Triathletes

Going to be between Toulouse and Tarbes, so not quite far enough for the Col du Tourmalet. Maybe next year though.....

Edit. Damn you platypus; just done a search and it's 95km from where we are staying to the Col.......that's doable, but wives and families might complain.....

Hmmmmm
 
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Practice your transitions the before. Do them a couple of times in full or until you are happy with them. In my first Tri my transitions were terrible and I could easily have saved three or four minutes by getting them right.

Using a race belt means you don't need pins.

Clipping your shoes in is only worth it if you've got proper tri shoes. You only need to dry your feet if you are wearing socks and a good alternative is to roll them and fill the end with talc.

I found that not getting my transition right was very disappointing; it didn't matter that I wasn't the quickest overall, it was that I'd busted my balls swimming, cycling and running only to find that slackness in transition meant I didn't do the best time I could.
 
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Dorney is a good course for a first, it's easy and flat (although it does get windy on the back straight of the cycling).

How long is it? There is the super sprint, sprint and oly. Human Race are expensive but they do organise a very good event.

I think they expect you to carry then and dump them in transition, or you can dump them at a water station.
 
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Excellent transitions there!

Hever Castle Sprint at the weekend; looking forward to it and for some reason I've found myself in the first wave. Apparently is going to be cold in the lake, the bike leg is rolling hills and the run is cross countryish.

Really excited about it.
 
Nothing that bad, just a bad day at the office for me and the organisers. On my phone so will fill in details when I get to a PC.

Edit: Ok, here's how it went.

Arrived in good time, registered and everything, all good. Ended up in the first wave so racked bike and what not. First problem was that the transition area was set up on an area of cracked and broken concrete and gravel. There were a load of carpet track rolls off to one side and we were promised that they would be out by the time we hit T1. Great, but that does't help us have to walk back barefoot to the swim start. Ouchy, ouchy, ouchy.

Quick swim / course brief and we are into the water. It's bleedin' cold. We are making out way to the start when the starter gun goes off and the guys at the front start swimming. Someone on the bank shouts that it's too early and everyone stops and starts making their way back to the line when another bang goes off. We all stop where we are and after about 5 seconds the starter shouts at use to get a move on. Hmm, brilliant skills, half the folks were still making their way from the entry steps and the other half were across the start line already.

I swam badly. I've neglected my swimming of late and it shows, but I'm still out of the water in the middle of the pack with my mate about 30s behind me. We run up the hill to the transition area and the carpets have been laid. Unfortunately they stop about 15m short of my bike, so again I have to run across gravel to get to my area. Not only that but having wet feet means that small stones and grit are transferred on my feet into my cycle shoes and I'm not wearing socks. Good job it's so cold that I can't actually feel my feet. The experienced guys who have their shoes already clipped in to their bikes are worse off because they have to run the 100m out of T1 in barefoot before they can mount, at least the rest of us can run that bit in out shoes!

Things don't improve. I get 100m on my bike and I realise I've punctured my front tyre on the gravel. I pull over and watch the rest of the wave go past as I change a tube. I manage to snap a lever and bend the valve in my haste. I also don't manage to find what caused the puncture so I actually end up with a serviceable but slowly softening tyre for the ride. Apart from that the ride is uneventful; I don't see many people but overtake a few since I'm a bit in no-mans land between waves. Couple of guys on TT bikes (a P3C and a Slice) from wave 2 I presume, breeze past me like I'm standing stil though.

I found out later that I wasn't the only one to get a puncture in T1

Run was uneventful, caught and passed my mate. Did see a few people lose their footing on the uneven ground though.

Finished in 1hr 24mins, nearly 15 minutes outside my target time. Looking back on it I had fun, especially since it was clear early on that I wasn't going to be setting any records, but I certainly shall not be parting with money for next year's Hever Castle Tri.
 
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Well, I'm going back to Dorney for the half Oly tri challenge in May and then I'm doing the Windsor Oly.

If I were you I'd look at the same Dorney event you did this year (to see how you've improved), Thames Turbo Series (spring / summer bank holiday Mondays) and possibly Hyde Park.
 
Best starter ones for value for money are the Thames Turbo series. They run every year on the bank holidays at Hampton open air pool and round Bushy park. There is a pool based one at Crystal Palace in May, I think.

If you want to spend more then check out Human Race Events. They run major events in the South East.
 
Just done Dorney Lake Sprint for the second year; god that was hard work in the wind. 4 minutes slower than last year but I reckon I'll be higher in the rankings. The lake had 30cm waves which made breathing difficult on the way out, but on the way back I could have been body surfing.

Similarly on the bike leg I approached the turn at 17kph and 300m round it I was doing 55kph. There were blokes out there with discs and 80mm front rims, they must have some upper body strength.

Props to Human Race for fantasic organisation, their events really go like clockwork.
 
Oh, you were asking about tri shoes; mine a Pearl Izumi Tri Fly, not Spesh one. However, don't get any from PI. I got them out of my kit box on Saturday night (where they have lain since Hever Castle in October) and the velcro had fallen off the strap. I was up until midnight sewing it back on again. Sewing leather isn't easy.
 
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