conehead@bcttt.com

Starting off with a cold/chest infection, a knee needing strapping because of possible ligament damage and subzero temperatures this wasn’t going to be the walk in the park I had hoped.

With 4 decent ascents up various slopes of Box Hill it was always going to be tough. I reached 98% of my max HR up the first slope, I should of stuck to the plan at this point and slowed down!!

I remember only making about 0.6M up the hill the previous year before having to stop to walk, I was determined to do better this year (at any cost!!) at the top of the first Hill a friendly voice shouts out to me, it was Ben and the little ones. This give me the chance to stop catch my breath. I have the taste of blood in my mouth which tells me how hard I’ve gone in the first km and how I’ve just thrown any sort of strategy out of the window.

A couple of minutes of recouping and I say bye to Ben then off down the hill.. As my watch beeps, 12.5 mins for the first mile.. could be worse. I battle with the Baywatch Life Guards, a group of Clowns and Python esque knights, over taking on the flat only to be overtaken as soon as I hit a slight incline. The hill descended for a good 1km, but before we reached the bottom I encountered the first steps of the day, normally I would of bounded down the hillside next to the steps but with the weather, the ground it was unsafe and I decide to gingerly trot down the steps, one by one carefully. At the bottom on the hill is a left turn down through the valley to the 1^st water station, a 180 degree turn and then up the next hill Juniper Bottom (or is it Top??).

A very steep hill that is only taken at a slow walking pace, inspirational signs are placed at key points up the hill, with a terrible false brow the hill just goes on and on.. As I reach the summit the first of my problems begins, a really aching lower back.. It’s sufficiently painful I have to stop running to stretch my back out.. a combination of jog/walking for the next 5 minutes takes me to the top of “The Chute”. I remember this from the previous year a fast descent down a rough single file track. Unfortunately we’ve been warned of the danger of this section of the course this years… it’s slippery and dangerous.. I plod carefully down the Chute, as we approach the bottom it’s a left handed turn and up the next hill.. with fantastic views over Dorking, Denbies Vineyard yet another hill is taken at a walking pace.. a few of the faster runners who have started after us due to the staggered start over take me, I try not to be too dishearten.. besides they must weigh 60% of what I do therefore they must be at least 40% quicker than me!!

At the top is the turn around by the lookout monument.. Plenty of support is here which is very vocal.. people seem to like my costume

Now comes the part I fear the most.. the steps.. I don’t know how many steps there are but they just go on forever!! As I descent the pain on the runners faces as they pass me going up the hill tells me all I need to know about how hard this is going to be.. suddenly I have a flash back from the previous year and I remember how I hated the steps.

The descent is a mixture of randomly sized steps interspaced with patches of slippery muddy tracks, it’s impossible to see much further than 5 meters in front as I’m trying to concentrate so hard on not slipping over. I one point I do my impression of a lizard on hot sand as one leg slips from under me, I make to place my other leg down just for it to slip away and I managed to place my original leg back down. All this is occurring while both arms flail in a windmill fashion.. it causes much merriment with my fellow runners..

At the bottom of the steps there is a small loop out and back over the river, normally you go out over the bridge and return by the stepping stones, unfortunately the stepping stones are completely submerged so it’s turned into an out and back leg, which in my opinion (and my Garmin’s) adds an extra .25 miles on to the run..

At the bottom on the steps I make the decision to walk as quickly as I can up them (not that I could actually run up them if I wanted to!!) apparently over 270 steps and a height of over 130 vertical meters. I had a simple goal do not stop, if my memory served me correctly this is where I fell apart last year, having to frequently stop and watch other people overtake me.  I was already significantly behind where I had wanted to be but at this point it didn’t really matter.. just getting to the top of the steps was my goal..

