have your cake and eat it

I know I have been quiet for awhile but to be honest I have not had a lot to report. Life has fallen back into the same familiar routine that I was following before IMLP. Get up go to work (sometimes train at lunch), come home, train, eat, go to bed, repeat. The weekends are a long ride Saturday and a triathlon brick on a Sunday.

At least I am not alone in my training. I have mentioned Chris from time to time in my blog and his reward for finishing first in his age group (60-64) and setting a new course record at Lake Placid is to continue to give up all his free time in preparation for the World Championships in Hawaii. Most of the team are now able to kick back and focus on shorter course racing for the rest of the season whereas Chris and I are still looking for opportunities to go riding for hours and hours on end.

It works out well for us as I am slightly quicker on the bike he can sit in my draft and still get in a good zone 2 workout and I get the benefit of having someone older and emenintly more sensible making sure that I actually turn up for the long workouts.

Generally things are going pretty well as I approach the last couple of weeks before Ironman UK. Last week I was able to exercise for the first time without any pain and I think I can finally assume that I have recovered from my bike accident. I also got to pick up my new ride last week, a week later than expected but worth the wait.

Here she is in all her glory. The saddle is a loaner from Conte's as the BH importer did not send the Scratch TR saddle I ordered and I am waiting for them to put that right. I took her out last Saturday for what was supposed to be a long ride but unfortunately I didn't have a great ride and had to cut it a bit short. It was however my birthday and Chris surprised me with a birthday cake so we ended up substituting another 1.5 hours on the bike for cake.

To clear up any confusion I have not signed for the Pro Cycling Team AG2R the kit came free with the bike

Sunday was the first day that I finally got to do the full Tri brick, i.e. swim bike run and it felt pretty good. I am hoping that a few of these will really help me when it comes to race day and that all important bike to run transition.

I did finally put the BH through her paces last night when for the last hour of my 2.5 hour ride, Chris and I linked up with the A group at the weekly Conte's ride (every Tuesday at 6.30pm). There were an impressive number of riders there covering the full gambit of abilities and experience. You may remember that I was tagging along on the Wakefield A Group ride but I haven't done that ride for a couple of months and it was a shock to the system last night to be dragged kicking and screaming from my comfort zone.

The last thing you want on one of these group rides is to be dropped so you move heaven and earth to stay on the pace. This particular ride was very hilly and the first few steep climbs really took their toll. My heart rate maxed out and stayed there for quite a long time, it was hot and I started to develop a headache and if I had kept going I was going to start cramping badly. People were getting dropped but I just, by the skin of my teeth, held on to the top of the hill with the leaders and then managed to recover enough to make the next brutal climb. As with most of these group rides even the leaders are suffering and after the initial onslaught the pace on the hills slowed significantly.

In the end I was pleased with the ride but I was disappointed that one of the guys in the ride was also riding a BH G4. He turned out to be a nice bloke but I guess even if there are only a few dealers in the US if you go back to the store where you bought the bike you run the risk of bumping into someone on the same machine - bubble certainly not burst but maybe a little bit deflated.

My finishers video clip

This video clip cost me $15 and to be honest it is terrible.

The only good thing about it is that it features one of my friends, Sebastian, in his Team Z kit in the general montage footage (45 sec, far right hand side, green top, red visor and sunglasses??).

The actual video of me crossing the line is awful and you cannot see my face. My body language makes me look as if I couldn't give a damn when actually there is a huge grin on my face - honestly.

Do you really 'need' a new bike?

I'm back. I didn't know whether or not to keep this blog alive but, as you can see from the new count down timer, I have made a decision to race Ironman UK and I think it is only fitting that I keep this blog going until that race is over.

Why race Ironman UK?

The Cadence Kona Challenge is effectively over and Triathlete magazine stopped following the challenge this month. Unfortunately in the process of ending the coverage of the challenge they printed a very large picture of me in which I look as if I am doped up to the eyeballs. Holden and Cadence are going to keep coaching me through Ironman UK but looking at historic finishing times there is not a hope in hell of qualifying for Kona. Ironman UK attracts some uber-athletes, probably because there are so few M-Dot Ironman races in Europe, in comparison to North America. Last year the winner of my age group did it in 08:56!!! only 20 minutes slower than the overall winner. However, I have paid for the race, I cannot get my money back and I cannot live with the idea of just letting that money, and a place in a sold out race, go to waste.

Secondly I want to know whether I can finish the Ironman distance with a decent run. If I can hold together a half decent run I can drastically improve on my Lake Placid time and at the moment it is impossible for me to gauge how much my crash affected my race.

