www.dadswell.co.uk Mostly cycling records, mostly on three wheels
Another Brighton Early
Start
Ralph 1999
Dave Johnson
and I had entered a 25 mile time trial on 4th July, with
optimistic plans of beating the tandem-trike record of 50-25.
Whilst I was quite keen to go for that, it was always going to
need a perfect ride on a very good day.
And so, it
occurred to me that having got Dave “booked” for that weekend, it was
possible that we could go for an RRA record instead, if conditions were
reasonable. I ran this idea
past him, and he accepted that it was a possibility.
He said that to say that he was
“up for it” was an exaggeration, but that he definitely wasn’t “down for
it”, if such a phrase exists.
So I examined
the weather charts on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
I spoke to Dave on the Thursday, telling him that we would
probably be on for a Portsmouth and back on Sunday.
Still ok.
However,
Thursday evening’s charts suggested that the Brighton and back was the
most sensible, and so I notified the RRA that we would be going for the
Men’s Tandem Tricycle record for London to Brighton and back, on Sunday
4th July 1999.
On Friday,
Dave rang me. He asked
whether I was serious about a record attempt.
I replied that I was, and had already set things in motion.
There was a bit of a pause, and some quiet profanities.
The purpose of Dave’s call had been to say that he was really
knackered, and had a heavy couple of days ahead, and that he felt that
the 25 mile ride would be more sensible.
After a few
minutes of discussion he went on his way, with orders to avoid any
strenuous activity, and to get a good night’s sleep.
I was a bit concerned, but was fairly sure that he’d be ready.
So, we reached
Saturday evening without further crises, although the weather was less
exciting than originally predicted.
There were no obvious problems, but we weren’t going to get much
help from the wind.
We travelled
across to our overnight stop with Chris and John Watts in Crawley.
After taking the tandem for a short ride, we packed everything
up, and set alarms for 2am.
We were
somewhat rushed, and only arrived at the start point with 20 minutes
remaining. I had selected
to start and finish at the summit of the North Downs, which is just
inside the M25, north of Redhill.
It was chosen as the most northerly place before traffic
disruption was likely to start.
This was unlikely to be a factor on a Sunday, but it was always
possible that we could have made the attempt during the week.
As the 4am
start approached, we hadn’t had the chance to ride the tandem up and
down the road. When we
moved it to the start point, I realised that the gear lever must have
been moved in transit.
Rather than have us pull away with a tremendous crunching of gears, we
were offered a one-minute delay.
This option was taken, but we were still released into the
blackness in a less-than-smooth manner.
The first
couple of miles were downhill and fast, with the bonus that some major
roadworks at Coulsdon were packed away, leaving a clear route through.
By Purley, we were more than a minute ahead of our schedule,
which was to beat the record by less than a minute.
We had a slick run through to the Thornton Heath checkpoint,
which saw us 2 minutes up.
(We did have a tricky moment at the South Circular Road. Dave
advised me that the road was clear. And it almost was clear. Apart
from that taxi. Never let the blind bloke be the look-out man.)
The delights
of Streatham followed, leading on to the crossing of Vauxhall Bridge,
and the approach to Hyde Park Corner.
The two Eddies witnessed us nip along Apsley Way before rejoining
the roundabout and retracing to Victoria.
Carefully choosing the correct exit road, we made contact again
with Chris and John in the following car, who had been unable to keep up
with us.
Back at
Thornton Heath, we had lost our earlier advantage, and were level with
schedule. In part this was
due to the slight uphill gradient when travelling away from the Thames,
and we also felt that we could feel a bit of a southerly breeze.
I was
expecting to be behind schedule when we returned to our start point, and
was actually quite relieved that the deficit was just two minutes.
There then followed quite a quick stretch leading to Gatwick
airport, where we were back level with schedule.
As long as we could count on getting some assistance from the
weather, then this was satisfactory.
Through
Crawley, and the next check was at the summit of Pease Pottage hill.
We were a minute down, but had covered the first 50 miles in 2
hours 3 minutes. The next
sector was favourable, including a mile of high speed descending at
Handcross. For some reason,
though, we were only level with the schedule at the next check.
So we
approached the South Downs, and the Pyecombe summit.
I was becoming aware of some sort of head wind, and so it was
with a little excitement that I noted that we were only one minute
behind at the top. The
euphoria was short-lived, though, as Dave started to grumble about being
uncomfortable and knackered.
We pressed on
through the streets of Brighton, making our way through Bus Lanes to the
coast. When we reached the
Aquarium roundabout, Ken and Barbara Atkins were waiting dutifully to
check us through, and they will have noted that we were exactly on
schedule.
And Dave was
still going on about his “parts”, and how he felt completely wasted.
So I followed a sympathetic technique which I learned a few years
ago. I told him to stop
talking and concentrate on pedalling.
We positively
zoomed up the South Downs, and were still on schedule at the summit.
There still seemed to be a bit of wind assistance as we passed
Hickstead, and when we approached Handcross we were a minute up.
It was no
surprise when we found ourselves on the lowest gear (44 x 18 for the
techies out there) for a mile or so up to Handcross.
But we managed to lift things again when at the top, and cruised
along to Pease Pottage one minute adrift.
I knew that the next section was crucial.
We had to get ahead of schedule by the final checkpoint at
Gatwick. Accordingly, we
sold ourselves amongst the many roundabouts of Crawley, with the result
that we had an incredible two minute buffer with eight miles to go.
The 100 mile
point passed in 4h 4m 30s, and it looked as if we would hold on for a
record. A few minutes
later, though, I felt the tandem get heavier.
I suggested
that Dave might have forgotten to pedal, and I received the crushing
reply that he had probably “blown”.
I decided (no choice really) that I would risk snapping my legs,
and try to haul us along the last few miles (what seemed like)
single-handed.
Fortunately,
after squeezing our way through Redhill, Dave was able to respond when I
shouted first “3 to go” and then “2 to go”, with the result that we
managed a reasonable speed for the climb of the North Downs.
At last we saw the roadsign which we knew meant that we would
soon be in sight of the end.
And there it
was. The time?
We were more than a minute inside the previous record, with a new
time of 4 hours 20 minutes 15 seconds. Once
over the line, we were slumped over the handlebars, and only just
managed to ride back up the slope to the finish point.
We then
adjourned to the salubrious surroundings of the Hooley Little Chef.
I was in the “washrooms” (washing myself, would you believe?)
when I took a call from Peter Bryan, who was after the result for The
Times. He may have presumed
that it was the mobile phone that was causing the echoing sound.
However, I suspect that he became certain of my location when he
heard the urinals flushing behind me!
We had a most
enjoyable meal. Each of us
that is, except for Dave, who couldn’t face anything to eat, and was
looking rather pale.
Demonstrating (once again) my sympathetic approach to his problems, I
decided to just let him sit there and grumble.
Pancakes are most enjoyable.
* * * *
Quite how Dave
Pitt and Alun Millard produced their ride 20 years ago I’ll never know …
they must have been fit.
Whilst technology and road improvements have certainly gone in our
favour, I can’t believe there were as many roundabouts for them to haul
the tandem trike around.
I can’t
pretend that I’m really happy with a margin of 1 min 27 seconds, but
when you’re going for a tight record, you have to take what you can get.
* * * *
Thanks
very much to Don Glover for timing, and Mr & Mrs Watts for driving,
observing and feeding us.