After the 2up event came the tandems. There were 3 tandems racing, two mixed pairs and an all male pairing which included a guy called Ray Hughes who is a v quick and experienced tandem pilot and who had a stoker who looked pretty strong although Ray said afterwards hasn't done much riding this year for various reasons. Anyhow, Keith and I were off second and caught the first mixed pair (for two minutes) by 7 miles. We knew we couldn't beat Ray but we really didn't want him to catch us so absolutely buried ourselves to try to hold him off. I was sucking in oxygen through every pore and my legs were screaming. Keith manoeuvred like a fighter pilot. It was absolutely terrifying as we banked tight round the final turn with the tandem lay right over and the pedals almost scraping the tarmac. I just had to keep my faith keep leaning and pedalling...I managed not to squeal (just) but I was VERY pleased when we righted again and tore off up the home straight. Not only did we hold Ray off to the line, we were only 26 seconds slower than him overall so v v pleased with that. Ray congratulated us afterwards and said that he thought he'd been gaining on us up to the first turn (which is pretty much where we'd caught the first pair) but then we'd just disappeared, to the extent that he thought we'd had a mechanical and gone back to HQ, until he spotted us at the final turn. We reckon that was a top result.
Ray H pairing 41.39
Me and Keith 42.05
Third tandem 47.something
The only other team to beat us was the 4-up team of Ben Instone. After we finished our tandem ride we waited on the bridge to see them fly past below us. They were in tight formation and looked very very smooth...although the 6'7 frame of Mr Instone didn't seem to be getting much shelter from the guys in front of him...not that he needs it.