Norman and James kept going through the night, with the crew taking it in turns to drive/navigate the follow car or catch up on some zzz’s at Race Control HQ.
At one point in the night, a large powerful deer jumped out in front of the tandem, then bounced off into the trees. Norman commented that if Jonathan had seen that, he would have said ‘Dear, dear, dear.” to which James defended Jonathan by saying ‘No he wouldn’t, there was only one of them!”
Rowan was amused and impressed by Norman’s core stability, or was it circus ability skills? As the tandem passed YMCA Lakeside he shaped the letters YMCA with his arms – so no hands on the handlebars.
As planned, everyone ended up in Ulverston at approx 6.30am, with Norman and James having cycled a total of 240 miles since Saturday morning. Bed was a magnet to them and they were soon fast asleep, before meeting for a team debrief at 11.30am over a feast of bacon and sausage butties kindly prepared by Annie, Jonathan and their daughter Ellie.
Considering the team had only come together for the first time on Friday evening, everyone has made an awesome effort, adapted well to their different roles and just got on with what was needed. Comments were noted as to how to improve efficiency for Ireland, but overall, the racers felt well looked after.
The racers were really pleased with the bike they bought from JD Tandems, an Orbit Lightening Pro. It proved its worth and is definitely up for the task ahead. Brilliant!
Comments were made about how smart the racers were in their red, white and blue garments, although Norman’s choice at one point of an orange jacket and red socks was classified as a fashion error by the wardrobe team!
We are very grateful to Furness Plastics for supplying the magnetic transfers which a lot of people noticed as we drove around. It was amusing watching people’s faces in passing cars, as they mouthed the words Beech Boys Tandem – especially young children overawed with the tandem and the smart logos on the cars – you could almost hear them say to their parents: ‘Can we have one of those?’ … as James would have done when he was little! Before we go to Ireland, Furness Plastics are kindly providing all the sponsors’ logos as magnetic transfers to go on the support vehicle.
We still have sponsorship space for companies to advertise their logo on the support van for £300 – with the possibility of being the title sponsor on the follow car – if interested; please contact us for more details.
Thank you so much for the terrific following we have had on this blog and Facebook – it has been so encouraging to read all the comments and know that people are interested in what we are doing. Please see the details of the 4 charities we are supporting through this adventure – hopefully there is one to which you can relate and be willing to make a donation.
If any of our blog readers know of anyone living in Ireland close to the race route (which you can see on the website: http://racearoundireland.com/) – it would be fantastic to have some cheering going on as Team BB pass through. The follow car will have a tracking device, so you will be able to see our progress on the website in real time, as the dot moves around the route and shows the speed the tandem is travelling at, making it possible to estimate the time we should be passing.
Race Around Ireland starts on Sunday 31st August. Watch this space.
Go Team BB…!