Slowly step by step I managed to lumber, and stumble up the side of the hill, one step at a time, conscience of my lower back pains I try to walk as upright as possible which gives the impression I’m Frankenstein’s monster with a very rigid posture, the irregular depth and size of the steps means a rhythm is not possible and at any time, it’s just a case of literally taking it one step at a time.

Good humour and encouragement is given and received by both runners passed, coming down the steps and runners overtaking me..   at some point I reached the top of the steps, down here from here!!! Nope, the path still keeps climbing through bushes and scrubs, it should be a downhill damn it!!! I revert to stumbling from my run like trot.. I want to look good for the final down hill

Before long the bushes clear, the hill flattens and I can see the last 1km downhill section. It’s still frosty and partial covered with snow.. instead of the headlong sprint down the hill I have to be more careful…

I run pass the In-laws who have come to support me.. the sounds of my father in law laughing aloud when he see me in my pink dress cheer me greatly. Just ahead the Knights of Ni are doing battle and running around the finish line without actually crossing it.

I finish in a time that is 4 minutes slower that the previous year, the results tell me the winner was over 5 minutes slower than the previous year therefore I believe although I was slower this year I performed better…

What a great goody bag, a really good technical top, a decent winter luminous hat and soup, rolls and a carrot – Medals to follow..

I would say that this is one of my favourite events, it is also a testament that 80% of the runners wore fancy dress, with several people coordinating to make several really funny fancy dress teams and I saw NO one with MP3 Player.. all on New Year’s Day

I hereby proposal that the BCTTT enter a fun dressed team for next year’s race.. Anyone else interested??

There will no doubt be issues at first, but these will be ironed out as we go along! I will be leaving the old forum up for the next 2 weeks while we make the change over, but the quicker you move over to the new system the better!

I’ve created a sticky topic (yes I can now actually sticky on the new forum!!) for bugs/problems.

The url is http://forum.bcttt.com

Enjoy!

Well it started ok when I got up at looked outside. It had obviously been raining but the sky was cloudy but result – no rain.

I even managed to see a bit of blue sky trying to fight it’s way through the grey sky.

I managed to wake up the entire family with my banging about and cursing as I left bit’s of kit all around the place. Shoes in one room and bike in another. Eventually I got organised and left the house and made my way the few miles to Dorking.

I had mentioned to everyone to try and get there for as close to 8am as possible and I know I have mentioned before the jelly is fast becoming known for either being late or not turning up at all. Today I knew he was coming cos Scotty and Jelly were cycling 17 mile to the event from Jelly’s house!!!! Yea I know…. mental.

I arrived at ten past 8 and made my way to registration – a really simple, quick and easy process. The Evans sportives are really popular and the car park of the school where it started was fast filling up. Tip for when we do one again – early is better.

I met Flavadave, Wannabetri, James, BPML and a friend of mine from work and we all stood under a bike hut in the rain that had now decided to grace us with it’s presence. We were all waiting for Scotty and Jelly ( no suprise really) . The lads had decided to make the 17 mile ride in pouring rain, uphill and with a head wind!!!! Mental.

Once we all were ready for the off we handed in our yellow cards ( no idea what they were for) and were given a quick briefing about what to expect. Basicly the bloke said about Hills, more hills and standing water… things looked a little bleak from where I was standing.

We got the go and Scotty shot off into the lead with a 2 yard lead followed closely by Jelly who if I was honest started 6 yards the wrong side of the start line. LOL

We all mooched up the road and the plan was simple – follow the pink arrows on trees and and lamposts and make our way round the 65 miles in true BCTTT style.

Within the 1st mile we were all soaking wet, my overshoes had done a crap job of keeping my feet warm mainlyu cos er… they were soaking wet. I had water in my shoes already and with every peddle stroke I could feel the water squelching between my toes. Nice!!!

we jostled for position and It was great to oout faces to the names as we made easy progress to Boxhill about 4 miles away. before we got there there was a small issue with the little pink arrow signs… namely, whoever had laid them out did it wrong!! We took a left hand turn and found a group of cyclists heading towards us – the told us where we had gone wrong as they had done the same.

