The chain gang part II

I have come to see chain problems as a bad omen. Shortly after my beloved yellow steel Pearson bike snapped a chain the whole frame gave up the ghost. Last night my blue aluminium Pearson developed chain problems, just a frozen link to start with, but I managed escalate the problem to include not only a chain that was too short but a broken chain tool as well.
There was lots of oil and angst around last night in the Bennett household. I will re-size the chain, or replace it, and hope for the best.

Closed season is upon us

Happy days running in the sun

I was hoping to show off some gruesome pictures of my post operative knee (I had an arthroscopy in early August) but there was very little to see really, just a bit swollen. When the dressing finally came off you could barely see the incisions. Then it was holiday time and now the knee is pretty much back to normal. I'll have to see what the physio says later today.
I am trying my very best not to do too much too soon ( the main problem with this procedure apparently) but with a couple of turbo session under my belt and three good rides and nothing to report, fingers crossed, I think I may be OK. Running and swimming can wait a little longer.

Thoughts can now turn to next year's event and how it might be organised. I have already been contacted by ex members of the original Optician Ironman Team but linking in with a wider industry group proved very successful this year so may be the way to go again in 2012.
The big question of course is the challenge. Flat, hilly, mountainous, a bike ride , triathlon or what???

In the meantime I can rest my knee, I don't think so. The Crawley late summer triathlon is already on the horizon.

Any thoughts for events, team membership or anything else, on an ( electronic) poscard please.

Paris or bust

A great day was had by all in Paris at the weekend. The grandstand view was magnificent although as Sue pointed out the general public did make the place look a little untidy.



We then moved on to our 'Champs' seating to be closer to the action. Great views but there were some annoying
tourists taking pictures of everything.

The guy is yellow passed us a few times, he's pretty good, he should take it up seriously.



Perhaps I'll ask Luca to invite him to the next SBR run.


After the racing the real fun started when we got to rub shoulders with the teams and see the bikes close up.
Back stage the guys were letting off some steam and talking to the fans. Pretty cool given they had just spent 3 weeks riding 2,100 miles. A few of us tested the weight of Thor's bike. The mechanic said Thor touched 123kph coming down an alp. As Lance might say ' Awesome dude'.

A tough tour

If you thought it was bad riding in the Tour; forcing your very soul to the edge of exhaustion and then being knocked off your bike and thrown into a barbed wire fence, run over by a media car and scraped along the tarmac --then think again.
That is but nothing compared to what is happening to my fantasy Tour de France team! I am trailing miserably, my riders are retiring, I replace them and they break their leg and have to retire too. My team lead the race along for 100s of KM and then fade to the back of the bunch.

Let's hope now the Tour has reached the mountains my riders come into their own.

Tailwind into work

Had an absolutely storming ride into work today. When I looked down it read a touch over 40 minutes on my cycle computer, a good five minutes faster than normal.


I had spoken to Fee about her impending trip to the Alpe d'Huez triathlon so was feeling a bit left out of competition so perhaps I was subconsciously put a bit more in? I was convinced it had to be my legs getting race conditioned for a main event (which sadly does not exist this year).
Later I realsied it was a fierce tailwind which I will have to ride into on the way home so by the end of the day I may be glad I don't have to swim in an icy lake, cycle up three mountains then run a half marathon at altitude --good luck Fee!!

Before they were famous

Just in case anyone starts getting big headed on the back of this week's report in Optician....I happened across
some old photos during our office move.

First international man of mystery Mr Newth at the Cafe Royale with Marylin...










But best of all the Godfather with his entourage of lovelies.........

Fee's Vatternrundan race report

300Km ….. what? In a day?


Apprehensive but excited at 2am as we cycled passed the beautiful freezing cold lake, personally I was thankful it wasn’t a triathlon and hence relieved at not donning the wetsuit and jumping in!!

The carnival type atmosphere accompanied with music, cycle lights and reflectors created a unique start to any race. Paul appeared particularly nervous as not all the team had made to the start yet (10mins to go!) … he was a Greyhound waiting to be released from its trap! I wasn’t nervous as initially I was just hoping to complete the ride in one piece. We all started together with smiles and best wishes all round.

Very quickly Chris, Paul and I formed a group , we were joined by an elderly gentleman and his son and then suddenly we thumped along at tremendous speeds (considering how far we had to go!). Chris said ‘ I think we could be going too fast’ ? the road was smooth flat and more importantly ‘pot hole free’ and I said ‘this is amazing’ but also thought…….here we go!

Before we knew it Chris and I were having meat balls and mash with ‘ketch up’ and errr ‘cranberry sauce’ (?) at the breakfast stop. After downing a pint of milk we decided not to wait in the toilet Queue and pop into a bush later in the ride. We’d made great progress and I saw a look through Chris’s Transitions eyewear and soon we were back in the saddle.

We spotted an SBR Transitions jersey and some red tyres on a felt bike, it was Paul again, he was going to take the next stop for more water. Chris and I pressed on to the 150km point where the running clock recorded 5hours 2mins (inc approx 20min?stop) and I knew from that point forward we were on a mission!

We didn’t stop again until Kronenburg ( Karlsborg I think -Ed) where I wasn’t keen to stop but it was wise for water replenishment! There only appeared to be cinnamon buns and coffee that you could stand a spoon in. stupidly I donated mine to Chris whom had already downed one coffee. After a quick pee we were back on the road, Chris was possessed by caffeine??!! ….Chasing down Tandems and almost Fartlek type training whilst I maintained a steady speed taking a look and reflecting on Lake Vattern’s breath-taking scenery after having stiffened slightly post rest stop.

The last 100km was on the cards and I stupidly said ‘Its just a Saturday morning ride to go now….as we were about to find out though ……..this was the unknown section (we had not even ridden 200km before let alone another 100km!) We joined Pelotons’ and created our own. We saw frightening sights: Wheel to wheel collisions’ , people sleeping next to the bikes by the roadside but I thought it was an hallucination
……..300km in a day ….err actually 10hrs 10mins…who’d have thought it!

when I saw the priest on the side of the road and I was told by my new Peloton buddy that he was praying for us !!
In turn Chris and I appeared to feel the effect of only 4-5hours sleep in two days plus the 250km already covered. My back and shoulders ached, my knee had swollen and my arms and hands were numb with pins and needles…. I took an anti-inflam and caffeine gel which kicked my mind back into focus. I thought cramp may loom soon and I copied another rider whom ate an electrolyte tab neat. The way forward now was to stay with the group or I feared the ride (err Race??) would be over. The Transition SBR riders in question (chris and I ) and to our amazement still took the front of the peloton, although Chris spoke to me a couple of times, I saw his lips move but bizarrely I didn’t know what he was saying. A few Km left to go and in knew that staying in the group was survival. At times we still travelled +/- 24mph, I wasn’t sure where Chris was, in front or behind? I passed a Pink Brompton (one of those city fold up bikes with small wheels) and wondered if I was hallucinating again!

I could hear crowds, cheering, unclipping of cleats and beeps as timing chips registered over the mat , we’d finished!! (well I had …Chris came in 10minutes later) as he fell off the pack trying to unwrap his energy bar!
………it just shows you the difference of staying with the pack and riding alone. I asked him if he wanted me to open all his energy bars before the beginning of the next race ;-)