On Mon, 05 May 2003 20:55:39 +0100, John B <
[email protected]> wrote:
>Mark Drayton wrote:
>
>> In article <
[email protected]>, martin wrote:
>> > Excellent ride. Much harder than L2B. Harder than a few 200k's in fact.Anyone who has not done
>> > it, make a diary date for next year.
>>
>> It was certainly knackering with the wind and the hills! I made the loop 66 miles and completed
>> it in 3h59m. The weather was fantastic;
Blimey. My wife says that's not possible
.
>
>I started (with my daughter, 15) from Yarmouth and we had the hardest wind and hills first. I
>decided on the bike, not the trice, and it was still a real grovel at times, but mostly enjoyable.
>Best part was reaching the top of Blackgang with an ice cream van serving tea and cakes. It took us
>just under five hours riding but we left it a bit late, requiring some hard bit and bit avearaging
>20mph+ to make the cut by just three minutes. Worst bit was no tea at the finish :-(( , so it was a
>grumbling slog back up to Totland YH.
Five hours? Good going. Top marks to that 15 y.o daughter.
We did it on our Pino funny looking tandem along with two not-so-keen-cycling friends on solos and
took 9 hours dead.
We had three punctures between us, the first on the way to the start when my friend the Cheating
Czech had his about to disintegrate front tyre go off with a bang. Mr. Organised here had put a
folding tyre in the luggage so we fitted that and my only spare tube. (My friends were less well
prepared, carrying no spares).
We got a snake bite somewhere near Wroxall and I couldn't find the holes nor get the bloody valve
ring off. Bum. A bit of smart thinking and use of a bottle opener on my swiss army knife as a wrench
did the trick.
The third was when the folding tyre unmounted itself from the Cheating Czech's front wheel (the rim
was a bit wide for the 23mm tyre I think). The inner tube had a hole about a quarter of an inch wide
and half an inch long and we had no spare. (at this point Cat Head (the other friend) remarked it
would be useful to carry spare innertubes on a ride like this. I nearly did him an unpleasantness.)
A big patch reinforced with insulating tape did the job. A nice bodge.
And we got interviewed by the local paper at the Havenstreet start.
Tim
--
fast and gripping, non pompous, glossy and credible.