Tango Decorates the Bathroom - Cash Supplies the Elbow Grease

The skite up Errigal obviously took more out of us than we had previously thought, with a serious case of the runs, and blood poisoning from a septic elbow, knocking us both flat for several days.

For obvious reasons, the elbow / poisoning pics were the only ones that made the cut! :-o

(Rick taking great pride in his Fiddler Crab impression)

The real deal...

To Err-igal is Human

The mighty Mount Errigal, County Donegal. Basically a big 750-metre-high wobbly peat trifle with granite crushed nuts on top. We always wanted to have a crack at it on/with the bikes, so we departed Antrim at 5:40am on Saturday 15 December 2007, to climb the mountain en route to collecting a sofa in Dungloe on the west coast (there WAS a good reason, but it is irrelevant here).

For a time, we toyed with the idea of trying the climb on the way back, with the sofa, for a more comfortable rest at the top, but given the wind strength, the ground conditions, and the fact that the overall purpose of the journey was sofa retrieval safe and sound, the bikes were a better call.

We knew it was a carry to the top, so we padded the top- and down-tubes with pipe lagging from B&Q. It's a good idea if you are going to be carrying for a long period.

We started in total darkness, but the day came upon us quickly, and by the time we were half way up the scree, morning had well and truly broken.

On the high passes, Davy made the rounding of "Devil's Elbow" and "Dead Man's Corner" look like a stroll in Covent Garden. It was VERY windy on the ridge.

The views were fantastic in between the misty patches, with the dawn light constantly changing.

The summit itself was extremely cold and windy. Nevertheless, Tango & Cash took a moment to contemplate their achievement, sparing a thought for Everest's intrepid but ultimately doomed Mallory and Irvine.

Coming down the scree at the top after the ridge was HAIRY-SCARY, given the wind and the loose material, but with care it was mostly rideable. Seat right down and backside over the back wheel.

We were concerned at one stage that we were going to have some heavy stone tablets added to our packs on the way down...

Given that we were up to our knees in muck for most of the way up the bog section, we did not think the lower slopes would be rideable, but to our surprise and delight, ALL of it was rideable back to the carpark, with only a single pitch over the bars when the front wheel buried.

Bodies and bikes were washed in the river and then we were ready to head for the sofa! Taking a quick look back at the mountain, it looked sad that it had been whipped, and whipped good. And the sofa fitted in the Galaxy allowing us to shut the back door for the trip back - the perfect day.

TrailBadger.com Trip to Kirroughtree, 25 November

No broken bones, just a broken seat. 14 heads. A great day out.
Nothing more to be said, really!

See the photos at Photobox
http://www.trailbadger.com/

"Slieve Martin Slaughter" on TeamGearedUp

Get the report from a wannabe postman here.

The "Slieve Martin Slaughter"

Spawned by the good people of Not The Sunday Run, 10 November 2007 saw the inaugural "Slieve Martin Slaughter" take flight.

Slaughter wouldn't describe it. 4 ascents of Slieve Martin; 46 km. 2,400 vertical metres of climbing. Nearly 7 hours. 21 starters, 7 finishers.

The 46-pound post-bike made it, but just, a hairline fracture in the frame after the first descent having become a gaping wound after all 4.

Well done all the chaps representing TrailBadger.com / Tango & Cash on the day. County Antrim can stand tall!

More on the Slieve Martin Slaughter at Not The Sunday Run

Stayin' Cool in the Cooleys! Tango & Cash Meets Thelma & Louise

We arrived for the Adventure Ireland race in Newry on 20 October 2007 with 2 clear objectives: to be back in time for a hot shower, and to be home in time to watch the Rugby World Cup final.

Result! Results of the Race - Victory! Albeit no girlie, no win!

Danger/Warning/Achtung! If you did not compete in this race (and possibly even if you did), this is perhaps the most tedious piece of literature you will ever have the misfortune to encounter. We record these events for OUR memory, not yours.

Still feeling brave? Read on...

Two changes to the "Tango & Cash Meets Thelma & Louise" team line-up were forced by injury, the ginger (but very nice) Davy/Tango (removed rib) replaced by brunette adventure racing veteran Ian, and our intended Lady Sharon (broken right meta-tarsal) replaced by pretty-boy and race virgin Phil J.

