The story of the first couple to ride a tandem around the world begins with a car crash on the banks of Loch Lomond in 1970. Colin and Veronica Scargill had married the previous year, and were on holiday when a car ploughed into their van. Veronica, who was 25, suffered a broken femur, which left her leg in traction for 12 weeks. “She couldn’t bend her knee at all during that time,” says Colin, who was 29. “One of the things recommended for getting it working again, once the plaster was off, was cycling.”
As a member of Stevenage Cycling Club, Colin had previously raced time trials on a Hetchins fixed-wheel track bike, but his wife had barely done any cycling. “I happened to be out riding one day when I was overtaken by the Pendletons [Max and Pauline, later parents to Olympic gold medal-winning track cyclist Victoria] on their new tandem,” recalls Colin. “They told me the boy who’d bought their old one was now selling it, and that’s where I got the idea of how to get Veronica’s knee working again. I bought the tandem for £18.”