We righted our wrong and ended up at the base of Boxhill. We all started to thin out as it’s actually prettyy narrow up the hill and I found myself chatting with James…. Nice bike, great colour mate <img src=’http://bcttt.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif’ alt=’:smile:’ class=’wp-smiley’ />

He was telling me al about his glamorous races, 70.3 Monaco and 70.3 Hawaii in the coming months. Lucky lad.

He then decided to take things on and shot off like Lance Bloody Amrstrong and I found myself climbing to he top following some other riders – I do love Boxhill, really nice place to be.

The weather was still a bit cruddy TBH and I was wondering what the next 60 miles would bring. Still I looked forward to the laughs we no doubt would have along the way.

When I got to the top of Boxhill I couldn’t work out if I was last in our group so I waited for a few mins in case ayone came up behind me… no one did and after 3 or 4 minutes I was worried I was last and everyone wojuld be waiting for me at the top of Pebble Hill 2 miles away!!! I sped up and made my way to the top of Pebble and found Flavadave and my mate from work ( Paulette) at the roadside as Dave had a flat!!! I stopped and waited for him to quickly change his flat…. this is where things started to get comical.

He struggled to get his Gattorskins of the rim so I lent him some more tyre levers and he soon was pulling the old tube out and fitting a new one. I then ran off into the woods to “use facilities” ands found myself sinking overshoe deep into the mud…. shit!!! I did the business but no after the wind blew it all over my fight foot!!!! Bugger

I got back to Paulette and Dave and he was pumping up his tyre… result………Nope, he had buggered that one up too… never fear though so he whacked another tube in and pumped for his life…..pinched that one and that was gone too. So it was a try again approach. He then broke out the big guns and drew on his CO2 thingy and threw one of my tubes in.

By now BPML, Scotty and Jelly had arrived – I wasn’t the bac marker after all – Jelly punctured on Boxhill too. So there we were all at the tp of a hill watching Dave cock up another inner tube change. James and Wannabetri had obviously made their way off down the hill and rightly so cracked on.

Dave was ready to inflate his tyre with the CO2 and bent down to do so and emptied the entire contents into the atmosphere. To say we laughed was an understatement. ( sorry Dave but it was funny) <img src=’http://bcttt.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif’ alt=’:wink:’ class=’wp-smiley’ />

After some ribbing and piss taking ( in the niceest possible way) Scotty stepped forward and showed us all how to do it. One emptied CO2 cannister and one fully inflated tyre later we all bombed down Pebble hill.

The ride continued for a few miles and at about mile something or other Jelly started to suffer. he failed to eat any breakfast and as things turned undulating he bonked and rightly so despite throwing gels and food down his neck decided to call it a day. Not before I saw him simply fall off onto a grassy bank still clipped in to the bike. The lad was suffering.  No one left him and we all rode with him until he could peel off and ride 5 miles back to the start. He had my cars keys so he could keep dry and warm. Well done Jelly mate….. cos If I had known what was coming I would have joined you.

In no time at all the hills arrived… and they were rather long and painful. My little chicken legs and a double chainset did not make a good combination. I really struggled and started to feel the burn alot earlier than I had hoped for. All the previous delays ( me holding people up – sorry lads <img src=’http://bcttt.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_confused.gif’ alt=’:???:’ class=’wp-smiley’ /> )had put us under a bit of pressure as their was a cut of time for the 65 mile long route of 1230pm. Things didn’t look good. Quick stop at the water stop, Sis drink ( horrible why do they make it taste so disgusting) and a banana and cake and we were off. I can’t emphasise how I was taken by surprise with the hills…. I was suffering quite alot and on some of the really steep ones, I’m sure 18 or 20% I couldn’t get up them… I took to walking. It was still raining.

I felt terrible at holding the others up so I tried to jog up some of the hills, the legs were on fire and I kept slipping on the cleats.

