Wattisham Triathlon 2013

Having enjoyed last year's attempt at Wattisham Tri I thought I'd give it another go this year and see if I could improve on last year's performance.

As a brief summary, the event is held on Wattisham Airbase and involves a 300m indoor pool swim, a 20km bike ride (including twice up and down the runway) and a 5km run.

Last year I'd only been running a few months so was quite happy to be able to complete 5km never mind tackle it quickly, also my swimming ability was only notable by the fact that I've reached my mid-thirties without drowning...  While I'd been biking competitively for a few years it's all been on mountain bikes and I'd only bought a road bike specifically for this event so was still fairly new to that discipline too.

Since last year's tri I'd kept up the running, getting involved semi-regularly with the local ParkRun, but hadn't really gained any pace.  I'd also spent a lot of time on the road bike, almost favouring it over the MTB (Oh god, what have I become!?!) but I'd hardly swum at all.

Training

Training-wise I started swimming occasionally over winter as an alternative to riding and running in the cold, in mid-March I took out a swimming pass for Crown Pools and started to go much more regularly.  Most lunchtimes I'd nip over from work and do 3 lots of 12*25m lengths.  I also started to try different techniques from the Swimsmooth website - position in the water, breathing on alternate strokes, etc.
Swimming was undoubtedly my weakest of the disciplines but is also the shortest part of the tri so even if I improved a lot I wouldn't be saving much time overall on the whole event.  I found learning the breathing techniques very hard, while I'd manage it fine for a few lengths, I'd be struggling for breath after a while.
Last year the swim leg had killed me and led to me being unable to focus at the start the ride which spoiled my supposedly best part of the event.  I resolved to just being able to do the swim in a similar time as last year but not be as ruined by the time I got out of the pool.

March was also when I started to take the running a bit more seriously too, getting out for 3-4 runs a week and trying to get to ParkRun whenever possible (although ParkRun isn't strictly a competitive event it's very useful for gauging yourself against other runners).  And by April I was doing quite a few rides followed by runs.

As for the bike, I ride pretty regularly as it is, so I just focussed on the road bike rather than the MTB and rode whenever possible.  I've a local 12mile loop so rode that and as motivation I tried my best to pick off some Strava segments on there.  In addition I did a couple of large back to back rides from my in-laws' to my parents and back again (see earlier post) covering around 150miles in 2 days.

The Big Day

After all the hanging around from last year I had resolved to arrive later this time but itchy-feet syndrome on the day meant I got there about 11ish, a whole 15-20mins later...

This year I knew a few people doing the race, Simon who is a regular, and 2 friends who are first timers (get me sounding like I'm dead experienced at this) Karen and Mags.  Also a few other friends were spectating, Ian, Clare, Andy and Laura, and Bim, it's great to have people cheering you on and I find it makes a surprising difference to your motivation when you're flagging.  It also means there are photos to remember the day by, thanks very much for those :)

Once signed in (number 161), my free banana eaten, my race numbers stuck to the bike and race belt and my free t-shirt stowed in car (never to be worn).  I then went to set up my transition area; Karen had kindly bagsied me a spot near the swimming pool exit and I set up everything as best as I could, given the strong wind and forecast downpours.

Following the induction meeting (very similar to last year, although the line about Lance Armstong had inexplicably been changed to Bradley Wiggins, can't imagine why...), there was much hanging around and faffing, although having a few friends there to pass the time with really helped.
The race began at 13:00 with competitors setting off at 30s intervals.  Your start time is based on your estimated swim time with slower people going first - I'd estimated 6m 30s (by the end of my training I was getting just under 6mins) so didn't start until 14:21...

The Race

Around 14:15 I took my place in the queue by the poolside.  Once in the pool I was braced for a 10s countdown which never seemed to come.  The person ahead of me had completed 2 lengths (much longer than 30s) and the guy who starts you off was having a chat with someone else.  My brain starts to play tricks on me at times like this and I became convinced he'd told me to set off and I'd not heard him; this is ridiculous as he'd have told me again...  He eventually gave me the countdown after what seemed like centuries and off I went.
Last year I'd started the swim as hard and fast as possible and burnt myself out by the 5th length, this year I was determined to pace myself.  The swim was, fortunately, uneventful and I wasn't overtaken.  The only items of note are that the water tastes more saline-y than in most pools (I'm sure there's a joke about squaddies in there, but I prefer not to think about it) and I'd forgotten how deep the Wattisham pool gets (prob 30ft).

