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Itera 2014 Part 1: The prologue and Monday
So, the race I have targeted all year has been and gone. I am on a somewhat unpredictable road to recovery. It has taken a while to reflect on the race and let it all sink in. The story of 5 days / 114 hours of racing cannot be told in one report! Instead, you can look forward to reading about each day in instalments this week.
Getting There
The stress of getting to the start line seems so long ago now. After last minute purchases (duct tape, extra box covering, impulse need for trekking trousers etc) I was suddenly packed and ready to go. Jon picked me up on Friday morning and off we drove to Selkirk to meet up with Paul. Despite the detailed instructions we went round in circles a bit until we found his house – was this a sign?
Of course, by the time we had loaded the giant pick up truck with all our stuff and squeezed ourselves in, we were later starting than planned. Cardiff is a jolly long way away, and the journey was made even longer when we hit Friday rush hour holiday traffic on the motorway. Finally we got there and met up with Sam, our fourth team member. Plenty of time for team tentel to bond over a Chinese takeaway and box waterproofing.
The rest of the weekend went by in a blur, as we attended briefings, got kit ready, pored over the maps, laminated them, did the prologue and travelled up to Caernarfon.
Prologue
Full of energy at the start line of the prologue
The prologue was a 10km run around Cardiff Bay, with a short white water section in the middle. In an expedition race, the usual standards of decorum (with respect to changing clothes and wee stops) are eventually thrown to the wind. I didn’t expect to do so this early in the event though. As we walked through the multi-storey car park, I realised that my shorts were on back to front. In the stairwell I hurriedly switched them over, with Sam falling about laughing and pointing at the CCTV camera. Look out for me on some candid camera show soon!
We took the run at a fairly sedate pace. Paul wouldn’t have it any other way! As we got to the white water section, the leading teams were exiting and shouting a lot, which looked a bit stressful. We had to go in pairs, one after the other. Paul and I went first. The plugs came out of the bottom of our barely-inflated boat, water spurted in and we started sinking! After we took evasive action we felt lucky to get round in the boat. By the end, we seemed to be sitting below water level and steering was nigh on impossible.
On the bus on the way to Caernarfon on Sunday, we watched videos of previous adventure races, which just made me stressed. Surely we’re not about to start something like that are we? They were supposed to be inspirational, but the story of two Aussie blokes who went to the South Pole and back unsupported was easier on the mind!
As we tucked ourselves in overnight at the Travelodge, the wind whipped up the waves in the Menai Straits. Sam and I were sharing a room and were chatting away, whilst I’m sure Jon and Paul were sound asleep next door. Eventually I said “I think we should go to sleep now”, to which the response came back “I’m trying to!”. This was the funniest thing I had heard all weekend, as I’m sure I wasn’t the only one initiating the chat 🙂 . So I enquired what she would try next to get to sleep, since the talking wasn’t working. Perhaps a spot of dancing?
Day 1 schematic
Stage 1: Paddle + bike (Caernarfon to Conwy)
Paddling in to Bangor
The next day we had an early start. A last minute leader’s briefing brought news that because of the weather we might have a shortened paddle stage. There were a few options, but we were to get out at Bangor Pier and find out which it was to be then. We ran round the castle twice, waved to Jon’s parents (who must have had a very early start), then we were off to the beach.
All we had to do was fit our new seats to sit on top kayaks (the straps go where?!), attach our bags out of the way of our feet and launch! It was still quite choppy, but we had the tide behind us and were whizzing along. I am not normally a kayaker and throughout the race I was bemused by what was counted as a suitable ‘get out’ point. At the pier, we were directed to go past the nice sloping gangway, nose in by some steep jagged slippery rocks and try and haul the heavy kayaks up over them. I got a good dunking here as my foot slipped and I was into deep water!
We rode our bikes for the rest of what would have been a paddle stage to Conwy. I wasn’t sure if I was pleased about this or not – but was probably mostly pleased! After a section on Sustrans route 8 (which I had done in the other direction with Andy last year), we dived off onto a rather pleasant off road section. At the castle, it was hot and sunny as we ran round on top of the town walls and sought out controls hidden inside the castle. What a shame we were in a race and couldn’t stay to run up and down all the spiralling tower staircases! Our tracker wasn’t working, which was confusing people at home, so we swapped for a new one before beginning the first planned bike stage.
Stage 2: Bike + zip wire (Conwy to Ogwen)
Castle!
We rode back a different way to the one we had come, passing very close but taking a hillier and more off road route. Sam admitted that our earlier pace was too much for her to maintain, so we experimented with her going on a tow behind me. I love biking and was feeling strong and perky, so actually quite enjoyed this. All the more so when she said what a difference it made to her.
The wind was blowing hard into our faces so we travelled quite slowly at some points. I hoped it wouldn’t stay like this all week! The problem with travelling in lines instead of circles is that you could face a headwind all the way ….
At Bethesda, Paul got a cramp (the team’s first and only all week), but it was perfectly timed just as we got to the zip wire centre. Here we had to serve a time out – the length of which was dictated by our speed in the prologue. We had 53 leisurely minutes to stock up from the fast food hatch (chips, egg roll or bacon rolls, depending on tastes). Throughout the race I think Sam and I carried far more water than the others, filling up from ‘official’ drinking water sources when we saw them. Jon and Paul went for streams and rivers, and Paul batted away my concerns that he had used taps specifically saying ‘not drinking water’. He didn’t seem to suffer any ill effects though! He must have a stomach of iron.
Just before we had to go again, my dad appeared! He had been watching our tracker and only lives just over the hill from where we were. It was lovely to see him even though we couldn’t stop and chat. We had to hike up to the top of an old quarry, where there was another (timed out) wait for the zip wire. People were already sleeping in the cramped space, but I was anxious to stay alert and not miss our spot in the queue! As a Frenchman got kitted out he commented “What is this helmet for? Is it for when I smash into the brick wall at the end?”. We all found this very funny!
Soon enough we were ourselves suspended face forward in a harness overlooking the quarry. It didn’t take long to get back to the bottom when we were going at 100mph, or thereabouts. What a buzz! Quick goodbyes to my dad who had patiently waited, and we pedalled up to Ogwen to say hello to Andy. Oops, no, he was marshalling and we had a job to get on with – time to pack up the bikes in their boxes and start walking!
Stage 3: Trek (Ogwen to Tan-y-bwlch)
Lights in Snowdonia
We had already made the decision on Saturday that we would miss some of the controls on this trek and immediately become a ‘short course’ team. Due to the time outs, the wait at the zip wire and our general ‘steady’ speed, it was getting dusky already. Two of the controls had also been removed due to high winds, which meant the penalties for going the shorter route were less.
