Oxonian Cyclo Cross

When I was much much younger the oxo cross races were a regular fixture on my race calendar. I always remember Geoff and John arranging where possible that all us young ones had something to take away from the race as a prize no matter where we finished.

The races were always well organised and pleasure to ride, well sometimes they were a bit cold but not much they could do about that.

So fast forward many years and I was once again lining up on the start line of an Oxo cross. This time as a Vet in a field of about 120 riders!

I'm not sure what it is about the races that I decide to ride but last time out at the Didcot cross last year one of the guys in the age group behind me had the nice stripes of National Champ across his chest. This time out I was quickly passed by a rider from the next age group up with the rainbow stripes of World Champ adorning his top!!

When I first saw the course I thought it was mostly flat around grass fields. Then when I managed to get out for a trial lap there was a wooded section I hadn't seen, rather muddy and twisty!!

I was quite happy that although I was quite far down the field I was managing to ride where others had to dismount and run! Unfortunately I was lapped about half way round the final lap so finished the race 1 lap down.

My final place was 79th but as this was an Oxo event I still managed to collect a prize to take home! John is still organising and still has the same ethos as all those years ago, which is great to see, more so for the youngsters just coming into the sport than for us older ones!!

Ironman UK Done!

About a year or so ago Andy King had this great idea that a group of us should take part in IronmanUK so I duly entered along with Andy, Nicky and Dave. Now those of you who have read my previous posts will know that Andy's great idea led me to taking part in my first Long Distance triathlon, The Outlaw in 2012!

Unfortunately Andy had to withdraw from the Ironman this year so that left just the 3 of us, well Dave had arranged to go up to "try" the bike course a couple of weeks ago and I managed to get a couple of days of work and travelled up to join him. Unfortunately following this trial run Dave had to withdraw from the event as well, so Just Nicky and myself were left of the original 4.

Friday arrived and having dropped my youngest of with Nanny, I set off on the long drive north with Amanda, we arrived at the hotel about 10.30 and were soon asleep in preparation for the following busy weekend.

Saturday involved registration to collect all the relevant numbers bags etc for the event, then it was off to Pennington Flash to rack my bike and deposit my bag of bike kit in the changing tent. As our hotel was close to the start we went back for a couple of hours rest before heading back up to the Macron stadium to deposit my run bag, meet up with Nicky and attend the race briefing.

As we were parked in the stadium car park and several hundred athletes were trying to get out we decided to find somewhere local for food, fortunately there are a few places around and it was only about a 40 minute wait to get a table.

Suitably fed we dropped Nicky at her hotel, leaving her car at the stadium in order to get back after the race, then back to our hotel for an early night, alarms set for 3.30 the following morning!

Race morning arrived all too quickly and the routine of porridge for breakfast, worrying about if I had packed everything etc. began.  Then off to collect Nicky and get to the start, the first close call was when we were walking from the car to the start I remembered that I had left my drinks bottles in the car, luckily no too far away from car, a quick jog back and we were on our way again.

Walking up the road to the start Nicky, who has raced at Bolton before pointed out that she had seen riders loose their bottles over the speed bumps on the road out from Pennington Flash a good warning that not only should you worry about loosing your bottles but to be aware that others might be lying on the road.

So having arrived at T1, found our bikes and loaded them up with our nutrition it was time to make use of the facilities before donning the wetsuits and heading out to the lake. I dropped my white bag of "Street Wear" with the team and wandered back into transition to find Nicky again. At this point I bumped into my cousin Laura who was taking part in her first Ironman a few words of encouragement both ways and we were off to prepare.

The swim started bang on 6am although there were still quite a few athletes still on the docks at this time, the start was very busy and I took more that 1 thump to the head before I could find some space. The first lap of the course wasn't too bad although my goggles were a bit tight and uncomfortable but I battled through and exited the water a few minutes before the first of the Pros had exited after their second lap. On walking up the ramp to the carpet to get back to the water for my second lap I was feeling extremely dizzy and wondered if I would actually manage a second lap let alone the full event, following my exit from Challenge Henley from dizziness. 

