Here follows my blow-by-blow account of the Kendal Triathlon:
Build-up
I managed to pack up and get on the road by around 2pm on Saturday afternoon, big difference to Derby's lastminute.com arrival. Had a lovely evening (if you're ever there check out The Bridge Street Restaurant) and early to bed, early to rise. A bit too much faffing around meant I arrived slightly later than ideally I would have liked to in the morning, but I was carrying the essentials only. Feeling confident I approached the poolside with about 15mins until the start.
The swim (750m)
I was drawn in a lane with somone a bit slower than me (probably 20 years older too, pretty impressive) and set off 10 secs after him (why not me first seems an obvious question). The pool was more shallow than I was used to, which was weird (my hand would actually scrape the bottom in the shallow end). It was also choppier which meant rolling further to get to the air, but recent technique improvements seemed to be paying dividends. The chaos of Derby was replaced by a quite mellow swim, I accelerated throughout and got out at around 14mins40secs - meaning I lapped faster than Derby, over nearly twice the distance and felt less tired as I'd not used my legs for power at all, just keeping flat in the water as I knew I'd need them for the long bike ahead...or so I thought.
T1
I left the pool at around the same time as around 4 other people and managed to skip past a couple in T1 by taking my swim flip-flops with me to enable a good trot from the pool, by keeping my transition area free from clutter and by running properly with my bike to the exit. The only real learning point was that the vaseline I'd applied to my cycling shoes to ensure a quick slip-on was all over my hands! Some slipping incidents on the bike but no disaster.
The bike (20Km)
Kendal is in the Lake District. Home of lakes...and mountains...and big hills...cycle 20Km anywhere in the Lakes and you're talking hills. However, this was steep and unrelentingly so. I'd driven it the night before to reccy the route and knew that I'd seriously under-estimated this route - somehow thinking it was a long, very slightly incline out and the reverse back. Anyway, I was leading the group who'd left the pool at the same time as me and started to pick-off a couple of others. Stopping and starting for traffic lights etc. meant we rebunched together and it became quite competitive. I knew there was lots of climbing and was determined to stay in my seat wherever possible to conserve energy. This led to a lot of overtaking, on the steepest sections two guys behind would stand up and accelerate past and on lesser inclines and relatively flat sections I'd regain position. I was really enjoying this element of racing and when it came to the first serious section of downhill I decided that, as they were taking the opportunity to have a rest that I'd make a break for it and speed down the hill in aero position. I look up and the corner is approaching rather rapidly...oops...I suddenly realise that I've never cornered at speed before. I slam on the brakes to ensure I stay on my side of the road into the blind corner "Front brakes are best, front brakes are best" right brake lever slammed on...skid as I realise that is the back brake lever. I become acutely aware of my rear wheel appearing in the periphery of my right-eye vision. There's a line from the very average Will Smith film 'iRobot' "You are about to experience an accident" which goes round my mind. For seemingly a few seconds it's all very calm and I get to decide the nature of my fall; whether to unclip my shoes or not (yes), whether to try to keep on the road or head straight to the hedge/verge (verge, always the verge) and then whether to stay on the bike or roll away (hmmm, tricky, I think away might be best). WHALLOP. Thankfully there's no car coming the other way as my initial contact is with the tarmac in the middle of the other carriageway. I roll several times and into the hedge. The bike's in the middle of the road. I get it and do a quick check for blood and other such damage. Blimey, that was exciting. And I'm fine - I could even catch up. I remount and realise the chain is off, repair that and but so it goes on, brakes out of place, etc. until I realise that my rear wheel is buckled. Bugger. After briefly considering running the remaining 10 miles of the bike ride (with non-functioning bike....no) I start the long walk back. Several competitors offer help and ask how I am and lose time in doing so - wow - how great is that? But I'm out, no-one has a spare rear wheel with them. Thankfully my wife decided to follow in the car and picked the damaged me and the damaged bike up. I am out of the competition and will not finish.
Overall
Well, obviously this isn't a good way to finish a season and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. However, I learnt a great deal and wouldn't swap my summer of triathlon sprint training for anything else I could realistically have done. Clearly, I've learnt that I need A LOT more time on a real bike, riding real roads getting real experience before I should allow myself to race on the roads. But, I've also learnt that I can compete in these events, not with the top men, but with others like me, both more experienced and less so. Most importantly I've learnt that I can be a triathlete and exceed my expectations...and to quote another line from a film...I'll be back.
