So I have managed to survive the actual event and we even managed a respectable time for a pair of cyclist who had only previously ridden eight and half miles together.
So the return to competition has happened. It only took approximately 30 years give or take a few. It was a wee bit different to some of the TT courses I rode back home. Equally as memorable in different ways.
So the afternoon started off very well having made it back down to the New Forest and once HQ was set up I went off and got changed ready for the ride and then collected Tabatha. I feel quite privileged to be given the responsibility for such an iconic bike within the Tandem Tart Challenge. As I meandered through the car-park it was clear that there were some very serious competitors taking part. The amount of Tandems with aero tri-bars fitted and skin suits and full on aero helmets. That is not to mention the number of sets of either rollers or turbo trainers which were being used. I felt some what under prepared and not quite ready for the whole aerodynamic thing. However I did my bit to fit in with the rest of the serious cyclists and I had shaved my legs in preparation for the event. I even managed to slice the back of my ankle in doing so. That made a massive mess on the lovely clean white towels in the hotel I was staying during the week. I am sure the nice people who cleaned my room must have wondered what had gone on the evening before when they came in.
But no aero helmet for me, I actually had my trusty 'Shut Up Legs' hat on under my helmet which when you look at the image above has probably costs us around a minute on our time at least.
So I took Tabatha for a quick blast around the car-park and then arrived back at the entrance to HQ where my willing stoker was ready and waiting. When Mary suggested a bit of a warm up I jumped at a chance. There is no better cure for those pre-start nerves that to take the bike out and ride.
So once we walked Tabatha out of the car-park and onto the high street, well I think it was the high street it surely was busy enough to be one. Mary was as cunning as a sly fox and hit the nearby pedestrian crossing to give us a chance to get a cross the road and prepare for our departure out towards the actual course.
We were soon on the road and heading down past were the start was to be at which point I think Paul Hammond was poised waiting to capture any pair or individual rider on his camera captured the pair of us. What I did not realise was that my passenger was enjoying the ride and so relaxed that she felt safe enough to remove her hand form the bar and wave at Paul. Who I think you will agree did a brilliant job of photographing the event.
It was not until after when I looked through the photo's that I realised that Mary was that relaxed. I had it in my head that she was clung on to the bars white knuckled totally petrified but instead here she is totally relaxed and actually taking time to wave. Thankfully she was still pedaling and not with her feet up letting me do all the work.
So off we shot and I got to see the first segment of the course the part we had not ridden the previous week so it gave me a chance to get an idea of what lay ahead on the road up to the main chunk of the route which we had been on the previous Saturday.
So after going out away from the start we stopped to turn the bike around and upon doing so we bumped into a couple of fellow tandem pairs doing the same. Fortunately our departure back to the start went smoothly and we did not lose any face in front of some very experienced tandem riders which was extremely important.
Once we arrived back there was a few minutes to wait for the actual event start so just enough time to relax and not overly think about what was about to happen.
AS the minutes ticked by it was time for a pre-start official photo and then get on the bike and await the count down.
With the formalities out of the way it was time to collect Tabatha and position ourselves on the start line and get ready for the off.
The time keeper started the count down, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and we were off. The first stretch of the the route is a run down hill and we managed to get up to speed very quickly and we were soon flying along. I started to think of all the things we had not discussed, there was no strategy agreed. I was unsure of the sort of cadence that Mary liked to ride at all I knew was it was slower than my default cadence so I was making sure to shift through the gears and not spin to fast.
We were flying along with no real incident until what could only be a saboteur probably hired by one of the other competitors to slow down the pair of us on our maiden competitive outing together. The guilty party was the driver of a silver Skoda Octavia estate car who I noticed pull out of one of the car-parks on the right hand side quite a distance in-front. There was a car coming up the road towards us on the drivers right and I was expecting that once it had cleared the entrance/exit to the car-park they would pull out on to the road well ahead of these speed demons on a red tandem coming flying down the road towards them. Well to my surprise they waited and waited and just as we were getting close they decided to pull out. that was not too bad has they exited and then accelerated up to a normal driving speed and stayed in front but I can only surmise that they had forgotten to release the handbrake and the car was struggling to accelerate as they were barley moving. All I could see was my grasp on the amazing trophy slip away and it would definitely be going to one of these pairs with all their aero gear and tri-bars etc. As I looked ahead of the car I could see that we the car and ourselves where about to catch a tractor so I said to Mary that I was slowing as there was a tractor ahead. but it disappeared around the bend and we had the chance to start to crank the speed back up again.
Well that was what I thought but this saboteur had not finished they were hired to spoil our time and they were going to do a very fine job of completing their contract. They saw the opportunity to nearly bring us to a stand still with the approaching of a JCB Loadall type machine approaching and pulled nearly off the road on the left hand side and came to a virtual standstill. The JCB thingy had not even crossed the white line and a 40 foot HGV would have breezed through the gap but no our Skoda driver was not going to take any risks and came to a virtual stop. This resulted in us have to do the same and then once the oncoming traffic had clear we need to get the momentum back up again which was not helped with the slight incline.
After that little bit of excitement it was heads down and push on and the next thing to consider was the first turn. Thankfully we had covered this on the practice ride and we managed to navigate it without any incident.
The rest was just a case of pushing along and managing a speed we were both comfortable with at different times. Mary would give a request for a free wheel or advise of the traffic behind when we came upon some pedestrians on the road ahead the next challenge was the final turn at the crossroads.
I then realised that as we were past the point of no return that I had not taken it quite tight enough but thankfully the lady in the car approaching us was patient enough to hang back and allow us to make around the corner. once we cleared the corner Mary said we had 2 miles left so we gave a big push towards the finish and were coming a long nicely with the finish in sight when we had the final incident during the actual event. on the road approaching us were two motorcycles one a sports bike the other a more sit up and beg style bike and impatient idiot on the sport bike decided to pas the other guy mid bend taking the racing line which was about four inches from us as he tried to clip his apex which did get a little shout from me and made me wish I had a forward and rearward facing camera to capture the moment.
Then we swung through the last bends to cross the finish line and the best bit was we had not bee caught by any other rider behind us which was the one thing I was unsure we might achieve. I have to admit I am very pleased with our time of 26 minutes and 31 seconds. we may not have won the trophy but we did ourselves proud.
After stopping by the timing line we then made our way back to HQ which was when I had my first proper New Forest experience of the day with a few donkeys meandering about on the road which had brought the traffic to a standstill. This was a bit more a test of my bike handling skills and I am pleased that as a pair we managed to navigate the slow moving traffic with out any incident.
So that pretty much sums up my return to competition and the big question is will it be the end of my competitive days? We shall have to wait and see.
I would just like to thank Mary and Norman for allowing and helping to make this experience such a enjoyable one. Also thank you so much to Paul Hammond for the photos.
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