I adjusted my goggles and entered the water for the second time, there were a lot less people this time that the first time not surprisingly! as I started I was not feeling great and completed the majority of the second lap breaststroke in the hope that the lack of rolling would help my dizziness. I was still suffering from a pain from my goggles and with apologies to any swimmers following me I was a little bit sick in the lake.

The end of the swim could not arrive quick enough and was followed by a walk up to the changing tent, I really could not run at this point. After changing and collecting my bike I was on my way down the speed bump road, at which point I came across an ambulance treating a fellow competitor who had come off, followed swiftly by a shout of "another ones come off" just past the ambulance.

On the first hill the top was shrouded in mist so it was difficult to see where you were aiming for, which probably wasn't a bad thing! I continued on round to the second hill and my legs complained even more but I pushed on and managed to get up both the big hills both times without stopping to walk.

As I came into T2 I could see the people on the run coming the other way, quite a big hill to start the run off with! My bike was taken off me to be racked and I was into the tent to get my running gear on before exiting and tackling the hill.

Following on from the hill was an out and back section before running into the loop in Bolton, a left turn out to the turnaround and then back towards the finish line which they tormented you with by making you pass it 3 times before being allowed down the magic carpet to the finish!

As I came past it on the third occasion the people who were near me peeled off and went to collect their medal whilst I ran past the funnel to start my final lap, at this point it was a bit lonely but there were soon plenty of other people around.

I collected my final wrist band headed to the turnaround point and then back to the finish, this time I could turn left and run down the magic carpet to the finish arch, I was done, I was an Ironman! as I past the line I was quickly presented with my medal and guided round to have a finisher photo and on to get some food.

As I walked, or maybe stumbled away from the photo area Andy King was there to congratulate me followed swiftly by Nicky. I managed to get into the tent collect my finishers T-shirt and consume about 3 slices of pizza before heading out to find Andy and Nicky.

We collected our bikes and cars and then back to the hotels to collapse after the end of a long day!

Thanks must go to the following:

Amanda for coming up with me and keeping an eye on what was going on

Andy for having the bright idea to enter! (oh and driving us back to the stadium to get the bikes)

Nicky for her support and advice throughout the weekend

Dave for taking me round the bike course (even if the answer to my question of which way? was "up the hill"

Karen for the massage (I'm sure I will feel the benefit despite the initial pain!)

All the organisers and marshals without whom the event would not be possible.

Every single one of the supporters who were out on the course who were cheering on everyone one and encouraging us all to keep going. The atmosphere was absolutely amazing and support incredible.

As for my Ironman career, well I think I have completed that chapter of my life and need to find another challenge to concentrate on.

IronmanUK and Run for Ron

In 2012 I was unsuccessful in getting a place in the London Marathon Ballot and was keeping an eye out for all the competitions going to try to bag a place.  Then a tweet popped up on my time line inviting applications to Run for Ron and the applications needed to go to Jo Jennings. Now I have met Jo a few times when she used to train at Broadbridge Heath Leisure Centre when I worked there so I duly sent the required email and was accepted.

The Ron in run for Ron is Ron Pickering, someone that I had watched many times on TV in my youth but not someone that I knew a huge amount about.  I knew of the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund and the work that it does for young athletes so was a charity that I could relate to.  Having become part of this team I received an unexpected email from Jean Pickering to thank me for agreeing to represent the charity.

I was also taking part in The Outlaw long distance triathlon in the July of 2012 and added that to the Brighton Marathon as well as London to prise money out of my friends and family for the fund.

Over the months from just before the marathon to after the Paralympics I had a few email conversations with Jean, after I had completed The Outlaw I vowed that I would not do another much to the relief of my wife. I booked tickets to go to watch the Paralympics Swimming and only when I started to look at this and the Olympic park did it click that the site was the old Eastway circuit that I used to race on as a junior. On further investigation it transpired that the old circuit was built in part due to Ron Pickering’s vision, so it appeared I had quite a bit to thank Ron for.

