Newmarket “Aquabike”

After last weeks problems running, I’ve been limping most of this week.

I had an entry in for Newmarket sprint triathlon which was too late to cancel. After a bit of debating (and forecast checking) I decided to go along and just do the swim and cycle. Then stop. (OK OK, there isn’t actually an Aquabike option…) I wasn’t sure which of the following this would make me feel:

• Happy
• Grumpy
• Doc (see what I did there? :p)

Turning up on the day, it was nice to be back – I’d raced the Autumn version of this race in September, and there were a few people I recognised, along with a few more Cambridge Triathlon club members I am now beginning to get to know. Doug was there in his coaching capacity – he offered to rugby tackle me if I got caught up in the moment and it looked like I was going attempt the run!

It was a beautiful sunny day – huzzah! I parked next to a father and son who were both racing. I’ve got hopes of being able to do stuff like this with my kids when they’re a bit older, so it was quite pleasing to see. The race between them was apparently not who was faster, but if the father would be caught! (He wasn’t in the end, so a moral victory there…)

I hadn’t arrived early for the un-allocated racking, but got a reasonable spot – a longer run with the bike than ideal (as the bike in/out is the same exit/entry point), but at least I wouldn’t have to go any extra distance as it was on the first row of bikes. Right next to the swim exit though, so I’d have to have my wits about me quickly after the swim!

My start time came soon enough, and I was off, and with my new found strategy of not doing tumble turns, I felt in control and enjoyed the swim. The lady starting after me closed the gap to start off with, but we then seemed to even up in pace. Which meant I got to the end, in control, happy, without any overtaking or being overtaken.

It turns out I’d done 4:46 – so I think 4:38 without the climbing out and getting to the transition mat. That is (drumroll please!) 28 seconds faster than in September. Woop!

Transition was pretty slick. I was out over the mount line and launched onto the bike without any drama. I even got the flying leap onto the bike and feet on the pedals done without crushing anything delicate! (Turns out it was the fastest transition 1 of the day). Immediately I had to stop to wait for traffic before turning onto the road, but only for a few seconds.

There’s a turn then a downhill. Unfortunately a car pulled out just ahead, and then got stuck behind some slower cyclists, so I twiddled my thumbs on the descent. It sped away by the uphill, so I could go as fast as I liked up it… (so, not very, then!)

Then there’s a T junction with a compulsory foot down. I duly did this, which I had to anyway because of traffic. Then I was out of town and onto a big causeway by the horse racetrack, and then onto the country roads. This part of the ride was lovely. Lots of rolling hills, not much traffic, plenty of overtaking! Finishing the second lap of the countryside loop, I came back onto the causeway.

Knowing I wasn’t going to run, I allows myself to nail it here as I figured it didn’t matter if I blew up. The elevation profile is like the top of a ball – slightly up, then flat, then slightly down, over about 2 km. Pushing 300 watts (which is a bit high for me), with a mild tailwind I averaged 47 kmph for that section. I was grinning for ear to ear a whooping like a loon (who needs a real disc wheel to make a cool noise when you can sound like a fool?!)

Then I was back into the town, which involves being a bit more careful, with another foot down stop. As it happened, by the time I got back into transition, I was actually fine – which is something to learn from. Knowing the course in advance can mean you can work hard preemptively when there’s a slower section coming up!

I jumped off the bike and jogged towards my transition spot. It was all of about 10 meters, but my calf muscle started hurting 😦 I racked my bike, took my helmet off and picked up my shoes. Doug said he was worrying he was actually going to have to stop me at that point! But I walked (limped) over to the exit, had a conversation with the umpire about not putting the shoes on, got over the timing mat, and then told the race marshal there that I was stopping. 

Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/998127204/analysis

 I’d done the bike section in 33:29 – 35 seconds faster than in September 😀

I got myself stretched, showered, changed and went back out to support people finishing.

I was happy and it turned out to have been a good decision to go, but was grumpy that I’d managed to hurt my calf again just going the 10m in transition. Talking to people was ace, as the triathletes I’ve met are all great fun 😀

Looking at the results, I had the fasted bike time, and was leading when I stopped. Which is good. And bad! I’m quite glad I didn’t know that at the time as it would have made limping round the run seem more appealing…

 Full results here: https://www.stuweb.co.uk/race/1wh

Bedford Sprint Triathlon

Bedford Sprint Triathlon is a pool based 400m swim, 24km cycle and 5km run. It attracts about 150 entries. The pool is great – very modern, 33m, and you swim up and back in one lane, then move onto the next. Which is great for me as I have issues counting…

Despite managing to race Duston sprint triathlon a couple of weeks ago I’d had a few niggles in my calf muscles, which has been a chronic condition, so I was pretty nervous about the run.

On the flip side, I was very excited to be racing on my new bike! I was also excited and happy that both my parents and kids were there supporting me! I was also there with a friend who was also racing, which adds to the fun!

