The day started very early with a 4.30am departure from Manly. Roly driving with Tim, Ed (Roly's friend) and myself. Two bikes on the roof and mine flapping off the back(?).
Made it out to the Riff for just before 6am, leaving plenty of time to ride to the start, check in and rack our bikes into transition. It was a lovely morning, a little overcast which were perfect conditions.
With the water temperature at 25 degrees it was a non wetsuit swim which, whilst it didn't suit me, I was actually quite pleased about as I it would tell me where I was swimming wise without any artificial help...
Tim and Roly were in wave 7 and I was in wave 5, which meant a 30 minute wait at the start whilst the other waves went off.
After what seemed like an eternity, it was time to get in and on with it and off went the hooter. I deliberately seeded to the back of the wave so as to avoid being kicked by other swimmers and this worked as I was quickly into my rhythm. As expected, the rest of the wave quickly disappeared off into the distance and I was soon swimming alone at the back. There were actually a couple of others around me but I was definitely going slow!
As luck would have it, the lines that joined the buoys meant there was basically a route to follow down the lake which meant I didn't need to sight for the first 750m (once I had worked out not to actually swim on top of the rope - actually swimming over a buoy is never a lot of fun!). All went ok and I managed to freestyle it the whole way for once. That being said I was still very slow, standing up in 24.13.
The run from the swim to T1 was long (but then again aren't they always long?!), and after a relatively quick change for me, I was on the bike 3 minutes after I had left the water. Not too bad. Note to self though, no need for gloves on a tri bike.
On to the ride, and I was soon down onto the aero bars from the start on what was basically a flat, technical bike course around the lake and then into the Penrith suburbs. I was surprised just how many people I was passing early on, and I thought I must have been pushing too hard and so I backed off a bit, saving myself for the second lap and the run. Despite this I was still regularly passing people. The bike was flying by this time and I was feeling strong, ripping through half way in 26 minutes. I decided to put the foot down for the second lap and to go for it instead of holding back. As such, I kept passing people throughout the second lap including a fair amount of bling, tear drop helmets and carbon wheels, all of which gave me confidence that I was doing ok.
Caught a glimpse of Roly stopped by the side of the road changing a tyre - he had obviously punctured poor guy.
Kept pushing the pace, and despite my obvious lack of biking ability, as evidence by my breaking skills on some of the sharper corners, I was able to put the pedal down on the straight sections, getting off the bike in just under 52 minutes, and making my ride a slight negative split.
T2 was quick, just over a minute to be precise (again, more time spent removing my gloves!), gulped down some water (I hadn't drunk enough on the ride - another note to self, must look at a more efficient hydration system), put on the trainers and visor and headed out for the 10km, still feeling strong and with enough petrol in the tank to know that that I could give the run a good shake up.
Immediately I started easily picking people up as I settled into an easy, but quick pace of 4.18/km. With the memories of my last tri still in the back of my mind (the ITU where I struggled to a 50 minute 10km), I wasn't sure whether to keep this pace up or back off, fearing that I would struggle during the latter stages of the race. After about 2km I still felt comfortable and so thought I would just continue at this pace for as long as I could manage and hope to hold on if I did start to struggle.
The run route was basically two laps of the lake finishing in front of the grandstand. I continued to feel strong and was managing to comfortably hold a sub 4.20 pace, passing 5km in just under 22 minutes. Lap 2 continued much the same as the sun came out and the temperature rose. Again, I kept passing people (that's what a slow swim does to you!). It's amazing just how much confidence having the age group written on one's calf does for you as I kept reeling in those with '35' etched on their calf, each time cursing my slow swim time.
At 8km I still had some petrol in the tank and so I decided to pick up the pace again for the last couple of km's, and again at the 9km mark to cross the line with a 43.46 run split and with an overall finish time of 2.04.12. Far quicker than I expected and yet actually surprisingly comfortable.
I then grabbed a drink and set about waiting for Tim and Roly who had started a few minutes back from me.
Tim crossed the line a while afterwards with no idea of his time as he wasn't running with a watch.
Roly was a little further behind having spent 15 minutes mending his puncture and with an angry 10km behind him!
Time wise, both the boys were quicker than me in the swim, not surprisingly (Tim put 2.5 minutes into me, Roly, 1.5 minutes). I was quicker on the bike and the run though, although Tim had me until the run!
In the wash up of the results, I didn't do too badly, beating 250 people in the swim and a fair few in my category! We'll see what happens when the mighty wetsuit comes out.
For me, however, the big plus of the day has to be the bike. That thing just flies, and I wasn't even putting the pedal down hard either! Plus, I felt very comfortable in the aero position - all great signs for Canberra. I do, however, need to sort out my hydration. Having 2 bottles behind me means that I don't drink as much as I need to. So now I need to decide whether to go for an extra frame bottle, a torpedo mount between my tri bars or one of the front hydration systems...hmm maybe I will seek advice from higher authorities.
A great day and a race I would thoroughly recommend.
Swim - 24.13
T1 - 3.03
Bike - 51.54
T2 - 1.14
Run - 43.46
Time: 2.04.12
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