I was really really looking forward to training with David in Nice. We had been invited to join a pro training camp based at the great Tour De France, Giro D’italia and World Champion, Stephen Roche’s hotel and it meant we were to have some quality, dry hard miles in the mile Alpes Maritimes. Fabulous! Sadly David was still carrying his injury from the crash he sustained in Snowdonia. Luckily enough our team soigneur and remedial masseur, Peta McSharry, had also come out to administer health and well being and ride with is as well. You will, if you have been following this crazy story, know already that David’s Achilles did not magically self fix and after a wee ride out at the start of the camp it had become obvious that the injury was much more serious than we all thought.

The riding therefore has become solo this past week and after the hard rouleuring in Nice which also took us to Monaco, Italy and of course San Remo I have spent five days in the Corbierres. That is the region between Toulouse and the Mediterranean. It has been dry but very windy. I have been tired but sleeping well, being looked after by great hosts, who ate well and enjoyed laughter song and great conversation . They are professional musicians and dancers. Great food, good company and a fantastic time. My digs are in their 16th century gatehouse overlooking the river Orbieu.

I used to live in this region so know the roads well and can pick and choose whether it will be hard, hilly, rolling or whatever our super team coach, Colin Batchelor, has set us. Road surfaces are excellent and traffic very little. Days start cloudy but by afternoon the sun is shining a well warm 14C, so very comfortable indeed. I have been doing 5 plus hours a day- originally it was supposed to be up to 12 but what with David’s injury and the first attempt postponed, Colin has pulled us back on the miles.

Do I head west and the rest of team wiggle tandem head home? I ended in a fabulous part of France, quiet roads, stunning scenery and great food. What more could an cyclist require? It was hard being without an eqippe and I was tired but got out and rode – rode well and successfully. Measuring my wattage output and energy usage. It was good. It was also good seeing my dear French friends – to be able discuss weight/food issues with them. As dancers they share the same passion for weight/food balance so it was no surprise to them that we still had lots in common!

It was nice to be able to be part of a different nature too with kingfishers, early martins arriving, montagues harriers and egrets too.

Soon it was time to get on the train and all too quickly to leave the relative warmth – 14degrees – and head for the snowy hills of Scotland and eventually Islay and home. The Endura boys were heading south to race in Murcia, Spain – the big time for our young Scottish pro team. It’s been a long time for all of us but a worthwhile journey all the same.!

Follow Team Wiggle Tandem on the Wiggle Athlete‟s Diary www.wiggleblog.com

Or at the team‟s website, www.teamwiggletandem.com

Alternatively find the team on Facebook and Twitter

I have to say that up to now just about everything has gone right for Team Wiggle Tandem. Our sponsors and crew have been phenomenally supportive and with a steady diet of training and the honing of our knowledge of records and each other as riders, it couldn’t have been too much more on song.

However neither of us is in the first flush of youth and inevitably injury has come upon us both as we have ramped up the intensity and the hours. In the space of 10 days the collective Team Wiggle Tandem medical sheet has racked up a knee injury, a slightly torn left Achilles and a crash resulting in heavily bruised chest and hip.

Specialist knowledge and treatment is absolutely key to both containment and eventual treatment of any problems that have cropped up during this project and Peta McSharry at Sports Massage Zone in conjunction with coach Colin Bachelor of Total Cycle Coach have swung into action to make sure that with only around a month to go until the Side to Side, everything humanly possible can be done to keep 2 aging bodies together and improving.

A switch to Speedplay pedal systems for Jez seems to have vastly diminished the strain on his right knee. The process of active pedalling analysis included video analysis on a static trainer and slow and careful adjustment of the cleat and stroke pattern until the pain began to easy, fascinating stuff.

The left Achilles tendon tear will prove more problematic but even so I have to say that I am not too disappointed in either what level of fitness I had exhibited last week in Snowdonia with two 8 hour rides and a 10 hour under our belts, even after a heavy crash into a stone wall that left me gasping for air.

Now in Nice on the Endura training camp, there are an awful lot or bike riders kicking their heels as huge storm waves batter the seafront and the walls of the Roche Marina Hotel, making long rides a waste of time for the boys, especially those desperate to avoid any situations that might lead to injury before tomorrow’s Tour du Haut Var race. Jez however, being the ‘wee hard man’ of Islay still put in 5 hours while I could appreciate the interior comforts of the hotel and a little remedial work on the ankle.