We came to the top of one big hill and there was a long descent which we all really enjoyed… until we realised the weather had taken it’s toll on our rear brake blocks… they we disintegrating….. rapidly. I had virtually no rear brake on the way down and it was a long way down holding onto both brakes all the way.

We all made it safely to the bottom and after much screeching and metallic scraping later we looked at our brakes. I need to change my rear blocks and Scotty had simply worn right through his.. here was bugger all left!!!!

Things brightened up weather wise and I took my Jacket off – oh next time can someone tell me not to wear brand new white kit – it’s doesn’t look good covered in crap and mud!!!

It soon became apparent that there was no way we would make the cut off for the 65 miler so we opted for the medium route ( thank god). The hills really had taken their toll on me and I was suffering – still going but I only made it halfway up every hill on the bike. I need to do more hill work I fear. The bloke a the aid station told us the biggest and longest hills were still to come and I felt gutted to hear that. I think everyone was hurting a little.

I didn’t know the hills in Surrey could go up, then level out then go up some more!!!! It really was painful and I was getting pissed of at not being able to climb them. I simply didn’t have the power there.

We all soldiered on and eventually we made it to the finish. Wannabetri and james had obviously demolished the course and had gone home and I had a party to get too so we all said out goodbyes. Scotty is officially mental as he kitted up to cycle back to Jelly’s 17 miles away. Crazy!!! jelly got a lift to the station and Paulette ( she is too fit to join our club – you should see her run!!!!!!!!)and BPML sat in the cafe stuffing their faces and rightly so.

So in summary, I enjoyed it despite the pain and suffering, I need to man up and grow a pair and ride many more hills to get stronger. I have never ridden hills like that before. We have agreed to go back and attack it – Scotty had it in his GPS so whenever we get a go Im game.

Great day, cheap at a tenner and well run I’d say. Deffo worth a look and maybe some other Evans events.

Thanks again to al that turned up in crappy weather and here’s to the next one. I shall not be defeated.

Issue 2

Well it started ok when I got up at looked outside. It had obviously been raining but the sky was cloudy but result – no rain.

I even managed to see a bit of blue sky trying to fight it’s way through the grey sky.

I managed to wake up the entire family with my banging about and cursing as I left bit’s of kit all around the place. Shoes in one room and bike in another. Eventually I got organised and left the house and made my way the few miles to Dorking. Then the rain started…….

I had mentioned to everyone to try and get there for as close to 8am as possible and I know I have mentioned before the Jelly is fast becoming known for either being late or not turning up at all. Today I knew he was coming cos Scotty and Jelly were cycling 17 mile to the event from Jelly’s house!!!! Yea I know…. mental.

I arrived at ten past 8 and made my way to registration – a really simple, quick and easy process. The Evans sportives are really popular and the car park of the school where it started was fast filling up. Tip for when we do one again – early is better.

I met Flavadave, Wannabetri, James, BPML and a friend of mine from work and we all stood under a bike hut in the rain that had now decided to get rather heavy. We were all waiting for Scotty and Jelly – The lads had decided to make the 17 mile ride in pouring rain, uphill and with a head wind!!!! Mental.

Once we all were ready for the off we handed in our yellow cards ( no idea what they were for) and were given a quick briefing about what to expect. Basically the bloke said about Hills, more hills and standing water… things looked a little bleak from where I was standing.

We got the go and Scotty shot off into the lead with a 2 yard lead followed closely by Jelly who if I was honest started 6 yards the wrong side of the start line. LOL

We all mooched up the road and the plan was simple – follow the pink arrows on trees and and lamposts and make our way round the 65 miles in true BCTTT style.

Within the 1st mile we were all soaking wet, my overshoes had done a crap job of keeping my feet warm mainly because they were soaking wet.  With every peddle stroke I could feel the water squelching between my toes. Nice!!!