I recounted a story to Jean by email about the time that I competed in a Regional Road Race at Eastway having travelled by train to Paddington. I had then ridden across London with my racing wheels attached to brackets that my dad had made which attached to my front wheel and then strapped to my handlebars.  I won the race becoming regional champion which came with a medal, sash and a large bouquet of flowers.  These flowers I somehow managed to strap to one of my racing wheels to get home, slightly battered! Jean’s response was that my story “made an old woman smile”

My mate Dave then said he was doing Challenge Henley and would I like to join him? With the blessing of Amanda I duly entered and advised Jean that I would once again be wearing the Run for Ron vest in a long distance triathlon. Unfortunately Jean passed away the week before I did the Brighton Marathon that year and I failed to finish in Henley, the first DNF of the challenges that I have undertaken recently.

So this year I have already taken part in 2 Olympic distance Duathlons, Reading Half Marathon, Brighton Marathon and Cotswold 113 middle distance triathlon. My next challenge is IronmanUK in Bolton on 20^th July, I told Jean that my Run for Ron vest would grace another long distance triathlon and I do not intend to let her down. IronmanUK will probably be my last long distance triathlon, unless of course someone can gift me an entry to Kona!!

So if anyone reading this would be prepared to donate some money to the RPMF please visit www.virginmoneygiving.com/andrewfountain1 and help me raise some funds in memory of 2 wonderful people who I never met but that I admire greatly.

I did say that last year if I raised enough before race day I would agree to getting my legs waxed in case this prompted any people who wanted to inflict more pain on me to dig deep.

Thank You

Cotswold 113

After my failure to finish Challenge Henley I was determined to get ready for IronmanUK in Bolton this year, so I duly entered the Cotswold 113 middle distance triathlon as recommended by Dave and Jennie, they also entered as did Andy and Nicky King.

The day came around as always far too quick and I was not really prepared, my cycling is OK having been riding to work on a regular basis but my running was lacking and my open water swimming non existent!

I met up with Dave, Jennie and Nicky at registration on the Saturday and started to suss out the swim course, there were a lot of buoys in the lake but we soon discovered that the buoys were not for us and there were a number of sail boats that marked out our course. Once again this looked like a long distance to swim but not quite as daunting as the swim at The Outlaw when you couldn't see the turn from the start!

Having spent some time at the Park it was time to head off to the Hotel, duly checked in we were advised that the pub next door was not taking reservations until 8pm, so we headed off to find the nearest alternative, a Harvester a short drive away.  This was also very busy but we opted to sit in the garden for our food as we needed to get fed quickly and waiting for a table inside seemed not the best option.

On returning to the hotel it was agreed that we needed to be at the start by 4.30 at the latest to give us time to get the bikes racked, kit sorted and get into our wetsuits on time for the swim start, this meant setting my alarm for 3.40am not something that I enjoyed!

The morning came around all too soon and we arrived at the site to get sorted, bikes racked and kit laid out in transition it was time to head to the swim start area, make use of the loos and get into our wetsuits.  The swim went off in 4 waves, Dave and Jennie were in the 2nd, Nicky in the 3rd and I was in the 4th so I got to watch the others disappear into the water and then wait my turn.

My open water swim technique is absolutely appalling, I look like it's my first time at swimming lessons and not able to get my face in the water! I have mastered the art of swimming by breathing in to the side and then looking straight ahead. Not the best and I'm sure if I could master my fear of getting my face in the water when swimming in lakes I could reduce my time! on the plus side it does mean that I take the shortest route as I am always looking where I am going unlike other swimmers who zig-zag around me!

On exiting the swim it was a short run around the transition area to get to the entrance and find my bike, get my wetsuit off and my cycling gear on. Dave would later ask me if I stopped for a burger as I took such a long time! the truth was I was feeling a bit dizzy and following my exploits in Henley I wanted to take my time, well that's my excuse!