My goal of not knackering myself on the swim worked and although a little groggy I managed a swift transition and got away on the bike in what felt like a good time.

The winds were really strong making the cycling tough at times.  After skirting around the perimeter of the air-base you head onto the runway and hit a solid wall of wind.  A mile and a quarter later you do a U-turn and the wind noise instantly disappears and you absolutely fly back down the other way!  Looking at my GPS stats, I was averaging around 15mph into the wind and 30mph coming back the other way!

The race involves 2 laps of the course and on lap two I was struck by an unfortunate event...

Wattisham is a working air-base and you're advised in the induction that where necessary you have to give way to site traffic, as I flew along the top of the base with a tail-wind assist I saw another cyclist stopped in front of me and a marshall waving frantically at me to stop.  Having slammed on the brakes and come to a complete stop I learned that there'd been an emergency call out and that the police helicopter needed to take off...
The other rider complained to the marshall that this was affecting her time and could he contact the timing people to have it taken into account.  Unfortunately the official timing equipment isn't able to measure delays such as this and you just have to accept it.
To be fair, police emergencies obviously take priority over people messing about on bikes, but it's frustrating none-the-less.
At this point it looked like my goal of beating last year's time was over..  

My Garmin showed that I was stopped for 1m34s but adding on the time it takes to stop and get back up to speed, and for auto-pause to realise you've stopped and started I think it's fair to say it was the best part of 2mins.

While stopped I slumped on my bars, not even looking around so I don't know how many people were affected by this stop, I'd guess 4, maybe 5.  My new target became just to do as well as I possibly could...

Once underway again I chuntered under my breath into the runway headwind and giggled like a girl up the runway tail-wind and made it back to the transition point without any other incidents.
A quick swap of footwear, removal of helmet and flip of race-belt later and I was out for the run.

Much like last year my chest/stomach hurt like mad for the 1st 2km.  I ran through it as best I could but there must be something to do with being crouched on the bike that compresses my diaphragm so that it's uncomfortable when I start to run.  Once the pain eased I found my pace and even managed to sprint a little along the finish straight (note for next time, ignore the water station, you end up wearing 90% of it, if not more!).

Having finished, I wandered resignedly over to the results screen to find I'd actually managed to beat last year's time (1h 8m 48s), by a whole 11s at 1h 8m 37s!

This put me in 61st (of 258) overall and 17th (of 27) in the Male 35-39 category.

If I assume the stop cost me 1m 50s, this would have put me 49th and 11th, respectively, instead.

Last year my split times were as follows;

• Swim + Transition: 00:08:20
• Bike + Transition: 00:38:07
• Run: 00:22:20
• Total: 01:08:48

This year's split times are as follows;

• Swim + Transition: 00:07:27
• Bike + Transition: 00:40:35
• Run: 00:20:34
• Total: 01:08:37

My swim has improved by a minute and my run by 2 minutes, and if I'd not had to stop, my ride time would have been pretty similar to last year despite the headwinds.

All in all I'm very pleased :)

Ian Aldis's photos


Clare Bailie's photos

There and back again - An idiot's tale...

My latest bout of cycling nonsense was to ride from my in-laws house in deepest, darkest Lincolnshire to my parents in North Yorkshire and then back again the next day.

To find my way I'd plotted the route into my GPS (Garmin Edge 500) which only offers very basic navigation (a "join the dots" type system that beeps if it senses you've missed a GPS way-mark).  The route was estimated to be about 76miles each way and at an avg speed of 16mph should take between 4.5 and 5 hours.

Given the Arctic spring we've had this year I was avidly watching the weekend's forecast, which ultimately ended up being dry, bright, cold and head-windy.  On the Friday night, Lily had missed the point of the trip a little (if there actually was one) and asked whether I would drive there instead if it was raining :)

Around 7:20am on Saturday morning I set off on my road bike with a rucksack of essentials and wearing nowhere near enough layers of clothing - although it was about 2 degrees at the time it was supposed to be nearer 10 later in the morning.