We jostled for position and it was great to put faces to the names as we made easy progress to Boxhill about 4 miles away. Before we arrived at the base of Boxhill there was a small issue with the little pink arrow direction signs… namely, whoever had laid them out did it wrong!! We took a left hand turn and found a group of cyclists heading towards us – the told us where we had gone wrong as they had done the same.

We righted our wrong and ended up at the base of Boxhill. We all started to thin out as it’s actually pretty narrow up the hill and I found myself chatting with James…. Nice bike, great colour too.

He was telling me al about his glamorous races, 70.3 Monaco and 70.3 Hawaii in the coming months. Lucky lad.

He then decided to take things on and shot off like Lance Bloody Amrstrong and I found myself climbing to he top following some other riders – I do love Boxhill, really nice place to be.

The weather was still a bit cruddy TBH and I was wondering what the next 60 miles would bring. Still I looked forward to the laughs we no doubt would have along the way.

When I got to the top of Boxhill I couldn’t work out if I was last in our group so I waited for a few mins in case anyone came up behind me… no one did and after 3 or 4 minutes I was worried I was last and everyone would be waiting for me at the top of Pebble Hill 2 miles away!!! I sped up and made my way to the top of Pebble and found Flavadave and my mate from work ( Paulette) at the roadside as Dave had a flat!!! I stopped and waited for him to quickly change his flat…. this is where things started to get comical.

He struggled to get his Gattorskins of the rim so I lent him some more tyre levers and he soon was pulling the old tube out and fitting a new one. I then ran off into the woods to “use facilities” and found myself sinking overshoe deep into the mud…. shit!!! I did the business but no after the wind blew it all over my fight foot!!!! Bugger

I got back to Paulette and Dave and he was pumping up his tyre… result………Nope, he had buggered that one up too… never fear though so he whacked another tube in and pumped for his life…..pinched that one and that was gone too. So it was a try again approach. He then broke out the big guns and drew on his CO2 thingy and threw one of my tubes in.

By now BPML, Scotty and Jelly had arrived – I wasn’t the bac marker after all – Jelly punctured on Boxhill too. So there we were all at the top of a hill watching Dave cock up another inner tube change. James and Wannabetri had obviously made their way off down the hill and rightly so cracked on.

Dave was ready to inflate his tyre with the CO2 and bent down to do so and emptied the entire contents into the atmosphere. To say we laughed was an understatement. ( sorry Dave but it was funny)

After some friendly ribbing ( in the nicest possible way) Scotty stepped forward and showed us all how to do it. One emptied CO2 canister and one fully inflated tyre later we all bombed down Pebble hill.

The ride continued for a few miles and at about mile something or other Jelly started to suffer. He failed to eat any breakfast and as things turned undulating he bonked and rightly so despite throwing gels and food down his neck decided to call it a day. Not before I saw him simply fall off onto a grassy bank still clipped in to the bike. The lad was suffering.  No one left him and we all rode with him until he could peel off and ride 5 miles back to the start. He had my cars keys so he could keep dry and warm. Well done Jelly mate….. cos If I had known what was coming I would have joined you.

In no time at all the hills arrived… and they were rather long and painful. My little chicken legs and a double chainset did not make a good combination. I really struggled and started to feel the burn alot earlier than I had hoped for. All the previous delays ( me holding people up – sorry lads ) had put us under a bit of pressure as their was a cut of time for the 65 mile long route of 1230pm. Things didn’t look good. Quick stop at the water stop, Sis drink ( horrible why do they make it taste so disgusting) and a banana and cake and we were off. I can’t emphasise how I was taken by surprise with the hills…. I was suffering quite alot and on some of the really steep ones, I’m sure 18 or 20% I couldn’t get up them… I took to walking. It was still raining. I got wetter.

I felt terrible at holding the others up so I tried to jog up some of the hills, the legs were on fire and I kept slipping on the cleats. There were wet leaves and mud all over the road so I decided to be careful and not risk a fall as I may injure myself. I carried in walking…. And getting wetter!

