Allo Allo, do you ride tandem?

I have a lovely friend. Several of them in fact, not all who we see on a regular basis more's the pity. Why they don't move up here to the island is beyond me!

We did catch up with some of these dear friends while on the mainland recently. Angela, a bike racer from our old cycling club was there and keen to get back on a tandem. Angela raced a few times on the track and road on tandem - including an International in Ireland. How good is that? Very since you ask.

Brendon was there too. His daughter is riding the Commonwealth Games on the track this week and he is a fine chap and cyclist as well. So it didn't take long for Angela to persuade him to get on a bike made for two. The tandem was an ancient but lovely Hobbs of Barbican.

Can you actually ride a tandem Brendon?

Ooh, Lovely

Brendon and Birthday boy Vic fettle the tandem

still love this

 

I mean tandems and everything - what's not to like.

We owned one for a few years - hung the Christmas lights on it as it had to grace the lounge in our tiny Lancs home. And tandems were a large part of my working life at Manchester Velodrome. Somewhere I have a snap of eight tandems in my works office - such as it was. They were ready for one of the Tandem omniums I ran.  Oh, and lets not forget The [two] Fuji tandems we managed to get made for Ellen and Aileen for the Athens paralympics where they won gold. [and again in Beijing].

Then Eve raced a few times on tandems with Paul Hunter and also Vic Possee, the latter in a tandem criterium I organised. She almost raced on tandem with Michael Hutchinson but the weather made the course unrideable which was a pity.

See here for more tandem posts.

Then up here in the windy cool north west Eve rode a 100 hilly and wet mile cyclosportive with Mr WInndy from which I'm not sure Mr WIndy has ever recovered from.

That's why I am attracted to images of tandems. Does that make sense>

Olympics

Ellen Hunter MBE

Paul Hunter

I've been listening to and reading all about the forthcoming Olympics in London today. To be quite honest, I've just about had enough of it now. Having said that, it did dominate my life for quite a number of years when I worked as a coach at the Manchester Velodrome - home of the GB cycling team.

Most of the radio was about the stars, Sir Chis Hoy featured as he should, Vicky Pendleton babbled away too and countless athletes, swimmers and rowers spent time telling me how wonderful it's going to be. 

For me the stars of the show are the two erbs above. Ellen Hunter came into the Velodrome one day as a novice and then ended up [via breaking her back but riding as the able-bodied tandem pilot] winning a gold and silver in the Athens Paralympics on the front of a tandem with Aileen McGlynn MBE - and later gold in Bejing too. That same year Paul, Ellen's husband, entrepreneur, wit, irritation and driven man won a bronze on the tandem at the same event with Blinkie Sharpe. Paul was the one with all the talent really. I remember, after Paul won his first World Masters title with a scintillating ride in the pursuit final against some chap from foreign climes - him telling me that he had had packed all his training into one week. Yes that's right, one week. Most people take months and years of preparation but Paul planned it on the first day, did hard and specific training on the next 5 days, tapered on the sixth day and won it on the seventh. Goodness knows what he could have achieved if he trained properly. But then, if he had been around the Velodrome all the time like most of the other riders, someone would have killed him! Lovely chap but try telling him how to train .........

On another note I overheard staff at Tesco's in Stornoway talking about Sunday opening. Now there's a can of worms. I also heard some chap on Radion 4 talking about petrol prices in Stornoway being a tad high. He then went on to say people were using their cars less in the UK and so the tax take was lower and it was affecting the economy. Not one mention of the beneficial effect on the climate or the biosphere though.

I'm not sure what to think........

The tandem has not revealed itself in silver. Not one snap can I find where the tandem sits there demurely with two personages aboard. Or even one. Must have been the weather. The image got washed or blown away before it reached the lens. Or it fell out the bottom of the camera. Since there seems to be a lack of gaffer tape about the place - and all weekend end too, I suspect the latter.

One thing is strange though, snaps of hills remain. I found these today after sloshing the film about in random chemicals and the like. They sit there. I wonder if they know where the tandem snaps went? They do look a bit guilty.

I shall search again. Meanwhile you can see the two tandemist here and here.

Some years back

When Eve raced and everything. [I did race too but that was only in silent B&W].

Eve and the great Lummux Paul Hunter - him of the paralympic bronze medal and everything - when he piloted Ian Sharpe in the Kilo tt in Athens. They were riding a tandem 15 mile time trial near York. The tandem was borrowed and put together the hour before probably. As it happened, Eve and Paul broke the national 15tt mixed tandem record that day - but didn't claim it because they didn't know they'd have to.

I think the Bob Jackson 2 won the event that day.

Him

Sometimes one likes a snap even though the technicalities - whatever they are - are absent.    This is Paul, no doubt searching for some aero/hydro-advantage for his son Harrison in his rowing boat thing. Paul did the same for his dear wifey Ellen on her tandem - to great effect - and for his own tandem to equally good effect

A musical voyage

Gwyn, The Huffsters in t'middle and Simon wif some medals.