The order you start was slowest swimmers first (from the time you predicted you’d do on the entry form, which gave you 30 second ‘bands’ to choose from). The race was chip timed (on a velcro band around your left ankle), including the entrance to the pool. Interestingly that meant you didn’t actually have to start in order – so there was a lot of chat on the poolside to work out who should go in front of who. I ended up dropping back from my official start order quite a bit.

The race got off to an interesting start… I walked across the timing matt, jumped into the pool and started swimming. But I couldn’t feel the velcro band with the chip on it. I reached down to my ankle, and yep, it’d gone! I swam back to the start looking under the water for it. The official on the start noticed, and found the chip floating on the top of the water (no band in sight though!) He handed it to me, and fortunately my tri-suit has pockets in the back so I put it in that. Then off I went!

I didn’t panic and tried to settle straight into a rhythm, which actually happened! I’d decided this time not to do tumble turns, but to get a breath whilst turning instead. I could still get a good push off and glide under the water, so don’t think this is a lot slower, and certainly makes it easier not to get out of breath!

As a result of both these things I felt like I was moving at a reasonable pace, and also felt under control. I actually enjoyed the swimming! Who’d have thought that! I caught up with the competitor in front, tapped her feet, and she politely stopped at the end of the length and let me pass. I got to the end without any other contact.

Getting out, I jogged to the transition, remembering to get the chip out of my pocket, bend down, and wave it at the matt till it beeped!

That ended up taking 6 minutes 56. With the faffing at the start and the jog to transition, I think that’s got to be close to 6 minutes swimming, which I’m very pleased with!

Transistion went well, although I fumbled with my number belt a bit. Then off I went, doing the waving the chip at the matt again. Jumping onto the bike and faffed a little getting one of my feet on my shoes, and then saw my family! That gave me a lovely lift!

I got going, and managed to get my feet in. There’s a slight hill out of town, and I overtook a guy with a Zipp disc-wheel. I thought he might come past me on the first downhill, but I didn’t see him again.

There’s a set of traffic lights near the start on that hill. I saw they were green and put a bit of a push in, and I didn’t get caught by them (you just have to stop and wait if they’re red; I’d tried to persuade myself that it’d just be a chance to get my breath back if it was red).

As the route came out of town it turned into a lovely country ride with mild rolling hills. Perfect! My cyber sleuthing of the course using google maps helped a little, although that never gives a fair indication of hill steepness! I got into grove and tried to hit my target watts (270 ish), which felt easier than I would have otherwise gone uphill and harder down.

I started overtaking. A lot! Which was great! There had been a lot of rain earlier, but fortunately it had stopped. Even so, I was pretty nervous about slipping on it, so was being pretty careful about overtaking, and very on downhills with any corners!

There was one that had been mentioned in the brief, with a T junction at the bottom of it. As there were a couple of riders just ahead as I started down this, and it was pretty bendy, I sat up and took a break down here. Directly after that there was a nice straight section so I could put some effort in to make up for it!

Coming back down the hill into town I got stuck behind a van for a bit, which was actually quite good as it meant coming to the roundabout at the bottom at a slower pace, so no worries about overcooking it! I got my feet out quite early, and concentrated on working out where to get off the bike and where to go! The transition run into the park was quite long, giving me plenty of time to get the chip out of my pocket.

38:54 total time for the bike section. Strava link here.

Duly waving the chip at the timing matt, I ran into transition, and then couldn’t find my shoes… After a few seconds I realised I’d run past them. There was someone sitting down between me and them, and in my slightly oxygen starved state of mind I thought the easiest way to get the bike there was to lift it over them. No idea what I did that for, but fortunately I cleared them, then the rest of transition went OK. Again, waving the chip at the matt, I was off on the 2 1/2 lap run of the park.

By this point my family were in a play-park. I shouted out, and the kids came running and cheering, which again made me happy! I was doing OK, and running was feeling pretty natural quite quickly off of the bike. The pace was where I wanted it, form was good, and, oh, what’s that? I could feel a tightness in my left calf. Uh-oh.

I hoped it would sort itself out, but it was slowly getting worse. By the end of the first lap, it was now definitely a ‘thing’, and I had slowed a bit in the hope of halting the progress. Then I got overtaken.

My stupid monkey brain took over and I decided to keep with him. He was going faster than I’d choose to run, but not a lot, and I thought I could manage it. Except I’d forgotten about my calf. It had other ideas! It immediately got a bit worse, so I slowed. And then stopped to try to massage it out as it was now properly cramping.

I didn’t stop for long, and tried again in the hope that had helped. But it didn’t. So I stopped, sat down, did some more massage, stretched, and started off again. Still bad.

But, it turns out I can be just as stubborn as my 5 year old! And lots more stupid. Hobbling, frustrated after having spent since before the start of this year trying to sort this problem out, I decided I was nagdamnit going to finish. My right leg felt fine, so I hobbled on.