We came to the top of one big hill and there was a long descent which we all really enjoyed… until we realised the weather had taken it’s toll on our rear brake blocks… they we disintegrating….. rapidly. I had virtually no rear brake on the way down and it was a long way down holding onto both brakes all the way. I have never heard the noise of worn brake blocks trying desperately to hold onto fast spinning wheels down a long decent before. Strangely satisfying though. We passed a few runners – one of them running with a dog.

We all made it safely to the bottom and after much screeching and metallic scraping later we looked at our brakes. I need to change my rear blocks and Scotty had simply worn right through his.. here was bugger all left!!!!

Things brightened up weather wise and I took my Jacket off – oh next time can someone tell me not to wear brand new white kit – it’s doesn’t look good covered in crap and mud!!!

It soon became apparent that there was no way we would make the cut off for the 65 miler so we opted for the medium route ( thank god). The hills really had taken their toll on me and I was suffering – still going but I only made it halfway up every hill on the bike. I need to do more hill work I fear. The bloke a the aid station told us the biggest and longest hills were still to come and I felt gutted to hear that. I think everyone was hurting a little.

I didn’t know the hills in Surrey could go up, then level out then go up some more!!!! It really was painful and I was getting pissed of at not being able to climb them. I simply didn’t have the power there. I’m sure others have ridden bigger hills but to me they were a good test and I want to go back and do it again.

We all soldiered on and eventually we made it to the finish. Wannabetri and James had obviously demolished the course and had gone home and I had a party to get too so we all said out goodbyes. Scotty is officially mental as he kitted up to cycle back to Jelly’s 17 miles away. Crazy!!! jelly got a lift to the station and Paulette ( she is too fit to join our club – you should see her run!!!!!!!!)and BPML sat in the cafe stuffing their faces and rightly so.

So in summary, I enjoyed it despite the pain and suffering, I need to man up and grow a pair and ride many more hills to get stronger. I have never ridden hills like that before. We have agreed to go back and attack it – Scotty had it in his GPS so whenever we get a go I’m game.

Great day, cheap at a tenner and well run I’d say. Deffo worth a look and maybe some other Evans events.

What have I learnt from the day – I need to sort our nutrition – I took way to much liquid. Ended up stropping 5 times for the loo – I was simply not sweating anything out, Also have a bigger breakfast and ride more hills.

Thanks again to all that turned up in crappy weather and here’s to the next one. I shall not be defeated

Being the BCTTT we don’t reward members in the usual way, we’re not interested in AG winners – you’re ok all on your own.  No we do things differently and as such the awards went like this…..

1.  I’m Not Dead I’m Just Having A Rest Award – for showing consideration to other club members in the swim by allowing them to finish first. Scibby won a Blue Seventy Nero Bag

2.  Its Not About The Bike Award - for allowing everyone to get back to T2 before them.  Malteser won a £100 voucher for Btown bikes

3.  Remember The Hare And The Tortoise Award – for showing extreme restraint in the run by letting everyone past.  Kidstardust won a pair of snazzy Reebok trainers

4.  Most Disturbing In Lycra Award – for narrowly avoiding arrest, making small children cry and psycholigically scarring fellow competitors.  Didds

5.  Bringing Up The Rear Award – for letting eveyone else in the club finish the race before them.  Didds again, and won a nice Breil Watch for his troubles.

6.  Global Domination Award – for best representing the ethos of the BCTTT at club champs.  Scotty Burrows, with a family size box of Haribo starmix.

• Raffle winners

1. 2010 Helix (thanks to B70) - md6
2. American Classic 420 wheels (thanks to Btown) - Jo Smith
3. Entry to both Chase Race OW events in 2010 (thanks to ChaseRace) - JMcM

Run 1: 18:01.4 ( I clocked 2.75 Km, but I think the calibration on my HRM is out still)

T1: 1:30.1 have done quicker, but then again its my first effort at moving from running shoe to cycle shoe!

