After winning the coed-y-brenin off road duathlon in October I had high hopes of winning the Llandegla version. This event is no different to any other in terms of you never know who's going to turn up. So the simple plan was to go flat out and see who fancies it.
Despite being issued with a strange t-shirt to wear at registration (size large!) by the organisers I was prepared for action. The run was on fire tracks with some interesting single track sections. The pace was reasonable without being frantic and I entered transition on the shoulder of the first runner. Time of 13mins,meaning the run was more like 4k than 5. I had a mini disaster in transition due to losing my bike briefly,wasting 20 secs or so. The bike is the red route at Llandegla and starts with a long drag,nothing steep but enough to warm the legs up. I wasn't sure what position I left transition as a group of maybe 4-5 runners entered together,and with my disaster of losing the bike I wasn't sure what position I was in. I quickly caught and left two riders and pushed on hard up the climb. I asked the first marshal how many riders had gone through and I was a little surprised to hear him say I was first. So I put the hammer down and pulled a gap big enough to be able to look back and see a clear trail. Despite a mini fall on some left over snow on a climb due to some lady (trails were still open to the public) not knowing the difference between left and right,I continued to pull clear of the field.
My bike was starting to get on my nerves due to the continuous gear slipping,probably down to a bent hanger that needs replacing. So I was glad to get the bike out the way and onto the slightly different second run. I'd apparently pulled out a lead of around 2 1/2 minutes after the bike leg,and was able to enjoy the final run without working out of my comfort zone. All done without any drama and thus my first win of the season. I managed to pull out a lead of around 4 minutes,not that my trainers could take anymore abuse !
Finally I can justify the "trophies" in the blog title.
Best buy a new pair.
A good report.
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of interest,was the bike section off road aswell ? If so I guess that was on a mountain bike ?
Well done on the win.And yes, buy some new trainers !
Yes Lightning,all off road on the mountain bike. Not overly technical but good fun.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason I thought all du/tri athlons were on road . That actually sounds much more interesting .
ReplyDeletewell done on your llandegla duathlon buddy, great start to the season. You amaze me! With all that training you do and yet you still raced this event with a rear bent hanger!! Hope your ordered a new one along with your trainers?! Well done again buddy;-)
ReplyDeleteHiya pal good blog well worth a read. all we need is a few dry days to get on the bikes
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