I've always been of the opinion that Lincolnshire is so flat that it makes Suffolk look like the Alps, unfortunately that's only true outside of the Lincolnshire Wolds!  Admittedly there's nothing there to rival Alpe-d'Huez but my legs were soon woken up!

I'd planned to have only one rest and refuel stop which would be at the Humber Bridge (just over half way) and to regularly snack while riding to keep me going.  The Garmin got me close to the Humber Bridge with minimal difficulty, but once in the urban metropolis of Barton-on-Humber I started to discover the flaws of its basic navigation.  While it's fine through the open countryside it's hard to decipher when there are multiple turnings.  For instance it will show that you need to turn left, however when there are 3 left turns up ahead it doesn't make it obvious which one to take.  Also, the Garmin seemed to think I'd be able to use the service shafts inside the bridge supports (or scale them like Spiderman) and access the bridge that way.  Having ignored it's frantic beeping and "OFF COURSE" messages I managed to find my way to the cycle path that crosses over it.

There...

Once over the bridge I had numerous more wrong turns and became more and more frustrated with various daft Garmin design decisions.  In fact here's some suggestions for Mr Garmin's design team;

• If you detect that I'm off course, don't blank the screen and replace the route with an "Off Course!" message!  At the very least leave the route there, and if possible place an indicator showing where I am in relation to it.
• Also, you could draw the additional GPS points you've logged since I veered off course so I can easily retrace them.
• Trying to animate things on an LCD screen doesn't work well at all, the refresh rate isn't up to it.  All I end up seeing is the route flashing on and off as I'm trying to work out which exit to take from a roundabout.
• When I've plotted a course you could identify where junctions are then look at other nearby junctions and add them as markers on the screen as features to help me navigate by.

The Garmin also has a ghost rider feature, this rides the course at your estimated average speed so you can see how far ahead or behind you are.  Over the course of the ride we became enemies.
I'd accidentally plotted a bridleway, right at the start of the course.  I couldn't pass that on my road bike, so right from the off he had a 2mile advantage.  I'd managed to regain that distance by Barton-on-Humber, but while I'd maintained a higher average than him he never went off course so would overtake me every time I did.  I regularly accused the cheating little sod of deliberately making the course changes vague so he could gain an advantage.  Needless to say the little swine beat me to the finish - by just under 2 miles...
I like to think that, as the miles wound endlessly on, this little game helped to keep me sane but the evidence of the previous paragraph suggests otherwise.

The last 20miles to Selby were very hard psychologically.  I've always thought of Gilberdyke and Howden as being quite close to Selby, but that stretch of road just went on and on and on for ever.  Each time I looked at the trip computer, the distance didn't seem to have changed - something else I accused the ghost rider of tampering with.
I regularly ride 3/4s of this distance and have ridden much further so I was surprised at how hard I'd found it, I suspect it's because I'm usually on familiar roads and riding with other people.

I reached my parents' at 12:30 and a gigantic Mr C's fish and chips followed by a Doubtfires ice-cream made everything better again.  The prospect of having to ride back the next day wasn't very appealing though; my legs were feeling drained and my back-side was very aware of the lack of padding in my cycling shorts.

For the return journey I'd decided to take more rest breaks and fluids, as well as to take it at a more steady pace rather than trying to get there as quick as possible - this time I'd be starting with the flat terrain and ending with the Wolds...

I set out around 7:45am on Sunday and despite taking it steady I was constantly aware that my leg muscles weren't wanting to do anything.  Despite that, the distances didn't seem as ridiculously long as yesterday - I think that now I was more familiar with what was coming my expectations were more realistic.
As is the way with these things, the wind had turned overnight so I had a headwind again!  Fortunately it was little more than a breeze this time.

And back again...

Rather than trying to ride right through, I took 3 or 4 short breaks and one longer one where I refilled my bottles - I'd stayed pretty much neck and neck with the Ghost Rider but I had to take a mile or so detour into Caistor for the bottle refill where I lost him and never caught him back up - damn him!

By the time I'd crossed the Humber my leg muscles had warmed up and although I wasn't exactly powering up the hills none of them stopped me in my tracks and I made it back to Aby around 1:15pm.