Bike leg was fine… 5 circuits of 2 miles each. Wind on that eastern end was sever on the bike with no protection whatsoever; everybody was hauling like made to get through it, even the quick guys. The circuit is wide and there’s plenty of room so people are passing on both sides but comms were always good. the home straight with the wind behind was a different story though… right down into small gears/big rations and 50 kph though the wind was still interesting at times from the side. On my 3rd leg a chap passing me came a cropper – think his chain jumped but as I passed him and checked he said not to worry. Around this time UJ trisuit man passed me on the bike – a bit of competition is always good so I set myself if at possible to haul him back in. No joy on the bike! the last lap was a fairly lonely affair as only us BOPers were left on the circuit… the female wave had started well after us and they had been visible running their first lap… i got chicked by an early rider in their race on my last lap. the view was pretty good though Smile Eventually bike finished and i found i was right behind the chap i’d met at salisbury City 10K last feb…

Bike: 36:14.6

T2: salsibury city 10K man had used all the racking space up where I’d been before but he was still there and moved it along to squeeze me in. He wasn’t using clip ins so as off sharpish and I changed shoes. 1:45.6

Run 2: Leaving T2 I was hailed by Doug hall, pro triathlete with VOTWO, and tri coach. Good to see him. Also a shoutr from Ris from the BCTTTs who lives at chippenham and who had been looking after his daughter this morning, preventing him from racing. Always good to see a friendly face Wink I’d hope to catch up with salisbury City 10K man but n joy… his running has come on leaps and bounds since be and he was pulling away from me constantly. I was convinced I was last – not that this bothers me – so set out to minimise the time difference between me and penultimate place. As i struggled along the eatsern end into the wind, I saw UJ trisuit man ahead and wondered if it I might poull him back, but he was a good couple of hundred metres up on me. Doug cruised past with encourangement as he warmed up for his race later … With just under a mile to go as Doug left me, I yellow running jacketted chap ahead weas walking and I passed him… yea! I wasn’t last! However, ye;llow jacket then ran again and passed me … DOH! I did however continue to gain on UJ trisuit and with about 300m to go passed him in style as i started to push on – and relinquished last place as well Smile Yellow jacket was about 50m in front with 200m to go and I set myself to get him… and really pushed it on. I brought the gap down to maybe 20m but he had plenty more left in his tank I reckon but we both a got a cheer as we raced for the line, Ris cheering me on from the side.

Run2: 17.24.1 (2.83Km on my HRM… a longer run2 than run 1 – slightly different course at start and end, but a negative split run

Total : 1:14:55

Summary : really pleased with my first road duathlon; discipline transitioning went fine, even though my inner thighs ached as i finished the bike but no adverse affects on the run at all. The wind was hard work, and the entire race was quite hard… harder than both the Olympic distance tris I’ve done for example… though I’m not really in trainng yet so that may have a lot to do with that. Oh – and according to Ris i wasn’t last by around 4 or 5 others

What a lovely morning for racing, the sun was up and there was a light wind blowing as I arrived late as usual for a race. Cue mild panic as my profile bottle wouldn’t stay on the tri bars, so I abandoned that and decided to just go with bottles.

I made it to transition with 5 minutes to spare before the compulsory race briefing, and before having time to warm up we were whisked away to the start. The start began at the bottom of a valley with the first 800 metres winding it’s way out of the valley’s steep side again. I took this very easy as I know some people would blow up early. I’d get them later. The run course had changed sine last year’s race which included a 1 in 4 hill which you ran down on the first lap, and up on the second. We were happy to see the back of that one.