My map reading duties were on the bike. On the trek, Paul and Jon were in charge, so I hadn’t really appreciated what faced us. Despite going the short way, we still had a significant hill to climb! Halfway up it started raining so we donned coats and got our lights out. Paul’s didn’t work. “I tested them this morning”, he said. I asked: “And they worked then?” Duh – stupid question of the race! Luckily, spares were produced from somewhere and we continued on. The route was hard to pick out over the top, though Jon found it brilliantly. It was quite a sight to see the bright lights of other competitors dancing off Tryfan and the Glyders. At Pen-y-Gwryd whilst I munched on Babybels and oatcakes, we debated whether to head on down or go over Snowdon. We went down. In fact, we went short course for the whole of this leg.
We had a plan. Despite having to switch from the long course white bib to the short course black ‘bib of shame’, we hoped that we could change the moniker to ‘bib of cunning’. We didn’t want to be chasing cut offs and knew that controls later in the race held higher time penalties than those we were missing now. If we played the long game we would have more time and energy to get these controls in the second half of the race.
In retrospect, perhaps we could have been a little more ambitious on this stage, even just going for the two less committing controls with some extra climb near the end. As it was, we trotted down the road. Sam and I stared at the sky wondering if we could see dark clouds or dark sky. We were just discussing the important matter of how a certain cloud definitely looked like a poodle, when we saw the brightest of shooting stars! Amazing.
The maps marked a suggested ‘short route’, but unless otherwise specified these were not mandatory. We thought we were being smart by taking a minor road (‘A’ and ‘B’ class roads were out of bounds) and linking onto a good track via a short section of footpath. The footpath turned out to be very non-existent. In fact, its route traversed The Swamp of Doom. The further we went, the soggier it got. We tested the ground with our poles before committing the next step as we fanned out a bit. I stayed near Sam for moral support and combined safe route finding, though I’m not sure who was going to rescue who. We nearly lost her in a particularly deep wet patch! Just as my patience was wearing extremely thin, we got out of there and made rapid progress into the transition.
Here we had our first access to tents. It was still quite early in the race, but we knew we wouldn’t get them again until after the second big trek stage, in another 24h time. It was either sleep now, or sleep outside somewhere without a tent or warm sleeping bags. After a quick blog, we tucked ourselves up for 2h kip.
Itera Build Up
Rosemary, Paul, Sam, Jon
As regular readers of my blog might have noticed, I have been getting ready to do my biggest race of the year; the Itera. This is a 5 day adventure race going from top to bottom of Wales in a team of 4. We’ll be kayaking, “running” (more likely, trekking!), mountain biking and probably a few other exciting things along the way. Maximum total distance is 660km with 18,000m of ascent. There are short course options though, which we’re likely to end up taking one or two of. We are called ‘team tentel’. Tentel are a new start up telecommunications company run by cool people who like adventure racing! They sponsored us to get some matching kit, for which we also got a discount from Outside Edge in Oban.
In the winter, the race seemed a long way away. I found, and wholeheartedly adopted, a great method of taking my mind of what was coming up. This was to enter lots of other races, as I can only concentrate on the next thing coming up and not much further! Some people have asked me if I have done anything different with my training. Well, I changed the type of races I entered (almost no short, fast stuff) and did less interval work and more longer distance things. But I also distracted myself with longer triathlons and the open water swim a couple of weeks ago. If you’re busy thinking ‘when and where can I swim outside again next?’ then you don’t worry so much about ‘how will I last more than 24 hours, let alone 5 days?’.
April and May were good months for mountain biking, when I deliberately entered events such as the Selkirk MTB marathon and three of us got together for an overnight mountain bike / bivvy ride. In the last few months I have panicked slightly about my lack of time spent on foot in the hills. But over June and July I did get out for 5 longer sessions (3 were races!). I don’t normally spend any time kayaking. This isn’t because I don’t like it, but for more practical reasons. Like, where would I keep a kayak? And how would I get it anywhere? I like to tell myself that doing plenty of swimming is good substitute training, as it’s sort of the same arm action … who knows if this is true, but I have a good time all the same! And I have generally done remarkably well on kayak sections in races. All things considered.
My team mates for this race are Paul McGreal, Jon Ellis and Sam Rose. I raced with Paul in a similar event (the Terrex) two years ago. We were still talking to each other at the end of it and he enjoyed himself enough to want to do it again. With a team of two we set about persuading Jon that he really wanted to race with us. I have competed with Jon a couple of times before, but many years ago when we didn’t really know each other. We’ve kept in touch and met up quite a few times since then though. He has loads of expedition event experience and did very well at the Terrex last year with his ‘last minute’ team. When he finally gave in to our pestering, we were three and only needed one more.
Luck would have it that at this point Sam emailed Jon asking if he knew any teams she could join. With a mutual friend’s endorsement (thanks Elizabeth!) we thought she’d be a good match. As soon as we said ‘join us’, she hesitated! Having spent 8 months off work travelling the world, she seemed unsure of her fitness. However, having heard tales such as these, I am feeling confident of her ability and suitability for our team. In fact, she may well be the one waiting for all of us!
“I raced for two days on a broken ankle last time”
“We hunted out Koh Si Chang Island’s only kayak yesterday, which was a 100 year old sit on top and paddled it round the bay for a couple of hours until it sunk”
“I’ve spent the day being kicked to condition my muscles and crawling down steep stone steps head first on hands and feet”
“This week was three days kayaking in the Marlborough sounds and yesterday I biked the queen Charlotte track”
“I’m currently cycling back from Italy to try and get miles in my legs”
Emails are all I’ve had to get to know Sam, as we won’t meet until Friday evening before the race begins. However, this hasn’t been my biggest concern at all! In fact, much more stressful has been trying to organise and coordinate kit requirements, social media and logistics. All made much more difficult by the fact that I lost internet access at a critical time and have been offline for over a week! Many thanks to the various friends who have let me squat at their houses using their facilities (Robert, Hayley, Vicky, Glen). Apart from all that, this week’s training has mostly revolved around getting plenty of sleep and eating good food – kale pizza saved for my last night at home!
I am confident that once we start, I will enjoy it. Before that we have a prologue to do on Saturday (10km run round Cardiff bay, with a white water boating thing in the middle) and much planning and kit re-packing and organising once we get the route maps at registration. Then we will be ‘whisked’ up to Caernarfon on Sunday for an 8am start on Saturday. When I say whisked, I mean we will crawl up north on a 5 hour coach journey with the promise of selected DVDs to entertain us. Hmm!