So what happens if injuries plague the team right up until the day of an attempt? Well such is the nature of record breaking that if 100% of the circumstances aren’t 100% right on any one day…you just don’t go. I am still slightly envious of the young bucks around us who tomorrow will line up to duel with the cream of French racing but the more professionals we come into contact with as Team Wiggle Tandem the more it’s apparent that there is still huge respect and regard for riders who train and ride for those old and well regarded records and playing the long game is all part of the romance and the science of record breaking.

Keep riding. Be safe

DH

On Islay there was a time when people rode bicycles as a matter of course. I know, I have asked many senior folks and when asked they get the glazed look of reminiscence and talk fondly of bicycle riding all over Islay. So we have history and we have a culture of cycling here on the outer edge of europe. This is continued till this day with VC Ardbeg, Port Mor Wheelers and Islay Wilderness Guide. There are even people talking about cycling as a viable form of very local transport.

Last year after the London to Paris race (that Brian Palmer and I did two years ago and then last year with David Harmon on fixed wheel) it was then suggested that we, David and I, should do it on tandem. It was to raise money for the Geoff Thomas Foundation. This then progressed to an all out tandem record attempt project. Plenty of which has already been written before. That being said, we never thought it would really get this far and now I have agreed to write about this journey, a voyage of fitness, disaster, tears, joy and hopefully, elation when the records, some of which are over fifty years old, start to fall.

The past few days have seen David and I in Snowdonia on a training camp. The purpose of a training camp is to do just that – train – ride and rest, sleep and eat. With new research and and practice the resting part of training is considered as important as the riding aspect. Nutrition has improved too. So we have strict diets, long miles and plenty of zzzzz’s. The diet is key with plenty of carbs for breakfast; porridge or muesli or pasta/rice, oat cakes and honey and fruit, lunch on the road in the form of dried figs, apricots,SIS bars and drinks as well as gels too. In the evening just vegetables (no potatoes or pasta) and protein. We measure everything we eat and everything we put out in the form of calories.

We need to keep on top of the weight to power ratio. And of course drinking plenty and plenty of water. the nice thing about a training camp is that you get looked after and why we have based ourselves in Snowdonia is because David’s mother in law lives here and does just that – superbly! All we have to do is concentrate on getting fitter and thinner! Away from home allows that to be even more pointed and concentrated.

Our day begins with a call at 0730 hours for breakfast, check our fantastic Focus bikes, prepare what we need to take with us, waterproofs and wind jackets, and then head out for between 7 and 10 hours. The riding is hard here, very hard, with long climbs and fast challenging descents. We ride together and often times without the need to talk, just at one with the magnificent scenery, checking our outputs on the Powertap computer (which is attached to the handlebars and reads data from the rear wheel) and pushing ourselves all the time. Our coach sends us a daily plan which, bar injury, we have to to stick too.

Returning as the sun goes down and beyond, sometimes, we clean the bikes, have a shower and then a supper and relax. We have had to nurse a few injuries this week, David crashed, I have a strained knee, so the ice and elevation comes into it’s own till bedtime. Unlike a lot of pro riders we also have our businesses to run so a couple of hours at the laptop finishes the evening till the the comfort of a warm and comfy bed draws us…..

We spend a lot of time of our off bike time discussed strategy, food intake and energy out puts with ourselves and the support team – thank goodness for skype! Without our sponsors, especially Wiggle – more of that later – we could not operate so it is although hard and concentrated, a great privilege. Next week we head for southern France and Stephen Roche’s Hotel to join the training camp where the Scottish pro team Endura will be giving us a hard time!

The official launch party for Team Wiggle Tandem took place on Thursday 21st January 2010. The announcement for their series of World Record attempts was released to numerous sponsors and cycling press during a two hour press release at the Charlotte Street Hotel in London. We have an exclusive video report of the presentation for you to watch.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Follow Team Wiggle Tandem on the Wiggle Athlete‟s Diary www.wiggleblog.com, or at the team‟s website, www.teamwiggletandem.com alternatively find the team on Facebook and Twitter

The official launch party for Team Wiggle Tandem took place on Thursday 21st January 2010. The announcement for their series of World Record attempts was released to numerous sponsors and cycling press during a two hour press release at the Charlotte Street Hotel in London.

