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!