Last Sunday (16th October) I took part in my first ever Duathlon, this is an event which has three parts. A run, followed by a cycle, then a final run. The Moorgreen Duathlon classes as a Sprint event as it's a 4km run, 14km ride, 2km run.
After finishing the London to Brighton ride a few weeks earlier I was confident I would manage the ride easily enough without making the run too difficult to finish. The main worry was the transition zone as I haven't done an event like this before. All the way on the first leg of the run I was telling myself "helmet on first then sort out footwear and bike" and to be fair once I finished the run the transition wasn't anything as bad I as I expected, saying that I was still slow at the change over!
Out of Transition No1 time to cycle.
Out on the bike course I soon realised Moorgreen area really isn't flat but at the same time it's nice to cycle around. The cycling route wasn't anything special but did the job for the event. Once back at the transition area it was time for my second set of instructions in my head "put your bike away befoire you take off your helmet", I wasn't the only one like this as I did hear one of the staff telling a bloke he didn't need to run in his helmet and he could take it off if he wanted too, I think he was that focused on racking his bike and running he forgot he had it on.
Back into transition and time for the final section.
The last run now was only 2km which shouldn't be too difficult but I've never ran, cycled then got off a bike and ran again. My legs felt very strange! I had been warned of this by a few people and it really is an odd sensation the first time you do it. The second run took me longer than I wanted but over all I finished in just over an hour and placed 51st out of 115+ people.
Overall I was a little disappointed but it's given me a taste for Duathlons and I will be doing more in the future and hopefully I will see my times slowly decreasing event by event.
Finished!
It wasn't only my first Duathlon but Danny ran/cycled his too. He did the shorted event which was a 2km run, 7km ride and 1km run. This was an amazing achievement to do this seeing as the previous day he took part in the Men's Health Survival of the Fittest which I've ran in the previous 3 years.
He's doing all these events for his own personal health and fitness benefit but at the same time to raise some money for Crohn's and Colitis UK - www.justgiving.com/Daniel-Brooks3
On the 26th and 27th September me and Rob had been daft enough to sign up to cycle the London to Brighton Challenge, there and back!
We originally looked at doing London to Brighton but the offer for the there and back ride was too tempting to say no too, or so we thought at the time. The ride was a total of 120 miles or 200km setting off from Smithfield Market in Central London all the way South until we hit the coast at Brighton, before cycling all the way back again.
Pre ride happy photo.
Before we set off it was time for a few photos, last bike check, some food, hydration and a little panic about what we had signed up too. At about 11pm we set off and it had to be said cycling out of London around midnight really wasn't simple, I thought the traffic would have died down slightly but it really hadn't. The roads weren't the best and I was one of many who had a light on pop out of it's holder and onto the road, thankfully everybody on the ride was really friendly and helpful and they all had their lights returned. The first rest stop was at 17km so not far but it was just out of London and a good point to meet back up with Rob and then time to set off again.
Once out of London the temperature really dropped cold but the roads improved and it was nice to be away from traffic lights. The next aim was Tulleys Farm which was around the half way point to Brighton (57km roughly). By this point we were both feeling confident about the ride and we became very happy once we got into the tent and saw the food they had put on for the riders. It was time to get some carbs in the system to help keep us going on the ride over night. Once we had used the facilities available it was back on our bikes and off to the next rest point.
Oakmeeds Community College was the next stop off point around 80km and it was really cold by now. I had to warm up in front of one of the heaters in the sports hall, after about 10 minutes I could feel my toes again and my socks had warmed up nicely to put back on. After warming up, refilling our water bottles and a handful of sweets to keep us awake we set off once more, next stop Brighton.