Alas, the organisers had found one road with a huge down and uphill section on an out and back course so by the end of the first lap I realised I hadn’t done enough training! Still, the bike would give me a restbite. It was the first time I’d raced my new steed, and blimey what a difference a few less pounds and carbon frame makes. I was hurtling a long like a man posessed. Then… my drink bottle decided to jump out of the rear cage and land in the largest deposit of New Forest Animal shyte that it could find.  So 3 k into the bike leg, no hydration and still a way to go.

After about 5k I heard a clatter behind me. Looking round I saw a girl had come off (possibly been clipped by a car that had got too close).  I quickly came to  a stop and went back to check on her. Thankfully she was alright. So I got back on my bike and carried on.

The return leg of the bike made me realise that the wind wasn’t light, and in fact I’d been cycling with a strong tail wind as it was a lot harder than I thought getting back to T2.

Once back I donned my trusty NB trainers and set out for the last 5k. I was feeling ok still and took it wasy on the last downhill. As I reached the bottom and started to climb the last hill my calf started hurting. Thinking nothing of it I pushed on. As I reached the top it all was too much and my calf spasmed. Possibly lack of hydration put pay to it. So I hobbled the last 1km back to Sandy Balls with a whole raft of people overtaking me. Got a good cheer as I came into  the finishing straight. Despite the injury I still finished 7 minutes faster than last years race mainly thanks to the bike leg.

And in true BCTTT fashion I finished in the bottom half of the table. Still I loved it and have great respect for the Race New Forest team who are consistently the best race organisers I have come across.

Next year I’ll be back!

Got to the race good and early and did the necessary official stuff. Had been concerned about the weather and what to wear but in the end just about got it right – trisuit + long sleeved technical shirt.

I warmed up with a lap of the run route – one mile – which also served as a bit of a recce. back at the start I bumped into somebody I know from lake 32; always nice to see a friendly face.

The race was busy – about 300 entrants mixed between the short course that I was on 1M/5M/1M and the long course of double that. The start was delayed a few minutes as lots of people were still registering, and we started first on the short course.

First lap went fine – there was only really one stretch that was at all troublesome in the mud, for about a few hundred yards, and the verges were compacted enough to see easy passage. Early doors there were already people walking – we are talking a quarter of a mile at most. I picked off a few runners and soon was back towards transition and spectators…  it was really quiet so i implored the spectators to make some noise.

Into transition and straight out after helmet was on; I’d plumped for flat pedals following my disastrous efforts last week at Erlestoke woods on SPDs so I had no footwear changes to make.

The bike went fairly well considering my complete novice status at MTbing. My Decathlon was well up to the job, and especially so once I’d turned off the fork lock out that made the ride easier.  The route was a mixture; open grassland, gravel track, compacted forest trail.  Oh – and some areas of mud.  And what appeared to be a small lake.  I was just catching a woman when i picked the wrong line into a small hop over a log and I just stopped across it in the mud! A few sections were just impassable and forced a walk; the downside was when trying to get started again you had to pick a slot in the stream of riders that had remounted already – everybody was walking in two or three places so it wasn’t just me! – and on one occasion I had to wait seemingly yonks to get space to start again (which ultimately cost me a sub hour finish!).

Eventually transition hove into view and grabbing a very quick final swig of water I was off and running.  Second lap was a bit slower, but I didn’t feel jelly legs at all. On lap one I’d passed a tall girl all in black, and she’d passed me on the bike about 2/3rds through; She was about 50m or so ahead of me but with only a mile to catch her up I thought it unlikely, but pushed on. The run again went pretty well, very few dramas, and as it was I caught the girl in black just shy of the finish and came past her at the spectator roping…  where nobody was watching.  hey ho!

And then through the finish chute to collect my race bag, and job done on my first duathlon   Muddy, damp and thoroughly happy!

Total Time 01:00:18
Run#1 – 00:11:49
Transition – 00:01:01
Bike – 00:34:07
Transition + Run#2 – 00:13:21
Overall: 45th out of 67
Age group: 18th out of 20