Team Wiggle Tandem hit the road with London launch

What started as an innocent exercise in ‟blue sky thinking‟ between 2 cycling friends over a quiet, post ride coffee, finally broke cover in London last Thursday as Team Wiggle Tandem with an ambitious plan to revive one of Britain‟s great cycling traditions, record breaking.

In a 2 year project Eurosport cycling commentator David Harmon and wilderness trail guide Jez Hastings will attempt to fuse cutting edge cycling technology with the traditional demands of long distance record attempts to attack a number targets against the clock under the rules of the Road Records Association.

“We are painfully aware that neither Jez or I could hold a candle physically to some of the great record holders of the past but we feel that using advances in training and equipment we have a realistic chance of success,”

commented Harmon when asked about the team‟s chances during the official team launch at London‟s Charlotte St Hotel.

Beginning in late March the pairing will aim at setting a new benchmark of under 17 hours for the “Side to Side” from Pembroke in West Wales to Yarmouth in East Anglia before attempts on the 12 hour record and Liverpool to Edinburgh. An even more ambitious 2011 calendar could see Team Wiggle Tandem mount assaults on the End to End record and venture abroad to the legendary Paris-Brest-Paris.

“Breaking records is something that needs a well organised structure.”

Points out Project Manager Richard Gorman from Project 7 Racing.

“I was previously involved with Team CSC and this is a fascinating venture to bring my management skills to. Our sponsors and support staff have been fantastic and have really embraced the ethos of the project”

“Just like road racing, record attempts have so many variables that can effect the outcome; injury, equipment, mechanical support, time, budget and most importantly the weather,” continued Gorman, “it‟s wonderful that everyone involved in Team Wiggle Tandem under-stands and loves the fact that you just can‟t turn up on your bike and go!”

Team Wiggle Tandem will ride “Rocket 1″ a development tandem built by world famous constructor Terry Dolan, helping to develop and test new tandem technology including Rotor Q rings, electronics and Hope disc braking systems for an all carbon framed Rocket 2 for 2011.

“We are delighted to support this Hi-Tech duo who‟s aim is to rewrite cycling‟s record books! Breaking records takes 100% dedication and total commitment, not just from Dave & Jez but from the entire team,”

commented Jason Sims, Team and Sponsorship Executive for title sponsor Wiggle,

“Wiggle are 110% behind this project and wish them the very best with this amazing challenge!”

Team Wiggle Tandem will now travel to Snowdonia for early season training, following that up with a week riding with Team Endura in Southern France before putting the finally touches to their attempt to set a new standard for the Side to Side in late March 2010.

Follow Team Wiggle Tandem on the Wiggle Athlete‟s Diary www.wiggleblog.com, or at the team‟s website, www.teamwiggletandem.com alternatively find the team on Facebook and Twitter

Photos

With crunching reality 2010 is upon us and clearly Skadi, the Norse goddess of Winter is no great lover of tandem attempts as she’s made damn sure the country has received the very best arctic weather direct from Scandinavia. There comes a point when you just have to shrug your shoulders and accept that you are just not going to get out training on the roads much..if at all.

Thank goodness then that I am now fully aware of just how precious those training camps coming up in February and March are going to be to the success of Team Wiggle Tandem. They say that every mile on a bike during winter is like depositing a pound in the bank and all I can say is that after my recent ramp test with Marc Laithwaite at The Endurance Coach Ltd in St. Helens the balance sheet is looking a little light.

Dripping sweat and with heaving lungs I packed at just under 380 watts sustained for 2 minutes as my debt of carbon dioxide climbed above my intake of oxygen. Is it enough? I don’t know is the honest answer to that but it would be true to say that another 2 months will see a significant increase in power to weight ratio as kilos come off and miles pile on but what was far more interesting than my current condition was the insights into my metabolism the test highlighted.

Historically I had always trained early morning on just a dual shot of strong coffee and no food for either breakfast or on the ride. I have also always been a big gear masher. Both of these things seem not to be in favour in modern cycling but the fact that even during warm up I was burning almost exclusively carbs and no fats seems to confirm that the espresso preparation technique was probably right, I just turn excess carbs to fat and then don’t burn it off unless I force my body to do so.

Jez and I are also switching over from heart rate zone training to training based on power metres which for those of you who have never used is rather like riding a turbo on the road. If you set a target wattage you stick to it and there are none of those micro-recovery freewheeling moments on the road and that too should see a healthy effect on both weight and strength.

