We fielded two teams for the Darlington CC 2-up 12.5 this weekend. The sky was blue, the sun shone, my skinsuit made its second outing of the year and had there not been a big wind, it could almost have been an idyllic summer's day! My friend Neil and I placed 7th with a pleasingly sub-30 time of 29:50, then watched our ladies' team come home in 34:35. This was extra impressive as they were the youngest team racing, they were the only all-female team and while none of us had done a 2-up before, one of them was riding her first race or TT of any description. Their stated aim had been to not come last, and they achieved that with style.
The 2-up was really good fun and it was a learning experience for me: I had to work as a pair with Neil, going as fast as possible while staying as close as possible, taking care neither to blow him off when i was on the front or else to lose his wheel when I went to the back. The tactic that seemed to work best was that whichever of us was feeling stronger took longer turns on the front, rather than riding faster and losing the partner. From the event photos, it also looks like we need to work on keeping closer together.
I definitely want to do this again if I'm still in the area next year. You should all try one
