English
So 3 days of carnage among the twisting and turning roads of the Netherlands comes to an end for the field in the Giro d’Italia. Riders are limping away to lick their wounds on the oddly early rest day that allows for the transfer back to Italy where the race proper will begin.
Sitting in the commentary box over the last 3 days I couldn’t help but wince every time the cascade of riders spilt out across the Dutch roads, thinking to myself; ‘now if that was on a tandem that would REALLY hurt!’
That just sounds plain callous doesn’t it? Of course I don’t mean it to sound that way and of course I care about the fate of the poor skittering, tumbling peloton but it does show how far down the road of total tandem immersion I seem to have travelled.
Is this a good thing I wonder to myself? It’s certainly a road less travelled and continues to engender a few smiles from Sean and raised eyebrows from current professionals but increasingly, they are more fascinated by the whole project than vaguely amused by it. This subtle attitudinal shift has come about not from a sudden upsurge in interest for bikes with 2 riders, but from the fact that Team Wiggle Tandem, record breakers of the future or not, are the real deal; committed, organised, integrated, and most importantly passionate.
Anyone who had spent 3 days with us recently as we travelled between Pembroke and Great Yarmouth meticulously scrutinizing the route which we will take in June would have been privy to that glorious moment when as, ‘Hannibal’ Smith was so fond of saying, ‘a plan comes together’. Mechanic Jeff Winstanley and chief logistics man Stephen Davies were mighty allowing Jez and I to concentrate solely on the micro-adjustments required to make Rocket 1 comfortable for in excess of 17 hours at a stretch. Every junction and traffic light phase, each twist in the road or change of camber was meticulous recorded in 1 mile stretches, amassing a huge volume of information in neat concise OS illustrated text boxes.
Having moved the boulders out of the way by careful analysis of the route, its historical weather patterns for June and the careful finalizing of food strategies, there was a wholesale sweeping up of pebbles in the quest to leave no stone unturned. I never imagined I would spend a day riding backwards and forwards practicing double musette pickups or smooth stop and wheel changes, but it’s happened.
Peta McSharry was on hand to check the progress of my Achilles rehabilitation and fill the Travel Lodge in Yarmouth with the strange and terrifying screams of Jez as she massaged 1000km’s out of his legs and Team Principal Richard Gorman did his usual superb job at making sure everything moved in the right direction smoothly and calmly.
And what of Rocket 1 itself? In a word awesome…Taut, responsive and yet comfortable Dolan and the component suppliers have created a machine that allows us to cruise at 30mph even without the largest Rotor Q-Ring which still needs to be fitted. Look out for a full technical rundown on Rocket 1 and all the other equipment being used by Team Wiggle Tandem on the team website shortly, including the CARO Bioracer skinsuits previously only used by the Dutch and Belgian track squads.
So all the pieces of the jigsaw are on the table and gradually being fitted together. It remains only for me to fight as hard as I can to regain the fitness that was coming so good 2 months ago before a small run in with a Welsh stone wall.
Oh…and by the way….I hear Team Wiggle’s very own John Cannings is going to attack the National 24 hour on a tandem trike.
It must be catching.
Stay Safe
David Harmon