The routes and stats are here;
Aby to Selby: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/173679935/234886

• Moving Time: 4hrs 54mins 21secs
• Total Time: 5hrs 09mins 49secs

Selby to Aby: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/174100023/234886

• Moving Time: 4hrs 49mins 45secs
• Total Time: 5hrs 22mins 00secs

In the end there wasn't a lot in it time and speed-wise and the return leg only took 10-15 mins longer (including rests) so I'm pretty pleased with that.

Despite all my grumblings about the Garmin, it's a stunning bit of kit and I didn't need to resort to a real map once, I just feel they've made several stupid design decisions that could be very easily improved on.

Thetford Winter Series 2012-13

Round 1
I decided to leave the SS at home and stuck a Ron and Ralph on my geared bike.

The tyres held well although towards the end the course was getting pretty churned and something a bit more substantial would have been useful. The cassette and rear mech suffered from the clag during lap 2, although it was raining hard enough that the clag washed off my drivetrain again after half a lap and all was well again.

Since D2D I've not been able to train as much as I'd have liked so am happy with 33rd of 194 would be nice to edge a little higher for rnd 2 though

Well done to those who made it onto the podium, quite a feat in those conditions!

Round 2
WS2 - a.k.a "Eeh it were a bit chilly..."

On the journey there the car showed a temperature high of 0.5C, on the way home it was showing 4C, it's fair to say it was a bit nippy...

Lap1: Set off down the same long fire-road they'd used for D2D only to find LOADS of people already by the side of the track fixing punctures! You occasionally see the odd 1 or 2 who've had a mechanical straight off the line but there were tens of people already fettling away! I got off to a pretty good start, the ground was frozen and rolling well, it couldn't have been much more different to WS1.

Lap2: I headed into the 2nd bend (end of the lumpy singletrack after the main fireroad) only to hear marshalls shouting to be careful as it was icey. I'd not had a problem there on lap 1 so foolishly carried on as normal and ended up on my arse... At the end of lap 2 I realised I might be able to squeeze in a 5th lap if I carried on as I was!

Lap 3: A few more minor moments on the ice but nothing serious until the very end of the lap... As I rounded the final corner onto the start/finish straight I was right on someone's back wheel. I saw a chance to get a move on and take a few places but didn't bank on the bloke in front spotting some mates on the sidelines and slamming on the brakes so he could stop for a chat!!! I went straight into the back of him, flew over the bars and decided to stay on the ground for a while. Once I realised I was still in one piece I got up, uttered a few choice words and cracked on (Thanks to Mrs Tesla for capturing the moment for me...).

Lap 4: The crash must have given me an adrenaline boost as I flew the next couple of miles but as I approached the single-track near Mayday meadow I hit another patch of ice and had yet another lay down! Despite the lost time I managed to get back to the start/finish line with a couple of mins to spare and headed out for a 5th lap!

Lap 5: I'd planned to just plod round and get back in one piece but I was still feeling strong so ended up just going for it. On the start finish straight I saw someone quite a way ahead and managed to just pip him over the line

I really enjoyed the course, especially after the last round's mud-fest.

Final result showed as 19th which I was very pleased with but when the Timelaps site was updated I was bumped up to 18th! Also it looks like there's been a timing error for one of the people above me so I might even get 17th! So with any luck I'll be gridded for the next round! I've never been gridded before

Very well done to Lewis for a 1st place in only his 2nd senior race!

Was good to see the other TROG/GRT/HMFers out there, thanks for making sure I was OK after my crash!
 
Round 3

After a training-slog through the snow on Weds I was fully prepared for the ground to be draggy and for the bike to be sliding everywhere. As it was, Saturday night's rain had removed nearly every flake of snow! The opening gravelly fireroad was the only place with some slushy ice still standing!

So obviously all the melted snow and rain had turned the whole course into a sloppy mud-fest... Erm, no, actually It hadn't... In fact it was mostly running really well! The whoopy section that runs alongside the road was hideous with all the dips filled with mud/water and there was a 10ft-long, hub-deep puddle that spanned the width of a fire-road but other than that it was surprisingly solid!

