Cycling race (Challenge Henley Tri) 5:58:36 [5] 180.0 km (2:00 / km) +1600m 1:54 / km
shoes: Planet X RT-57
Got asked to ride the bike leg in the Challenge Henley triathlon a couple of weeks ago.
A friend Lou was doing the 3.8k swim, this was the furthest she had swum and had only been training in a 20m indoor pool. But she made it. Pretty cold water in the Thames.
When I picked up the bike it was one of only 3 bikes left from about 1200 bikes. It made for a good ride, continually passing people the whole way. Typical ironman rules of no drafting applied. A few times when the road were narrow I got stuck behind others trying to pass, and had someone about 30k a head shout at me... Knob. The ride headed back into henley and then 3 laps of a Y shaped course. With a main climb on each side. The first lap I went out pretty hard and starting to think maybe too hard, 2nd lap I felt the same, and last lap I was starting to tire a little but kept up almost the same pace. It was great watching people struggling on the last lap, especially the aero sperm helmet guys.
Big Pete set out on the marathon and ran through half way feeling ok, but at about 28k his legs seized up and didn't make it around the last lap. Pretty sad watching him try to continue but just couldn't run. He only started running a year ago, had run further than this in training but in the last month has had a few injuries forming that has stopped him from training. He gave it a good crack.