When: 16th August 2014
Organiser: GR8Events
Course details: 750m O/W 42k Bike
Marshalling: OK – no race marshall and certainly ZERO draft busters
Facilities: Toilets, cafe
Things this year haven’t went too well for me – mostly trying to find time to study/train/home life has made it difficult. I’ve been struggling with the knee for 8 months and recent physio has meant me pegging back the training. The physio is working really well and so I decided that I wanted to get back to triathlon – simply because I love the buzz and to be honest I’ve missed it.
I went into the race with no expectations and just simply to have fun and enjoy it. No more – no less.
The conditions were ok – the rain stayed away but the wind played a major part in things, I had been watching the weather forecast and the wind wasn’t too bad at 8am but the time we were on the bike – well it was a tad blowy.
The set-up is really good, however the access road to the lake and where the bike leg starts really needs fixing. Nothing major but the first impressions tend to last but it’s a small gripe. It was a low key event and for £30 or so – it’s a value for money event. No bells and whistles – just a nice little event. However, there was some serious issues with a lack of draft busters – I suppose being a low key event, something has to give.
First up though – thanks to SoS for transferring his place to me. Seems to be absent from the forum at the mom so hopefully he will see this at some point.
Swim
The swim went exactly as I expected it to – hard. I’ve not swum properly since the shinglemania and only got back in the pool in June/July. The new 2xu wettie was brilliant, certainly a lot better fit than the Huub. The wind was causing a current in the water. The first 200-250m was extremely fast and then it was swimming into the current, but my lack of swim strength/ form was there to be seen. Wasn’t bothered though. I got stuck behind a snaker, who simply would not get out the way. He managed to swim into three separate triathletes and got a volley of abuse from another competitor. It was a bit unfair on the snaker, but hey ho…
I had forgotten about the jelly legs as you get out the swim and nearly fell over. My lack of events also served to remind me that I need to practice getting out the wetsuit. As when I entered T1, I made a series of comedy errors – all I could do was laugh at myself. How things have changed.
T1
I must have wrestled with the wettie for about 20s – eventually having to sit down to get it off. Bloody hell, I used to be quick at getting out the wettie…then shoes on/ helmet on – full kask with mirror visor…yeah…and then I went the wrong way to get out on the bike leg…hahaha…what a tit.
Bike
Certainly by this point, the wind was a major player now. I was really looking forward to the bike and off I went. There was a series of riders in front me and I decided that for the first mile I would let my HR settle and then push on. So after the first mile I overtook about 8 or 9 riders and then I started to notice that the drafting was horrific. There was two cyclists who sat on my back wheel (and I mean right on my tail) for about three miles and then overtook me. I decided not to push and let them go in the hope that they would push too hard. As the route took a sharp left, they were about 200m or so in front of me so I went into TT mode and obliterated past them and never to see them again. As the route climbed and then headed back to Scorton, the head wind was simply hard going. At one point it there was a gusting wind that nearly had me off the bike as it caught my front wheel – quick reaction to get off the bard and up to save myself coming a cropper. As the 2nd lap started, there was about 6 or so riders and I was in a groove and pushed on, again two of them sat on my wheel and refused to move, I wasn’t complaining – no point. All I said to myself was that this is a good training session and just kept pushing, eventually the two of them pushed past me and I let them go. I had no means of pushing harder as the wind was getting harder so I decided to hold pace and keep what I had for the last two or three miles where there would be a tail wind. As it turned out the wind had taken quite a bit out of me, back into the road to T1 and it was done.
Given that I had little training for a 2-3 week period where the physio was working her magic, then I’m happy with this. I actually ended up 12th overall and given that I have room for improvement then overall I’m happy. I don’t really care about the result – my main objective was to enjoy myself and have fun.
I loved every minute of it and glad to be back
Swim was 17mins 3 s
T1 2mins 6s
Bike 1hr 16mins