My dad lives just 20 minutes drive from the start, but won’t be there to wave us off! (he’s away for the weekend). However, it does mean I’m relatively familiar with the area I expect we’ll be in for the first couple of days. We’ve been given an idea of how many stages there are and their length and height gain, but no other clues as to where we’re going. I love to play ‘guess the route’, even if it is only speculation and probably a waste of energy. For me though, it’s part of the fun! I have something in mind for the first 5 ½ stages, but then my knowledge of Wales gets a bit too hazy! One of the pictures in the montage gives you an idea just for the record, but only if I’m right. If I’m wrong, then it’s just a pretty picture. I have made sure to maximise the number of castles en route, so it’s a good one even if it’s not the right one 🙂 .
What seems fairly certain is that we will spend some time paddling round the north coast of Wales, go on a big mountain trek in Snowdonia, paddle again and do a long bike ride across the middle of Wales to get us back down south for some fun on the Brecon Beacons. I might spend half the week saying ‘oh, I’ve been here before’ as we cross and join either the routes from the Trans Wales event I did a few years ago, or my Cardiff-Holyhead Sustrans cycle tour from even further back.
I expect to be providing some blog updates as the race progresses. They won’t be posted here, but on the live race website here. This is also the place where you can track our progress against other teams or leave messages of support. If you’re on facebook you can also like our public team page here. We’re hoping to be able to publish a few updates about how we are. Since we are not allowed access to things like phones, these will come from our supporters interpreting the maps and reading between the blog lines for you, and from my boyfriend, who is working as a volunteer / marshal for the week.
The field for the race is truly international. This is fantastic. It does mean we don’t really have a clue how well we might do. Out of 36 teams I have estimated that top 20 would be an achievement, anything higher a bonus. Before that though, even finishing together still smiling and full of tall tales of derring-do and adventure will make it all worthwhile.
See you all on the other side!
Let’s play “guess the route”!
Dark & White Mini Mountain Marathon
With Itera looming, I was feeling like I hadn’t been out in the hills on foot enough. At first this race was penciled in to do with teammate Paul, but he was otherwise occupied being ‘official’ at the Commonwealth Games. I called a friend, who said yes! I was all set for 4 hours of running off road, whilst navigating to controls to maximise our score.
So Marie (this year’s super speedy Celtman champ) and I headed down to the Lake District on a Friday night in her van. We parked up just along the road from the start and after talking half the night away it was time to snuggle down in the back. Luxurious accommodation for me compared to a tent. We had set an early alarm as there was a suggestion that it would stay dry until later in the day. However, when we woke up the rain was pounding on the roof. I wasn’t keen on a pointless early start, so we promptly went back to sleep for another half an hour!
I was slightly anxious. I haven’t done a run-only event like this before, and we were going to be using a Harveys map, which I’m unfamiliar with. At the hall we asked plenty of daft questions about what various symbols meant before we decided to bite the bullet and get going.
We started off straight up a impossibly steep hill which made my calves scream. Marie was happy as she was bilberry hunting on the way up. We passed many sheep tracks, all going the wrong way. After gaining the ridge we briefly enjoyed a run along a path before diving back off the hill and finding a way through the head high ferns. We were convinced that here and there ‘we were following a path’, or that ‘someone else had definitely been this way’ … but these could have been figments of our over-active imaginations!
Our route with the control locations marked.
The pattern was set for the rest of the day as we (successfully) contoured round trackless terrain and went up and over ridges. We pondered whether the sheep would show us the way, how a guide dog might lead us to controls, that the skull in the grass was a sign (of what, I’m still not sure) and how we could do with a bionic extending arm to reach out and dib from afar. As we ran round a cliff top my foot slipped and a gasp from Marie made me look to my right – to see a vertiginous drop! As I concentrated on route finding, Marie concentrated on making up a song about slidy rocks.
Past a stinking dead sheep we thought we might be sick. Unfortunately, this was the only out-and-back we did, so ‘nose nav’ was called into play as the mists came down on the way back. The second last control was an easy one on top of a hill. All we had to do was follow a bearing and run out along ‘The Tongue’. This was where we made our only serious navigational mistake. It was really foggy (not for the first time that day) and as we ran, it didn’t feel right. We tried to correct, but I couldn’t match the small patch of ground we could see to the map. A fortuitous combination of a family materialising from the mists and telling us that we were indeed where we thought we might be, and the clouds parting for a second to reveal a ridge got us back on track.
The last bearing we took, so I could check it was right! It was, but our track (map above) shows us veering off further north.
We discovered what one of the funny map symbols meant (peat hags), nabbed the last control and made for the finish. Only a steep downhill bum slide and more ferns to stop us! By avoiding the temptation of going up Blencathra (just because it looked fun), we had timed it perfectly. But we had not timed for our late mistake. We ended up sprinting for the end, trying to keep ourselves less than 10 minutes late, which would mean losing a LOT of points! We nearly took out someone photographing with a phone that we thought was the dibber box! We made it with just seconds to spare.
Looking at the results and checking with some wizened fell runner types in the hall afterwards, it transpired we had not taken the popular route. My plan to do the hard stuff first had back fired slightly, as we only did hard stuff and ran out of time for the easier parts. Everyone else ran around the slightly less steep northern side of the map, where apparently the ground was ‘very runnable’. Oops!
Never mind, we had a whole load of fun. It rained but we weren’t cold and it was great to be out in the hills feeling mildly competent about accurate navigation, even if our strategy left something to be desired 🙂 .
After the run we filled up on delicious pea and mint soup, hunks of bread, tea and cake. The organisers were really friendly and it was a good race. We topped off the day by heading to Ullswater for a gorgeous 1 hour swim before heading back up the road.
I’ll be doing the Itera expedition race in a team with three other people from the 9th August. If you want to read a bit about us and keep up to date with our progress, you can ‘like’ our facebook page here.
Foxlake Triathlon
❗ Warning: too much fun alert!
After the disappointment of the weekend before in Coniston, I had had a slightly gloomy week. By Friday night my legs were still hurting and I feared for my left quad which was verging on painful. However, I had signed up for the Foxlake Tri event – relay and solo.
There was not a lot to suggest this race would suit my strengths – as each full triathlon lasted less than 20 minutes and I’m an endurance athlete! However, there were some twists. And it was organised by Durty Events, which meant there would probably be some mud involved.
Discussing the route and correct dibber usage with Jo
The first event was a relay in the same format as the Commonwealth Games. Four athletes per team, and you all do the whole race once. The second event was a solo race with multiple rounds.
To prepare, there were a few things I had to do. Firstly, my rear mountain bike tyre was not holding air. A facebook plea produced an explanation, a remedy and an offer of a tutorial on how to fix it (sealant supplied). Huge thanks to Ewan for this, it was easy peasy and I am no longer scared of this job!
