It was back to ‘Casa “House of Pain” Durden’ for a weekend in north Bucks and The British Middle Distance Championships. Lets not beat around the bush here: anyone can enter, but it sounds quite hardcore so we’ll call it what it is.
Saturday involved the almighty task of getting everyone and their kit out of London, down the M1 and into their digs in Astwood. A simple feat with some driving up in the tin can on wheels that is Roly’s vehicle with Jonny bringing the majority of kit and bikes up in the hired transit van. I say the majority because, as he walked through the door in Astwood around midday after circa 2 hours driving, it dawned on him that he’d managed to leave one rucksack back at his flat in Clapham. Said rucksack contained a wetsuit, tri-suit, goggles, hat and cycling shoes. So all the important bits of kit then. To his dismay he pretty much walked straight back out the door, drove to Bedford and got on a train back to London where, luckily for him, his flatmate met him at St Pancras with the bag.
To keep us occupied we went for a short spin to check the bikes were working and to test out the new TGS kit. A photo shoot soon ensued to everyone's frustration:
Team Gun Show. Trying to get the Guns to Show:
Aside from this small distraction, everyone was in fine form and feeling relatively calm about the task ahead. Some early signs of nerves, evidenced by a lack of banter, were noted in our young friend Mr Pugh who hadn’t at this stage ever completed a triathlon. More on him later. Our main concern was the weather. Off the back of the wettest May and June since records began it looked as though the off-road run might become a second leg of the swim. Clearly there was concern at Cowman HQ and when we arrived to rack-up on the Saturday it was evident that the transition area was also going to be a little damp given that most of it was under about 6 inches of water.
Mud, glorious mud!
For the diligent triathletes
To keep us occupied we went for a short spin to check the bikes were working and to test out the new TGS kit. A photo shoot soon ensued to everyone's frustration:
Team Gun Show. Trying to get the Guns to Show:
Shouting at me to get out of the way!
On the tri bike - shame the wheels don't match. First puncture followed shortly after...
JK on the Eddie Merckx
A warm up hill from Newton Blossomville looking over the Great Ouse valley.
Aside from this small distraction, everyone was in fine form and feeling relatively calm about the task ahead. Some early signs of nerves, evidenced by a lack of banter, were noted in our young friend Mr Pugh who hadn’t at this stage ever completed a triathlon. More on him later. Our main concern was the weather. Off the back of the wettest May and June since records began it looked as though the off-road run might become a second leg of the swim. Clearly there was concern at Cowman HQ and when we arrived to rack-up on the Saturday it was evident that the transition area was also going to be a little damp given that most of it was under about 6 inches of water.
Mud, glorious mud!
More mud! Roly & Em
For the diligent triathletes
In terms of preparations, WJD, by this point, had already had his 3rd puncture of the day and decided to opt for the ‘throw money at the problem’ solution by buying both a new tyre and inner tube. Luckily he received some assistance from a furry friend getting it fixed:
I had been struggling in previous weeks with my new goggles (the large Aquasphere ‘mask’ type) letting in water so decided, against all the best advice, to purchase a new pair that afternoon in preparation for the swim at 7am the next morning. I wholly ignored the ‘don’t try out new kit on the day of competition’ advice that you read all the time in triathlon mags. When your old kit’s been failing I figured things couldn’t get much worse. As it turns out the smaller goggle-like Aquasphere’s that I purchased were the mutt’s nuts. Phew. What no one realised at this point was that sabotage (or so it is claimed) had taken place with someone un-doing JK’s rear wheel. JK hasn’t yet admitted to the fact he simply hadn’t done it up the last time he cleaned his bike.
I had been struggling in previous weeks with my new goggles (the large Aquasphere ‘mask’ type) letting in water so decided, against all the best advice, to purchase a new pair that afternoon in preparation for the swim at 7am the next morning. I wholly ignored the ‘don’t try out new kit on the day of competition’ advice that you read all the time in triathlon mags. When your old kit’s been failing I figured things couldn’t get much worse. As it turns out the smaller goggle-like Aquasphere’s that I purchased were the mutt’s nuts. Phew. What no one realised at this point was that sabotage (or so it is claimed) had taken place with someone un-doing JK’s rear wheel. JK hasn’t yet admitted to the fact he simply hadn’t done it up the last time he cleaned his bike.
The competition was clearly hotting up.
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