Do you ever get a sort of strange deja vu when you are trying to chill out so to speak. I had this feeling whilst listening to Voyages de Nuit at An Lanntair last nuit.

Some years ago when I was working teaching people how to ride round in ovals on a bit of wood on bicycles in Manchester, I ran a cycle team. The team name was yasumitsu-schlapp-and I think if you google that you will get the idea. We had some great riders - Paralympic triple gold medalist Ellen Hunter who piloted Aileen Mcglynn to the wins on a tandem in Athens & Bejing, Ant Kappes - twice paralympic tandem stoker at Bejing, and countless national and World Masters champions including my dear partner Eve. And not forgetting The Huffsters [Phil Huff / FilHough etc]- an over-muscled sprinter with that languid stylee that made him so laid back he was in gave danger of falling asleep.

Well, I sat there in An Lanntair letting the music wash over me and wondered why the Huffsters was up there playing a 4x10 Gandolfi accordian. Eh? It seems the Huffsters has a fine look-alike in Luke Daniels - even down to the languid half-awake/sleep look. I can't seem to find a nice snap of Mr Daniels but, if you look on this snap you can see what the back of his alter ego looks like :-) And of course he is there above with his best Schlapp stance.

Needless to say the Voyages de Nuit concert was brill. Hear them sometime.

In/On tandem

Eh? Hampton Court. Where-else?

I took this snap whilst surveying the cycling time trial course at the London thing. Since then GB cyclists are winning - a lot. Is there a connection?

And today Evelyn and Mr Windy have been out on the tandem ready for the Ullapool cyclosportive in September. :-)

Proper office

Now that's a proper office! My old office at the Velodrome in Manchester -some years ago now!. I'd migrated to a shed like room under the main stand after a large piece of concrete fell through my office ceiling downstairs when the earth shook in a minor earthquake we had. I mean, they called it an earthquake [August 2007] , it shook and everything, the roof made a right old racket, the concrete on the track edge where I was stood at the time moved - wobbled even but the riders on the track - didn't notice anything at all. Typical.

I think there must have been one of the International Tandem events I organised imminent when I snook this snap as I didn't usually have 8 tandems in the office. four maybe but there were some of the Irish team's bikes there too. And Eve's bike and mine there somewhere too.

I organised for Sir Hoy of Hoy to ride the tandem on Blue Peter once. I have a Blue Peter badge to prove it though Sir Hoy has a Gold Peter badge. Isn't THAT just typical!

Don't forget a Tour of Britain cycle race starts on the 7th. If you are nearby, do go and give it your support!

Rock & Sand

Rock & Sand - Traigh Mhor

Sam on Strawberry Hill

The weather up here has been tremendous of late. Sunshine and a soft breeze has been making the place feel more like the Caribbean. In between cutting the peats, I have managed a little snapping. Her's a couple from the Zorki rangefinder. Film is Era100

Big up to Jon Norfolk [sen in yesterdays Van Dyke print] and Ant 'Jam-Man' Kappes who won the World Cup paralympic tandem kilo TT today with a world record time. great rides from members of Yasumitsu-Schlapp.
More Schlappers, Ellen Hunter who rides with Aileen Mcglynn MBE and Paul Hunter who rides the tandem with Ian Sharpe are riding thr World cup so we wait with anticipation.

later;
Ellen Hunter with MiLady Mcglynn took the womens kilo tt and yet another world record. Getting a bit boring now...

not the best but lovely

 

Not the worlds best shot but a lovely snap of Eve racing a criterium with our great friend Vic Posse who is a tad unwell at the moment. We wish him all the very best for his recovery.

Back in the the day the racing club we ran promoted quite a few tandem races both on the track and on road circuits like here. Great fun but I did rather have my fingers crossed at time - tandem crashes are not fun. Having said that we never had one during all the promotions thank goodness.

The very moment

The pain starts

Here it is; the very moment Mr Windy and Eve cocked their respective left legs over t'tandem for the start of the epic in excessive dampness and wind. 

A young Windy looks on bemused. Deanne is thinking 'why'. The bushes seem rather unconcerned at the 88 hills miles ahead.

An ostrich chases the tandem.

There seems to have been an incident with an Ostrich. I must have missed that while I was concentrating on the camera thing. But, look there it is. No doubt at all. Maybe he was a ringer in the Elphin chicken races a few days before. You would have thought they would have noticed!! 

cheerie 

Out and about

While we are talking activity, Ellen Hunter MKE and her tandem partner Aileen McGlynn MBE has been enjoying a ride on the back of a lorry in London today. Such are the rewards of winning gold medals in Beijing. I found this snap lurking somewhere and it depicts Mrs Hunter piloting another Beijing gold medallist Mr Kappes [second tandem]whilst Mr Hunter stretches his for ever dodgy back. Somewhere in Lancashire on the one day of sunshine that year!
Mr Schofield is my neighbour. And a very nice one too. We trolled out to Garry beach some weeks ago while his partner Moira was away. I snapped him so I had the evidence - and here it is.

It was a wee breeze.

The aptly-named Mr Windy rode the tandem with Eve for 88 miles over the Assynt hills the other day on a tandem. Why? Mr Windy had no answer to that when a bright 5 year old asked him.