Once out on the bike I felt much better and soon settled into a rhythm passing quite a number of people on the road, my computer on my bars said I was averaging 19mph which I was quite happy with, then the 1 hill on the course arrived and my speed dropped to about 6mph going up it! after this though there was a rolling section that meant the next rise was easy due to the speed attained on the previous downhill section. The rest of the bike course was flat and fast, although it was 2 laps so that hill had to be tackled again later in the ride.

Some of the roads were a tad narrow and we rode along them both ways which meant that there were riders coming towards us as we tackled them and they really were only wide enough for 2 bikes! this meant that at some points I grabbed a rest as I waited behind other riders for the chance to pass.

For a non drafting event there seemed to be lots of people riding together, indeed at a couple of points on the ride it was like a peleton coming towards me!

At the end of the 2nd lap it was back in to transition and change from bike gear into running stuff and out for a 3 lap run. I just could not get going and my run time was disappointing.  I started a bit of a leap frog session with Martin from Cardiff Tri Club and that helped but still I could just not run as fast as I wanted.

The marshals and spectators on the run were fantastic, I was wearing my running vest with my name on the front and at one point the marshal spotted this and whipped the group of spectators up around him to "Big it up for Andy" this they did almost deafening me as I ran through them, amazed at the boost that this gave me.

A little further on Dave's family spotted me and gave me a rousing cheer as I went past again a welcome boost!

At one of the feed stations I tried to eat a jaffa cake but should really have had a drink first as it just gummed up my mouth with the chocolate and sponge, still I had some water to wash it down with so all was well eventually.

Going into my last lap Martin ran away from me and out of sight, so much for my leap frog buddy I thought! further round the lap though he jumped out of a hedge and nearly scared the wits out of me! so we leapfrogged each other again for the rest of the lap encouraging each other to keep going. until the final straight when he ran away from me again.

I finished with the best sprint finish I could which was probably more like a fast jog, Nicky (having finished much earlier, winning her age group and being 3rd woman overall) her son and Dave's family were all there cheering me on as I headed down the finish chute. I had finished and about 30mins quicker than I had hoped for so with a bad swim and run my bike must have been quite good!

All in all the event was a great event, the location was fantastic and the marshals amazing. The course was a good course even with the narrow lanes!

The one aspect of the weekend that did put a damper on things was that the Help for Heroes team had 12 bikes nicked from their campsite on the Saturday night but like the true heroes they are they managed to borrow bikes to enable at least some of the team to compete. It was truly humbling to see the team complete the event and made me realise that although my run felt rubbish I had nothing to moan about really in comparison.

Thanks to everyone involved in running and marshaling the event as always without them we would not have the opportunity to take part.

Now I just have to get ready for Bolton in 5 weeks time, gulp!

Duathlon Number 2!

Well up until last year I had never taken part in a Duathlon and to be fair even last year I only did the bike leg as a member of a team, @dashing_divasuk had entered one but then put out a twitter plea for a cyclist to ride the bike section for her.

This year I thought it would be a good idea to take part in f3events duathlons and as I am preparing for ironmanUK in July the Olympic distance didn't look too long. My thoughts betray my lack of Duathlon experience!

So race 1 for me was the 2nd in the Winter Duathlon Series and I managed to get round in a time of 2:41:31 which was better than I was expecting.

Then yesterday was my 2nd duathlon and the final one in the Winter Series, I was still wondering why I had opted for the Olympic distance but was determined to give it another go.  As in my first event Dame Kelly Holmes was taking part, not that I saw much of her in the race except for the cross overs on the run, oh and the fact that she had finished and was collecting her bike from transition as I came off my bike and on to my second run.

There was again a smattering of GBR vests on display, including 1 who was obviously doing the super sprint distance as he was starting his second run as I was finishing my first.

