Rookie goes for 3 in a row at IMUK ‘New’ Bike loop attempt #16&17 (2 laps back to back)
Areet?
i noticed something really good today….
It’s about the cut offs….
Now this is pure specualation on my part and you cant hold me to it….
Ok????
No ‘tears’ if i’ve got this all wrong….
But i’d like to offer a crumb of comfort to all those getting their knickers in a twist about the cut-offs (myself included)
So here goes…..
The athlete guide says that the ‘intermediate’ cut offs are in place to allow the roads to re-open in line with the agreed plan….(they also make the medal even more sacred but more on that another day)
On that basis, as I tootled round today, I made a point of looking at the signs and jotting down what time each road will be closed until on race day….
Let’s kick off with Breightmet.
Breightmet is a little village just outside the town centre so it’s a perfect marker for the end of lap 1 / start of lap 2…..
You know what time the road is closed until in Breightmet?
2:30pm…..
Now i’m not being funny cock, but if you haven’t hit Breightmet 2nd time round by 2:30pm, then you have got no chance my friend….
Even I plan to hit that point at about 1 ish on the 2nd lap and I will be right on the overall cut offs by T2…..
The same is true all the way round , Holcombe, Grane, Roman….there is plenty of ‘fat’ throughout …..
The point is, do not worry yourself with the ‘intermediate’ cut offs as from what I have seen today, so long as you are ‘on beam’ for a 10h 30 overall swim + bike, then you will be hitting the various points hours before the roads are due to re-open…..
So the challenge is crystal….
Complete the swim + bike within 10h 30 and the sacred medal is virtually yours……
Sounds simple right?
Erm…….
No……
Here is what happened when I attempted 2 laps back to back for the 3rd time today
Lap 1 : 3:47
Almost as aoon as I set off a couple of Wigan ovetook me on Chorley New Road….
‘Alright boss?’ one of them asked as they came stomping past, red emblem etched onto back of right calf…..
Turned out they were on their second lap having just ridden a 3:20 first….
Like a dick, I stayed with them for virtually the entire circuit…..
Now the trouble with the wigan boys is that most of them are ex rugby lads, hard as nails and one of their legs is the size of two of mine….
The other thing is, their banter is the best in England….
When a bloke overtook us like a torpedo on Turton Road, we all looked at eachother as if to say “wtf” but one of the wigan piped up…
“He’s jut set off Gaz, I can see a bannana in his back pocket, he would definitely have eaten that bannana by now if he was on his second lap”
Honestly, you can’t be exposed to people like this without becoming addicted to the process.
“Done Bolton before?” I asked….
“I did when it was easy but we all thought it was hard” came the legendary reply……
Anyhow…
I stayed with them and stupidly let rip on the fast section between top of turton and rammy….
We Played cat and mouse up Holcombe before they gave me a craking tow up the grane and that was without doubt the fastest I have ever ridden up Grane road to date….
On the next ‘fast’ section before roman I bounced off ahead, turned on the turbos and ‘smoked’ another lad who had started off as a ‘dot in the distance’…
Stupid boy rookie….
The sun was absolutely beating down and once I got to the forest of doom I had a reality check and thought ‘oh shit what have I done’
I rode that first lap way too hard and I was already starting to come unstuck….
3:47 did not reflect the effort I put into it as I ended the first circuit absolutely goosed…..
Lap 2 : 4:15
Got to be honest…
This second lap broke me….
It broke me for the following reasons…
- I am currently about 3 stone overweight….please note this is 3 stone of fat not muscle
- I rode that first lap way to hard from the outset and throughout, keeping up with faster lads on the hills and turning on the ‘turbos’ for the flat when I should have done the exact opposite and rode well ‘within myself’.
- The sun was absolutely beating down and I mean absolutely scortching….this caused de-hydration and I wasnt carrying enough fluid as it was
- Not only was it was blistering hot, it was also extremely windy in places
- Whilst i have been training fairly consistently, it wasnt that long ago that I was bouncing up and down in bamboogie at 5am of a saturday after a belly full of beer and other nautie stuff – always remember that
No doubt about it, this second lap was horrendous.
Right from the start I felt like I was running on empty and had nothing ‘in the tank’ having ‘spent’ myself on lap 1 and that is an awful feeling.
I also stopped at pretty much every boozer en route and begged for water as it was cracking flags out there…
Thankfully, they all kindly obliged apart from that crappy antiques shop/cafe on the grane…..’we are shut’ and ‘we have just mopped the floor so can’t go into the kitchen’ came the reply….
Come onnnn……Ironman here……..
In fairness, I am quite certain they will be sick to the back teeth of our lot by now, constantly sticking our heads round the door and asking for water every 2 minutes when they are trying to run a business, but they pissed me off all the same……
Anyhow, the hills of Breghtmet and the new bit next to the golf course sent me into a sulk
I went ‘dark’ on turton road
i didnt think I was going to make it up Holcombe
Grane road was a killer
Roman Road was even worse
That said, once Roman was out of the way, I finally got my ‘second wind’ as I could ‘smell’ the 8 hour double
I was expecting the forest of doom to be hell on earth but it wanst as bad as the images I had played out in my mind en route….
‘Go onnnnn keep going!’ came the roar from the drinkers sat outside the black dog and this gave me the boost i needed for the final push over SHL.
Look, do not worry yourself with what I have written about this second lap, bear in mind it was like cycling in jamaica today and at the end of the day it’s not the loop, its me…..i’m ‘shit’
But If your goal is to ‘just get round’ then learn from my mistakes….
Go stomping off ‘full of beans’ on lap 1 at your peril….
Pace yourself…..
As the Wigan lads said, “Youve got to ride it slower to ride it faster”.
Getting down to the nitty gritty, I came in at just over 8 hours for the 2 laps…..
1:30 swim plus 15 minutes in T1= 1:45
45min flash to the loop = 2:30
2 laps @ 8 hours = 10:30…..
It’s then a good 15 minutes from the bee hive to T2 at queens park…..
That’s 10h 45 total for the swim + bike…..
Not good enough…..
The cut off is 10h 30…..
Something is going to have to ‘give’
That cup of tea in T1 is gonna have to wait….
www.strava.com/activities/2489110663
3 laps of the IMUK run circuit planned for today (fukin great) see FB for commentary
Next update on website 7 July (1 week to go)
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