It’s a while since I posted, but the training has been going fine.
It’s been a busy summer from a spectating point of view. I went down to London with a mate to watch the start of the Tour de France: it was a fantastically well organised event; the weather was kind all weekend; and everyone seemed very relaxed despite the awful incident at Glasgow airport the week before the race. Bradley didn’t quite bring home the bacon, but he did creditably well. I just hope that the powers that be can get a grip on the unbelievably arrogant prats who seem intent on wrecking the sport. The “I’m innocent and I’ll prove that the lab made mistakes” argument that Landis so brought into disrepute last year looks to be trotted out again by Vino. And Rasmussen’s weasily “I have never failed a dope test” is simply disgusting: you’ve actually got to take the tests when requested in order to fail them!
Watching the Salford Triathlon was an altogether more relaxed affair. It was a very windy day, so I’m glad I wasn’t racing. Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal cruised to victory in the women’s race, but Javier Gomez from Spain had to work much harder as our very own Tim Don was intent on getting a home win. Don made a break for it on the first lap of the run, but was hauled in by three pursuers on the second. The effort took its toll in the end as he faded to finish fourth. Bad luck Tim, maybe next year.
A week later things improved as he won the Elite Men’s race at the London Triathlon. Speaking of which event, my brother Robert competed in the sprint for the third successive year, and for the third successive year he finished in 1hr 34 mins! Well done bro, but you’re really going to have to step up to the plate and do an Olympic distance next year!
With the school holidays winding down, the Vitruvian Triathlon looms ever nearer (Sept 8th). I really enjoyed this event last year, as the bike course really suited me – I averaged over 18mph for the 52 mile bike leg, and I’m hoping to get nearer 20 mph and break 6 hours this year.
As a warm-up for the event, on this Sunday I’m doing the Spud Riley Challenge – 101 miles around some of my favourite Peak District hills. Actually, there is a shorter 54 mile version, and since this distance is much closer to the distance I’ll be doing for the Vitruvian, I’ll probably do that instead. It still manages to pack in a mean number of big hills so it should be fun. We’ll see if the long intervals that I’ve been doing on my bike have paid off!
Challenge report next week.
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