Another opportunity for London qualification. Not ideal though as it is a 8 hour round trip and a sprint distance event. I don't enjoy sprint distance and I didn't plan to do another one after Grendon but decided to do this solely as another opportunity for London and to attempt the sea swim. This was a big decision as I generally don't like sand or salt water at the best of times (a childhood thing I guess).
Fortunately it was a 3:15pm start which meant a sensible wake up time. Last minute checking of the bike course forced the decision of the road bike over the TT bike. This was a killer decision for me as I am big believer that a TT bike is always going to be faster on most courses. On this course however I expected long climbs and fast decents which a road bike should be better at, surely? I also opted for a road helmet to keep me cool for the extra effort.
Made the journey up, parking was a nightmare and registration was a tad more stressful than expected. Bumped into fellow club mate Tom Stead who seemed to be having a bit of a #turnertime moment, but had it under control.
Transition was long and narrow and the swim in and bike out was nearly 400m through a narrow fenced channel. Plenty of opportunity to whack your toes if you planned to overtake.
My wave got called into the water as it was a deep water start (100m off the beach). On the way to the start I made contact with something a few times but dismissed it as a fellow competitor. As the horn went I was able to find a nice group and I was making good progress with little effort. As we turned some prick behind me grabbed my leg, I kicked him off and within 10s the legs was grabbed again. This really effected my concentration and suddenly I started taking on water. From that point on it went down hill. I was in the mix and people were making contact with me left, right and centre. One guy even seemed to start a wide recovery stroke to smack me in head to stop me swimming too close. In addition to this my fears of sea swimming started to come true. The contact I experienced at the start had returned, although this time I could tell it was jellyfish. After a couple of good handfuls I was in a bad way and wanted out! Finally made it ashore, but fully loaded with salt water. Again this swim was more indication of more open water swimming needed.
Into the long transition and out on the bike. One guy insisted to overtake me in the run out only to stop at the mount line and balls up getting on the bike and obstruct everyone else in the process. Headed for the first incline still spitting the salt water taste and trying to get a move on. Got passed by a couple of TT bikes which made me question my decision. I wasn't making as much progress as I thought but hung in there and smashed the down hill as fast as I could, although the constant obstruction was starting to take its toll on my vocal cords. #bikerage
Heading into transition was ridiculous as it was a fence channel, just wide enough for the 2 way traffic. People were slowing up to take feet out of shoes and again obstructing progress and a few dangerous manoeuvres were forced. Overall a pretty dangerous setup.
Looking at the profile of the run it appeared to be quite flat then a longish climb to the turn around point which didn't really appear. As the norm legs didn't fancy going any faster than they had too, tried to get them turning over on the down hill bit but again short lived. My running hasn't been any good this year and if anything I've got considerably slower.
33rd overall and 11th in AG. Ok but still way off where I want to be. Glad I did it and got the experience and actually learned quite a bit:
1. Don't leave home without the TT bike and Aero helmet.
2. Don't do triathlons that involve the sea, it could involve sea creatures.
3. Need more time open water swimming. Another 12mths would do the job.
4. Back to the drawing board with Running.
5. Llandudno is too far for a seaside day trip!
Fortunately it was a 3:15pm start which meant a sensible wake up time. Last minute checking of the bike course forced the decision of the road bike over the TT bike. This was a killer decision for me as I am big believer that a TT bike is always going to be faster on most courses. On this course however I expected long climbs and fast decents which a road bike should be better at, surely? I also opted for a road helmet to keep me cool for the extra effort.
Made the journey up, parking was a nightmare and registration was a tad more stressful than expected. Bumped into fellow club mate Tom Stead who seemed to be having a bit of a #turnertime moment, but had it under control.
Transition was long and narrow and the swim in and bike out was nearly 400m through a narrow fenced channel. Plenty of opportunity to whack your toes if you planned to overtake.
My wave got called into the water as it was a deep water start (100m off the beach). On the way to the start I made contact with something a few times but dismissed it as a fellow competitor. As the horn went I was able to find a nice group and I was making good progress with little effort. As we turned some prick behind me grabbed my leg, I kicked him off and within 10s the legs was grabbed again. This really effected my concentration and suddenly I started taking on water. From that point on it went down hill. I was in the mix and people were making contact with me left, right and centre. One guy even seemed to start a wide recovery stroke to smack me in head to stop me swimming too close. In addition to this my fears of sea swimming started to come true. The contact I experienced at the start had returned, although this time I could tell it was jellyfish. After a couple of good handfuls I was in a bad way and wanted out! Finally made it ashore, but fully loaded with salt water. Again this swim was more indication of more open water swimming needed.
Into the long transition and out on the bike. One guy insisted to overtake me in the run out only to stop at the mount line and balls up getting on the bike and obstruct everyone else in the process. Headed for the first incline still spitting the salt water taste and trying to get a move on. Got passed by a couple of TT bikes which made me question my decision. I wasn't making as much progress as I thought but hung in there and smashed the down hill as fast as I could, although the constant obstruction was starting to take its toll on my vocal cords. #bikerage
Heading into transition was ridiculous as it was a fence channel, just wide enough for the 2 way traffic. People were slowing up to take feet out of shoes and again obstructing progress and a few dangerous manoeuvres were forced. Overall a pretty dangerous setup.
Looking at the profile of the run it appeared to be quite flat then a longish climb to the turn around point which didn't really appear. As the norm legs didn't fancy going any faster than they had too, tried to get them turning over on the down hill bit but again short lived. My running hasn't been any good this year and if anything I've got considerably slower.
33rd overall and 11th in AG. Ok but still way off where I want to be. Glad I did it and got the experience and actually learned quite a bit:
1. Don't leave home without the TT bike and Aero helmet.
2. Don't do triathlons that involve the sea, it could involve sea creatures.
3. Need more time open water swimming. Another 12mths would do the job.
4. Back to the drawing board with Running.
5. Llandudno is too far for a seaside day trip!
Results.
Next - Liverpool English Championships - Standard Distance
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