cracknell and walters doing lands end to john o groats

big_p

there doing it today on a tandem and trying to braek the world record of 50h 14m

get out and give them some support, i will be, they come right by my house.....

http://rocket2.mapmytracks.com/

Ands

big p wrote:

there doing it today on a tandem and trying to braek the world record of 50h 14m

get out and give them some support, i will be, they come right by my house.....

http://rocket2.mapmytracks.com/

Husband just been out to cheer them on (I had to stay in with the kids) - they went past about 1km from the house.

big_p

i think they'll be through leyland in about 30 - 40 minutes. me and shortie will be on the a49 making plenty of noise for them.

big_p

they looked well tired, awesome effort 380 miles at 18.5 average speed.

dodgy

Average speed is dropping, I think they'll be pushing it to break the record.

richa

They were 30mins up at halfway.

spinndrift

A puncture and a crank breakage on the Forth Road bridge meant switching to Rocket 1 but apparently they're back on Rocket 2 now and have had a proper meal and they seem to be flying again.

After doing LEGOG in a shade under 60 hours ins July as part of relay of four teams I'm totally blown away by their efforts.

richa

155 miles to go in next 10hrs.

spinndrift

Got to take my hat off to them it's an intense performance.

They've certainly motivated me for Paris to Blackpool in 2012.

meanredspider

They're pretty much going past my front door - think I'll pop down the road to cheer them on

richa

128 miles in 8hrs at 16mph for the record...

mroli

They've got this haven't they??!! Shows what an amazing record it is though - doubt if the holders were as kitted up as these guys.

An incredible effort to try and beat what is an incredible effort! Took me 63 hours (over 9 days!) and hurt me a lot so big respect!

big_p

found some live tracking data.

http://www.mapmytracks.com/explore/activity/272314#

spinndrift

They've had to abandon with 68 miles to go for safety reasons.

Feel gutted for them after such a huge effort but then again there is a reason why the record has stood for 45 years.

ooermissus

Such a disappointment. I wonder what on earth happened - the various Twitter feeds are v cryptic and there's doesn't seem to be any news coverage. To get so close!

spinndrift

I wonder if it was sleep deprivation and not being able to keep on the bike - they must have been totally shot.

natrix

I'm amazed that they did so well in this scorching heat, to have to stop with just 68 miles to go must be sickening..........

thecrofter

natrix wrote:

I'm amazed that they did so well in this scorching heat, to have to stop with just 68 miles to go must be sickening..........

No scorching heat north of about Birmingham I'm afraid

ooermissus

I am sure it's just because everyone is gutted, but it's weird that there's still been no detail (AFAIK) on what happened.

meanredspider

Well it was great conditions near me last night - completely still and about 10C.

I missed them as that tracker must have been at least half an hour behind - I travelled along the route that sort of distance and never saw them. As has been said, the info is very cryptic. Mind you they must have stopped at one of the nasty ascents near Helmsdale or thereabouts

Tusher

So very disappointed for them, as everyone is. I stayed up past midnight just fascinated by the graphics on the map, such a brilliant, engaging link.

No doubt we'll find out soon what happened to the poor souls, but I'm guessing that sleep deprivation was the cause. There were no doubt sound reasons why they began at 3 in the morning, but having done many night shifts, your body just wants to shut down around 4am, and after two days cycling, even although they were so close, it must have been impossible for them to carry on.


They're still heroes though, and I'll cheer them on their second attempt.

Tusher

Just checked on the map again. I followed them until the Dornoch Firth, just after midnight I think. They were due to complete with half and hour spare at that time. But I see they've stopped in Golspie, so something happened around 1am. Late evening, the 'bike on the map' stalled for a while. I thought it was just gremlins, but maybe there was a problem then that caused them to stop.

Just feel for them so much. To get sooo close as well.

ooermissus

meanredspider wrote:

Mind you they must have stopped at one of the nasty ascents near Helmsdale or thereabouts

Maybe it was nasty and dark descent that seemed too much with a couple of riders who were struggling to stay awake.

dodgy

To have information overload before and during the event, with live mapping, twitter feeds etc. It just seems really weird to just pull the plug. Surely one of the support crew could have tweeted something or put something on their blog? Nothing to be ashamed of is there!

Tusher

When did they announce that they had had to stop? 1 am or 4am?

ooermissus

dodgy wrote:

To have information overload before and during the event, with live mapping, twitter feeds etc. It just seems really weird to just pull the plug. Surely one of the support crew could have tweeted something or put something on their blog? Nothing to be ashamed of is there!

I agree. Especially as there's nothing the British public loves more than a genuinely heroic failure.

(Of course, maybe something shameful did happen. Uncontrolled flatulence from the pilot knocked the stoker out? Argument about chain cleaning led to a roadside punch up? A collective decision to blame it all on Wiggle?)

mroli

Gutted for them. Want to know why though...

meanredspider

As I say, I wouldn't rely too much on that mapping thing for real-time info. I wasted half an hour on the side of the A9 waiting for them when they were long-gone

MaxwellBygraves

From the Project 7 Racing press release via Twitter

"Richard Gorman, crew chief for the attempt run by Project 7 Racing, took the decision to call a halt to the
ride at 1.15am when it became clear that sheer mental fatigue was beginning to seriously compromise the
safety on the road of both riders"

dodgy

Big write up from James here
http://www.jamescracknell.com/blog/2011 ... oo_far-228

Tusher

Very sad.
But I still can't find their reasons for starting at 3am. It's reported that this was to give them an advantage of quieter roads through the conurbations in the south, but the negative effect on the body's rhythm and the final stretch being during a soul destroying night when it would have been preferable to have dawn/daylight and more people to cheer them on doesn't add up.

Still, they must have done the research and knew what they were doing.