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 Beast of the East, Lough Dan
25 July 2010 (Report by Dave) |
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There are triathlons and then there are triathlons. The Beast deserves its name. Held in the heart of the Garden County at the boy scouts camp, this one was testing. I arrived down the night before in the campervan and had a huge field to myself. Did not sleep well however. Should have stayed in my own bed. I registered and dropped off the bike. Then Porridge and coffee. Should have had a few bananna's as well.
.JPG) Bumped into Simon who had not slept well either and was not in the mood. Well it was early morning. There was a wind in our faces as we looked out over the swim course and plenty of chop. So much for a nice calm lake swim. The midges were busy feasting on Simons flesh. They left me alone but their cousins, the mossies, had eaten me alive in France for two weeks previously so I guess I was not attractive to them. Fine by me.
Transition was well laid out with plenty of space for the bike. It helps when you have two places as both myself and Eimear Matthews had. Thanks Roy!! Transition was 30 metres from the lake. There was a 250 metre run to the mount line across grass. We had seen the descent from Roundwood on the way in. More a course for road bikes than tri bikes.
Brian Bonham was the young lad in wave 1 with myself Simon Tsang and Dave Murphy in Wave 2 followed by Trish Nicholls and Eimear Matthews in Wave 3. Ominously there was guy playing the bagpipes in a kilt on a rocky outcrop as we entered the water. It was a bit odd but as we have multiple men in kilts at TriAthy I suppose I should be used to it. Hopefully Nessie has eaten a few boy scouts and was not hungry.
Starters orders and we were off. Unusually for me I had a reasonably good start. No pucks or kicks and got into a slow but steady rhythm. The first buoy was rounded and then the little waves were head on and breathing was a bit hit and miss but at least it was fresh water.
The second buoy was a long slog up the lake. Managed to draft off two people. Couldn't tell their gender. Everyones feet look the same in the water. The third buoy came by and I was on my way back down the lake. Another long slog but rounded the last buoy without incident and did a few breast stroke kicks to sight the pontoon. Big mistake. Left calf cramped up immediately. Made it in and started the usual striptease routine. They realy should play Patricia the Stripper when you exit the water!!!
Now the worst bit was over and I was back on dry land where I could start making up ground. Or so I thought. Flew through transition and passed 5 or 6 before the mount line. Went for the big mount and something gave in the saddle. Bugger.
Then there was the small matter of the Wicklow hills. After a long hard swim just the tonic is a nice drag up a hill in low gears. Not!! Ok I was beginning to get the "Beast" bit of this race. Oh well at least I could burn back down it on the way back. Or so I thought.
The road went up and down like a yo-yo but the surface was pretty good for the first 10 km. I was not going well at this stage but Dave Murphy started making some good pushes and got me going again. This was despite the fact that his rear wheel had skewed a bit and the tyre was rubbing on his frame. We did a bit of jousting with a guy from Setanta and another bloke and it pushed us all on.
There was a nice descent a couple of k after the roundwood but the surface got pretty choppy and given that my saddle was loose this made for an fairly uncomfortable ride. But there it was, manna from heaven, the turnaround. Back up the road and at least I knew what was ahead of me.
But, oh no, it wasn't going to be that easy.
There was a turn to the left that did not bode well and guess what, oh yes, another hill and back down the gears. Where were Shleck and Contador when you needed them? After some more suffering we were finally flying back down yet another hill but we were not allowed to pass. My granny could have pedalled her high nelly quicker than the lads in front of me. Back into the scout camp and nailed the dismount on the line and took off towards transition.
Transition went smooth and I tore out of the scout camp on a mission. However that stopped when I hit the first hill. I met Brian and then Simon who were under a bit of pressure. The suffering had started very early on the run. I shuffled up the first hill all two k of it and just concentrated on keeping the pace going to the 5k mark. The sun had come out but there were plenty of water stations. Had a good tangle with a guy from piranha but managed to shake him at the turnaround. Back downhill and I stretched out and passed a few but as could be expected there was another hill to contend with. I was running on empty at this stage and two of the guys I had overtaken on the way down the hill returned the compliment on the way back up. The finish line could not come quick enough today.
Simon was in next followed by Dave and then Brian with, dare I say it, a sprint finish. Water, bananas and chocolate were in plentiful supply and off to the lake we went to cool down the legs and shift the lactic acid. After a good drenching, Thanks Brian, we partook of the dirty burger and side salad. Brian missed out as his wasn't cooked through. Eimear and Trish were in before long and we had all successfully tamed the Beast.
.JPG) Mixed reactions to this one. Very tough cycle and run. Harder than Hell of the West in my view but I had not trained for 3 weeks before it, had not slept well or eaten properly before so maybe my opinion is off. Well run race. Plenty of draft marshalls for a change, one even wagged his finger at me the cheeky bugger. Decent T Shirt. Good atmosphere after the race. I think they had beer on tap and it would have been nice to put the feet up and supp a few pints but that does not mix well with a car journey.
Will be bringing a road bike if I do it again next year and will be preparing properly this time and giving the race the respect it deserves. |
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