Briefing revealed a swim distance of 500m for everyone due to a water temperature of 10.9 deg C , at least it would be warmer in than out then, the air temp was about 6 deg C. As rehearsed on Thursday we jogged about abit, not easy in swim socks and no trainers, then into the water to dip my goggles, wet my face and neck and psych myself up for a mass start.
The countdown started and we started to head into Loch Lomand for the start. 10, min, swim a bit! get face in, 5 min, more swimmers, make sure I'm near the back, swim a bit, tread water a bit, 1 min, get in position , face right direction, gloved thumbs up to Billy and Martin.
Go, swim between the red and green, there was a man in trouble already, but someone else had stopped to help, It's a bit murky, oo! There's the other red and green buoys, I'm in my own space, it's pouring down and I'm heading for the first orange buoy, I go wide and turn left towards the othe orange buoy, it was getting busy I slowed and went wide again, turned left again heading for the red and green buoys, not many swimmers now, between the red and green, and between the other red and green, left turn to the beach, I stood up and crossed the mat ran over the pebbly beach to the path and ripping the gloves, hats and goggles off, headed to T1.
It was really tough getting changed in the elements, but I decided not to use the heated changing room as I didn't think I'd come back out.
Billy and Martin were still there, but not for long. I took off my wet top and put a dry one on and a jacket, then my rain jacket, socks and shoes, a buff and my helmet. my gloves did not want to go one, my wet hands were stitching inside them, "Stop faffing" I said out loud and unpacked my bike and set off to the mount up point. I didn't know the course, a thing which always makes me feel uneasy, but also makes me be a bit more careful on the first lap not knowing what's ahead. The course was well marked, though having strong winds and rain did mean my head was down a lot. The first loop was a small one and at was over quickly with no tricky bits. The roads were nice and the inclines were slight, shame about the weather. The second loop was longer, and as soon as I turned on to it I started to climb, not steep but constant for quite a while and into a head wind, and then it was a descent, and an incline, up and down like a roller coaster, nothing too hard just long, but good quality road and when the rain slowed, the views were stunning, then suddenly a sign "steep descent" OhOh! This was what had worried me, it wasn't a steep hill but just gad that gradient which allows you to pick up speed very quickly, I was on the brakes, the wind was now a side wind, and I was still speeding down towards the submarine base at Gareloch Head, roundabout ahead, left hand turn still picking up speed without trying, another roundabout and it leveled out, Phew, that wasn't as bad as Id expected, I didn't freak out and have to walk down so that's a bonus.
Another left turn and a different view, a wooded lane which was heading upwards. On the road was a High5 Outlaw bottle contained in a red gorrilla cage with pink juice in it. That's Billy's I said out loud, so I stopped, un clipped and picked it up. I was faffing around trying to work out how to transport it when I was passed by a lady, I apologised for being in the way, took the bottle out of the cage and put it in my spare cage, I then balanced the cage on my Tri bars, suddenly conscious of losing time. I got going again and caught the lady up, she told me that this was the big climb. The narrow road wound it's way back and forth up the hillside, corner after corner, over a cattle grid past a very cheerful marshal, still working my way upwards, past a wooden deckchair randomly at the side of the road, eventually I saw a red van roof, Oo! Ice cream van I thought, it wasn't but it was juas as welcome, the water station at the top of the climb. I stopped and wriggled Billy's bottle cage into my back pocket, as numerous riders passed me by, I refilled my bottle turned the corner and what goes up must come down, the road down was steep and winding, Brakes, I slowly made my way down the wet road over a cattle grid and then I could relax, the road was rolling, the wind behind me and I gradually started to catch up wth the riders who had passed me. Shame the state of the roads was not so good now, puddles and potholes, a big like home really. I was determined to catch back up and I did as another hill, short and steep approached I caught up and started to overtake a couple of riders, now the route was downhill for miles, not steep just nice, though I did slow right down for corners. Soon I was back at the start of the loop, right, I know what's ahead one big loop and that's it for the bike.
The last loop was tough at times as last time the route was busy with riders from the standard race who did 1 loop now it was deserted, I wondered if I was right about doing it twice. The wind had not eased and the hills seemed to have multiplied. Where was it? That steep hill sign, surely it's the next one, It finally arrived and as I braked for the descent, 2 riders flew past me with amazing confidence, I was jealous, but could not convince my fingers to release their grip on the brakes. Back to the roundabouts and then the turn onto the lane, I caught up with a rider, it was the lady from the first lap, Lorna, we were back and forth as we wound up the hill, then she shot off and flew down the other side, I was a wimp and slowly descending as I watched Lorna disappear into the distance. As soon as the road leveled, I pedalled like mad, I had a target now, I wanted to catch back up to Lorna, I gradually succeded in passing another lady, then caught Lorna, we were nearly at the end of the ride and we spent the last few miles overtaking and catching each other even as we passed runners, already on the run course. 53 miles complete.
Back at T2 I quickly stripped off my jackets, helmet gloves and swapped bike shoes and wet socks for dry socks and trainers, and set off on the run. As I was leaving the transition area the announcer announced he was going to do the presentations, blooming heck, I hadn't started the run and enough people had already finished to do the presentations, Wow they must be amazing triathletes.
The run consisted of an out and back in one direction twice and a loop in the other, twice. It was pouring down and windy, I ran along the path, I could see Billy ahead, and I chased him It seemed forever to get to the turn point, as I approached it I saw Martin coming towards me, good to see the boys were ok and running well. They were a lap ahead of me, I turned, ran back to transition, turned and ran back along the river passed the Tullie Inn to the turn point again. Finally the rain stopped and the wind dropped as I headed back to transition, ran past it and set off on the loop to Cameron House and back, I felt good to say how hard I had worked on the bike, It was nice doing a different loop, stopped it becoming tedious. The views across Loch Lomond were a lovely distraction, I was slowly catching some runners, that made me feel good, as I got to a slightly downhill section I picked up my pace to transition, turned and headed out a final time, I worried I'd pushed to early, I'd overtaken the runners but was now running hard, thinking that they would overtake me, soon I was back on the downhill section to the end, I ran as guard as I could and entered transition where I was directed to continue around the racking area to the finish line.
And stop. It felt like an age since I had set off that morning. Billy was waiting for me with my bag of dry clothes, and I went finally to the heated tent to warm up and get changed.
Overall this wax a good race, no one can help the weather but the organisers had gone out of their way to make things more comfortable for us triathletes.
There was no momento for this race but I never expected any. I signed up to a low key event but it was put on in a professional manner.