Finally I would love for my family and friends to be able to watch the Ironman spectacle and it looks as if quite a few of them will be able to make it to watch me race at Sherborne in September. I hope too that Wendy will not be stuck under a tent looking after Ben and may actually be able to see something of me racing.

Life as an Ironman;

The week after Lake Placid was total rest and it was heaven. I ate copious amounts of food enjoyed some nice wine, steaks and icecream. The Saturday and Sunday after the race I didn’t get out of bed until midday, enjoying breakfast in bed, with a paper, and while watching the last two stages of the Tour de France on TV – life really does not get much better.

Life after Ironman

The week after was still very much recovery and I did a short swim every other day but nothing else. This week I am supposed to return to some more demanding training. The problem I am having is that I am still bothered by my injured groin. Holden is keen to make sure that I am 100% fit before we build up for Ironman UK and wanted 3 days where I didn’t feel any discomfort before he started me running again. So far that hasn’t happened and I haven’t been for a training run now for something like 5 weeks (not including a little run during the Ironman). I am frustrated to say the least and after some discomfort during Sunday’s recovery ride the run scheduled for today has been pushed back until Saturday.

Outside of training life is good. I have spent more time with Wendy and Ben and tried to get outside to enjoy the hot weather rather than do battle with it whilst training. Ben is busy growing (very tall) and working on his ability to roll over. He can get about half way and then grunts for 60 seconds before giving up and crying until we either assist him roll or pick him up.

The title of this post comes from a question posed to me by my wife and I must admit it is a bit of a tricky one to answer. For the last couple of years I have harboured a desire to treat myself to a carbon framed bike. My recent participation in group rides with local road racers has not only drastically increased my strength on the bike but has also served to rekindle my love affair with my old road bike (an aluminium framed Orbea) which had been lying, neglected and dusty in the garage. Although I love my old Orbea we are approaching the 7 year itch point and I secretly longed for a younger, prettier and lighter model.

After Ironman I noticed a 2007 Cervelo R3 on sale in my local bike shop (LBS). This is a great bike and is light and relatively sexy. It is pretty in a girl next door sort of way but is not going to stand out from the crowd and in my eyes will never warrant a modeling contract. Still I knew it was a great deal and would serve as a very good carbon framed bike and in any event it was much better than my current bike.

I went back to my LBS to look at buying it to find out it had been sold. I like to think of this as fate because as I looked around the store I came across the BH bikes. BH are Spanish and have been making bikes for a 100 years. They are very popular in Europe and are currently the team bike for AG2R but there are very few dealers in the US. Their top of the range bike is the G4 and my LBS, Conte’s, had one in a small frame which I took for a test ride. This bike ticked all the boxes for me and after doing some research I knew I had found the dream bike I was after (I just needed a larger frame).

It has the supermodel looks but just as importantly it has a supermodel ‘weight problem’ with the frame weighing a ridiculously anorexic 860 grams. It has classic European styling and a bold white, blue and black paint job and is all hand built. Like any supermodel it is not cheap but thanks to Conte’s we were able to play around with the components (mainly the wheels) to reach a great deal. This really is a relative term but with current exchange rates believe me it is a lot cheaper to buy a bike in the US than the UK. I have also worked out that if I water down Ben's milk by using 50% less formula in his bottles and change him every 6-8 hours rather than 2-3 hours I should soon be able to pay off the bike in next to no time.

The icing on the cake for me was that they were even able to get me the Prologo Scratch TR saddle (white) which is very hard to get hold of at the moment but maintains that Pro Tour look. I am very excited and Wendy has even been kind enough to buy me a set of Time RXS pedals for my birthday. It is now just a case of waiting for the bike to arrive. A nice touch is that BH were running a promotion during the Tour de France whereby you got an AG2R jersey and shorts with every bike and it is always useful to have an extra set of cycling clothes.

Bottom line is that no one ‘needs’ a new bike but it sure is fun when you get one.

Before I sign off I wanted to share a couple of things with you. Firstly my fellow Cadence Kona Challenge Grand Finalist, Mary Lou, has written a truly fantastic race report which must have taken her longer than the race itself. It is a funny, entertaining and extremely revealing race report and I commend it to everyone to read if you have the time. To go to her blog click here.

The other thing I wanted to share with you was sent out by one of my Team Z teammates. Triathlon is full of inspirational people and I am constantly surprised when I see disabled athletes and their amazing feats but I have to say that this guy really does stand out. Please click here to see the story.