Race roles were agreed in the car-park:

• Al - navigator and natural born leader
• Ian - strategic advisor and technical consultant
• Phil - marketing department
• Rick - enforcer and team glutton

The lasting memory pre-race was Passing Wind's hilarious, albeit quite ingenious, 2-man bike-towing apparatus, which had "terrible accident on the first hill" written all over it! We wonder how it all panned out!...

Blazing the trail

Flaffing about as usual, we were the last team to lock the car and leave the car park, and we headed out of town behind the directionally-confident Al. Loads of teams were fumbling around in the town at the traffic lights wondering where to go, and some were glad to hop on behind us in the uphill struggle for checkpoint 1.

From 1, out onto the main road, it was up and out towards the new road to Dublin, and a peel off onto the old Dublin road in the hunt for checkpoint 2. After a futile search on a road-side ruin with some other teams, and a more careful analysis of the co-ordinates and instructions, we finally worked out that the track in the description was not the train track. We were in fact on the wrong side of the railway line - fortunately there was a wee bridge handy that meant we did not have to double back, and we were in the right place in a jiffy.

Timing is everything

Searching round the crumbling ruin in vain for 5 minutes or so, we were again fortunate to be there just as another team found it precisely where it was noted to be - on tree (go figure, eh?!), but hidden behind the tree (grrrr), so we happily clipped and moved on. By this time, loads of teams had already given up the hunt and had left the checkpoint empty-handed.

Great Scott! I think Ian has just been killed!

Checkpoint 3 was an easy find round the road, and we barely stopped for it on the way to 4, which was on the railings beyond a VERY steep tarmac hill. Our main strategy guy Ian had brake issues at the 90 degree bend at the bottom of the straight, hit the bank HARD, left the bike, and took off head first into the brambles, just missing a tree - lucky, lucky chap - could have been killed, scuppering our chances of finishing!

After hauling a cut and bruised (but still chipper) Ian out of the brambles, and helping him to change his soiled shorts, we clipped at the railing round the corner and headed for the kayaks. Arriving as an even-numbered team (fortunately, we think, as it turned out), we were dismissed from the boats and sent on our way down the road for nearly 4K, before cutting up into the forest near Victoria Lock for checkpoint 6.

Where the Hell IS everybody?!

Having clipped at the gate, we headed on up the hill, but missed our left which we had intended would take us out of the forest and over the hill, so we just headed on up for the road (which was a lucky move for us, in hindsight) and looped round fast for the tough tarmac pull up Black Mountain.

We had not seen another team now since leaving checkpoint 5 at the kayaks, and we were beginning to wonder what was up.

Tight-lipped under interrogation

We were relieved to see some other race folk near 7, where we met the Army team coming down from the checkpoint, coyly dodging our queries as to the whereabouts of the 'cloister' of reeds, which housed the clip. What with all that military training, all they would give was name and rank!

No matter, it turned out to be a straight and easy dash to the reed cloister for the clip, and we lost no time. We decided to play it safe from there in our hunt for 8, and just headed back round the road to pick up the Tain Way instead of burrowing through the forest, which was our initial (and probably wrong) instinct.

Free-ride

A puncture in the marketing department lost us a few minutes, but time stood still anyway as we went on to enjoy the superb descent through Ravensdale Forest to the road for checkpoint 9, including some brilliant singletrack with jumps, berms, drops, etc - great craic!

We sat nose-to-tail and drafted the 4.5K along the road before cutting up for checkpoint 10, where we greeted old pal and often race adversary Mickey Laverty riding his local trails on a training ride, and we followed the Tain Trail back up into the woods.

The long tough climb was rewarded with the best biking of the day down a grassy path to the stile at the road, where our full-suspension marketing department was nearly destroyed by crashing into the gate at the bottom!

A snappy 2.5K of drafting took us to the bike drop, where we were greeted by Greg's smiling chops, ably and loyally supported by one of his patient offspring.

Surely you can't mean THAT hill?!!

Before the race, we had laughed at the thought of a mere 7K of trekking, but the smile was soon wiped off our faces by the climb up The Foxes Rock. A few rests on the way up (cleverly branded as planning sessions) helped us to mentally deal with the initial climb.