Next up is the launch in London at the end of the month followed immediately by our first dedicated week on the new Dolan Super Tandem. In London at least I’m sure we’ll let our hair down..well I will..even if Richard and Jez can’t!

Dave

Mynddoedd Bendigedig

364 days of the year I spend time telling myself to clean my bike and get inside, showered and changed in the quest to keep healthy after a ride. Maybe it’s just the way I was brought up, taught by old clubbies and ex-pros, but the idea of just ‘hanging about’ outside on a cold midwinter’s afternoon would normally be anathema to me. But what the hell, it’s the last day of the year and nobody, not even my friend and colleague Sean Kelly, known for his dislike of ‘hanging about’ could have denied me the 10 minutes of sheer joy at watching the snow covered slopes of Snowdon light up in the setting sun with a brilliance and beauty that defies adequate description.

New Year in North Wales has become a welcome fixture in my life since I met my wife Jan 5 years ago. Raised in the shadow of the Snowdon Horseshoe, her parents still live a short bike ride from the mountain and I am constantly amazed that more riders don’t come here for training. Flat on the coast and valleys and as gruelling as you want elsewhere, the roads are about as well surfaced and quiet as you could wish and nowhere in the country could have claimed to have been more satisfying or more stunning to ride through on the last trip out of the decade.

It couldn’t have come a better time for me in all honesty as self doubt, poor weather, lack of focus and the usual problems of accommodating the busy festive season have eaten so heavily into training that at the end of each week that I’ve pretty much torn up Colin’s feedback log and sat back marvelling at how former record breakers ever had enough hours in the day to do any meaningful training.

The midwinter moment of crisis came during a trip to Marc Laithwaite of The Endurance Coach Ltd who, having wired me up for my very first ramp test, exposed to me just how far I still have to go if I am going to become an effective engine for the tandem, or as Marc diplomatically had it: ‘I’ve provided an accurate baseline to measure your performance improvements against’ 350 watts sustained power is simply not going to me enough, especially when you consider you can probably knock off 80 or so over such long distances in the saddle.

Despite the inevitable doubts that play on your mind when you undertake a project like this neither Jez or I could have got anywhere near where we are now without the dedications and support of family friends and sponsors since we first mooted the idea in the summer of last year. A huge thank you to; Wiggle, Dolan, Bioracer, SIS, Rotor, Sports Massage Zone, Power Tap, Hope Technology, Madison, and of course Richard Gorman and P7 Racing Ltd.

2010 stretches before us now and that aspiration to become the fastest ever tandem pairing across the length and breadth of Britain has suddenly taken on a frightening solidity. So, it’s back to the training plan, redouble my efforts to make up for lost time and lost focus, turn attention back to being a proper bike rider and the good news is, it’s just one month until Team Wiggle Tandem’s 1st training camp of the year right back here in inspirational Snowdonia.

Byddwch yn Ofalus

Dave H

View the route here

Made to measure

Riding a tandem is a tricky thing. Riding one for upwards of 15 hours against the clock is not only tricky but specifically designed to test each part of your body until it screams to be allowed to vacate the unfeasibly hunched position you have crammed it into in order to gain maximum aero effect.

Training for long hours both on the road and on the turbo will certainly condition our minds, as well as bodies, to being tucked down, something that we intend to quantify and refine in the wind-tunnel before we make an assault on Britain’s long standing road records, but get the equipment wrong and you are finished as a serious record prospect. As the team structure comes together our Focus Cayo training and Mares Cross Expert bikes are being pressed into serious action and master frame builder Terry Dolan aims to have our record attempt tandem ready to ride by Christmas. .

When the rather bizarre idea to try breaking road records popped up last summer, other attempts by far more famous athletes than Jez and I hadn’t emerged, but, as the failure of multiple Olympic champions James Cracknell and Rebecca Romero to break the mixed tandem record from Land’s End to John O’Groats shows you just can’t do enough preparation for road records. Luckily for us the bike left over from the abandoned attempt has become the everyday workhorse for our dual training and a process of constant position refinement on this test bed machine has sped up the build process of what we hope will be the fast tandem machine ever constructed in the U.K. when it rolls out of Dolan’s Ormskirk facility.

