Royal Windsor Triathlon 2006

Royal Windsor Triathlon
Windsor, Berkshire – Sunday 11th June 2006
Sprint Distance – 750m swim / 20km bike / 5km run
Part 1 of The Treble 2006

Before I knew it June had arrived I was off to Windsor – not to pay homage to the Monarch on this occasion but to take part in the annual Royal Windsor Triathlon.

The week leading up to the race went fairly well. I was very conscious of the fact that several people ended up in hospital with heat exhaustion in 2005. The weather was due to be hot again so I was very much focused on keeping hydrated. Apparently the darker your wee the more dehydrated you are. I was keeping a careful eye on things and by the Friday before the race, to my delight, I was expelling the finest pure stream of crystal clear urine you will ever see. It was so clear that it looked safe to drink – if you were in to that kind of thing – which I’m not. Although I have heard it’s good for jet lag.

Anyway, the day before the race I set off for Windsor. On the train from London I was fortunate enough to travel with Paul Amey, one of the top professional triathletes in the country and the current World Duathlon Champion. He was a really nice guy and somewhat laid back about the whole thing. I tried to pick his brain for some tips.

The night before the race I stayed in a local hotel. Across the street the local army veterans club had a Karaoke sing along which stretched on until 2am. A combination of a shockingly hot room and a seemingly endless terrible rendition of some of Frank Sinatra’s finest moments by some drunk retired army colonel meant that I only had about one hour sleep.

I arrived at 5am for a 6am start. I’m not a morning person. To add to this I had a flat tire which I had to change in double quick time. My next obstacle was my near to bursting bladder. I had very little time before the start and some of the other guys in transition tried to encourage me to wee in the river – but I just didn’t think that would be right. The river would be cold and I think I would find the warm sensation in my wetsuit very disconcerting. There was a huge queue for the toilets so I had to dash to the bushes, having to remove my wetsuit and all my other clothes in order to relieve myself. I then had to put everything back on and dash to the start as it looked very likely that I would be late. Having shoved quite a few very large muscular men in wetsuits out of the way I jumped into the river the second that the race started.

My swim was not the best I’ve ever done. I think I realise now that it’s quite hard to swim against the current of the Thames.  I found it really hard going and I had to stop a couple of times to spit out a mouth full of water. I think my lack of sleep was catching up with me and my arms felt like giant arm shaped lead weights. I even missed the turn at the end and had to be sent back my a man in a canoe.

Once on the bike I seemed to be riding quite well and my new saddle meant my ass wasn’t quite as sore os it normally gets. I was doing OK but I was very disappointed to see many of my fellow competitors “drafting”. This is where a rider shelters close behind or beside another rider as a shield from the wind, allowing them to maintain the same speed as the other rider whilst using much less energy. Put simply this is cheating and I’m sad to say that there was an awful lot of it going on in Windsor. The organisers had marshals on motorbikes who were looking out for these cheating blighters but I have rarely heard of anyone getting punished for it despite the fact I have seen numerous examples of it in every race I have ever done. What’s worse for me is that it always seems to be the better triathletes with the flashy bikes that look like something out of Buck Rodgers that seem to do it the most. The ordinary chumps like me always play by the rules. Rant over for now.

The ride went quite well and I had plenty in reserve at the end. I was told there were going to be some hills so I was keeping a bit back but they ended up being a couple of rolling bumps. I did actually manage to overtake a few people for the first time ever though – and they didn’t come back past me. Actually, quite a few people were left trailing in my sword like wake and I didn’t need to draft to do it.

As I started the run the I spotted several people who I had met earlier in transition. I decided I was going to try and pick them all off. As most of them looked old and/or heavily overweight I felt pretty confident. It wasn’t too tough except one pesky blighter caught on to my plan and was doing all he could to hold me off on the last lap. I got him in the end but resisted the temptation to shout “in your face pal” as I ran past as I’m a bit too nice.

In conclusion, swim bad, bike good, run bad. I only have three weeks to sort out all the problems before the next one at Bournemouth.