The weather was a tad breezy, and wet. The next day we prised them out of their seats and walked up a small hill in a breeze. This was they/that.

 I told you it was breezy!

 Three on a hill

Looking down on a path

Further input later on. Once the other film from the Perkeo and the films from the OM1n have gone through the soup.

Post Athens, pre Bejing

This bouquet came from a bronze medal winning ride at the Athens paralympics on the tandem - Paul Hunter/Ian Sharpe. Paul's wife Ellen won gold in the tandem Kilo at the same event with Aileen MCglynne MBE and hopefully this pair will be riding for another medal in Bejing. This bouquet is nearly 4 years old and follwed us from Lancashire to the Isle of Lewis and I am so proud to have it.

Curry, Texel and Maison du Vent

Gratuitous non-landscape landscape snap

We went to Maison du Vent last night. Oh what a fine evening we had. Company was excellent - the adult-letts entertaining and the curries magnificent. Positively superb. Only surpassed by a curry house in de Koog on the Dutch island of Texel - you know, where the sheeps come from.

We were there on our Lavender coloured tandem. Why not? It's a magnificent place for cycling as it has cycle paths all over the island. Having said that, there were so many cycling visitors, some of the paths were very busy necessitating a visit to a cycle shop to get a bell. Eh? Perhaps Lewis & Harris could learn something from that!

We'd cycled /tandemed from the north of the island down the lovely cycle path behind the dunes in the morning sunshine before the afternoon rain and we were in need of a bite to eat. De Koog loomed. I snapped up some beach huts and then into town we went soon spotting a curry house. No sooner had we parked the tandem than we were inside and waiting for food.

Now, I'm not sure if it was that we were famished, the sun was shining and we had had a lovely ride on car-free, smooth tracks but that particular curry could not have been better. I am, I might add here, easily swayed. After getting lost up above Edale, Derbyshire in a snow-storm for a few hours one day [another day since you ask. Please keep up!] I dragged myself into the Penny Pot cafe there by the train station and had hot-chocolate and chips. I don't think Hector Bluementhal could have made them any better that day - not even foamed chips. It all tasted superb that day!

Anyway, Mr Windy's curries were excellent, the something or other superb, the other one lovely and so on. And we thank them.

Note; I do have some curry-fuelled snaps but I edited them out since I don't want to be lamped by Beth!

Getting ready for Ullapool

Eve & Mr Windy on Tandem

We have a tandem. In fact we have two although I'm not sure where the track one currently is. Still, our bogstandard lavender coloured beast is now in the safe hands of Mr Windy who, having fettled it, is now steering Eve on training runs prior to the Ullapool cyclosportive in a few weeks. All goes well at the moment. The weather is being kind too.

Promicrol Hp5 @ 640

This is a photographic technique post. So, if you don't want to see what it's all about, look away now.

 Tandem

I had acquired some cheap, expired and seemingly badly kept HP5 from someone in Spain. It was cheap - did I mention that? When shot at 800 asa ish it seems to work ok ish. Wasn't sure about the developer to use though. Tried Rodinal but it wasn't brill. Tried LC29 and that was a little better but now I have tried some Promicrol acquired from some-place down in England, cheaply. 

 Dog

The only down-side was that I stared the development without checking the times and dilutions. 1:30 came to mind so I used it. Unfortunately, there is no data for this dilution so I turned to my usual technique in these circumstances - I winged it!

trees

Yep, this is 18 mins @ 22C [ish] 1:30 dilution. And it seems to work too.

Paralympics

Was minding my own business today, trolling around a few photo sites on t'internet when I got over-skyped up from Beijing by them Para dudes awaiting the start of the paralympics. Would have thought they would be tucked up in bed by that time of night but hey ho, there you go.
So, it twas Aileen Mcglynn MBE and her tandem partner Ellen Hunter who were calling and best of luck to them and to my other cycling club mates Ant KAppes and coach Jon Norfolk.
All starts Sunday 7th September.
HEre's Aileen on Bosta

Old snaps

I may have posted this some years before - I have no idea really and I can't be bothered to look. But I rather like the snap - taken through the glass that used to reside in the wall between the kitchen and the, , , the other now non-existent room. I think I took the snap with a Kiev60 - now gone to the great camera place in the sky. Yes, it's my dearest Eve.

USA TT tandem team

And this snap comes from Athens - the Paralympic Games and all that. The time trial for visually impaired stokers. Paul Hunter and Ian Sharp were riding too - they didn't get a  medal here - or in the road race where they punctured but they did get two bronze in the track at the same Games - 4km pursuit and the 1km TT beating the GB favourites as well.

 Hunter/Sharpe on their ill-fated RR ride in Athens

Celebrating with me in Athens after a bronze medal ride

Ellen Hunter OBE and Aileen McGlynn on their way to silver in the sprint after winning the Kilo TT

Yes they are old snaps - although we do still have a bouquet from that event  which is lovely. Only I am still very sore and less than able to snap more snaps or print more images till things improve at my nether regions!