We followed the quad-bike off the line as the first section of fireroad and the first corner were still a bit dicey. I've not been gridded before so I'm used to setting off and overtaking a fair few people in the opening dash, this was a bit different... I managed not to lose too many places before the first section of singletrack and it was nice to find no real queuing once in there.
I'd stupidly forgotten to have a pre-race trundle to warm up and it took pretty much the whole 1st lap for me to warm up. In fact I was heading down "The Plumb Buster" at the start of lap 2 when I finally started to notice my legs feeling stronger!

After rnd2, this time was reasonably uneventful, I managed to stay on my bike for the whole race so no comedy OTB incidents to report My drivetrain succumbed to chain-suck quite a bit, some gears were fine and some would skip like mad - obviously the fine ones were never the ones I wanted

The whoopy section by the road got worse as the race went on but other than that the course was holding up brilliantly given the amount of water that has been over it. My Nic and Ron tyre combo worked well, but 2 Rons or a Ron and Ralph would probably have coped.
I had another over-the-line battle but I lost out this time. I'd passed the bloke out of the final bit of single-track and held him off on the long head-windy fireroad but he passed me about 50ft from the end of the lap and I couldn't reel him back in.

I finished 20th, which I'm very pleased with, so all being well I'll be gridded again for the final round.

Was good to see some other cracking results from HMF and GRT. Didn't spot Jeff there this time, shame about your wheel!

Round 4
It was another bloomin cold morning but the forest was bone dry and rolling very fast - I think I only saw one puddle on the course!

I'd been a bit daft in the days leading up to the race (out boozing on Fri night and eating stodgy grub on Sat night) so wasn't feeling overly athletic on Sunday am. Following a warm-up spin along the opening fire-road and first few single-track sections I felt a little better, but Saturday's tea was still sitting heavily on my stomach.
As with last time, we followed the quad-bike off the start line and the riders seemed more closely packed in than usual, but being gridded again helped me get a pretty good start off the line.

The course was a cracker, with a few pits (Tom's, Howe's and Flint), it ran down the MX trail (my favorite), through Rusty Bucket (my least favourite) and back up the Double Shocker (good for making up a few positions).

I managed to stay on the bike again apart from one minor incident at the start of lap 2; as I climbed out of Tom's Pit the rider in front of me toppled off his bike and landed on my front wheel, pinning it down. I lost a few places as people passed us while I waited for him to get back up.

I had a running battle with an Iceni Velo rider throughout the race (he was one of the people who passed me on the pit exit). We swapped places several times throughout the race and I found keeping with/ahead of him a good motivator. On the 4th lap I'd got a reasonable lead over him on the climb after the MX trail and had managed to enter the Rusty Bucket section with a couple of riders between us however I was worried he would still be able to take me on lap 5.

All was going well in Rusty Bucket until I got stuck behind 2 slower riders and just couldn't get past them. I find that section to be too twisty with too many hidden stumps and slippery tree roots to comfortably overtake, I'd chance it with a single rider, but 2 riders is too risky for me.
I must have lost a good 30secs stuck behind them and as I reached the Double Shocker Mr Iceni Velo had made up the lost ground. I had a good run up the Double Shocker and managed to keep him behind me which was just as well because as I reached the start/finish line Paul put out the "2hr Race Finished" sign so I couldn't do a 5th lap after all.

After two top 20 finishes I was a little disappointed to drop down to 26th (of 134), but at the start of the series I'd've been overjoyed to finish there so can't complain too much

The GRT riders got some more excellent results with Lewis, Ady and Wingnut making it on to the series podiums and the team took 5 of the top 10 places in the 4hr Vet Male category! Also Paddy got another podium (and I assume series win) in the 2hr Junior Male cat for HMF.

Apologies to Jeff, I didn't recognise you at first when you called me over and I'd just realised I was running out of time for a pre-ride so didn't stop to chat.

I'm just waiting for the series rankings to be updated on the TMTBR site now, I was 9th at the end of Rnd3, but there's some people with only 2, very high, results who were just behind me (it's the best of 3) so I'm not sure where it'll leave me - hopefully I'll still be within the top 20.

Thanks to the cheerleaders (Kim, Jojo, Blondie)


End of Series
I ended up 15th in the Series Standings!

