www.dadswell.co.uk Mostly cycling records, mostly on three wheels
This page covers activity in 2006 and 2007
There were four attempts at seven records, but only successfully claiming three records.
2006 Failed attempt at London to Bath and back tandem-tricycle with Dave Johnson
2007 North & West Home Counties RRA
Oxford to Cambridge & back tandem-tricycle with Dave Johnson 7h 0m 34s for 160 miles
2007 Midlands RRA London to Birmingham and back tandem-tricycle with Dave Johnson 9h 19m 34s for 209 miles
2007 RRA #34 12 hours tandem-tricycle with Dave Johnson 259 miles
2007 Failed attempt at 24 hours, Land's End to John o'Groats and 1000 miles tandem-tricycle with Dave Johnson
We had a radical new approach to the London to Bath & back record. Instead of an early morning dash into London, we chose to try going to Bath first. This would get the hills out of the way and had London in the late evening.
Failing to get the Bath and back 2006 - with Dave The Controversial Bath & back schedule
There is one other snippet to add. I can't remember whether this incident happened during the above ride or whether it was in 2001. But it did happen. We were struggling to climb the hill out of Box. David Duffield was running ahead of us with a couple of dripping wet sponges for us to freshen up with. He was running faster than we could ride. He had to slow up before we could get to him. Maybe that's the signal to give up...
Dave & I also had a Schedule for Land's End to London but didn't get to try it.
In 2006, at the RRA Luncheon, Jeff Banks (clothes designer, "The Clothes Show" etc, and also keen cyclist) presented the awards to (among others) Marina & me. Keith Robins, right, was RRA President at the time.
2007 was the year we decided that "Ralph & Dave" would have a go at the Land's End to John o'Groats record. Quite a few others had tried to beat the Crimes & Arnold record from 1954. They had all come unstuck, but we believed that we had a chance and so should make an attempt.
We knew we had to raise some cash because it was out of our budgets to cover the costs ourselves. Luckily we could talk confidently about past successes (ignoring all the failures!) and managed to persuade quite a few people to part with some cash to get things underway.
Here's some of our marketing material.
A similar message was kindly printed in Cycling Weekly.
The appeal created a fair bit of interest and we quickly received cheques or promises to the extent that we could get on with preparation knowing that one issue (at least) was under control.
Most people who contributed were known to me, but not all. I was particularly intrigued to get a flamboyantly written letter (and cheque) from a certain Patrick Hughes. Before calling to thank him for his generosity, I did a bit of searching around to see if I did actually know someone by this name. In the end, I concluded that it was this fellow who had written to me, just keen to support our adventure. http://www.patrickhughes.co.uk/
Patrick was indeed very keen to help, and I immediately found myself a fan of his particular style of art. (click the link and watch the short video about 'reverspective')
Anyway, we had some training to do...
I've always been a fan of using racing as a form of training. So we did some record attempts.
Report of Oxford to Cambridge and back with Dave Schedule for Oxford to Cambridge & back
And then something a bit longer
Report on London-Birmingham and back with Dave Schedule for London Birmingham and back
And finally, we went for the big one.
Trying for Land's End to John o'Groats - with Dave End To End Schedule
The Detailed Plan Odd memorabilia, cuttings etc
In the end, we did actually get the 12 hour record, which was a little bit of consolation. But basically we didn't deliver the big performance when we needed to. We had to give it a try, and it was still quite an adventure.
The names of Crimes and Arnold are still in pole position on the list of End to End tandem tricycle record breakers.
Click for Rides in 2008-2009
There were four attempts at seven records, but only successfully claiming three records.
2006 Failed attempt at London to Bath and back tandem-tricycle with Dave Johnson
2007 North & West Home Counties RRA
Oxford to Cambridge & back tandem-tricycle with Dave Johnson 7h 0m 34s for 160 miles
2007 Midlands RRA London to Birmingham and back tandem-tricycle with Dave Johnson 9h 19m 34s for 209 miles
2007 RRA #34 12 hours tandem-tricycle with Dave Johnson 259 miles
2007 Failed attempt at 24 hours, Land's End to John o'Groats and 1000 miles tandem-tricycle with Dave Johnson
We had a radical new approach to the London to Bath & back record. Instead of an early morning dash into London, we chose to try going to Bath first. This would get the hills out of the way and had London in the late evening.
Failing to get the Bath and back 2006 - with Dave The Controversial Bath & back schedule
There is one other snippet to add. I can't remember whether this incident happened during the above ride or whether it was in 2001. But it did happen. We were struggling to climb the hill out of Box. David Duffield was running ahead of us with a couple of dripping wet sponges for us to freshen up with. He was running faster than we could ride. He had to slow up before we could get to him. Maybe that's the signal to give up...
Dave & I also had a Schedule for Land's End to London but didn't get to try it.
In 2006, at the RRA Luncheon, Jeff Banks (clothes designer, "The Clothes Show" etc, and also keen cyclist) presented the awards to (among others) Marina & me. Keith Robins, right, was RRA President at the time.
2007 was the year we decided that "Ralph & Dave" would have a go at the Land's End to John o'Groats record. Quite a few others had tried to beat the Crimes & Arnold record from 1954. They had all come unstuck, but we believed that we had a chance and so should make an attempt.
We knew we had to raise some cash because it was out of our budgets to cover the costs ourselves. Luckily we could talk confidently about past successes (ignoring all the failures!) and managed to persuade quite a few people to part with some cash to get things underway.
Here's some of our marketing material.
A similar message was kindly printed in Cycling Weekly.
The appeal created a fair bit of interest and we quickly received cheques or promises to the extent that we could get on with preparation knowing that one issue (at least) was under control.
Most people who contributed were known to me, but not all. I was particularly intrigued to get a flamboyantly written letter (and cheque) from a certain Patrick Hughes. Before calling to thank him for his generosity, I did a bit of searching around to see if I did actually know someone by this name. In the end, I concluded that it was this fellow who had written to me, just keen to support our adventure. http://www.patrickhughes.co.uk/
Patrick was indeed very keen to help, and I immediately found myself a fan of his particular style of art. (click the link and watch the short video about 'reverspective')
Anyway, we had some training to do...
I've always been a fan of using racing as a form of training. So we did some record attempts.
Report of Oxford to Cambridge and back with Dave Schedule for Oxford to Cambridge & back
And then something a bit longer
Report on London-Birmingham and back with Dave Schedule for London Birmingham and back
And finally, we went for the big one.
Trying for Land's End to John o'Groats - with Dave End To End Schedule
The Detailed Plan Odd memorabilia, cuttings etc
In the end, we did actually get the 12 hour record, which was a little bit of consolation. But basically we didn't deliver the big performance when we needed to. We had to give it a try, and it was still quite an adventure.
The names of Crimes and Arnold are still in pole position on the list of End to End tandem tricycle record breakers.
Click for Rides in 2008-2009