Well Brighton is the next stop but first we've got to get up and over the Ditchling Beecon. We have both cycled some nice hills around Belper and surrounding areas in preparation knowing they weren't anything like Ditchling but still some good hills. All I can say is I'm so glad we cycled up there in the dark so you couldn't make out the gradient. At first it wasn't as bad as I was expecting but it soon became a relentless uphill challenge. I could hear one of the guides encouraging a woman behind me and telling her "the more you cycle the less you need to walk." it made me laugh but also helped me keep focus. This was my challenge within the challenge, don't walk at any point on the up hills. I have read other blogs and it gets mentioned so often that this is the point to walk. I refused to do that and powered on to the top! BOOM I had done it!!! Ditchling Beacon conquered, happy days.
The video below is taken from YouTube to show what it's like the cycle up there. There was no point using my GoPro as in the pitch black it would have recorded nothing.
From here we were informed it was downhill all the way to Brighton, well in a car it may seem that was but it really wasn't. We eventually made it to Brighton as the last few people were leaving some of the bars and had some original heckling of "look it's the Tour de France.". It was nice to eventually make it to the Brighton rest stop and go to the toilet, get some food and drink. It was however depressing watching people get their medals for cycling to Brighton knowing we had to return to London to get ours.
When we set off the sun was just coming up but it really didn't warm us up. The trip back to the top of Ditchling Beacon was a long long gradual incline but once at the top the views were amazing. I did get a photo but there was some sweat on my phone so it looks a bit blurred - Instagram.
Now after cycling up the Beacon it never crossed my mind how fast it was going to be to cycle back down it. According to Robs Garmin we hit 39mph and that was while breaking most of the way down it. All there was to do now was cycle back to London and finish! This was only a matter of another 80km to get there. By this point it was the longest bike ride me and Rob had ever done and there was a long way left to go. Each rest stop seemed to be absolutely miles away and the small hills on the way seemed like mountains now.
As the minutes and then hours past we got closer and closer to London. First passing Gatwick Airport which passed a few minutes watching the departures fly over head, then it was the first time I've ever been happy to see the M25 as it meant we were one step closer. Once past the M25 we had less than 30km left to cycle. That last 30km took us over 2 hours as our legs were spent, traffic was building up and traffic lights took away any momentum.
Our route including elevation.
Eventually at 2:30pm we finished!!! I could hardly keep my eyes open and walking felt odd but who cared it was over! Time to go back to the hotel have a well needed shower and sleep.
DONE!!!
So you may ask why we did this, well two reasons:- something big to aim for on a personal level for us both to work on our own fitness, push ourselves and see what we could do. Secondly to help raise money for Cancer Research UK.
So 2012 was pretty spectacular for sport with the amazing
success of London 2012 Olympics and some great football at Euro 2012. Plus all
the yearly sporting events including Andy Murrays Wimbledon heart break and Sir
Bradley Wiggins Tour de France victory.
How can 2013 compete with that?
Well it’s doing a very good job of trying to match it so
far.
Saturday 22nd June saw the British and Irish Lions just sneak
past the Australian team by 2 points after an unfortunate slip in the dying
seconds by Kurtley Beale.
Sunday 23rd June saw England lose to
India in the final of the Champions Trophy. The match was there to be won, once
it started after a morning of rain during the typical English Summer. But unfortunately
very tight bowling by the spinners and two wickets in two balls for Sharma won
it for India.
Today 24th June everybody will become a tennis
fan, yes it’s day 1 of Wimbledon. Hopefully Andy Murray can use the victories
of the Olympics and the US Open to bring him more success. Saying that if
Murray doesn’t win I hope Roger Federer does as he is a legend!!
Following Wimbledon the sport continues with more cricket,
the most important cricket competition in the World…..The Ashes!!! Australia
today have sacked coach Mickey Arthur this morning, could this bring toe
Australian team closer together for the Ashes or drive the team apart before
such an important competition?
Later in the Summer London welcomes back some of the
stars from last year with the Anniversary Games in the Olympic venue. Also with
the injury to Sir Bradley Wiggins can Chris Froome cycle to victory in the 2013
Tour de France? I really hope he can.