Thetford Dusk Til Dawn 2012

I've ridden D2D 3 times before but usually with a view to have fun rather than properly race. This year I entered as a team of 2 with my mate Steve (Stumpy on here) who I've done a lot of riding with lately and we were keen to do as well as we could but realistically we had no aspirations of troubling the podium or even being anywhere near it.

The weather had been fairly poor in the days leading up to the race and I wasn't looking forward to riding in the rain again (2008 and 2010), but on the day the rain cleared around 7am and it stayed dry and bright. We arrived at High Lodge around 5:30pm, too late to have a proper pre-ride but we got signed in and had a quick spin over the first couple of sections of the course. The rain had left a fair bit of mud, but there was considerably more fire-road than usual so hopefully it would hold up better.
I was volunteered to do the opening lap so queued up on the start line with Andy1 at around 7:30pm in the freezing cold. On the lead out section I managed to stick to Ady's wheel but misted up lenses caused me to faff my way through the first section of singletrack and he left me for dust, erm mud...
The "simple" course set-up meant I didn't see any of the queuing problems that there's been in previous years and my Racing Ralphs managed to cope pretty well through the mud (other than in one section that I doubt will dry up again this century).

I tried to eek 2 laps out of my batteries but unfortunately they both packed in about 2/3rds of the way through lap 2 meaning my Hope Twin was blinking on low power mode and my Fenix helmet light had dropped to it's dimmest setting. Somehow I managed keep riding with low light levels and despite the problems the lap-times show I set the overall fastest lap time for my category
I'd borrowed 2 spare Hope batteries from a mate, so with mine now on charge I used one of his for my 3rd lap, unfortunately it had been sat doing nothing for ages and it also died after about 20mins (despite me charging it the night before) and I had to survive on the 180 lumen helmet light alone!
The following laps were battery-problem-free but for the last mile or so of lap 4 I started to suffer cramp in my quads; a quick massage afterwards helped but the rest of my race was a balance between pushing on and fighting back cramping muscles.

Both me and Steve were managing approx 45-60min lap times which was just long enough in the pits to eat, sort out fresh clothes and batteries, service the bike and then wait for the next turn. The weather stayed dry but it was much colder than I'd anticipated fortunately the GRT boys and girls had a gas heater which was a god-send.
Unfortunately after my fourth lap I lost the ability to add up and somehow overestimated how much time I had by about 15mins and Steve had to come and find me and kick me back out onto the course...

Through the night we managed 7 laps each and we were constantly swapping between 6th and 7th place (of around 50 teams in our category). I made it back from my final lap at around 7:45am to find we'd dropped back to 7th. Steve went out for one final lap and he managed to bump us back up to 6th!

I'm exceedingly chuffed to have had a top 10 finish, it's by far my best result and is much better than we had expected we'd do.

Many thanks to all the TROG and GRT boys and girls for the hospitality, banter and support and to TMTBR for putting on another cracking event. And well done to all the others for some excellent results

Trinity Park Criterion Races 2012

Having bought a road bike for the Triathlon I thought I'd better get some more use out of it.

I was regularly riding with my mate Steve who mentioned the 'Crit races' at Trinity Park.  This is a fast paced, 30minute (novice class) closed circuit race series held over 6 week - there is also a 1hr (pro class) option for those who are sufficiently masochistic.

Having missed the 1st week I made my debut at round 2.  By "made my debut" I mean I managed to stay with the pack on the start line but struggled to stay with them for much longer...

The courses are 1.5 to 2 miles long and consist of many 90 degree bends with 100m or so between them and to keep with the pack you need to permanently sprint!  So for 30mins you sprint, brake, sprint, brake, sprint, brake...  If you lose the pack, you lose the 'tow' effect that it gives off, making it even harder to catch back up.

Round 2
For my 1st attempt I managed 7 laps, I stuck with the pack for a couple of them, but then fell away and limped over the line.  As "novices" go, these are pretty skilful! Only the 1st 20 people get their places recorded so I've no idea of my final position.
Endomondo

Round 3
At round 3 a lead pack and follow up pack formed, I managed to stay with the latter and I think I only just missed out on a ranked position.
At the end of the race my body was struggling, my muscles wouldn't work any more and I was struggling to breath.  I ended up laying down in the car park for a few minutes while I recovered.  I don't think I've ever pushed myself that hard before or since!
Endomondo

I missed rounds 4 and 5 but returned for the final.  

