Stockton Dualthlon
Discussion
Hi Guys, just thought I'd share my experience of my first competition.
Back in November 2012 I bought a bike to start communting to work and back and ever since I have tried to do 4 days a week. Well over that time my fitness has improved massively, basically before I started riding I was doing zero physical activity. So on my commute to work my average speed has risen from 10 mph when I first started to my current best of 17 mph. Anyway my employer was looking to get a few people together to take part in Stockton Dualthlon in order to raise some money for charity:
http://www.trihard.co.uk/StocktonDuathlon/stockton...
So feeling fit and wanting a challenge I put my hand up to do the cycling section of the standard event, which could be done as a relay. So me and two ladies entered with them doing the 10 and the 5k runs and me the 40k ride.
On the day I felt like I'd turned up to a gun fight with a knife. My bike must have been the cheapest there by some margin. I don't think I realised quite how serious this event was but when I saw some Team GB outfits it started to sink in. The Some of the bikes must have been worth a fortune and I was on a £280 Halfords hybrid. Ok so i'd taken the 1.95" tyres off and put on 1.5" road tyres for the race but to put that into perspective pretty much all the other bikes were on 1" tyres or less. There must have been about 5 other bikes out of the 250 entrants to my race that were not proper road bikes and a large proportion were full on carbon frame race bikes. I was half expecting there to be people doing it in fancy dress, like the London marathon, but no, it was a very serious race. One of the ladies in my team said "We're going to come last aren't we" and I think I believed her.
Anyway on the 10k run my team mate finished 221st with a personal best over the distance so we were already close to the back.
I did my ride and managed to pull us back to 204th overall and my ride time was actually 185th.
In the final run my second team mate also did a personal best 5k and we finished 209th overall.
So on the face of it we didn't do that well but to say I was pleased is an understatement. We expected to come last but we still finshed ahead of 41 other competitors and I managed 185th in my ride. My time was 1:20:48 which compares with the fastest of about 00:58:00
Given that 18 months ago I got tired just climbing the stairs and when I started riding to work I had to stop twice to ghet my breath back it's a real achievement for me. To be able to take part in a competition like that and finish ahead of people on much better machinery.
Now I really have the bug and as soon as I can afford one i'm going to get a proper road bike.
Bring on next year!
Back in November 2012 I bought a bike to start communting to work and back and ever since I have tried to do 4 days a week. Well over that time my fitness has improved massively, basically before I started riding I was doing zero physical activity. So on my commute to work my average speed has risen from 10 mph when I first started to my current best of 17 mph. Anyway my employer was looking to get a few people together to take part in Stockton Dualthlon in order to raise some money for charity:
http://www.trihard.co.uk/StocktonDuathlon/stockton...
So feeling fit and wanting a challenge I put my hand up to do the cycling section of the standard event, which could be done as a relay. So me and two ladies entered with them doing the 10 and the 5k runs and me the 40k ride.
On the day I felt like I'd turned up to a gun fight with a knife. My bike must have been the cheapest there by some margin. I don't think I realised quite how serious this event was but when I saw some Team GB outfits it started to sink in. The Some of the bikes must have been worth a fortune and I was on a £280 Halfords hybrid. Ok so i'd taken the 1.95" tyres off and put on 1.5" road tyres for the race but to put that into perspective pretty much all the other bikes were on 1" tyres or less. There must have been about 5 other bikes out of the 250 entrants to my race that were not proper road bikes and a large proportion were full on carbon frame race bikes. I was half expecting there to be people doing it in fancy dress, like the London marathon, but no, it was a very serious race. One of the ladies in my team said "We're going to come last aren't we" and I think I believed her.
Anyway on the 10k run my team mate finished 221st with a personal best over the distance so we were already close to the back.
I did my ride and managed to pull us back to 204th overall and my ride time was actually 185th.
In the final run my second team mate also did a personal best 5k and we finished 209th overall.
So on the face of it we didn't do that well but to say I was pleased is an understatement. We expected to come last but we still finshed ahead of 41 other competitors and I managed 185th in my ride. My time was 1:20:48 which compares with the fastest of about 00:58:00
Given that 18 months ago I got tired just climbing the stairs and when I started riding to work I had to stop twice to ghet my breath back it's a real achievement for me. To be able to take part in a competition like that and finish ahead of people on much better machinery.
Now I really have the bug and as soon as I can afford one i'm going to get a proper road bike.
Bring on next year!
Good writeup. Unless you're really s
t-hot, it's not about doing well against everyone else in those kind of races - it's about doing well against yourself. If you're putting in a time you're happy with, then you have to be happy with the result. I bet the guys who came stone-dead-last were happy with themselves just for finishing!
t-hot, it's not about doing well against everyone else in those kind of races - it's about doing well against yourself. If you're putting in a time you're happy with, then you have to be happy with the result. I bet the guys who came stone-dead-last were happy with themselves just for finishing!Some Gump said:
Nice one Devil. There is no shame in coming last anyway - and you did far better than that.
I did my fisrt season of club 10's last year. Best result is 2nd last. I was well chuffed!
My only 'competitive' cycling was a handful of attempts at the WaldenTri clubs evening TTs on the Audley End route.I did my fisrt season of club 10's last year. Best result is 2nd last. I was well chuffed!
At first I was frustrated at being dead last week after week, but when I compared myself with MY previous times, I could see improvements. Then I moved away, and I've never got involved again. I just prefer solo distance rides, rather than competitive 10 milers is all.
Totally worth it. I'm not really racing them, I'm racing me. OK, so the guys up the sharp end are doing 20 minute 10's on full TT rigs and sperm helmets - but they're going for the win.
I set my PB of 27.05 on a normal road bike with mudguards and puncture repair kit etc. Non nipple showing PH jersey, and baggy MTB shorts - just like every ride. And I beat someone!
IMO the TT is great because it gives you a measuring stick that stops you from kidding yourself on. Something to aim for. I'll consider getting a TT bike only when I can beat the other club guys that turn up on normal road bikes - and I'm 2 minutes too slow for that at the mo.
It's a similar bet for the OP here - if he does the stockton next year, if he's on the same bike he's got a time to beat, and a number people to beat. Otherwise, he has a great excuse for n+1 to kick in and buy something shiny with drop bars - it'd probably gain 5 minutes just for that..
I set my PB of 27.05 on a normal road bike with mudguards and puncture repair kit etc. Non nipple showing PH jersey, and baggy MTB shorts - just like every ride. And I beat someone!
IMO the TT is great because it gives you a measuring stick that stops you from kidding yourself on. Something to aim for. I'll consider getting a TT bike only when I can beat the other club guys that turn up on normal road bikes - and I'm 2 minutes too slow for that at the mo.
It's a similar bet for the OP here - if he does the stockton next year, if he's on the same bike he's got a time to beat, and a number people to beat. Otherwise, he has a great excuse for n+1 to kick in and buy something shiny with drop bars - it'd probably gain 5 minutes just for that..
most club 10s are roughly the same, the fastest 25% are on TT bikes, the middle 50% are on road bikes with tt bars or just hammer it on the drops, the remaining 25% are there for the social and make no great effort on their regular road bike. I'm using the single speed this year because its running a beefy gear and castle combe is fairly quick.
I have to admit, I like a bit of compettion. Strava is one of the things that drives me to constantly push myself. While I accept that I will never be anywhere near the standard of the top guys these events always have a decent complement of enthusiastic amateurs. I think that with a proper road bike and a bit more training i'd be more competetive.
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