Mind you the weather hasn’t helped much, neither the fact that my wife Jan dislocated her elbow eventing a horse in the course of the last month. The upside is that I have caught up on a lot of movies whilst sitting on the turbo trainer at ungodly hours of the day and night, a not so subtle mix of inspirational blockbusters and cycling offerings of such gruesome pain that they make you realise that actually, you’re not suffering at all…

When it’s not been blowing a gale here in Shropshire it’s been raining but one of the upsides of having a sponsor is the range of wet weather kit available. Honourable mention must go to the dhb Wickham eVENT waterproof jacket. Unpretentious and classically uncluttered, the Wickham has generous arm and back length, good close fitting tailored cut, breathable fabric and packs well for the rear pocket. These are all qualities you want wish to see in a top flight lightweight waterproof jacket but what makes the Wickham stand out is it’s exceptional waterproofing which is refreshed by washing and then cool ironing the garment…I have never come across this before in a jacket but believe me, it works.

Look out for a whole range of clothing and kit thoroughly long term tested by Project 7 Racing and Team Wiggle Tandem over the course of 2010 for all the features that matter to riders. Not just a magazine style day tests, or a week or even a fortnight but the punishment of day in day out riding, washing and yes, in some cases even ironing!

Ride safe

DH

Life in the Trench

Sunday 21st Nov saw me riding my first cross race in Wiggle colours.

Dundee, famous for it’s cake, cold weather and outside velodrome hosted the event. Over 100 people took place and battle was fierce. The velodrome, being tarmac, took centre stage with both start and finishing straights leading to some epic battles every lap.

It has, you may have noticed, been raining biblically over the past week and the ground was not going to let us forget it – despite a sun kissed departure of the gladiatorial throng. The mud was harrowingly sticky and deep – more suited to marine commando adverts than silth like honed athletes. By lap two all were well spread.

Having got caught out in the ‘Tunnel of Mud’ at the top end – bitten by a submerged root that had me doing the first bog snorkeling of the day – I then spent quite a time chasing the lead group and getting back on.

In fact, by the time I had made contact the field was so spread out that lapping was taking place. Pushing on, pushing- sometimes literally, was the only solution and at times it was a lonely slurp of brown sticky goo that was my only companion sitting between me and the bid for victory.

It was never going to happen. cowbells donged and supporters shouted. The rain held off and the mud got deeper and thicker.

The boys at the front were storming and chasing was the order of the day.It is about training – we have bigger fish to fry – but it was good and it was testing and most of all it was great fun!

Cycling on the outer edge…….

We can tell the way the weather is on Islay by the plane arriving in the morning. This is a small plane serving the island and brings in folks and the post too. It can fly in almost all weathers except when it is too too bad. This could be too windy – you know the type that blows your dog inside out or lets the chickens lay the same egg three time, or when it is too misty/foggy or plain frightful.

The 23rd of October was the first official day of my training as a member of Team Wiggle Tandem. We have both. Rain and wind. The team coach had sent through the week’s programme last night and I duly entered it into my diary. (More of that another time). Today I was to do do four hours at Zone 2 having had a warm up and warm down to finish at Zone 1. (Again I will explain the zones another time – to simplify – ones training regime is split into zones which are a measure of intensity and heart rate too also know as pain and suffering.)

Four hours at zone 2. yes, I looked outside, got into my team kit and donned the 3/4 dhb Merston tights. It was raining a lot and windy even more. I got myself together and marched out to the workshop to get my bike. I was fully teamed up with great kit including overshoes and the brilliant red dhb Wickham eVent waterproof jacket – boy I was going to need that.

The kit and support and my well being have been looked after – all it needed now was to get out and ride. And so I did. It would be churlish to say it was not hard – but then that is what it is all about. Normally I would expect to see plenty of wildlife on my circuit here on the outer edge of Europe but on a wild day everything save Team Wiggle is hiding away! This is the commitment. The commitment that a rider gives when supported in this way. i thought of Tim Krabbe and his book The Rider, when he describes riding in the low countries:

“….indeed packed boundlessly in cold grey rain cloud….my feet squishing in my shoes.”

Training and riding it is then. And up here, when the weather smiles I am accompanied by eagles and geese – I am so lucky. Today though, I get home tired, wet and happy.

Next week David and I will be spending time testing the Team Wiggle tandem – but first I have to get there ……. the journey awaits! (And, by the way if you see Sandy’s missing bike – give him a shout – he needs it for school!)

Jez