On summiting, we could see the Army folks ahead of us by about 15 minutes, so we gambolled on up to the summit of The Split Rock and clipped 15, lickety-split!

Woof!

The Hounds of Hell could not have compelled us to head on over for the optional (and dreadful-looking) checkpoint 16, given how our legs were feeling by now, so we turned on our heels and galloped down for the forest. A quick stop or two to fill up our Camelbaks, take a 'comfort break', and tend our cramping pins, stood us in good stead.

We picked our way through a few hundred yards of thick bracken, took to the forest path back out to the road, and managed a brisk jaunt back to Greg and our trusty steeds, which had by now recovered from their earlier fatigue.

From saddle to paddle

Back in the saddle, Al kept us right as usual, navigating perfectly along the twisting roads down to 18, then down to the main road and the 4.5K back for the kayaking.

Having agreed pairings for the boats, Rick had already drawn the short straw of sitting behind paddle-virgin marketing guru Phil, but Phil soon got the hang of it, and both boats carved a deep and true wake on the way to Victoria Lock, into a strong breeze.

Cramping our style

Reaching the lock and feeling brotherly, having been through so much together so far, we decided to do everything as a team and all tried to get out of the canoes, but 3 of us fell immediately to become the twitching victims of the evils of cramp.

Checkpoint clipped and cramps back under control, it was a tough paddle back towards the dock, and any thoughts of paddling on for the checkpoint down towards the town gladly evaporated when Phil's valiant but questionable technique finally let him down amidst his fearful cries of "Me arms 'ave gone! Me arms 'ave gone!".

Phew!

All that was left now to do was to admit we were spent, hop wearily out of the boats, hand in our card, chat for 5 minutes, and scoot back to the centre on the bikes for a shower. Job done.

Many thanks to Greg and team for a fantastic race, in what was a superb setting and a brilliant day all round. Great fun!!

TrailBadger.com Trip to Scotland 5 -7 October

Twas a fine trip. Lasting memories will include:

• The fantastic weather - 3 days unbroken sunshine - in October?!
  
• The hospitality of Ewan and the Cross Keys Hotel in Peebles
  
• The really quite tricky Kona Dark Side northshore at Mabie
  
• The Karaoke session! Not a word!


• The steak and chips!


• Hugh being passed uphill on day 2 by a 60 year old woman out walking


• The 11 hours of potential biking time spent by Mark fidgeting with his video camera


• Davy's spectacular fall on Spooky Wood - anything for the camera


• International man of mystery Enda joining the party from Copenhagen with fresh legs


• Stevie's small shin scrape and subsequent tosser footballer shinguards


• Lavabo using the excuse of a bad back to drink with Rodger solidly for 2 days.


• Bugsy's disgusting cycling tops, but gorgeous Arthur Daly motor


• The blessed hand of the Virgin Mary herself intervening to prevent Ian from going over the lip of about 20 berms


• Phil beating the baying women off him (and the dusky, smouldering Ian) in the Keg!


• A fresh and spritely Jonny Gray being accused of having a hangover by Ewan because he supposedly "looked terrible"


• Rick being an all-round super chap!

TrailBadger.com - Mountain bike trails for Northern Ireland Bikers - see our Southern Scotland pages.

Mourne Marathon 2007 - No Tango

No Tango for the Mourne Marathon, so it was Al & Cash. Early confidence of competing with the Elites evaporated on the first hill, and we were only too glad to get round as the last finishers in class. It was no tango. http://www.mourne2day.com/

Tango And Cash Climax Series With Win in Belvoir Forest, but Can't Think of a Pun for the Title

Our compass magnetic and our heads clear, Tango and Cash claimed victory in the final race of the CCAR series, around Belvoir Forest Park in Belfast, on 25 August.


Steady - danger of boredom ahead

It was a day for gears on the bikes, but turbo-training alongside the world’s fastest hamsters in recent months stood us in good stead to drive our singlespeeds hard to no real disadvantage.

We chose to run, kayak, bike, to get the misery of running over early, and feared a procession initially if starting on the bikes up the tow-path.