So after what felt like a reasonable first run of 5k I was out on my bike for the 40k ride which again seemed to go well I was catching a fair few people on the way round the 5k lap, having said that I was caught by a few as well.

On returning to transition and trying to ignore all the people that had already finished their events I started out on my 10k run, my legs just did not want to work and it was hard work on the 4 lap course especially when most of the people that I had caught on the bike came past me again.

Eventually I had started my last lap and felt the end was in sight, then coming towards me was @lazygirlrunning who was out supporting rather than competing, as she is my cousin I may even forgive her for taking a photo!

Anyway I managed to finish the event in 2:36:49 so about 5 mins quicker than my first outing, when I looked at the results online it said that I was the slowest over the last 10k run. These have since been added to and I am no longer listed as the slowest but not far off.

In fact looking at the splits my runs were almost identical across both events and all the time I improved was on the bike! Looks like my running needs most work prior to my trip to Bolton!

An extra feature of the online results was that I seemed to have become younger in the second event dropping down from the 45- 49 age group to the 40 - 44 age group, if I can keep up that ageing process I may well enter more duathlons!

Brighton Marathon

Today was my fifth running of the Brighton Marathon, it has only been run 5 times and I have run them all. I have also registered for next year for which I need to complete entry on Tuesday.

I decided that I would get the train to Preston Park from Burgess Hill, the train was packed and it seemed to take for ever to get off the platform at Preston Park but I was soon in the park, just in time to catch Dave and Jennie before they started the 10k.

Having had a quick chat they were on their way and I got changed and handed my bag over the the lorries to be transported to the finish.

The weather forecast was for rain most of the day but it was quite warm so I decided against the long sleeve top and went for just vests. A decision I was really pleased with later on due to the promised rain not arriving.

Having been for the obligatory couple of visits to the loo I lined up in the start coral, now when I first ran this event 5 years ago I was in the last coral but over the years have moved closer to the front. Now I am sure that I will not get into the front coral,unless I lie about my expected finish time.

The gun, or rather horn, went off precisely on time and we were on our way filing thorough the start past Paula Radcliffe who was the official starter. She must have had sore hands as was high fiving as many runners as possible.

The first part of the run goes around the park and up the hill were loads of cars and a skip on the side of the road which made for a rather narrow gap forcing us to stop running and walk for a while.

Once past this section the rest of the course was wide enough to allow for running all the way, well when the legs allowed!

I seemed to be going well and was quite regular on 9 minute miles by my watch, that was until I reached mile 16 when things started to go astray and my legs decided that it was a bad idea to be running!!

I managed to push on and run / walk for the last 10 miles, it was nice to get a cheer from Zoe Ball sat on a wall about mile 23, lots of people all round the course cheering me on, a definite benefit of having my name on my vest!

The last 3 miles as usual were hard, so much so that as soon as I crossed the line I sank to the floor and attracted the attentions of the marshalls to check I was OK. After a few minutes rest I did manage to get back to my feet and wish Jenni Falcolner good luck for London next week, she was at the finish working for TV but had time to ask me how I had got on in the race.

Then on through the finish area to collect my bag and out through the village to get back to the station. On the way out I bumped into Andy Rossiter, an old colleague from my BBHLC days, I probably haven't seen him for over 15 years so was good to catch up.

Once again the event was great and Brighton certainly didn't disappoint on setting or organisation. If there was one slight gripe it was the amount of time it took to get out of the finish area and across the course, whose bright idea was it to have a bridge with steps this year?? ;-)

Well in the end I set another PB at Brighton and enjoyed most of the run!

Thanks must go to all the organisers and volunteers that make the event possible.

Thanks also to all of the people who lined the streets to cheer on complete strangers who are mad enough to run 26.2 miles around the city!

Thanks to all the people who sent messages of good luck before and during the event and congratulations after.

Thanks also to Jenni Falcolner for taking time to chat after the race and also for not saying anything when I sank to the floor which happened just in front of her!

