Page 75 - The Cormorant 2018

PAGE 73
sun came out again and cold beers were the order of the day.
Thankfully day 4 saw the sun return for a scorching cycle back to the Defence Academy
from Portsmouth. The 120km leg turned out to be insufficient for Peloton 1, who decided to take an impromptu 10km detour, including
2.5km of “gravel” riding. Still, it finally proved that gravel bicycles are just an industry gimmick as no one fell off, punctured or died!
For some, the 4-day Ex, which was punctuated by 2 days of Ex CORMORANT
FINALE, was simply not enough. On account of his OCD, Lt Col ‘Mitch’ Mitchell and a select few lunatics insisted upon riding an
additional 150km during the evenings in an attempt to make an even 600km for the week. The
Ex CORMORANT VELO in numbers
44 cyclists (10 of whom were complete novices at the start) 8 support crew
3 support vehicles (eventually)
9 Royal Navy
2 Royal Marines
13 British Army
21 Royal Air Force
7 International Students 43.5 bicycles (by the end) 4 days (6 for some lunatics) 2 ferries
19,820km
14.4km off road (thanks to Peloton 1’s poor navigation) 528 litres of Gatorade
1056 espressos
792 ham and cheese baguettes
0 vegetables
445,000 calories expended
1,320,000 calories consumed
2 much beer
61 pages of admin
instructions
(which clearly nobody read)