At the end of the second lap I saw my family, who were standing by the finishing chute. They looked confused. I thought it was because I was hobbling. In fact I was far enough away they didn’t notice, but they thought I was coming into finish!

I was very glad the last one was a half lap, and even managed some cheeky overtaking despite the limp! I ran into the finishing chute, shouting at my family who hadn’t seen me approaching, and feel over the line. Someone was taking photos – I might give that one a miss though…

19:35 for the (slightly short) run. Strava link here.

I gave my kids sweaty hugs, which they didn’t seem to like! Then queued for a while before getting a wonderful massage! It helped, but I’m still hobbling the next day 😦

After (very slowly) getting showered, changed, getting my kit and then going to see my family in my parents fantastic camper van, I wandered back to see if there were any results. I was in a pretty depressed mood. I’m pretty sure I’ll be back to square one with this injury.

I got to the finish tent – there was a junior aquathlon going on, so they were pretty busy still. I was told the results weren’t being given out, they’d be on the website later, but they’d already done the presentations. But then they asked who I was – they said “aha!” and was told I’d come 2nd out of 144! That cheered me up a bit!

Full results here.  It turns out that my hobbling made no difference to the result anyway! The guy in first (who was the one I tried to keep up with on the run) was faster than I would have been (in all disciplines, including transitions!) Pity I missed the presentation so didn’t get to meet him.

I’m not entirely sure the trophy photo is quite what I want up on the wall – I may have to replace the gurning men with something else!

 

Aerodynamics testing – an excuse to get a new bike!

I’ve been doing a little more aerodynamics testing using a power meter and a local stretch of road. Here’s a link to the the previous set of testing.

This time I’m comparing a new bike with my trusty Planet-X Stealth!

It’s a Chinese open mold, a TT069 (as sold by Carbonzone on eBay). I’ve got mine second hand.

This is an unfair comparison really, as even though the open molds tend to be comparatively cheap, the bike is still worth roughly twice as much as the Stealth.

As last time, the protocol is a simple out and back test, but 1km each way this time, aiming at a steady 40kmph. The setup is nearly the same:

• Planet-X Stealth TT bike or TT069. No bottles or tool-kits (although I did leave a rear light on the Planet-X).
• 50mm Planet-X wheels (old style “pointy” profile) with a home made disc cover on the rear.
• 23m Michelin Power Competition clincher tyres. Latex inner tubes.
• Bell Javelin Helmet
• Tri SPD-L shoes
• Speed-suit
• Shaved legs!

I used the same wheels, tyres and crank-set (where my power meter is) on both bikes.

The Planet-X weights in at 8.9 kg. The TT069 at 9.3 kg.

The tests were:

1. Planet-X base run.
2. Planet-X base run 2 – to see how much variance there was in the results.
3. This is just the average of the first 2 runs, not a run in itself.
4. TT069. Note I haven’t done any tinkering on the aero position. The bars are flat rather than the praying mantis position I found was good on the Planet-X in my first set of aerodynamics testing. They are closer together than the Planet-X allows, and have no width adjustment.
5. Increased tyre pressure on the TT069 – I realised I hadn’t pumped the tyres so they were 70 PSI on the front, 65 on the rear. I increased both to 120 PSI.

Here are the results (the out second – Watts 1/Speed1 – has a mild uphill, and was more into the wind, which was across the route):

	Watts 1	Speed1	Watts 2	Speed2	Av Watts	Av Speed	Change
Base 1	315	39.9	203	40.5	259.0	40.2
Base 2	291	40.2	219	40.1	255.0	40.2	4.0
Average	303	40.1	211	40.3	257.0	40.2
TT069	257	40.1	193	40.2	225.0	40.2	32.0
120 PSI	258	40.3	176	40.3	217.0	40.3	8.0

Strava link.

The weather. I started at 12:30.

So, the difference between the base runs – 4 watts. Pretty close!

The new bike. It’s got all the aero things I could name that the Planet-X doesn’t (internal routed cables, brakes hidden away behind other things, very flat base-bar which is inline with the top tube, so no stem, narrow headset, deeper and better aerofoil shapes on the tubing),  but even so, a 32 watt reduction was more than I expected!

The 8 watts from pumping up the tyres is also interesting.

So, just to make sure, I went out on a 39.3km route I do quite often. As you’d expect, the watts are higher than in the testing (there’s some minor hills and various junctions).

On the Planet-X, with the mantis position, I’d done this recently. 39.0 kmph, 260 watts.

On the TT069, I did this. 41.1 kmph, 264 watts.

That stretches it a little as the weather was a little less windy this time (12:30 on here) vs the previous time (12:30 again on here), but even so that’s still a big jump in speed! 3 minutes difference over the route!

So, there you go. There’s the excuse you’ve always wanted to go and buy a new bike…