Mixed tandem LEJOG record attempt

[Andrew G]

Rebecca Romero and James Cracknell. Apparantly schedules submitted to the RRA for a start on either 3rd or 4th August.

A determined pair to say the least so wouldn't surprise me if they did a good ride. Good luck.

I guess it's for a charity cause type thingy, and would expect a documentary on BBC to follow.

[George]

I might tag along with them,

Hal how do you do it again

[Andrew G]

[url]http://www.rra.org.uk/[/url]
Click on Notices for details and schedule download.
The current holders are top distance testers so although JC and RR may do a good ride I'm not sure I can see them getting the record. I've seen elsewhere it works out at an average speed of something like 17.5mph with only an hour off the bike in total.

[Andrew G]

Telegraph article [url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/active/5940583/James-Cracknell-Lands-End-to-John-OGroats-cycle-record-aim-with-Rebecca-Romero.html]here[/url].
[url=http://www.rideacrossbritain.com/record-attempt.aspx]Ride Across Britain[/url].

[Andrew G]

[quote]James Cracknell and Rebecca Romero abandon tandem record bid
Johnston Bridge, 29 hours 00 minutes. James Cracknell and Rebecca Romero have been forced to abandon their non-stop mixed tandem bicycle record attempt from Land's End to John O’Groats.

The organisers asked Rebecca Romero to stop after receiving medical advice. The doctors said there was a possibility that there could have been long term damage to her knees that could have affected her career, including participating in the 2012 Olympics in London.

James Cracknell said he was disappointed: he'd invested time and energy to keep the enthusiasm going throughout the ride and insisted that Romero was in the same frame of mind. Indeed she had even tried to carry on, despite the advice.

Cracknell said he would sincerely like to try what he called "the special route again" at some stage, as he weas gratified by the number of people who came out to support both of them in their record attempt. Romero however said she won't be trying it again.

The riders had reached Johnstonebridge in Scotland, when the attempt was aborted, 29 hours after leaving Lands End.

[Andrew G]

From Ralph Dadswell, multiple Road Record Association record holder (including on tandem) and someone who knows how hard the end-to-end is having failed in a tandem record attempt. A touch of realism.
[quote]What was it that Lynne said, quoted in Cycling Weekly? "I think they are making it sound like it's very easy and I think they're going to have a bit of a shock."

And that's right. It isn't easy. This is the whole point. Riding 2 days straight is a big deal, and not many people can do it. James may well have ridden from Calais to Gibraltar (or something) but it's not the same as riding continuously for two days.

If you decide to ride End to End as a record attempt, you must surely realise that large amounts of the ride will be horrible, and that you're very likely to finish with some injuries. Injuries that you wouldn't ride on if you were just out training at home. So I'm highly sceptical about suggestions that the abandonement was for any reasons other than "we aren't going to get there". Backache, and all sorts of other aches are part of the deal.

Yes, it was an exciting project. But it was run off without showing much respect for the defending record holders, and for the route itself. Two days is a really difficult target, but you might have gained the impression that they would beat it with ease.

Of course I have respect for both riders, and indeed they covered about 435 quite hard miles in 24 hours, which is a fair performance. But really, the record was a very long shot, and even after 75 miles of riding it already looked remote.

When Dave Johnson & I climbed off in 2007 (just north of where JC & RR stopped), we recognised that we weren’t good enough. It’s possible for riders to be good enough but unlucky. But mostly, the End to End tests you for toughness, and gives you its answer.

I recognise now that it was a master-stroke to have a schedule that was really easy at the start, because then you can say you were “ahead” for the whole ride (if you get there). So the papers can now report that these guys abandoned when they were ahead of schedule. The impression will then be that they would have had the record, if only RR hadn’t got backache.

By my logic, they needed to do 480 miles in 24 hours to be on course for a 2 day ride. They needed 450 miles as a minimum to just break the record. They did about 435 miles.

Say what you like, but they were going to be significantly slower in the second half. Yes, people can ride a good 12 hour without slowing much. And a 24 hour, with the night section in the middle, can be done without significantly slowing up. But the End to End is bigger than all that, and asking for a second night without sleep is a big ask. Have you ever tried it?

Sorry if any of that upsets anyone. I didn’t really want to post a ‘rant’, but I can just sense that the press, particularly, will present this as a desperately unlucky outcome, when really it was almost inevitable that the ride would be affected by something like this. I didn’t know what it would be, but something was going to crop up in the second half, and it was going to be a question of whether they were strong enough to get over it.