Alternatively - Melv & Stew do Bala
Having looked at the bike course profile and noticing that there appeared to be no flat bits on it, rather, it looked like the ECG trace of someone having a heart attack (as we would soon find out), Melvin decided that we ought to try it out the week before.
Friday evening following a 5 hour drive we arrived at Rhayder in mid Wales to do a spot of mountain biking – Saturdays “little ride” turned out to be more than the gentle amble down Marriotts Way that I’m used to doing, 50 miles, 13 river crossings, a couple of Mountains, two forests, the odd 25% climb and 8 hours later……..nuff said
Sunday we travelled to Bala in North Wales to recce the course. It was a damp windy morning but the rain stayed away for the ride, our time for the course was a little over 3 hours. We dipped a toe in the lake we were to swim in the following week – very chilly.
The Bala Middle Distance Triathlon was my 1st event of the year and Melvin’s second, and was to be our warm up event for Ironman Switzerland. We drove to Bala Saturday afternoon and arrived just in time to register in the evening, have a wander around the Transition area and bump into Dave Copland, Ipswich Tri Clubs Race organiser for the Culford Tri who cheered us up no end by telling us the run course is probably worse than the bike!!
Following the obligatory large bowl of Pasta and glass of dubious Aussie red we returned to our campsite to prepare our things for the next morning.
07.30 Sunday, we arrived at transition to rack our bikes, Melvin bumps into lady from Aylesbury who seems to be following him around every event he has done, we exchange pleasantry’s and busy ourselves with race prep. The swim start is in two waves the age groupers first (Red Swim caps) and 15 minutes later the senior & elite group (Yellow Caps), this has the effect of “bunching” as the race unfolds which is actually quite good as for a small amount of time you are caught up in the melee of a race proper. We get into the icy waters of Lake Tegid, the largest freshwater lake in Wales, and this morning, probably the coldest at 14 deg C. All I remember from the 2k swim as my fingers began to go numb was that we hadn’t been caught by the Yellow caps until about 1.5k. Stand up to exit swim and watch says 52mins, about what I expected, what I didn’t expect was the queue for the narrow jetty to exit the lake!! Run into transition and see Melvin struggling to get his helmet done up, frozen fingers syndrome, I have similar problems; exit T1, watch now says 59mins.
The first 25k of the bike is more suited to mountain goats than cyclists but with the climbing soon over we descend for the next 20k - fabulous as I hit 57kph with the wind roaring in my ears, the last 33k undulates and I enter T2 with a ride time of 2.51, excellent as it is over 10mins better than the previous weeks ride.
I made the schoolboy error of not eating on the bike as I felt really good, this was to make the 21k final run leg not one of my finest pieces of distance running. The first 3k was quite flat, I eased into the run feeling more than a little hungry, and then the words of Dave Copeland started to come true, the climb had begun. The remaining 7k of the out run was a brutal upward climb; saw Melvin coming back down the hill at about 8k, I gasped is it far to the top? Not far now he replied. As he said it, it struck me that any distance at the speed I was currently travelling at would take ages – is there no flat in this country? Does it only go up hill? Finally stagger to the summit and water station, take a rest and drink, and turn round to see the most beautiful view over the valley and looked down to see a postage stamp sized Lake Tegid. Now running on empty and legs almost completely seized up from the climb, the down hill run was a tad painful on the quads but I had a small feeling of smugness as I see plenty runners still struggling upwards. Finally enter the last 400mtr – isn’t it strange that no matter how bad you feel you always have enough left in the tank to manage a sprint finish? Finish the run in a personal worst of 2.12 and an overall time of 6.02, had I not stood at the top for about 2mins & 58secs taking in the vista I may have broke 6 hours……
The event was well organised, had a superb course and well worth doing again another year, it also has the reputation of being one of the top ten toughest courses in the UK – well it’s not supposed to be easy is it?
My Times: - swim + T1 59.12, bike + T2, 2.51.36, run 2.12.09. Total 6.02.57
Melvin: - swim + T1 57.30, Bike +T2 2.38.56, run 1.47.41 (wow!) Total 5.24.07
The winner did an obscene 3.47.06!!