Virgin Iron[wo]man and Beyond: The Big Woody Recce Weekend

As part of our training a long weekend was planned to visit the Big Woody stomping ground. Gibson, Durdens x 2 and Williams ended up being the outriders for the team and set off down to Chepstow early on Saturday morning. The Beaufort Hotel where we were staying was centrally located with food, drink and beds. All we needed then. Something akin to faulty towers.

The Big Woody course consists of a 3.8km swim in Dayhouse Quarry, a 180km cycle around the hills between Monmouth, Chepstow and the Forest of Dean and a 42km run round the Forest of Dean. It has what is known as a split transition so we switch to the bikes in one location, then our kit is transported up to a second transition area where we will finish the bike course and set off on the run.

Dayhouse Quarry - the setting for the swim. Imposing but stunning.

On arriving in Chepstow we put the bikes together, got changed and then set off on our cycle. 145km’s up hill and down dale. It really is stunning scenery round there. Mid-ride, having now decided to go off route and find some more hills on our way back to Chepstow, the boys thought it would be a good idea to race up a hill into a town called Cinderford. Off we went – even with a staggered start I was soon overtaken. When I found them all about 7 minutes later all 3 were in pieces. Mark confirmed he’d never ridden that hard in his life, WJD was just sweating and Gibson looked pale.

On the cycle home Gibson started complaining of chest pains. Quickly nick-named cardio Chris we pre-loaded ‘999’ into his phone and sent him back to the hotel in Chepstow. We proceeded in the direction of Monmouth and then found a stunning climb to take us out of the Wye Valley towards Trellick and back down into Chepstow with some photo opportunities on the way back. Saturday night was spent in a Chinese eating as much as we possibly could.

Looking across to the Black Mountains with WJD putting the TGS jersey into disrepute (again):

Team Gun Show

Survivors photo: MJW, HCD, WJD

Sunday consisted of a long swim and then 2 hours of whatever exercise we fancied. Dayhouse Quarry is pretty imposing. An old quarry it is up to 80m deep in parts with numerous ‘wrecks’ dropped in over the years to entertain the many divers that were there (and we thought you needed a lot of kit for triathlon!). We seemed to be the only OW swimmers in attendance and with no sign of any life guards or H&S briefing (a healthy disregard for H&S we thought) we pulled on our wetsuits and off we went. I have never swum in such beautifully clear or crystal blue water and it was probably one of the most enjoyable OW sessions I have done as a result.

Warming up [peeing in wetsuit]

The Quarry from the other end. Looking back towards the cafe.

Relief at having swum in the swim venue. It would have been a scary start to the Big Woody swim otherwise.

I think one of the first times we've ever looked enthusiastic about open water swimming:

The boys then went cycling and I went on a run / walk and got stung a lot by nettles. This took me up to the edge of the Wye Valley again and then back round in a loop with the imposing back drop of the Severn Estuary to the east.

Some of the photos below are of my run/walk along Offa’s Dyke – he (Offa) built a massive wall (ruins of which remain) along the edge of the cliff running along the eastern side of the Wye Valley in order to keep the Welsh out (!). All this done and dusted we headed back to London a little more familiar with the lay of the land and probably a little more apprehensive in the knowledge of how hilly the bike course was going to be!