The New Commuter

You may recall from a couple of weeks ago that my commuting bike completely snapped on the rear chain stay which warranted a completely new frame - thankfully this did not cost me a penny.


Apparently, Specialized were not able to track down a 2006 model of the frame that I had and could only source a 2007 model which I was initially pretty pleased about. However, having picked it up, I was not keen - it just felt all wrong and no where near as fast as the old one. Anyway, I got straight on to trying to resolve this when I got home by completely lowering the handlebars to the lowest point that they would go. Whilst on my two hour ride today I finally started to get to grips with the bike and actually started to enjoy riding it. The thing that was getting on my nerves now though was the colour scheme...I mean, who ever thought to make a bike in the colour scheme "rust"?! Not wanting to spend any money I thought long and hard about how I could change what had become a cyclist's worst nightmare - the uncoordinated bike - into something respectable again.


In the end I managed to change this mess



For those non-cyclists out there..there are a number of issues here. The tires are not the same colour as a section of the frame and the handlebar tape is just not matched to anything!

Into this...the new colour scheme...reckon it is the best you can get out of a bad colour frame.



Total expense: £9.99 for the new bar tape. The tires are from the original bike when I first got it. They're slicks though so perfect for the winter ahead..the gear on this one is also higher than the last one. I am now on a 39x13 which is pretty high in the fixed world - still, need to beef up the legs in prep for Lausanne. Going to be doing some hill work over the next couple of weeks as well so pushing up them in a bigger gear should help with the strength.

WOOOooooHOOOooooo

My mum thankfully went to the results page last night and it would seem that the previous winner has been DQ'd or something, You know what that means...I am now the official winner for the 25-29 age group!! That's more like it!

Results

Some Official Shots

Taken 10s after finishing - they kept on asking me to smile...couldn't muster it here...

or here really...




Out on the run course..

Doing the damage..

..and some more..

Watch Me Finish...

Who doesn't stop their watch before they cross the line?

London Triathlon Photos

So far, yet so close...

Today was supposed to be my main event of the year - well, back when I started doing triathlons in April it was the biggest event that I had signed up for and, at the time, was going to represent a challenge, just in terms of getting round.

Funny how things change though - when I was lining up to go down to the swim this morning, my objectives were simple...hang on in the swim as much as possible and try and get out in about 22 minutes, hammer it on the bike to come back into T2 in the lead and then try and hang on in for the run for the age group win in the biggest tri in the world.


The day started off pretty early..my friend and I were both up, although perhaps not awake, at 3:30 this morning and within 30 mins we were on the road to Docklands. Getting there in good time allowed me plenty of time to walk around the transitions and focus on what I had to do. Luckily, my coach arrived early and went through some of the final things, including reminding me to put my shoes on the right pedals...not sure that I will ever live that down now.


Anyway, come 6:30, we were in the water and raring to go only to be pulled out and told that there was some traffic problem at Westminster. So all 400 of us hung around on the dockside awaiting instruction to get back in the water. Finally, at about 7am the swim started. This was the biggest swim start that I had been involved in and it seemed to take a fair while to calm down to the stage where you can start working on your stroke and breathing. Once I hit a rhythm though I just stayed with it and found that I was pulling in people left right and centre whilst a small pack of people managed to stay about a minute ahead the whole time...how dearly I wanted to be in that pack for the slipstream. Still, the bike was next on the agenda and I was pumped up for this and ready to empty a can of wupass on the chaps that beat me in the swim.


Started out on the bike and within a minute I was having cramps in my quads and was worried that they would not go away. I just thought that I did not have time for this so basically decided to ride through it and thankfully after about 10 minutes it seemed to clear up and then I was on the hunt. Coach had told me on the swim exit that I was 2mins off the lead swimmer so it was all out to catch this person...whoever it was. At the start of the bike there were a couple of sections where I would pass someone and they would pass me again...slowly but surely they all drifted away though to leave me the two leaders about a minute up the road. I basically hammered it for about 5 minutes to catch them and make sure that I pass them with enough speed so that they didn't sit on my wheel like a chap did at Windsor.

From this point on it was a pretty amazing ride...I have never had a motorbike leading me out and to have this for 30k's of the ride was pretty good. It made it so much easier to follow the route and pass some of the backmarkers as he just cut a path through everyone. Still, got round the bike in a little over an hour...not the best of time but acceptable and now it was on to the run where I had been thinking that I had made some positive improvements over the last few weeks.


Still, on to the run and now my calves are cramping...this is just not gonna be the day for me with all the cramping...even though I had drunk and eaten everything that I was supposed to up to that point. The run turned out to be hard work and I knew that I was not going as fast as I would have liked to have been. Still, my aim was to stay ahead of anyone after coming in first on the bike. I could tell after the first lap that there was some young chap who was basically running a lot faster than me and was pretty sure that he would catch me...low and behold, at the start of the second lap he was past me and off into the distance. This was part of the dream over...I wanted to be first to the finish, but after catching a sneaky glimpse at the chaps face, I knew he was pretty young so was hoping that he was a 17-24 chap and therefore of no concern to me. I already knew that I had enough distance between myself and the 3rd place chap to make it home safely so perhaps I let my my foot off the gas a bit. In the end I came home with a nice sprint to take second place and first in my AG for the 1st heat of the day.

Results are now out though and it would seem that someone in the 2nd heat beat me by 1 minute...bugger! Still, I am looking at this race from the perspective of how I thought it would turn out when I entered way back and what I have achieved today. I managed to beat a good few people who had decided to race in their GB kit today as well so that has been a good confidence booster for Switzerland.


All in all...good day out, apart from the running. At least I should be getting another medal in the post though for the second place!

Results

She's Back

Well, the front wheel has all been fixed and we are ready to race on sunday. Am going for the totally stripped down look...no spares, one water bottle. If anything untoward happens on Sunday at the London Triathlon, my race is over anyway. If you see me walking back along Embankment bare feet and with a glum face - please don't laugh!