Secondly, this race was so short that time in transition needed to be minimised. This meant wearing the same shoes for the bike and run. But I had no decent mountain bike flat pedals! Glen helped me out here, loaning me a set of pedals from his own bike. I collected them from his girlfriend on Friday night and decided the pot of grease also laid out was a hint that I’d better not let them get jammed on! (as if 😉 ).
Other modifications to my usual routine included no socks and no gloves. Fortunately the recent weather and the small size of lake meant the water was lovely and warm, and wetsuits were optional (I opted out)!
Our club (ERC) had targeted this race for the relay teams, all ably organised and coordinated by Alistair. In the end we had 5 teams of 4; 20 people all creating a sea of red around the briefing area. I am not convinced the club trisuit is the most flattering design on me and my women’s specific black number is more comfy, but I wore it anyway to make sure I was identified in the right tribe!
Getting everyone together to register was a bit like herding cats, as we all set off at different times to ride round the bike course and see what it was like. We registered with not much time left before the start – and I was going first! Luckily, with a minimal transition and no wetsuit, there wasn’t a lot to get ready. In the water and I was only just checking my goggles were on properly and wasn’t even at the line when Paul shouted “GO!!!”. Yikes! I quickly got going but had missed the front group!
Getting in (I’m in the red suit)
Not to worry, I was soon out of the water, avoiding falling in the special hole just before the bank, and was through transition and onto my bike. The course was a lot of fun. A fast part by the lake, then a windy bit of singletrack through some trees, with lush green fronds brushing at your legs. Then a very fast double track section with a few big muddy puddles to catch your wheels! Finally, a zigzag up and down a bank 3 times with some technical little bits to watch out for – a tree stump, some loose ground, gravel and a slidy bit on the final turn back into the field. I had overtaken Alistair and Andrew from ERC, and another man I didn’t recognise. One of our guys was claiming ‘he had a mechanical’; to be fair, I did see him off the bike doing something with his chain!
Leading the relay at the end of the bike leg
I just about remembered to take my helmet off and was soon running. All worries about my legs had been forgotten as I wound through the woods and heard the announcer shouting “you can see the lead person flitting through the trees over there!”. I waved, thinking: are they talking about me?!
Before I knew it, I had tagged my next team mate and was under the finishing arch!
There followed a whole lot of fun cheering and watching the battle between ‘ERC men A” and “ERC ladies 1”. I passed over to Erin, who came back covered in mud from a fall only witnessed by her boyfriend in the other team (we suspected foul play!). Next up was Elise who battled it out with Mitch the whole way despite some navigational mishaps. Finally, we handed over to Andrea who got cold shock but was still gaining fast on Chris as she swam a mix of backstroke and breaststroke – and then overtook him as she took the long route round!
This format was really good for spectating; you hardly had to wait to see people between disciplines. It was also sunny at this point, which made life easier. We were neck and neck until the 4th leg, when sadly the men pulled away. But still, our girls team was 2nd overall and 1st ladies! Awesome. ERC also got 1, 2, 3 and crowded out the podium … cool.
Fastest girls team
ERC mob the podium!
Something I didn’t anticipate was how cold I’d be even after putting a load of clothes on. Mary lent me a jumper for the day even though she was heading off after the relay. “You’re about the same size as me” she said, as I looked at it, dubious that I’d even get it on. Well, turns out I am actually a bit too large for a “Gap Kids” hoody, but I could just about wriggle in and it kept me warm nonetheless! 😀
Onto the solo race after a longer than anticipated wait (should have gone and got food instead of just a snack after all). I think Paul (the organiser) was sort of making this up as he went along. Round 1 was 4 random heats and I was in heat 3. We sploshed into the lake from a pontoon this time and I raced round with a chap called Alan. I just beat him to it, winning the heat.
Swim exit, round 1
Round 2 (3 heats) and everyone was petitioning to only have 3 rounds instead of 4 (the original email said 5 or 6!). I wasn’t too fussed either way, but rain was forecast, it was all taking quite a long time and people were dropping like flies, so it seemed a sensible option. We set off and I was in a heat with Alan again. This time he just beat me to the line.
Smile for the camera!
Round 3 was the final one and we were sorted into an ‘A’ and ‘B’ final. I was in ‘A’. Alan had promised he was going to really go for it on the swim this time and I should try and draft him. I hastily got into position at the start, and I did try … but then he was off without me! I wonder if I could have hit it harder, but I’m not sure. Anyway, 4 men including Andrew from our club were in front of me as we started biking. By now it was pouring with rain and the course was a bit slipperier. I was annoyed at myself for dabbing on one corner, but it was no big deal. In the end I cruised into the finish a comfortable 4th place, and 1st female.
Since I am a numbers sort of person, I was pleased to see this evidence from the day:
After all these shenanigans we finished 2 hours early and I was even able to get a lift back to town with Andrew, which meant I could fit in a long-overdue visit to my pals for dinner. It was worth it even though I had already paid for my train ticket back. I can only apologise to his wife for all the mud that went into a pristine looking car …
Full results here (relay) and here (solo) and many thanks to Louise Smith and Andy Upton for the photos.
Coniston Old Man Triathlon
This was a race where my legs rebelled against my requests!
When I first considered this race, I was going to make it a ‘B’ race. This means it would only be of moderate importance. However, there was a race I wanted to use to train for Itera on the same weekend as my preferred race, so I changed this to an ‘A’ race. This meant I was targeting it. I generally only have two A races a year (coach’s instructions).
Everything had gone to plan in the lead up to the race. I had been doing run training on a consistent basis and managed not to catch any bugs. 10 days before the race I went down on the train to ride the bike course. What a shock to the system! It was definitely tough. It was good to know what was coming up though, and it spurred me into resting well and saving every gram I could to make those climbs easier.
Fast forward to race day and I had done a lot of prep. All the extra kit I had for the recce was left in the tent (multi-tool, mudguard, mini lock, phone, coat etc). I had even bought a smaller, lighter seat pack and had a haircut on Friday! In total I think I was ready to start the race carrying nearly 2.5kg less 🙂 .
Swim – 2km in Coniston Water
Target 35 mins
Actual: 32 mins, 7th out of water, 1st female (just!)
This was my favourite and most successful part of the race. The water was pretty warm compared to my last open water swim at Portobello (which is in the North Sea and generally colder than English lakes 😀 ). I was striking out alone after the first 400m or so as the people I was drafting dropped off the pace and I couldn’t catch the lead group by that point. We had to do two big laps. On the return leg of each I had trouble sighting anything as the marker was so far away and I couldn’t see the swimmers in front. I felt I might be veering wildly off course, but by sighting off a small headland, soon enough the buoy came into view.
Transition 1 – run across a field and up a hill!
Target: 8 mins
Actual: 7:23
I even managed to eat a banana on my way up! Other than that, the transition was unremarkable.
