Team Grumpy have been riding the Duo Normand since 2003, only missing one year since then. We've had quite good placings in that time, either in the Veteran or Corporate categories. We came second in the corporate category last year, but that doesn't quite indicate the magnitude of the whipping we got from the winners! The
Duo Normand website has started listing riders registered to ride. At the moment there are only
two teams in the Corporatif category, one being Team Grumpy. Plenty of time for more entries to flood in, though. So is there anything to be said in a preview for this event?
Well, we're staying near Cerisy La Salle - in the same location as last year - though our travel plans will preclude any significant 2-up technique practice before the event. And Team Grumpy's 2-up outings this season have been less than stellar (the
Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up ‘25′ and the
Icknield 32k). I guess we're just hoping that we've done it so long that we'll just fall naturally back into the swing of things.
As usual, we'll take the opportunity to do a little exploration of the Normandy countryside on our tandem, see for example
2008 and
2009, enjoying the local food and drink, particularly the moules et frites, a particular favourite of mine. And of course, drinking freely of the
Team Grumpy official energy drink.
Finally, for those who've never ridden the Duo Normand and want to see what the course is like from the rider's perspective, can I recommend the world's most unlikely video, which we dubbed
Silent Movie. This was recorded on a small video camera mounted on Gerry's handlebars.
Here are our previous performances:
2009 - Corporatifs
We may have been second, but just look at that margin! The BikeRadar team of Jones and Coomber came flying past us...and can be seen in the video of the event.
1 COOMBER Robin - JONES Jeff 01:15:22
2 ORAM Gerard - SAUNDERS Robert 01:25:02
2008 - Corporatifs
By 2008, Gerry had persuaded me to switch to the Corporatifs category. Not entirely sure why, but the effect is to ride at a better time of day than the Unlicenced and Veteran categories. Also the Veterans category has no handicapping. The guys who won rode a storming race, particularly since they didn't look much like time triallists and were riding road bikes with clip on extensions.
| 265 |
1 |
LENOIR Alexis - LEGRIX Benoit |
01:15:55 |
| 263 |
2 |
ORAM Gerard - SAUNDERS Robert |
01:22:28 |
2007 - no ride
2006 - Veteran
Improved to second place, will less then a minute between Team Grumpy and the winners! As far as I recall, this was the only year so far (touch wood) that we've raced in inclement weather. It was also a weekend break in Normandy rather than a holiday.
| 217 |
1 |
MAYMAN David - HARRIS Mike |
01:22:44 |
| 219 |
2 |
SAUNDERS Robert - ORAM Gerard |
01:23:11 |
2005 - Veteran
Up to fourth place in 2005...
| 204 |
1 |
HARRIS Michael - MARK Wunsch |
01:20:37 |
| 202 |
2 |
LE MAITRE Graham - DOWN Patrick |
01:21:51 |
| 222 |
3 |
CHAPLIN Lee - GRIFFITHS David |
01:23:08 |
| 210 |
4 |
ORAM Gerard - SAUNDERS Robert |
01:23:15 |
2004 - Veteran
On this occasion, we crept up the ranking to 5th place, and the margins between the top five riders were rather respectable.
| 260 |
1 |
HARRIS Mike - GREIG Steve |
01:20:05 |
| 246 |
2 |
FOX Paul - JARDINE Stuart |
01:20:28 |
| 259 |
3 |
DODKINS Alan - ROBINSON Ray |
01:21:10 |
| 266 |
4 |
BIGREL Pierrick - LECHARPENTIER Gilbert |
01:21:40 |
| 264 |
5 |
SAUNDERS Robert - ORAM Gerard |
01:22:18 |
2003 -Veteran
This
was the infamous year of the cramp, when Gerry cramped up mid-race. We'd been doing pretty well till that point. Nonetheless, our first outing at the Duo was excellent fun.
| 238 |
1 |
JONES MARK - GERAN STEVE |
01:18:55 |
| 214 |
2 |
FOX PAUL - JARDINE STEWART |
01:19:38 |
| 213 |
3 |
WOODBURN JOHN - IDDLES ROGER |
01:20:59 |
| 205 |
4 |
LECHARPENTIER GILBERT - BIGREL PIERRICK |
01:22:05 |
| 231 |
5 |
DICKASON PETER - COOPER RUSSELL |
01:22:28 |
| 233 |
6 |
GALLIENNE DAVID - GARNHAM MICHAEL |
01:22:29 |
| 203 |
7 |
GRACE STUART - DONKIN ALAN |
01:22:54 |
| 224 |
8 |
MCMILLAN JOHN - LOVATT SIDNEY |
01:23:15 |
| 206 |
9 |
SAUNDERS ROBERT - ORAM GERARD |
01:24:01 |