Round 6
Having picked up a feel for what was involved at round 2 I had high hopes (well, I thought I might just be able to scrape into the top 20), however I lost the pack on the 2nd lap from the end and then punctured on the penultimate lap, not quite the blaze of glory I'd hoped to go out in... 
Endomondo

One characteristic of the crit races is that the pack travels so close together, so quickly and around such tight fast bends, that crashes are almost inevitable.  When they happen they're on hard tarmac and a "domino rally" type effect takes out several riders at once.
I saw 2 crashes at the final round.  In the first - the worst of the 2 - someone appeared to take the 1st corner too wide then swung back in and collided with the bloke right in front of me. I managed to avoid it somehow, but it looked pretty painful for those involved. From chatting to one of the blokes afterwards (the one who got hit) it sounded like quite an expensive crash as well (Di2 and carbon rims etc) he was also draping a towel over his shoulder so that he didn't get blood on his car seats!
On the 2nd one, the pack were going around one of the last couple of corners and it seems the tarmac was just too slippery and, as he leant right over, one guy on the outside just slid sideways off the track fortunately managing not to take anyone with him.

I enjoyed the rounds I did.  It opened my eyes to a totally different style of racing and gave me a greater appreciation at how hard the faster racers really are pushing themselves.

Dunwich Dynamo 2012

Back in 2009 I did the Dunwich Dynamo for the first time then did it again in 2010.  It's a 120 mile ride, through the night, from Hackney in east London to the Suffolk coast.


I've done the "Dun Run" 3 times now and this was definitely my favourite. My first was at a very steady pace and was enjoyable but hard work, my aim was just to get there.
Three years ago I had wanted to break all known land-speed records getting there, but I left my legs at Needham Lakes after an overly-long rest stop.
This time I was keen to do as well as possible; the loose plan was to take it steady out of London and then press on after that, with minimal stops and aiming for an 18mph average speed.  Also I was travelling light this time around, no bags or excess kit, all I was carrying was;

• a couple of bottles of energy drink and a GPS fitted to the bike
• a spare inner-tube and multitool in my saddle-bag
• 4 energy bars, 4 energy gels, some Haribo jelly strawberries, a tiny waterproof jacket and my phone in my jersey pockets.

After the usual banter and bike-ogling in the park I set of with my mate Steve at 20:15.

• As we left the traffic lights, junctions and overcrowded roads of London we were averaging about 13mph.
• We'd only been on the road 20mins when Steve asked me for the direction sheet, which I no longer seemed to have.  D'oh...  Never mind, there's usually plenty of people around to follow and we roughly know the route anyway.
• We got to the Sible Hedingham feed stop at about 23:20 (approx 50miles) and there were only 20 or 30 other people there at that time.  Previously when we've got there it's been heaving with people and bikes - attempting to buy food there has been near impossible.
• We spent 20-30mins having a quick caffeine, flapjack and banana refuel.

The stretch from Sudbury to Needham was my favourite, we were in a pack of about 10-15 people and combined with the strong tail-wind we were, seemingly effortlessly, flying along!  It was along here that I started to notice an ominous rattle but chose to ignore it...

We reached the rest stop in Gosbeck at around 01:30 (approx 90miles) and had another 20-30min break, opting for coffee, mars bars and bacon buttys for fuel this time.  At this point the GPS showed that we were averaging our target of 18mph!
As I jumped back on the bike the rattle was very noticeable and I spotted that a spoke in my back wheel had snapped at the rim!  On closer inspection I spotted that the one next to it had gone at the hub as well!  Due to travelling light I'd not packed a spoke key, any spare spokes or a truing stand (ho ho) so opted to snip them off with some borrowed wire cutters!


I wasn't happy to keep riding at the same pace in case any more spokes snapped or the wheel buckled beyond a ridable level so we dialled it back a little. The remaining 20-30 miles were frustrating as we were both still feeling fit but, as I was planning on biking back to Ipswich too, I definitely wanted the wheel to survive.

