The Race is On

I don’t like training sat on the drops for hours on end to be perfectly frank.

Well at least I didn’t, but now it seems perfectly natural to warm up and then spend the rest of the ride with my hands welded in the bend of the bars. Knowing how unusual it is, my great friend and colleague in the Eurosport commentary box Sean Kelly drifted up beside me during our first such session in this year’s Vuelta trip and asked why I was riding on the front down on the drops all morning.

It’s not often a legend such as King Kelly is at a loss to comprehend something in cycling, but, when I explained that it was the closest I could get to the position at the back of the tandem, that I had gone 230 miles like it and I was damn well going to go 360 miles like it to set the record from Pembroke to Yarmouth, he just sat there in disbelief:

“Jeez now, you can’t be riding like that for 17 hours surely? Hooly Jeesus I could never do that”

Thus spake the great man……

But yes, I am going to do it again and so is Jez, although this time he will be riding alongside Team Manager Richard Gorman in our team car as his foot injury will prevent him making any more riding attempts until possibly the new year. His insight and great tandem experience will be vital on the 2nd attempt. After all, he’s the only one of us who could see where we were going….

Only one thing stands in the way of TWT breaking this record, getting a man on the front. It’s not as easy as it sounds, finding a rider to step into the Bonts of Mr Hastings. For a start the 2nd attempt will have to take place within the next 6-8 weeks and whoever does step up to the plate will have to be prepared to ride with a minimum amount of practice time on what is quite a sharply focussed piece of machinery.

In addition a ‘Super-Sub’ will need to be fit enough to know that he can jump straight into the team, have experience at fast and fearless riding at night and be capable of riding just as fast after 16 hours, a tall order for anyone wanting to guide Rocket 1 to success.

And so the race is on to find that special athlete. I’m hopeful but one things for sure, it won’t be Sean Kelly.