Bike – 71.5km, 1500m ascent
Targets: Really good <3h, Realistic 3:02, “OK” 3:08
Actual 3:09, 29th overall, 4th female
There is a lot of climbing on this course. I generally like climbs, but here two of the hills are very steep (up to 30% in places) and are not much to my liking. I wobbled up Wrynose and completely missed Chris Boardman, who was apparently giving everyone a little cheer!
Warning! Steep hills await you.
Hardknott pass, winding up to the horizon
My target times were based on a 70km course and I also got held up at a red traffic light for a little while. So my time was actually OK compared to target, but my legs did not feel ‘zippy’ like they do when they are good. This is hard to explain, but when everything comes together and I ask my legs to do something hard, they just respond and I feel great. On this day, right from the first proper hill I could feel that things weren’t like that!
I had to fight and had low moments when I even thought ‘what if I just stopped?’ (Of course, I never would!). On the plus side, I rode my own race and didn’t respond when both Sally and Bonnie came past (I expected these two girls to be contending). I also ate well, snacking on the feast of various treats I had prepared on Thursday night.
Riding up Wrynose
However, by the end of the ride I had slight stomach stitches and my back was very sore. I think this was from riding such steep hills out of the saddle, which I’m just not used to. I had kept stretching out on the bike, but it’s not so easy to do this effectively when you’re on the move!
Transition 2
Target: <1:30
Actual: 1:45
Run – 18km off-road hill run
Targets: Really good <2:30, Realistic 2:35, “OK” 2:50, Bad >3h
Actual: 2:57, 26th overall, 5th female
View of what we had to run up and round
My plan was to finish the bike in my target time feeling like I had something left for the run. Unfortunately, given the ‘disobedient leg’ situation, I started the run feeling pretty tired! I set off anyway, and soon got hot, really hot. Luckily, I recognised the signs from the 2 day in Wales last year, when I got a sort of heat stroke or heat exhaustion from running too hard in hot sun. At the first stream I could easily reach, I stopped and scooped cold water all over my head and neck and face and arms. I also started drinking a lot. As I reached higher ground there was a wind and it was a bit cooler. I was very grateful for this!
Starting the run, still looks like ‘running’ here
Apart from my problems with the heat, the uphill was as hard to get up as the ones on the bike. I felt like it was Wrynose all over again! My legs were burning, but I was accompanied by a couple of guys who kept me motivated to carry on pushing. As we reached the ridge, a few people caught up and I stumbled and nearly fell hard, only just saving myself. This happened twice, then I realised that my brain was probably addled due to lack of glycogen. I hadn’t been eating for a while due to the slight cramps coming of the bike. These had now gone away so I munched some more snacks.
I had been in 3rd place for several hours, but on the descent of Coniston a girl just flew past me. She cheerily asked “is your ankle OK?!” I thought, er no … this is just how I always run down hills! There was nothing I could do to respond. I wanted to stop trying then, but didn’t!
Hardly running anymore
I’ve got nothing left in the tank!
I felt the run had been a bit of a failure, as I was well off my target time. But the girl was the only person to pass me on the tricky part of the course, and the results later showed that my relative placing for the run stage overall was actually better than for the bike. This is very rare for me and suggests I was either having a really bad bike, or a better run than it felt!
As I got back to lower ground, I started cooking again, but I had no water left and there were no handy streams so I had to just tough it out. I was determined to run all the way, including the uphill finish which is a sting in the tail! As I crossed the line, my legs crumpled underneath me and I am rarely so relieved to be able to stop.
Overall
Targets: Really good 6:10, Realistic 6:22, “OK” 6:35, Bad >7h
Actual: 6:48, 25th overall, 4th female
I was left feeling a bit flat after this race, as I put so much in but didn’t really enjoy it and didn’t feel I had performed to my potential. I also can’t pinpoint any clear reason for this. These things seem to matter more when you’ve decided a race is important! However, my coach said “you only fail if you fail to try”. I certainly wasn’t falling short in the effort I put in. Afterwards I had sore legs right up until the next weekend. This is certainly one race that you don’t bounce back from two days later!
Big well done to top adventure racer Sally Ozanne, who smashed the race to finish first lady and 4th overall.
Finally, don’t worry as my next post will be all about a race where I had a lot more fun :D.
Haglöfs Open 5 Coniston
For the last race in this winter’s series, I was racing with another new person! Heather was the 4th girl to take on an Open 5 with me. I was looking forward to it, though with some apprehension. I thought it could be a tough one racing with someone who scored higher than Caroline and I in November (one of my hardest two races this series so far) and who is very experienced.
First of all I had to get there. I woke up feeling not-so-great on Saturday morning. I took two trains to get to Windermere and alighted in pouring rain. This had been forecast, so I was mentally and physically prepared, but I had been hoping the forecast would be wrong! No such luck; by the time I had ridden down the hill to the ferry, I was drenched. I was booked into the YHA in Coniston, 17km and two hills away. I was so relieved to arrive, sort out wet kit and get warm dry clothes on! I lazed around all afternoon to give myself the best chance of feeling better by Sunday. I can recommend the meals on offer there – less than £12 for a three course meal with four veggie options, and no pasta in sight 🙂 .
Lake District rain = impressive waterfalls
The weather forecast was still mostly correct on Sunday: wet. I felt well again though, which was a good thing. Although we set off in a dry patch, I was almost glad when it started raining, as it justified my having put my waterproof on. A little while later, up on the hill in fog, wind and driving rain, I was almost too cold and wishing for a warmer top!
Heather is a really good orienteer, so I was leaving the map reading on the run to her. We started off well, nipping from control to control and making good time. I was impressed as we headed cross country, hit a tiny footpath in a quarry and went straight up to a control.
It suddenly went pear-shaped after that. We were aiming for a ‘knoll’. Unfortunately, we were on a hillside covered in knolls, fog and lost racers. After wandering around back and forth, up and down, checking every knoll, we were not making progress. I was on the verge of suggesting we just left it, but I think, like Heather, I didn’t want to give up and felt as if we had invested too much time in it by now. We relocated by a large track and a likely looking stream (when there’s so much water around, how do you tell which streams are map streams, and which are just ‘pop ups’?), and went straight to the right point.
How not to find a knoll!
Perhaps just as I was anxious to put on a good show, so was Heather, and she was kicking herself for this mistake. And for having a dodgy compass, which was not helping matters 😀 .
We lost perhaps 25 minutes here, which wasn’t ideal. However, we did get back to transition in just under 2h, only dropping 55 points on the way. This would normally be pretty good going! We could still do well. I was confident in a straightforward mountain bike with long road sections … but, it turned out, I seriously under-estimated the difficulty of the routes.
Hillside covered in knolls and fog – a typical view for us on the run!
