T1
So I am out of the water. And at this point in time it is still possible to tell the difference. It won't be so obvious later on. It was a walk up to transition. Mostly because of the underfoot surface rather than anything else. Normally I just roll my transition descriptions in with the segments but this one took so long that it deserves it's own section.
There were decisions to make. It wasn't cold, it wasn't wet....yet. But the forecast said that was going to change. So the decisions about how much to wear were made on the fly. I had left my full range of everything at transition in the morning so I could adapt if the sky fell in whilst we were swimming. I decided it was worth the 30 seconds to towel off a bit and put socks on. I also added my cycling jacket and gloves, and pocketed my arm warmers. I decided not to take my rain jacket.
I was fairly sure 2 Threepeakers were out in front of me, leaving me 3rd of 6. I saw one who had dropped out, leaving me 3/5. And then I saw the one I expected to be close behind me, coming in to transition just as I was ready to leave.
6mins 51 for a transition. Could have had tea and biscuits and got the hairdryer out as well at that sort of time!
Bike
The start of the bike was really great. The first few miles are flat and fast and I was onto the tri-bars and making places by the handful. Mostly girls on road bikes while the odd guy on a TT bike went past me. I wasn't getting carried away with that though, as I knew what was coming.
When the turn came up the hill I was ready for it. I shifted down through the gears and just ticked my legs over, knowing the hill was long but that it never got particularly steep. I was still picking off places, but now it was just girls on road bikes and the guys on road bikes were now passing me as well as the guys on TT bikes that kept coming.
The first climb was ok though. I was working away fine. There was a bit of drizzle, and a bit of wind but nothing that was going to bother me. I got into a bit of cat and mouse with a Threepeaker. Every uphill he passed me. Every flat or downhill I passed him.
The descent to Loch Rannoch is twisty and fast, but nowhere near as dangerous on a weekend as it was when I test rode it. And it was still pretty dry, although the drizzle was turning into showers by this point.
At the end of the descent there is another flat section then the turn to go around the Loch. There is a feed station here. As I was approaching there was a 4x4 towing a trailer waiting to come out of the T-junction. There were 2 other riders about 50m ahead of me and then started to pull out slowly and let them pass, then started to pull out slowly again, paused half way, looking like he had left me half the road (annoying but acceptable), then moved again! As I arrived at the gap it was enough for me to squeeze through but barely. I shouted some abuse at him and carried on, but a look back a second later and I saw one of the ladies from the feed station giving him a further earful of abuse.
At the time I was quite pleased that I hadn't crashed or been run down, but that was the turning point in my race. the near miss put my heart rate through the roof and gave me a big adrenalin surge. I noticed it was happening and tried to rein it in and make sure I wasn't working too hard on the back of it. But this was into the fast flat section along the loch side so I was catching people and feeling good, despite the rain getting heavier. I passed a few more people that I vaguely recognised, and a girl from Shetland that normally finishes really close to me over shorter races.
But it had to wear off, and about 20minutes later I was out of it and the cold was getting to me. Going fast is good. Going fast when wet is cold. I was long past feeling my toes and it was getting to the point that I couldn't feel my fingers as well. I needed to do something to get warmer or I wasn't going to make it round the bike. I didn't have many options but I did have one trick in my pocket. My arm warmers fit my spindly legs. I know this from a desperate day of cold mountain biking last year.
So I stopped and tried to rush them on, over my shoes. Bad move, they do fit, but not easily so that cost me time, also trying to pull them on twisted my hip and my sciatic nerve went nuts. The cold was already pulling my back and hips out of line and this made it worse. As I was putting them on about a dozen of the places I had passed took them back, including the Threepeaker and the girl from Shetland.
Once back on I got back to it and started chasing places down again. I could feel my toes again and it was definitely an improvement. But the rain was getting harder and the road was getting greasy. My second drinks bottle jumped out of the cage behind my seat and I lost it. I decided just to leave it and push on, I had been drinking plenty from it and I still had my full main bottle. I was having a gel every hour and feeling fine for fuel.
There is a 90 degree left at the end of the loch. They had a marshall posted their slowing everyone down. And I slowed right down. But I still got a massive flick out of the back wheel as I went over a manhole cover in the middle of the corner. Managed to hold it but didn't improve my confidence in the safety of the course.
Back along the other side of the loch was a low point of my race. The rain was bad, the road was twisty and I had had enough. I couldn't see anyone in front or behind, and I was now so soaked through that wiping my nose with my gloves made it wetter rather than drier. Top that off with a 50 seater coach tailgating me for about 5 miles along the loch side wasn't helping. I waved him by a few times but he wouldn't go past. I passed another rider and thought I would leave the bus behind him for a while, but he decided to overtake that rider fairly quickly and sit behind me again. I was all for giving up, I would just roll to the end of the loch and get in a car at the feed station.
The rain eased a bit before I rolled back into the feed stop at the end of the loch and and stopped for a gel and some water. I took a complete stop for a breather. The rain was off and the marshall were very cheerful. After a couple of minutes with them and with the weather ahead looking nicer I decided I might as well bike over the hill rather than wait for a lift. So off I went onto the return climb. I had a niggle in my left calf that was coming and going but it didnt bother me so much on the climb.
I could spend an age writing about this climb. It has a nasty punch at the start. Then levels off and turns into a 4 mile drag much like the other side. But having come down it fairly easily it didn't scare me. And I kept ticking over. Losing the odd place, making more than I lost. By the time I got to the 70k mark the rain was back on, and I came up towards a serious looking boy on a very flash bike with a GB suit on, a burst tube around his neck and another puncture. I had passed about 7 punctures on the road already but they all looked busy and able to fix them. This guy was so out of place in the field that he obviously had bigger problems. I asked if he was ok and he shouted back that he needed a spare tube. I didn't have one, but I stopped and offered him my foam canister. I wasn't going to use it. If I punctured now I would be waiting for a lift. He hadn't used one before so I stayed to talk him through it. Good deed for the day done, I got back on and went back to the hill.
The breather was a big help and I felt good for a while, despite the weather getting worse again. Near the top of the climb the wind got so bad that I was out of the saddle on the flats and struggling to make any headway against some of the bigger gusts. I was soaked through again and the arm/leg warmers weren't helping any more now that they were wet.
Over the top and I finally managed to get into my TT position for the downhill. I caught Shetland girl on one of the trickier corners, because I recognised it from my recce and I knew that you go in fairly blind but the road widened to two lanes after it so any oncoming traffic would be ok to pass.
I got into my TT position for bits of the last 6 mile run in to the finish and the rain was easing off again, just leaving wet roads. My hip and my back weren't in great shape and the niggle in my left calf was coming and going. The last mile there were crowds and marshalls and I was passing the runners on their way out. I saw the Threepeaker that I though would be second of us with about a mile to bike to the finish. I expected him to be well clear of the third Threepeaker that I was cat and mousing with on the first climb so I knew I was fairly close to him.
Off the bike 4th Threepeaker out of 5, but close behind 3rd.
Bike time 3hrs 24mins 58 secs.
Better than I expected. Should be happy with that but hated an awful lot of it and think I could go 20-30 minutes faster in better weather.
Part 3 is here
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