After being cajoled by numerous team mates that the Ilkley Tri was to be a smackdown between Jonty (last years winner) and I. I finally realised that it was time to come out of post-Antwerp hibernation and bag a win.
What neither Jonty nor I had planed on was 3 faster people rocking up and spoiling the party. It didn't spoil the goading and banter between us though.
Race prep consisted of realising the week before race day that If I played nicely with the other children I stood a good chance so the equivalent of exam cramming was performed. A few sessions to remind the muscles what was expected and a trip over to Ilkley on the bike to suss out the bike/run course. I'd borrowed some clip on bars from JC as i thought my training bike was better suited to the course than my Tri/TT bike. Having already sworn that my cafe bike would never be pedalled in anger other than in disgust at a rude waitress or particularly bad coffee, using Tatiana was out of the question.
Race morning, get old faithful out of the garage and load into the...... wait a minute. Staring back at me was the mother of all cracks. An abyss in my downtube. I started to feel sick at the though of dropping downhill at 45mph the day before or doing it again on race day if I hadn't seen the crack before the race. So 'Little Albert" was returned to the garage and Tatiana (the cafe bike) came out to play. No hero bars. No problem, right?
Wrong, I'd have committed murder for them on the flat road past the Lido but you have to play the hand your dealt.
All told, fourth is a good result but i was hoping to get top 3 or even eclipse my third place at Stokesley Duathlon at the start of the year to confirm I'm now a triathlete as well as/instead of a duathlete.
(The new svelte) Mrs H pulled one out of the bag going 3 minutes quicker than she'd dare hoped and making mincemeat of the run course.
We celebrated with pasta and a Belgian beer (Affligem). Apparently there's too many points in an Indian Take-Away.
Oh well, that's it for Tri's....... until next year.
Gotta, getta new frame
