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Third time lucky? Dom Irvine sets out on another Land's End - John O'Groats tandem record attempt

Irvine and Charlie Mitchell off to storming start this morning

At 6:30 this morning, Dominic Irvine and Charlie Mitchell left Land's End in an attempt to break the men's tandem record for cycling between the two furthest points on the British mainland.

The existing record, held by Pete Swinden and John Withers, stands at 50 hours, 14 minutes and 25 seconds. Swinden and Withers set that mark in 1966, making the tandem Land's End - John O'Groats (LEJOG) one of the most durable records in cycling.

Irvine and Mitchell have got off to a storming start, covering the first 100 miles in 4:44:19, an average of 22.89 mph, according to their tracker.

It's Irvine's third attempt on the record after things went pear-shaped for him and his partner in 2012 and 2014.

In 2012, Irvine and Ian Rodd rode the full distance, but missed the record by more than eight hours after Irvine became ill early in the ride. They are thought to be the only team to have ridden the distance non-stop since Swinden and Withers.

In 2014, Irvine teamed up with time trial legend Glenn Longland, but things went south when Longland collapsed just before they reached the halfway point.

The tandem LEJOG has defeated other pairs of top-flight athletes too.

In 2011 James Cracknell and Jeroen Walters abandoned 68.3 miles from John O'Groats, citing safety issues.

That was Cracknell's second attempt at a LEJOG tandem record after a tilt at the mixed record in 2009 with individual pursuit Olympic champion Rebecca Romero had to be abandoned because Romero developed swelling around the knee.

A typical End-to-End touring ride takes about ten days, though riders doing it for fun usually take a longer route than the 832-mile track Irvine and Mitchell are following.

The solo men’s record is just over 40 hours (40:04:20, set in 2001 by Gethin Butler) so on paper the tandem record looks vulnerable, tandems usually being faster than solo bikes.

But as the record's recent history shows, a bike with two riders means there are twice as many chances for something to go wrong.

Irvine's previous experience and support team should increase the chances of everything going smoothly this time.

He said: “Charlie and I might be the ones riding the bike, but it’s a real team effort and a huge amount of work from everyone has gone into making this record attempt possible.

"I’m extremely grateful to the coaches at Winchester University who developed our training plan, the guys at Orbit Tandems who specially designed our amazing bike, our nutritionist and all the medics, route-planners and support crew who have given up their time to support the attempt, proof that success is a team game.

"With the dedication and training we've all put in, myself and Charlie have a real shot at breaking this record and we’re very excited to get going.”

You can follow the team's progress throughout the attempt on their live GPS tracker or follow them on Twitter at @a3crg, @DomIrvine and @cmitchell5017.

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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19 comments

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pakennedy | 8 years ago
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I make that 45:27:00. Congrats when they wake up!

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Al__S | 8 years ago
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Beasting their way up the A9 at the moment

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gareth2510 | 8 years ago
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currently 5hrs ahead of schedule!!!!

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pakennedy | 8 years ago
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I did make a mistake on the calculations courtesy of the way Excel treats hours as times sometimes.

ETA 2:18am

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Paul J | 8 years ago
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Am I misunderstanding the tracker, or did they cycle along the M74?  1

(Not that I buy into the "Cyclist on motorway! Danger Will Robinson!" rubbish - motorway cycling is a lot less dangerous than being on dual-carriageway with no hard shoulder).

Edit: Ah no, it's the road that goes exactly alongside the M74.  1

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pakennedy | 8 years ago
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Quick play with a spreadsheet (unless I've messed up) crossing the line around midnight.

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pakennedy | 8 years ago
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If they can maintain that average speed it'll be 40hours and 20 minutes.

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Must be Mad | 8 years ago
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13 hours in, they are still whizzing along at an average of 22mph, and going past (or round) Birmingham now.

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barbarus | 8 years ago
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You know that the monetisation of Olympians has reached new levels when cyclists start developing "selling around the knees"

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Must be Mad | 8 years ago
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Also, they will have a support car/van following on behind to keep an eye on them.

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sunDOG | 8 years ago
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Significant wind-assist, their speed should be phenomenal!!

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EK Spinner | 8 years ago
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First of all good luck to them and I wait to be impressed with their time

BUT I do wonder if it is wise for such records and attempts to be promoted in this day and age. These guys will be on the public roads, an environment that we all know requires the users to be alert for their own and others safety. As cyclists we are the first to condemn HGV drivers who exceed their hours or drivers who have been driving a car when excessively tired so why do we allow/encourage 30+ hours on a bike or tandem. I struggle to believe that by the time they get to the finish they will be alert enough to be as safe as they should be.

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pirnie replied to EK Spinner | 8 years ago
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EK Spinner wrote:

First of all good luck to them and I wait to be impressed with their time

BUT I do wonder if it is wise for such records and attempts to be promoted in this day and age. These guys will be on the public roads, an environment that we all know requires the users to be alert for their own and others safety. As cyclists we are the first to condemn HGV drivers who exceed their hours or drivers who have been driving a car when excessively tired so why do we allow/encourage 30+ hours on a bike or tandem. I struggle to believe that by the time they get to the finish they will be alert enough to be as safe as they should be.

The difference being an HGV weighs several tons. A tandem does not.....

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TeamExtreme replied to pirnie | 8 years ago
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So they're completely absolved of any kind of responsibility to themselves or others?!

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mtm_01 replied to TeamExtreme | 8 years ago
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TeamExtreme wrote:

So they're completely absolved of any kind of responsibility to themselves or others?!

Well they're supported and it sounds like they've had no problem throwing in the towel before.
The way you've written the previous post would deter people from going up Everest because they might die or swimming the Channel because they might die. Running the marathon seems to have a reasonable death rate these days so we should stop that too!
For me it's a personal responsibility - if you can do it, then have a go but it's not worth giving up your life for if you can't - don't nip it in the bud before the off.

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EK Spinner replied to pirnie | 8 years ago
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I didn't ask what the differences are, I do understand physics afterall, these differences explain why HGVs have tighter controls than cars etc BUT I do ask is it wise to promote cycling for 45 hours continuously on the public road - I don't think so. They still need to be able to react to situations, judge traffic speeds at junctions etc.

Should extreme endurance events be encouraged on the roads network is really the question regardless of the mass of vehicle involved.

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mtm_01 replied to EK Spinner | 8 years ago
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EK Spinner wrote:

First of all good luck to them and I wait to be impressed with their time

BUT I do wonder if it is wise for such records and attempts to be promoted in this day and age. These guys will be on the public roads, an environment that we all know requires the users to be alert for their own and others safety. As cyclists we are the first to condemn HGV drivers who exceed their hours or drivers who have been driving a car when excessively tired so why do we allow/encourage 30+ hours on a bike or tandem. I struggle to believe that by the time they get to the finish they will be alert enough to be as safe as they should be.

Blah - stick in the mud. Embrace the attempt!

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TeamExtreme | 8 years ago
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Apart from the odd drizzle of rain, the weather forecast couldn't be much more favourable, good luck to them!

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Must be Mad | 8 years ago
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Did they choose today specifically? 40 mph (mostly) tailwind this morning, raising to 45mph this afternoon.

Good luck guys, and hang onto the bike!

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