We started with a ‘short’ loop with lots of high scoring points. But it was a case of ride, push, off, on, ride, push all the way up the hill as we navigated bogs, ditches, steep bits and rocky bits. It took us nearly an hour to cover 6km, and that included the downhill!
As we hit the road, this should have been the moment when I checked how long we’d been out and decided to leave a little group of three lower-scoring controls, giving us time to get some high pointers on a more committing circuit.
Twenty minutes later, I checked how long we’d been out and decided we should leave this little group of … oh no!!! Too late! It was my turn to feel frustrated. Post-race analysis of how long we spent here and our potential alternative has only served to considerably heighten this feeling. I think this was probably the real crux of where we went wrong in the race.
We came up with a new plan, then changed it, then went awry trying to follow an indistinct bridleway across a foggy hillside, had to retrace back uphill (losing another 13 precious minutes) and come up with another new plan. Which was to go straight back, collecting what we could on the way.
Practising my funny faces! Muddy, but have seen worse this year 🙂
At prize-giving, we were beaten by 10 points into second, but I know we could have done better. There was some good news. We had planned a route with options and get out plans, and it worked – we used them. I didn’t get back late, for once! But on the other hand, we had made some serious tactical errors and mistakes. It was also the first time we had raced together. Conditions were tough and there was a bit of ‘getting to know you’ going on (i.e. chatting!). I remember when I first raced with Lucy, we made some cracking mistakes as we got used to each other. I think I could probably have run faster if Heather had pushed the pace (she was being nice to me and waiting 🙂 ) and we could have biked faster if we had a tow set up. I wasn’t too despondent though, as I enjoyed Heather’s company and had a good time. You have to accept these things can happen sometimes, so long as it doesn’t become a habit 😉 .
The day was topped off by Ant and Cat taking me back to the station so I didn’t have to face riding back over those hills with a bag full of wet kit. I didn’t expect the service to include a bike wash, cup of tea, shower and a time trial bike viewing. Thanks guys!
This race
The series
I have really enjoyed this series: racing with Lucy again and winning the overall series, and riding three very different races with three other people. A big thanks to the organisers Open Adventure, all the course planners, to James Kirby for the photos and to the sponsors Haglöfs for the great prizes and impossible-to-miss banners that tell you the end is in sight!
Lucy and Rosemary: Female pairs series winners
My next adventure race will be with Jon Ellis, who is in my Itera team. We have raced before, but it was nearly three years ago. A lot has changed since then, so it will be interesting to see how we get on. Before then, I have a few other events to do, including the Old Man of Coniston triathlon, which is a target race for me this year.
Bowhill long duathlon and mini adventures
I was very remiss last month, as I never got round to writing about the Bowhill long duathlon! It was the last in the series and lived up to all expectations with fun trails, water and lots of mud.
This time I went down with Andy, who took lots of photographs, but only after he had ‘tested out’ the run course and only just made it back in time for us racers to start! I will let the pictures tell the story of a very fun day.
As far as the results go, I had a fantastic bike ride and was leading for 12 minutes on the run! Things went a bit downhill from there, as my run was slower than last year and I was overtaken by both Jo and Caroline. I still came 3rd though – another bottle of beer for Andy, and I was 2nd in the series – another bottle of beer for Glen! He also got lucky with some homemade chocolate marshmallow icing biscuity things I rustled up the night before.
Easy to use space for up to 6 bikes! I am not used to this luxury.
Fast forward a few weeks and it was time for a mini mountain bike adventure. Andreas is a friend of mine who is training to become a ride leader and wanted to get some experience. He had chosen a route and came to me for some company. I willingly obliged and brought along Marie and Elizabeth, who were equally up for some wild fun.
The only downside was my sleep deprivation in the week leading up to it – with two early morning swims, a trip to London and a 5.30am pick up on Saturday morning! We drove up to Taynuilt and had half an hour to wait for the train to Tyndrum, where we would start the ride back again. I was most impressed with the bike carriage provision – easy space to get into for 6 bikes!
The ride was a mix of wide tracks with little tricky bits thrown in and quite a rough crossing over the watershed in Glen Finglass. We had chosen well: we were riding into a strong headwind all the way, with additional rain at several points, just to give us a free facial, as Marie put it! 😀
Whilst Marie and Andreas jostled for position and rode on ahead, I was more than happy to ride further back with Elizabeth chatting about holiday plans, races and life in general. That is, when we could hear each other over the roar of the wind in our ears.
This was another excuse to try out some new portables – on the menu were polenta squares (tasty but turned out a bit squishy), French toast cake (very good, especially with added sultanas), potato and ginger rice balls (surprisingly OK) and my favourite from last time, sweet potato cakes. I also had a few Quorn mini eggs, just for good measure.
Shame I didn’t eat more of them before I nearly bonked an hour in, or wanted to stop, lie down and sleep halfway through. All good Itera training, I told myself. I’d love to go back and enjoy the fantastic scenery and amazing waterfalls another time – though waterfalls are always better when it’s raining! I enjoyed the random bog walk / bridge hunt, which was the only part of the day where we really had to do any navigation. On the second ‘looking for the path’ occasion, right near the end, I asked someone how to get to another bridge, even though the others said that was cheating!
We ended the day in the Real Food Café as we drove back through Tyndrum. I must have been feeling funny, as in addition to my usual soup choice, I found myself ordering a plate of chips and cheese! I am not a big chip fan, preferring spicy potato wedges instead. I found a good spot for these though. Full tummy, warm clean clothes, not too far home and I was definitely ready for my bed!
Finally, this weekend I was in the Lake District for Lucy’s wedding party. She had chosen somewhere close enough to Kendal for us to get to without a car, but not so close we could stagger back there at the end! So I found a gem of a B&B just a mile along a country lane, complete with a genial host and an upstairs lounge with word burning stove and balcony.
Breakfast is served upstairs
Sunny balcony
We made a weekend of it. Even riding to the B&B on Friday night was interesting, as we picked our way there in the dark, made a turning down the wrong steep hill just as it started sleeting and finally went to three wrong farms before we got the right one …
On Saturday we went for a run to Staveley, to try out Wilf’s cafe. We were supposed to walk back, but ran out of time and had to run instead – suddenly we had covered 26km! Perfect preparation for a night of ceilidh dancing.
On Sunday we took advantage of the sunny weather and went for a 97km road bike ride taking in three counties (Cumbria, North Yorkshire and Lancashire) and a huge variety of landscapes. Andy praised me for finding something approaching a flattish route when we were staying in the Lake District, though the one long climb to get into Barbondale did nearly finish him off. Although I almost always talk about MTB adventures, this does prove I sometimes ride a road bike 🙂 . I’ve got half an eye on the Coniston Old Man triathlon coming up in June. This is the only triathlon I’ve entered so far this year, and I want to give it a decent go!
