Another year passes, and again I dust off the ol’ bike to enter the Solstice Triathlon. A couple of years ago I entered this triathlon as a way of making use of a Bike To Work bike I’d just bought. I didn’t use the bike again until last year’s triathlon, and again I’ve only used the bike a couple of times before this year. The cost-per-triathlon was getting crushingly low, so new for me this year was the purchase of a wetsuit! As I’d entered the triathlon, it might be wise to buy a cheap wetsuit instead of burning money on hiring one. Renting? That’d be foolish. I figure this poxy race is costing me roughly £300 each time! However it’s all worth it, as it’s an absolutely cracking race, and it’s right on our doorstep too! My wife disagrees.
Craig Mattocks, Roddy McCrae and I were the Carnethy representatives for the race. The sun was warm, as was the water, with little wind and dry ground, all surrounded by sweaty strangers in rubber – an evening of dreams! The scene was set, and after a quick brief we were sent on our way. The 750m swim through Thriepmuir was a stramash of arms and legs, all in a soup of brown. It went quickly enough, though, and I was glad when it was over (I’m not the best swimmer in the world). The 20km cycle took us up past Bavelaw castle, the climb on the road being made worse by my gears refusing to go down to the smaller chainring, but this was still better than last year’s handlebar incident. My fixed frame bike dictated the entire cycle section: any smooth ground was ridden at speed and I gained places, any rough ground was ridden at speed with lots of yelps (some crying) and I lost places. I think there was more smooth than rough, so ultimately it worked out well. The final 5k run round Harlaw reservoir was a bit of a blur, with little mobility left in my legs I was just glad to get it over with.
An excellent race by Craig, who managed to scoop 2nd place! I think if either the run or cycle was just a tiny bit longer he would’ve won. I managed 6th, and Roddy was 32nd. If they had a team prize, I think we would’ve been in with a shout! An excellent evening out!
Results here (at some point).
Excellent photos of other people, and hideous photos of me, by Bob Marshall here.
Jim Hardie