems obtaining sufficient help
for this ride, as everyone seemed to have commitments for part of the
day. However, John Purser
was happy to spend a day on the A12, and Audrey was able to be
timekeeper. My brother Tim
drove my car with John observing.
The day was windy, very windy, and in the right
direction. This, in
conjunction with quite a lot of traffic, allowed me to cover the first 8
miles at over 30 mph. The
Chelmsford detour slowed me a bit, but I was still through 25 miles in
54-30, which was 3mins 30s up.
The next 25 miles were problem free (only some
roadworks causing the traffic to slow a little), and I shot past Audrey
at the 50 mile point in a time of 1.45.50.
Yes!!! My first RRA
record. I could scarcely
believe it, as my adventures on the Bath Road had almost conditioned me
to expect failure. Yippee!
Onward through the roadworks at Capel St Mary, to
join the A45 at Ipswich. I was flying along, and supplying drinks became
a serious running exercise for Tim and John.
I had experienced some crosswinds on the Chelmsford bypass, but
on the Orwell Bridge, I really thought I was going over the side.
It was terrifying when the gale really blew, and I was relieved
to rejoin the A12 and have the wind with me again.
The wind was still howling, and I passed 75 miles
in 2.43.20. This meant I
had over 1 hour 20 minutes for the last 25 miles, in order to beat Dave
Pitt's 100 record. Despite
some major roadworks on a narrow road at Farnham, near Saxmundham, I was
still able to blast along.
Audrey overtook at Frostenden, and continued to
find the finish.
At 98 miles I thought I had cracked, as I was
forced to change down on a short climb.
However, the Kessingland sign was at the top, so my spirits were
quickly high again. The
last mile was unbelievably fast, and I recorded 3.41.11.
This took 23m 55s off Dave's record.
I was ecstatic.
Immediately after finishing, I went to a convenient
phone box and called Pitty.
The call was made when I still had 15 minutes in hand.
You can imagine how pleased he was to hear from me!
(Admitted, this was taken in a time trial. But it was
on the A12, and was either in 1989 or 1990. So
it's fairly representative of the big day in October 1990.
I'm 99% sure I didn't have tribars for this record. I believe I
bought some prior to the 1991 season. Or maybe I just didn't fit
them to the tricycle until 1991. Hard to remember, although
there certainly was a view for a while that the need to steer a tricycle
meant that tribars probably wouldn't be safe. Until, of course,
somebody tried it...)