The wheel developed a slight but noticable buckle around the Bruisyard/Peasenhall area but it wasn't bad enough to make it unridable.

We reached Dunwich around 3:30, managing to not only beat the sunrise but also the staff at the cafe too!  Our final stats were, 7hrs 19mins total time, 6hrs 21mins riding time and a 17.5mph average speed (route and stats are here).  I'd estimate that the wheel cost us 10-20mins.

There were probably 40 people milling around the car park (rather than the 100-200 when I usually get there) but only 10 or so in the queue for the cafe so we joined the queue and waited for it to open at 4am; it's just as well that we had backed off the pace a bit as we'd have been waiting even longer otherwise ;)



Due to the dodgy wheel I wasn't sure whether to bike back or not, as I had the option of a lift if I waited around. I decided to chance it, working on the theory that my lift would probably be willing to do a detour if the worst happened

One full English breakfast later I slackened off my rear brake to stop the buckled rim from rubbing against the blocks and at 04:30 we started the 30 miles back to Ipswich.  It took just over 2 hours to get back (14.6mph average) where I found my garden gate bolted from the inside meaning that I couldn't get in...

All in all, I really enjoyed the event and am very pleased with the result despite the frustration of the wheel, but I think next time needs to be a leisurely attempt, making the most of the various pub and burger stops along the way :)

Wattisham Triathlon 2012

I've written this a long time after the event (22/04/13) so it'll be patchy but I wanted to attempt to remember details in advance of the 2013 Tri...

 Beforehand

• I got there mid-morning for the sign on and debrief.
• I was issued number 159 (written on calf) and a start time of 14:20.
• Much faffing ensued between now and the start.
• Met up with Simon Lockwood, he talked me through setting up my kit at the bike racks.
• Further faffing...
• I wore a Nike Pro Combat compression sleeveless top and Altura Stream cycling shorts
• I didn't use any energy bars/gels/etc but did have an SIS Go electrolyte drink on my bike and had plenty of bananas and flapjacks before hand.

The Swim (300m)

• Wattisham Tri has an indoor swim. The pool is divided into 6 lanes, you swim up and down each lane and after 12 lengths (300m) you climb out of the far side.
• Around 14:15 I queued up by the side of the pool and waited my turn.
• I set off too quickly and tired myself out by the 6th lap.
• Plodded to the end but was overtaken on my final length.
• As I climbed out of the pool my legs were like jelly and my head was spinning (mix of tiredness and adrenaline).
• Ran/wobbled to the transition point.
• Very quick dry down
• Socks, lid and SPDs on (socks a proper faff)
• Ran with bike to exit of transition area

The Ride (20km)

• The swim had properly tired me out and for the 1st mile or so I couldn't focus on the road
• I even went off the wide clear track at one point on to the grass verge!
• The off-course moment seemed to clear my mind and I finally found my rhythm.
• The course involves 2 laps of the airbase including riding up and down the runway.
• The runway has a strong wind passing down it, so you fly along it to begin with, then do a hairpin turn at the end into a wall of wind.
• The slog into the headwind was very hard work I kept looking up and seeing a marshall in a hi-viz vest at the end but he never seemed to get any closer!
• Once back at the transition area I dismounted and ran to my transition point.
• Removed my lid
• Swapped SPDs for trainers

The Run (5km)

• Before the Tri I'd been recording my runs on Endomondo and had been getting around 24-25min times for 5km.
• According to a comment I made on Facebook I was suffering significant stomach cramps as I started the run.
• My legs struggled to do anything for the first 1/2mile.
• Grabbed water at the 1st water-stop but ended up wearing most of it.
• After the 1st lap I found my pace.
• On the final straight I somehow managed to sprint the full length of it (200m?)

In the end I was 88th out of 262 entrants or 16th out of 30 in the "35-39 year old males" category.

My split times were as follows;

• Swim + Transition: 00:08:20
• Bike + Transition: 00:38:07
• Run: 00:22:20
• Total: 01:08:48

I'd set myself what I though was a realistic goal of 1:15 and a stretch of 1:10 so very chuffed to beat my stretch!
 
Karen Aldis took a few pics of me.