Fantastic bike route!
Somewhere in the last few weeks we also had our club prize giving evening. Here’s me with the handicap trophy for triathlon. Last year was the first year I raced a lot of triathlon, so my handicap rating was favourable. I also did well in quite a few of the qualifying races (which were all in Scotland), helping me to come out on top. It will be going to someone new next year, but meanwhile I have to find somewhere to keep this rock! (it’s very heavy …)
Club triathlon handicap trophy held aloft = weight training!
Next report will be from the final Open 5 of the series, where I’ll be back in the Lake District again!
Haglöfs Open 5 Cannock Chase
This month’s Open 5 was on Cannock Chase, close to where I grew up.
On Saturday I met up with a friend (Emma) from university that I haven’t seen for about 15 years. She has three energetic young boys and we went out for some fun on the Chase. My memories of coming here as a child are quite dim, but I do remember dragging a large branch around for a whole walk, only to be told when we got back to the car that I wasn’t allowed to take it home. I was so disappointed! Emma’s oldest son decided we should try and re-enact the scene:
A jolly time was had by all and I enjoyed soaking up some sunshine. I could tell the trails were going to be good going for the race. They were all stony, gravelly and sandy – you could hardly tell we have had a lot of rain recently.
My brother and I on Cannock Chase – I was 6.
Also with my dad, who still wears a bobble hat!
On Sunday I was picked up by Ed and Sophie. Lucy was at a wedding, so we couldn’t race together. Sophie was one of the event planners for the February event, and had agreed to race with me this time. We had only spoken a couple of times beforehand, but I had a feeling we were going to have fun!
An innovation for this event was to try out some recipes from the new ‘Feed Zone Portables’ book that Andy bought me. The premise is that sports bars and gels can be hard on your stomach when racing / training, and you can do better with home-made stuff that is higher in water and tastier. I don’t do things by halves, so went for three new things all at once: sweet potato cakes (gluten free and also containing sticky rice), banana and walnut two-bite pies (made with an almond milk crust) and spinach and courgette frittatas. I think Sophie was jealous! They were very tasty and easy to eat – I’ll make them again.
Feed Zone Portables, the result of a busy evening in the kitchen
When we got the map you could tell it was a committing sort of bike route. There were a cluster of controls at the far bottom of the map, involving riding a lot of the one-way man-made singletrack with no get-out routes across the main road. Trails like this also tend to do lots of little wiggles that don’t show on the map and are generally slower to ride than an open wide track. This means it can be hard to judge distance and speed. For these reasons (and because heavy rain was forecast for later), we chose to bike first.
When we got the control values we did some hasty re-planning and set off to navigate the maze of tracks in the forest, some marked on the map, some unmarked. Yes, it was another one of those days, it seems to be a bit of a theme this series! As we headed along a bridleway to a short stretch of road, the path got narrower and we could hear guns. The path appeared to be blocked off and we were on the edge of a grouse shooting area. Looking at our gps trace later, we were definitely in the right place, but someone had obviously decided they didn’t want the public using the right of way. As we found a way out and pedalled up the hill, the sound of shots being fired was quite stressful – I was glad to get out of there!
The ride was going very well. Sophie was better at the technical riding than me, but we were both having fun. I did have to persuade her that we were going the quicker, more boring way a couple of times (“but I like the singletrack though!”). We decided to go for two extra controls at the bottom, before rejoining the trail. As we passed two guys, one said to his mate: “prepare yourself for a whole world of pain now” … well, we had to zigzag up a hill just to come down again, but I wouldn’t say it was that bad!
Colour coordinated planning (we had the same colour highlighters as well!)
A bit later we had to deal with the disconcerting feeling of riding across open heathland, where the map said there were trees. We were trusting in all the other features that said we were in the right place (contours, a car park, a bridleway sign, the other tracks in the right places). At times like this you wonder if you have just made the map fit what you want to believe, but it was with some excitement that I confidently said, pointing: “and the control should be on that corner over there” … and it was! High fives!
As we went round I was enjoying Sophie’s ‘helpful hints’ for the navigation. ‘So we turn left now’ (no, right), ‘Is it here?!’ (no, another km to go), ‘are you sure this is the way to number 17?’ (no, it’s not, because we’re not going there yet) etc. Afterwards, she said it was a good job I had applied the ‘Soph Filter’ 🙂 . To be entirely fair, some of the suggestions were actually useful!
We got back somewhat later than planned, after 3h35. However, we knew this had been the risk and was the reason we had biked first. Our transition was slow, but we spent some time planning a sensible shortish run, taking account of the control values.
When I race with Lucy, who has a lot of orienteering experience, I don’t even look at the map for the run. This time was different and I was out of practice! With the pressure to get back on time, I felt a bit stressed. We kept going though and Sophie was decisive and confident enough in our speed to take us to an extra control which was high scoring. Minor panic as I had read the description as “on fingerpost”, but there was no fingerpost! We checked the map, definitely the right place … but I had got the wrong description. We needed a tree, and there it was! Phew.
Luckily it was downhill almost all of the way back and my running legs seemed to have warmed up. We made good progress and finally crossed the line only 62 seconds late (4 penalty points) – 3 seconds earlier and we’d have only lost 2! Not to worry, it was a respectable score and we were happy with how things had gone. To round off a fab weekend, the heavy rain even arrived two hours late, so we got packed up in the dry.
Female pairs podium
We had done enough to win the female pair category, which we were both really pleased with for our first time racing together. Sophie was super-cheerful all the way round and we had a great time. We didn’t make any significant mistakes and weren’t very late back, for once. Still, it is only Caroline who has yet made me get back on time (at Innerleithen) 🙂 .
This result also means that Lucy and I have won the series even though there is one race left to go, as no-one can catch us up now.
I loved my weekend on Cannock Chase and can recommend it for a visit! Now looking forward to the last Open 5 in this series, in the Lake District.
Haglöfs Open 5 North Downs
The one we got away with.
The North Downs are a long way from where I live, but close to where my aunt and uncle live. I went down for the weekend with my mum and spent a happy couple of hours on Saturday riding around the trails near Epsom. This is a spot with many horses and many bridleways. I was hardly on a road for any of the route, though I got a taste of the conditions I might face a bit further west during the race.
Andy did his first ever trail race in the dark the night before and loved it. You can read his report here. I was teased for not doing both races, and though I was tempted, common sense won for once!
Lucy had put in a fantastic effort at the Marmot Dark Mountains event the week before this race. 68km non stop in the dark in the Peak District in 12.5 hours – respect! It was a last minute decision for her to come down. We want to win the female pairs category in the series, and for complicated reasons it turned out we’d have to do this one. Unfortunately, Lucy was racing tired and with a sore knee.
