Team Grumpy first losers at Duo Normand (Corpo category)

Last weekend Team Grumpy decamped to the Normandy countryside for a long weekend, to ride the Duo Normand 2-up time trial once again. This was Team Grumpy's tenth ride in the event and as for the last few years we were entered in the Corporate category.

Team grumpy participated despite 'Grumpy' Art Vanderley suffering from a rather nasty cold in the days running up to the race itself, a bizarrely Hitchcockian hornet attack at our accommodation (shades of The Birds), and 'Grumpy' Art's willingness to flaunt Team Grumpy rule #2:

Don't tinker with your bike the evening before the event. It will break, either then or, worse still, during the event.

In the end, mechanical problems were completely absent (for a change), but 'Grumpy' Art was sufficiently disabled by viral issues that the team's performance was affected. Grumpy Bob had to take lengthy pulls at the front to keep things rolling - he was somewhat perturbed by the volleys of mucoid coughing from behind him, but callously kept the pace reasonably high. In fairness, 'Grumpy' Art put himself through all kinds of hell during the race and probably saved Team Grumpy its second spot in the results as a consequence of his bursts of effort in the closing kilometres of the event.

Indeed, 'Grumpy' Art looked so completely knackered at the finish line that a passerby inquired after his health.

The trip to Normandy was actually characterised by self-imposed moderation in all things, including the team's consumption of official energy drink. Here is the evidence of the team's consumption from four evenings:

The winning team beat Team Grumpy by a large margin of around 6 minutes - Team Grumpy completed the course in 1:25:29. Scratch riders Durbridge and Tuft (Orica green Edge) took the longstanding course record set by Boardman-Voigt (set in 1999) with a time of 1:04:10, which Team Grumpy thinks sets everything in perspective.