A crazy world’s first for Tellonline staff: 24 hours tandem mountain biking!

19/07/2011

Captain Vin Cox (Adventurer and Guinness World Record Holder) and Rear Admiral Matt Parsons will be supported by a crew including most of their co-workers whilst they lap the circuit of the TwentyFour12 event at Newnham near Plymouth on 23rd/24th July.

Hundreds of other mountain bikers will be in the event, mainly riding in relay teams and all riding on solo mountain bikes. Only Vin and Matt will stick out the whole event together on one bike, something which has never been attempted anywhere in the world before.
 
Vin Cox, .NET-Developer at Tellonline, has been mountain biking for over 20 years. He represented Great Britain at two World Championships in the 1990’s. He treks through jungles and up mountains in his spare time, and circumnavigated the world by bicycle in 2010 raising huge amounts of money for charity and gaining himself the title “Guinness World Record Holder”. In 2012 he’ll organise the worlds longest ever cycle race (also around the world!). Tandem cycling is something Vin originally took to with his wife, who’s far too sensible and busy with her own adventures to do this 24 hour challenge.
You can follow Vin as @greatbikeride on twitter, on Facebook, or via the www.greatbikeride.com website.




Matt Parsons, Interactive Media Director at Tellonline, has been mountain biking since the 1980’s and was one of the forces behind the original Cornwall Mountain Bike Club. He teamed up with Vin thanks to working together since 2004 at Tellonline (www.tellonline.com). Matt brings tandem experience from kayaking as well as from cycling with his wife, and he’s also been in relay teams for past 24 hour challenges.

Matt will be filming and tweeting from the back of the tandem as @tandemists on Twitter during the challenge!
If you're not on Twitter you can follow the Twitter feed on their website www.tandemists.com.

Vin is an old hand at 24 hour MTB racing having been one of the 5 British riders to take part in the first solo race in the country 11 years ago and being the MC at events like Mountain Mayhem and Sleepless in the Saddle. He has researched tandem involvement and is sure that no-one in the world has ever attempted 24 hours off-road racing on one before.
 

The charity they are raising money for is the Geoff Thomas Foundation which works with Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research to help people with blood cancers. It was founded by former England footballer Geoff Thomas after he recovered from Leukaemia and cycled the route of the Tour de France. Use Vin’s JustGiving page to donate at www.justgiving.com/Vin-Cox.