My First Duathlon

So after taking part as the cyclist in a team Duathlon last year I had the chance to complete one on my own today.

F3 Events run a series of Duathlons based at Eton Dorney and each day has a selection of distances.

Looking at the website f3events.co.uk there is a Super Sprint, Sprint and Olympic. Having looked at the distances the Olympic was a 5k run followed by a 40k bike and finishing with a 10k run.

On the basis that I am getting ready for ironmanUK this didn't look that far so I duly entered this distance.

When I got the final details it appeared that I had less than 3 hours to complete the event, now I was getting nervous!

Given the recent spell of bad weather I was relieved to arrive at Eton Dorney to a crisp sunny morning. Still a bit dubious about the distance.

Too late to back out now so I started the first run a 2 lap out and back course. On my first lap there was a certain Dame Kelly Holmes coming back the other way!

I went into transition to find my bike and head out for 8 laps of the bike course, after 3 1/2 laps I managed to catch Dame Kelly, at this point I was actually pleased that I was doing the Olympic distance as it meant she would not catch and leave me standing in the final run! (She won her age group in the Sprint Distance)

Coming round for some of my later laps meant going past the finish area with lots of other competitors already finished with their medals around their neck.

After my required 8 laps on the bike it was time to swap my bike for my running shoes again. As I headed out for my 10k run I was again questioning my wisdom of choosing this distance.

My legs were heavy and really didn't want to run, but run they did, 4 laps of the course this time. At the end of each lap a Marshall was directing is to go left for the finish or straight on for the turn, how I wish I could turn left!

When I finally did get to turn left it was such a relief and I was over the line to collect my medal in a time of 2hrs 41mins and 31secs.

Just one thing I have to go through if all again in about 8 weeks time!!

All in all for my first Duathlon I was very happy, the event was great a nice and flat venue, if maybe I can request less wind in April please.

Finally thanks must go to the organisers and the marshals of the event without who they would not be possible!

Blaze Light

It has arrived my Blaze light is here and I have made my first trip using it!

Towards the end of last year I saw an article about a new bike light that was about to hit the market, Blaze. It was helped to be created by kickstarter, now I had missed the opportunity to be part of this but I did sign up to the website at Blaze.cc to be on the list to get first dibs on ordering.

My wife always asks me what I want for Christmas and I can never really think of anything, I am very lucky to have most of what I would like, obviously a Ferrari is out of the price range! So last year when she asked I knew what I wanted, a Blaze light.

At the time Blaze were trying hard to get the lights to market in time for Christmas but it became apparent before they started to take orders that this was not going to be possible.  My wife was a bit disappointed that the only thing I had asked for would not be able to be under the tree on Christmas morning, me I didn't care I just wanted the light.

So January arrived and with it a few emails from Blaze about when we could expect our lights, Kickstarter supporters were, quite rightly, taking priority but I was one of the lucky pre-order customers that was in the first batch of deliveries.  Another email towards the end of January stated that the light had been dispatched and was on its way, unfortunately the Customs people decided to be ultra cautious about letting the packages be sent and they sat at a warehouse for several days.

Yesterday was the day that Customs had finally done their thing and the light was delivered, typical I was at work and then had to go straight out to a meeting when I got home. Nothing was going to stop me checking out the light though so I snatched a few minutes to unpack and check it out, I also managed to get it on charge so it was ready for use on my commute this morning.

My first thought on opening the pack was that the light was very solid it seemed to be very well put together and the accessories were very green! My second thought was "how is that bracket going to fit on my handlebars?"

This morning when I dragged my bike out of the back of my car the first thing I needed to do was attach the bracket and get the light sorted, good job I had to be up early to move my car so my son could go to work!

I was still unsure about the bracket, it seemed that my bars were just too big, the bolt would not fit into the slot properly and it seemed to be just on the edge.  Having tested it the light did seem secure so I set off but I will double check the bracket again when its light and I am not by the side of the road!.

