Saturday 29 March 2008

Before and After

Before 13,000 miles and after.
The jockey wheel on the left is the original from my reliable Giant OCR2, the one on the right is the replacement that went on today. Bike has done 13,230 miles in just over 4 years worth of riding. (I do also use another bike.)

Wednesday 26 March 2008

Photo Shoot

Russell and I were photographed today running and cycling by Whitlingham Lake by the Evening News to support a pre-Ironman South Africa article that they will be publishing soon. It might even appear tomorrow.
Before you ask, it was far too cold for either of us to go into the lake.

Update - I'm reliably informed that the article with photo will appear in the Friday 28th March edition of the Norwich Evening News.

What sort of time are you aiming for?

I've been asked a couple of times by people wishing me well for Ironman South Africa if I'm aiming for a time. To which my reply is that I'm not specifically aiming for time as so much is dependant on things coming together on the day.
Above all I want to finish and get the medal - if that means going slow and not setting a PB then thats fine with me - it is after all a different course and the weather can make a huge difference.
I'd like to be able to run the whole of the marathon, which could take 30mins off my time.
I'll be thrilled to complete and a PB (currently 12:10) would be nice.
Would be very happy to get uner 12 hours and ecstatic to get anywhere near 11hours - perhaps even insufferable.

Saturday 22 March 2008

Last Long Run ahead of IMSA

Ran the same route today as I did a year ago with Sam Kingston. That one was blogged in http://roblines.blogspot.com/2007/03/last-long-run-before-bungay.html. Today wasn't as beautiful. It was windy, sleet, snow and cold.
Sally provided cycle support. Hadn't quite learned my lesson from last year. Last year I commented that lots of Guinness the night before isn't wise. This year I had a dinner party and drank lots of wine. Managed to run the whole way, felt strong at the end and got round in 3:15 so quicker than last year, so pretty pleased with that baring the weather.
Sally was definately not warm at the end. Glad I made her wear a hat.

Tuesday 18 March 2008

Ironman South Africa Race Numbers now known

Entrant details are now available on the Ironman South Africa website. Just click here.

I'll be wearing number 915 and Russell Clarke 1542. They've got our ages and genders right but are crediting me (or is that insulting me) with being US rather than UK. (Grrrr.)

Friday 14 March 2008

Problem Fixed?

For the last couple of days of the trip to Lanzarote I borrowed a really nice bike that didn't have any high speed wobbles or vibrations. I was quite sad to hand it back at the end of the trip - I then found out that it was up for second hand sale, so I bought it as seen. Well, I had ridden 100 enjoyable miles on it.

Monday 10 March 2008

Lanzarote update

Had a very good long run yesterday. Club la Santa to Teguise and back via a desert and some hills. Added half an hour extra onto the route to get in 3 hours. Hopefully it's 20 miles, will have to gmap it.
Can't say that I'm so thrilled with my cycling, with exception of the ascent of Tabyesco. Not having fun due to mechanical problems and wind. Have identified that my forks were buggered, I'm also convinced that the frame is damaged too.
Full report of our trip at http://www.tri-anglia.co.uk/2008/CLSMarch08/CLSReport.html
Whilst out here, I've been working on a new house style for the Tri-Anglia website. You can have a preview at http://www.tri-anglia.co.uk/index2.html

Saturday 8 March 2008

Club La Santa Day 1

Out on the island of Lanzarote currently. Question in mind is does the wind ever stop here? Or should that be does the wind here ever become a light breeze?
Yesterday we went to play on Tabeysco. It was 30+mph winds. Tortuous to get there. Unpleasent getting back. Was nearly blown off the bike at times. Sandblasted at others. On top of that I was having mechanical issues which caused high speed judders that was scary as hell. 36mph and your front wheel starts fish tailing. Came down the next descent at 9mph.
The climb of Tabeysco was nicely sheltered though and I beat all the others to the summit. :-)
New bars and stem fitted to the bike now will test them later today. Swam this morning 3,500m in the open air 50m pool.

Sunday 2 March 2008

Milton Keynes Half


Ran the Milton Keynes half today in a time that a year ago would have been a Personal Best. This year it was a training run. Full report on Tri-Anglia website.