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@plxarc
We made it!
After getting up at 5am to get the 6:20 to Birmingham we arrived at the owners house to collect it And were on the road by 9.
However we did feel no small amount of guilt. Turns out the owner was old blind chap who had with the help of a number of different pilots over the years used the tandem to enjoy cycling. Sadly due to ill health he wasn't able to ride any more. He did seem a little sad to say goodbye, but pleased we could offer it a new lease of life.
The rise was very surprisingly much easier than we had thought. A combination of sunshine, tailwind and flat roads made for pretty speedy progress and the first 60 miles flew by.
This was however when the gooch pain set in with a vengeance. Because you're much more restricted in terms of shifting around there seems to be a much greater pressure on one spot that really starts to ache after a while.
Asides from this the ride was great, cruising along on the flat at almost 30mph was a pretty sublime experience.
The last miles coming into the outskirts of London were a little more exciting as we took dual carriage ways to speed things up, garnering some strange looks along the way.
Made back into central with the sun still out at 6 having set off at 9, and with 7 1/2 hours riding time which felt pretty respectable.
All in though so much fun!