Planning to bike and bike …
We had a plan. To bike a lot and run a little. So we planned an insanely ambitious bike route. After a last minute mechanical panic we were the last to start and headed off into the sunshine for a bike ride. I have to admit we might have been enjoying it just a little bit too much. There was the ‘path’ which resembled a small stream, the mud baths, the hills, the huge puddles so deep my bottom bracket needed attention when I got home … and it even seemed quite warm. No Buffs necessary! We managed to keep up a good conversation and all was going well.
That is until we made a bad navigation error and didn’t realise until one muddy, hard going kilometre later. A road? There should be no road down here … after some circling in the forest on tracks marked and unmarked, we followed Lucy’s trusty nose and came out at a bunker. We were back on track but had lost a whopping 20 minutes of time.
Transition – muddy and late!
Just after this, we got a bit crazy. We debated bike controls vs. run controls and just how well Lucy would actually be able to run. We decided on the madness of just a bit more biking, then overshot the turning twice. What a comedy of errors! On a road back to transition we time trialled it into transition with Ant Emmet, who was telling us he had over-cooked the bike. So had we, but sort of on purpose!
For the first time, we were arriving at transition as everyone else was heading back to the event centre. We had to be careful to dib the right box (‘transition in’ not ‘finish’) and had just half an hour left for the run. For optimal scoring in an Open 5, the consensus is usually to do roughly 3h of biking and 2h of running. But the race is also strategic and we had to have a strategy that would work for us on the day.
Transition action shot!
Unfortunately, we still managed to stretch ourselves too far on the run, collecting 3 controls but clocking in just over 10 minutes late. We got 25 penalty points, which was not great. I was more concerned though that we weren’t making Lucy’s knee worse as we picked up pace back to the finish.
Our score was very low and we sat anxiously at prize giving. Would it have been enough? It turned out most scores were lower than usual; the course had been a tough one. However, we only came 29th overall, when we would be aiming for the top 10 on our best days. Still, we just about got away with it, and won our class, giving us 3 wins to defend the series with two races to go.
Matching kit on the run
Many thanks to my mum for doing a lot of driving and to my aunt and uncle for their hospitality. It is amazing how you can fit three people and a mountain bike with big wheels into a small Ford Ka. As we set off after the race I nipped into the nearest shop for some food – a bag of Flamin’ Hot Monster Munches, a can of Dr Pepper and a yoghurt; salt, sugar and protein – all essential post-race nutritional groups covered!
Despite the lack of racing ‘class’, I still had a fabulous day and we both agreed what a fun bike ride we’d had 😀
And finally, I was presented with my ‘10,000 points’ award. This means I have done enough Open 5s in my lifetime to amass this many points and join the club with 4 other women (for now). Hurrah!
10 THOUSAND points!!
Tri-Trail Foxlake and Bowhill medium duathlon
Two race reports for the price of one!
Tri-Trail Foxlake
I did the tri-trail event at Foxlake a few weeks ago. In some ways it was very good, in other ways it was very disappointing! It was a 14km trail running race along the coast near Dunbar (East Scotland). I entered late but got a lift with Anne in her red sports car 🙂 . Four of us headed over together, nattering and telling stories all the way.
It was a very brisk morning, hard frost everywhere. In short, the race was flat and fast. My disappointment was in coming 11th … my worst result and the only one outside the top 10 in well over a year. Excuses? Hmm … it was too flat, too dry, too short, too … in fact, there were just a lot of faster girls than me there! Not even a mis-navigation by a group in front helped my position – they still beat me even though they ran further!
On the other hand, it was a pretty route and my time was quicker than I thought it would be. The best bit of the day was the camaraderie and banter, and a trip to Mimi’s on the way home for some rather gigantic French toast. Perfect post-race refuelling!
“Four go to Dunbar!”
I suspect this was a classic case of misalignment in expectations and commitment between my conscious (I want to do well! I always want to do well!) and my sub-conscious (this is a training run, it is practice for bigger things).
Bowhill Medium Duathlon
Fast forward a couple of weeks and it was time for the second event in the Bowhill winter off-road duathlon series. This was the ‘medium’ distance. These races are supposedly short, medium and long, but these terms are all relative. To my mind they are very short, short, and quite short.
Anyway, on race morning it was raining. On the way over, it turned to sleet and the temperature reading from the car thermometer dropped by a couple of degrees. It was also very windy. We arrived later than usual but I was organised and didn’t need or want to hang about in the rain anyway.
After getting ready I stuck to my plan of keeping my waterproof on and riding in my giant lobster gloves. I had a number belt though – couldn’t believe some people were putting pins through their waterproof jackets – surely that can’t be good for them?!
It was a mass start on the bike. I planned to be about row 2 but end up right at the front with Jo (super fast girl) on my left and Chris (super fast guy) on my right, 3 of us from the same club lining up! On the horn, off we went. There were a few wobbles and people were rushing past me. I had to hold my nerve, but was soon heading up the hill in contact with a front group of about 15. Up and up we went.
Mud, what mud? I’m far left, Jo centre. Despite my face, I was having fun!
On the first down a couple of people passed me and Jo disappeared. ‘Usual story’, I thought. Second downhill something took hold of my brain. I kidded myself that the new tyres and tubeless set up would ‘make me go faster’ and started hammering it down a very stony, bumpy fireroad. Rain and sleet were falling from above, whilst mud flew up from below. The occasional coniferous tree branch took a swipe from the side. I couldn’t see a lot and just hung on and hoped for the best. At the bottom I popped round a corner and there was Jo just in front again! I caught up and followed her through the trees. Every time I attempted a pass though, she accelerated, so I just sat in behind all the way to transition. Same situation again, I might try something different! However, this was an awesome bike ride and I knew it would be the highlight of my day.
Even though I faffed a bit changing shoes and getting my coat and big gloves off, I was first lady out of transition!
I have no memory of this pretty scene! (will upgrade pic when it becomes available)
Then reality struck. We were on foot and Jo came past and whizzed off. She is a class runner. I gritted my teeth and got stuck in. The run was much less exciting than the bike. For most of it I could see almost no-one ahead or behind. I just kept going and hoped I wouldn’t be caught. In the end, my cushion from the bike was enough to see me keep 2nd place, though I still have a lot of work to do on that run! I was 21st overall, maybe I can break into the top 20 next time?
Abandoned kit in transition. More mud.
At prizegiving I managed to collect two beers – one for the Glen (the driver) and one for Andy. Along with the finisher’s (veggie for me) haggis, it wasn’t a bad morning’s work! 😀
Thanks to Bob Marshall and Zupix for most of the photos.
Planet Byde 