The first half of my commute is relatively light in terms of traffic, especially at the earlier hour this morning.  The second half of my trip is where I saw the benefits of the Blaze's not so secret weapon, after all the main reason we have all bought one is due to the laser image projected in front!

The main light was great, it is probably one of the brightest I have used but it was when I started to hit heavier traffic that I switched the laser on and a little green bike appeared on the road in front.

(Yes I know that the image above is not in traffic and is on the wrong side of the road, this was when I was setting the light up in a little side road, not sure it would be safe to take a photo with my phone while riding!)

Under some of the brighter street lights on my route through London the image seemed to get a little lost on the road but was still visible when hitting other vehicles and on a couple of occasions I noticed that other cyclists had seen the image so I hope that drivers did too.

All in all the light is great and does exactly what was expected, it is functional whilst funky, now if Blaze can make a rear light that is as funky and good quality I will be very happy!

National Champs

So this weekends training suffered due to me wanting to go to watch the National Cyclo Cross Championships in Derby.

Saturday was spent doing family stuff, taking the boys to and from Tennis and work, interspersed with tidying out the garage (Again!) and putting some more shelves up.

Then Sunday was the day to go to Derby, it was a 3 hour drive to get there and quite a muddy walk around to see what was happening, I arrived in time to see Helen Wyman warming up on the course and Roger Hammond riding round the course. Maybe he is thinking of a comeback? The last time I saw him ride was when I was a schoolboy riding and he was just starting out, even then it was obvious what a rider he was going to be. Fortunately I was old enough to be in a different age group despite him riding above his and still beating everyone! Ah the good old days of ESCA (now BSCA).

I wandered round whilst the Junior race was going on to see what was happening, it was all quite different from when I used to ride all those years ago, pressure washers to clean bikes each lap? I remember finding big puddles and using them to clean my bike when I could, pits? I used to swap bikes or wheels anywhere on the course that my dad could get to. It is much more structured now, in a good way!

Then it was time for the elite women to start, this was actually the main race that I wanted to see. I had met Helen Wyman a couple of times due to my involvement in Ride London (see earlier posts) and was keen to see how she raced.  Well she went off from the start and led until the finish in a very impressive display of cross riding.  I spent some time near the pits to see what happens in them and saw Stefan bolting back and forth between the pits and the pressure washer area with Helen's bike to make sure that it was cleaned and working well at each change, he must have got soaked!

The event itself seemed great the course looked very slippery and challenging, I thoroughly enjoyed watching if a bit jealous that I wasn't riding but now I am a Vet I would have had to be there on the Saturday, nothing to do with not being fit enough! Congratulations to everyone who competed especially all the new National Champions and also to the organisers and marshals.

I did stop to watch the start of the men's race and the first pass of the pits but then had to make a move to get home in time for more fatherly duties, number 2 son needed collecting from work!

Well having missed a weekend of training I need to make up for it over the next week so will have to fit some swimming and running in alongside my regular cycle to work but it was definitely worth the trip to Derby to watch some very inspiring bike racing.

Maybe after the Ironman in July I should make my goal being fit enough to take part in the National Vets Champs next year? Actually after my last ride out at Didcot I may need a more realistic goal.

2014!

I was having a discussion at work the other day about what events I was doing this year, when I started to list them I realised I have entered more than I thought!

Feb 22 Dorney Duathlon

Mar 2 Reading Half Marathon

Apr 6 Brighton Marathon

Apr 19 Dorney Duathlon

Jun 15 Cotswold Half Iron Distance Triathlon

Jul 20 Ironman UK

Oct 5 Cumbrian Run

Seems a bit loaded at the first half of the year! Oh and I find out next month if I have a space in Ride London this year.

Well the second half of the year I will have to get my Cyclo Cross bike out again! That and maybe some other events might crop up that take my fancy!

Well my training has started ok I just need a bit more structure and keep at it, well I have enough events to keep me focused, hopefully!