the neverending 180k bike

I was a shivering wreck getting out of the swim but was not the only one to leave the wetsuit fully on to keep some kind of ‘warmth’ until i got into the tent. The swim exit consisted of a sharp uphill giving way to an uphill path to T1 which was miles away and the path was hard to run on as the slithery mud was hard to navigate especially with numb feet . I grabbed my swim to bike bag and sat with a mass of shivering wet bodies in the tent and miserably considered my options. The ‘pull yourself together’ one kicked in pretty quickly but it was hard to act as i was so cold I literally had no feeling in my hands to open the bag! Error number Two (Error Number One was signing up for the darned race) was not to put a change of top in my bag, I stupidly thought my transitions were going to be so slick that i would only need to wear my tri suit throughout. Yeah right! But as i pulled on my winter cycling fleece over soaking wet tri top and the windcheater jacket on the top of that, i was really envious of everyone else putting on dry clothing.


exiting T1 wearing 100 layers, ha!

My legs especially my right calf and left foot were cramping up throughout the swim and i hoped that the pedalling would sort that out. I slodged through the mudfest (not ideal when wearing white compression socks) (to keep me warm, never mind the compression properties) oh and good luck to people who had attached their shoes to their pedals – the decision was against that, you really needed the welly boots to get to the mount line then hop on the bike! People were trying to get on their bikes at the line then slithering in the mud and falling off again! What a palava. After the slithering up the muddy lane where a mountain bike would most definitely have been useful it was straight up the steepest series of climbs of the bike course, so so much for having time to pedal out the cramp!
It was bleak out on those moors and once up the highest of the climbs it was down the only road that was downhill (and was only about 300m long) then the first of the real technical turns (if you don’t count the turn where a few people flew off their bikes almost into a lake) and then onto the rest of the 3 lap course. It was a mad course with so many twists and turns and mostly uphill with a bit of flat in between. I was surprised to see so much traffic on an ironman course by the time the 2nd and 3rd laps came round it was really busy on a lot of roads and cyclists were getting hemmed in by the cars and twice i had to unclip and stop quickly because someone had pulled up in front of me!! So dangerous.
no wonder i was so slow with all those coats on!


The third bike lap seemed to take Forever it was really the never ending bike lap. I couldn’t believe i’d been on the bike for over eight hours when i was aiming for six and a half and i was happy to finally get to the line and give Mr Felt away (sorry mr felt but at this point i would have gladly handed him over to absolutely anyone who would have him!)
I made the bike cutoff by only 30 minutes i think that’s probably a reverse PB but felt a bit better later when i heard that many people didn’t make the cutoff. I sat dismally in the transition tent and chatted to the other girls who were discussing why the hell we were doing this (see – my transition plan had totally gone out of the window!!). I traipsed through the mud again and trotted up the lane actually feeling fine and happy to be free of the bike but was a bit concerned about what felt like a pulled hammy. I only got about 500m into the run when my right leg seized up completely and i thought oh damn now what??! I stretched and walked a bit and then tried to trot off again – the annoying thing was that i’d found my running head and i was so feeling fresh and not at all fazed by the 42ks ahead but the damn leg kept seizing up and forcing me to walk. About 5ks in the pain moved down the leg and i ended up feeling like i had a knife stuck in the side and back of my knee and in my ankle and i was fine walking but running hurt like hell and in fact just wasn’t happening. I hadn’t suffered through the worst ever swim and bike to bale now so i decided to plough on regardless but just power hobble the best I could!