The Custard Chuckers were hard to keep in sight as we took off over Shaw’s Bridge, with some particularly impressive flexibility from Rory Finlay as he limboed under the railings.

After nobody could find the elusive floodlight checkpoint, we took a left where most took a right and headed for the leafy countryside, just shy of the impressively lycra-clad NTSR. An early attempted short-cut over a field by NTSR saw them sprawling and cursing through the thick undergrowth, and we managed to make up a couple of minutes as we stuck to the tracks, just getting to the tyre-tube river-crossing ahead of them.

A quick over and back, and we were on the trails alone, although we could hear the still-cursing NTSR fighting their way through more brambles on the other side of the river.

Heading for the ski task at checkpoint 6, we had what we thought was our first sighting of beavers in Belvoir (steady!) - then realised it was the Custard Chuckers crawling from the river from checkpoint 7.

Taking a leaf out of their soggy book, we plunged in and crossed the river none too gracefully, and my glasses remain at the bottom of the Lagan.






Mopping up the final few run checkpoints, the most notable thing on the journey was how fond of Davy all the dogs were – they were running from hundreds of yards away just for a good hump.

The BMX track brought back a few memories of days on the old Raleigh Super Tuff Burner with Skyway Tuff 2 Mag-wheels, but it was all over too quickly, with no time for the Superman Seat-Grab.

The running nearly complete, we reached the tyre-tube rapids-ride down at the river, hopped aboard, and took the challenge easily like a couple of big Pooh-sticks.

A quick gallop to the canoes saw us take to the water just behind Passing Wind and His & Hers, with a rampaging NTSR hot on our heels.

The rapids at the top required us to jump ship and man-handle the boat upstream, then it was a hot dash back to the bike pickup.


Of ornithology interest, a number of teams mentioned sightings of Kingfishers on the river.

Remembering to collect our egg before departing on the bikes, experience had taught us where best to store it for safe transit to checkpoint 40; by the time I had carefully collected it from Greg, Davy had already bent over and bitten down hard on the strap of his Camelbak!

The dash along the tow-path would have been helped by one of Ivan’s 40 bells (as “Bikers coming” nearly got us a slap a few times). Given how many genuine punctures we had sustained in recent months, we were lightning at the puncture-change simulation task, making a good couple of minutes here on others at the task.

Arriving at Lady Dixon Park on the bikes, Davy took a couple of minutes just to lay his egg, then we were off on foot up through the play-park and impeccably-kept gardens.

A better description of the Spacehoppers Task was the Kneepoppers Task, both of us finding this the least enjoyable task of the day.

We both sustained ACL injuries, but after hoovering up some hapless kid’s wine-gums from the chipped bark on the ground (to the disgust of parents), we were off again for the dizzying hill-roll and subsequent travel-sickness of the go-karting.





The local dogs continued to be very fond of a now dizzy (and therefore more vulnerable) Davy, and by the time we were back at the bikes again, his legs looked like a plasterer's radio.





The only open hostility of the day was from the gentlemen at the 14th tee of the golf course, who were less than impressed at the snapping of twigs and grunting racers, as they made their backswings – somehow we all found a way to get along without coming to blows, but we kept our distance.

Not knowing how long it would take to get back, we spun like crazy to get back to the centre, both of us cursing the evil cramp now taking our calves along the tow-path.

Back at the centre with the guts of 5 minutes to spare, we took to the step aerobics like ducks to water, expending the last of our energy.

And… relax.

The race finished, it was buns, burgers and a welcome shower, then relaxing over the series photos put on by Shane.

Well done again to Ivan, Steve and full CCAR team again, who put on a fantastic race despite a number of race-threatening last-minute challenges. What a crew! A massive thanks goes to those guys for all their hard work in this series, and we look forward to next year!

CCAR 6-Race Series Close Approaches

Before the 2006/7 CCAR race series comes to a close, we catch just a glimpse of the joy that Ivan Park and Steve Curry of CCAR have brought to the lives of a bunch of thirty-somethings through their organisation efforts.

Tango and Cash share what must have been an extremely amusing joke just before the County Armagh race on Slieve Gullion.

Last race tomorrow morning. Location, Belfast, County Antrim.