Build-up
I managed to pack up and get on the road by around 2pm on Saturday afternoon, big difference to Derby's lastminute.com arrival. Had a lovely evening (if you're ever there check out The Bridge Street Restaurant) and early to bed, early to rise. A bit too much faffing around meant I arrived slightly later than ideally I would have liked to in the morning, but I was carrying the essentials only. Feeling confident I approached the poolside with about 15mins until the start.
The swim (750m)
I was drawn in a lane with somone a bit slower than me (probably 20 years older too, pretty impressive) and set off 10 secs after him (why not me first seems an obvious question). The pool was more shallow than I was used to, which was weird (my hand would actually scrape the bottom in the shallow end). It was also choppier which meant rolling further to get to the air, but recent technique improvements seemed to be paying dividends. The chaos of Derby was replaced by a quite mellow swim, I accelerated throughout and got out at around 14mins40secs - meaning I lapped faster than Derby, over nearly twice the distance and felt less tired as I'd not used my legs for power at all, just keeping flat in the water as I knew I'd need them for the long bike ahead...or so I thought.
T1
I left the pool at around the same time as around 4 other people and managed to skip past a couple in T1 by taking my swim flip-flops with me to enable a good trot from the pool, by keeping my transition area free from clutter and by running properly with my bike to the exit. The only real learning point was that the vaseline I'd applied to my cycling shoes to ensure a quick slip-on was all over my hands! Some slipping incidents on the bike but no disaster.
The bike (20Km)
Kendal is in the Lake District. Home of lakes...and mountains...and big hills...cycle 20Km anywhere in the Lakes and you're talking hills. However, this was steep and unrelentingly so. I'd driven it the night before to reccy the route and knew that I'd seriously under-estimated this route - somehow thinking it was a long, very slightly incline out and the reverse back. Anyway, I was leading the group who'd left the pool at the same time as me and started to pick-off a couple of others. Stopping and starting for traffic lights etc. meant we rebunched together and it became quite competitive. I knew there was lots of climbing and was determined to stay in my seat wherever possible to conserve energy. This led to a lot of overtaking, on the steepest sections two guys behind would stand up and accelerate past and on lesser inclines and relatively flat sections I'd regain position. I was really enjoying this element of racing and when it came to the first serious section of downhill I decided that, as they were taking the opportunity to have a rest that I'd make a break for it and speed down the hill in aero position. I look up and the corner is approaching rather rapidly...oops...I suddenly realise that I've never cornered at speed before. I slam on the brakes to ensure I stay on my side of the road into the blind corner "Front brakes are best, front brakes are best" right brake lever slammed on...skid as I realise that is the back brake lever. I become acutely aware of my rear wheel appearing in the periphery of my right-eye vision. There's a line from the very average Will Smith film 'iRobot' "You are about to experience an accident" which goes round my mind. For seemingly a few seconds it's all very calm and I get to decide the nature of my fall; whether to unclip my shoes or not (yes), whether to try to keep on the road or head straight to the hedge/verge (verge, always the verge) and then whether to stay on the bike or roll away (hmmm, tricky, I think away might be best). WHALLOP. Thankfully there's no car coming the other way as my initial contact is with the tarmac in the middle of the other carriageway. I roll several times and into the hedge. The bike's in the middle of the road. I get it and do a quick check for blood and other such damage. Blimey, that was exciting. And I'm fine - I could even catch up. I remount and realise the chain is off, repair that and but so it goes on, brakes out of place, etc. until I realise that my rear wheel is buckled. Bugger. After briefly considering running the remaining 10 miles of the bike ride (with non-functioning bike....no) I start the long walk back. Several competitors offer help and ask how I am and lose time in doing so - wow - how great is that? But I'm out, no-one has a spare rear wheel with them. Thankfully my wife decided to follow in the car and picked the damaged me and the damaged bike up. I am out of the competition and will not finish.
Overall
Well, obviously this isn't a good way to finish a season and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. However, I learnt a great deal and wouldn't swap my summer of triathlon sprint training for anything else I could realistically have done. Clearly, I've learnt that I need A LOT more time on a real bike, riding real roads getting real experience before I should allow myself to race on the roads. But, I've also learnt that I can compete in these events, not with the top men, but with others like me, both more experienced and less so. Most importantly I've learnt that I can be a triathlete and exceed my expectations...and to quote another line from a film...I'll be back.
2 comments:
oh no! a crash! my worst nightmare! sounds like you thankfully escaped without injury, and that's the main thing - there'll always be another race (not necessarily another foot!)
Sorry to hear about this. Your swim time was great, and seeing how you were doing up to the crash, you were in perfect control of your race. But, you are ok. And that's what really matters.
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