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Bala 2011
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The swim was OK but into driving waves on the way back it was into crashing waves got overtaken by my brother MKSnail towards the end but then overtook him in the shallows as he had to sit down with cramp, my TI was a mare cramp all over the place so I couldnt get my wettie off the colder i got thw worse the cramps got people were streaming out think i had around 10 mins + in T1.
The bike was hell for the first 20 miles i was shivering so bad I thoght my teeth were going to knock my bridge out and I couldnt get aero with all the cramps, It was ammazing seeing so many of the ultra fitties quitting doing a turn around and coming back I just kept cranking on the aid station were just crammed with abandoned bikes and the vans full of DNF Slugs I saw the guy in the phone box he must have been there some time, The ride back was a real hang in and dont give up passed a few pirates one pirate lady (sorry I was confused think it was WAF or Giraffe?) was grimly pedalling away ("i want to be a princess not a pirate") classic! I saw her a couple of times as i stopped for my mate who had pulled (his back had gone) and another guy lying by the side of the road. gote off the bike to some pirate supporters cheers and found I could only walk backwards due to cramp another endless T2 sorting myself out went off with my brother who was also in T2 and amazingly after 4 miles thawed out and had a great run
Great effort and reporting. Well done all.
ridgebackmax wrote (see)
Another classic statement was from my wonderful OH, Who celebrating her birthday standing by the side of the road soaking wet muttered
"If you have to do these events, Can we go somewhere warm next time"
And the year before!!
The place sucks. You probably get more peace on the campsite.
LOL Waffy... genius!!
Well done to everyone, dnf'ed or finished..... really tough conditions out there..... Conmiserations for those who had to pull out.
Haha at some of the comments of both racers and supporters.
Anyone heard from LtP? She ok?
She's fine and joined us for a nice meal in the pub afterwards (not the White Lion!!!)
Oh bless her!!
Well done all. I tell you, our pirates are tougher than the average triathlete. Well done to ALL of you
The clue was in the memento a TOWEL!!! never been so wet for so long! crinkly fingers for hours after I'd finished.
Well done to all and commiserations to those who didn't make. If it's any consolation, I rate it as one of, if not the toughest race I've ever done including Winter Tough Guy and IMUK.
My race was pretty much as rbm And dts, just I was so cold for the duration of the bike, my teeth never stopped chattering, lost all feeling in my fingers and thumbs making gear changes a challenge and didn't drink or take enough fuel on board. I was so tempted to give up seeing all the dnf bikes piled by the road side but it would have been my first dnf and wasn't prepared to give in this time. Had serious back pain on the first half of run despite taking painkillers, however it did ease a little on the way back allowing me to make up quite a few places. I was secretly hoping for a sub 6 hrs but happy with 6:24 under the conditions.
I'll be back for a proper crack at it.
Was nice to catch up with people I've met before and great meeting lots of lovely people for the first time and look forward to more in the future. Thanks Kanga for the loan of the pirate top, support was good especially on the run wearing it.
P.S. I forgive you Lee
Wow. Sounds truly horrendous. But hats off to everyone, because looking at that deep, cold, dark water at silly o'clock in the driving rain... and getting in to start swimming - has to have guts. And to those keeping going when loads of others were clearly pulling out. tremendous.
(Bloody glad i didn't do it...
. Cowman had better not be as bad...).
Jeepers shit weather or what!
Good efforts all round, in dreadful conditions
Started the weekend totally up for it. Met up with Slim at the campsite and got the tent sorted. Said hello to Gary, Rio and Lee, then straight into the lake for a mini tri as a warmup. It wasn't as cold and horrid as expected and I felt good on the bike so all set for the big day. The weather forecast was all over the place so did the usual - plan for the worst, hope for the best.
It started raining as we arrived in the car park and didn't stop for 24 hours. We started about 15 minutes late which wasn't too bad - I had a coat on over my wetsuit but a lot of people were already turning a bit blue by then. The swim was ok - shoulder held out which was the main thing. The current/wind was in the opposite direction to normal which meant the return lap felt endless. 46 mins - felt like an hour.
T1 - fingers didn't work. Armwarmers, gloves, cycling top on over my monaco. Nothing left in the box so get on the bike and go. First 10 miles were ok but the cross winds were something else. I had target heart rates for the out and back sections of the bike but couldn't get any where near it. At the time I thought I was just being a wimp - have subsequently reassessed that view!! It was so cold and windy - I think there was hail but not sure. Coming back was a bit easier - it was warmer going up hill and there weren't the long chilly scary descents. Saw lots of pirates - including some I recognised. Max decided to stalk me for a few miles which was nice.
Back into T2 swearing like a pirate. A marshall came to check I was okay to run - and I begged to be allowed to continue. Explained that the bike had been grim (I may have looked a bit teary) but that the run was the best bit - she let me go - hurrah!
So off on the run - going by feel as the distraction meant I'd fogotten my garmin. Fabulous run - just kept going - picking folk off along the way where possible. With 3 miles to go I asked if I'd be running faster if Mellifera was watching - the answer was yes - so I upped the work rate, finished in 6h16 with a 1.56 run split. Happy with that.
Fantastic support from the pirates as always. Special mention to Gary for the mugs of tea and Cona and Sally for supporting in the foul weather. Lovely to see Min after the race - she looked whacked from rescuing folk all day long! This will go down as the wettest Bala ever - what a good idea we all agreed to give it a miss!
What a day! I certainly won't forget it in a hurry. Arrived Saturday and did a recce of the bike course with my buddy Azattack as neither of us had done the race before. It was a wonderful course, geat views long sweeping downhills and the uphills didn't look too bad. Needless to say it looked totally different on the Sunday.
Swim wasn't as cold as we'd been led to believe but that was probably due to the air temperature being in single figures. Had the longest pee ever in my wetsuit, I swear the water around me was turning yellow. Set off and had goggle issues right away. Had to stop a couple of times before I got them right and got on with a steady swim. Quite choppy at the turnaround and had a few mouthfulls of lake water but plodded on. Two more pees as I swam. Why do all the swims I do never have nice sandy beach finishes like we see on tris on the TV? Stumbled out of the water looking like Frankensteins monster being woken up by 50,000 volts.
Got prepared for the bike slowly with lots of layers and set off. As I climbed the weather got worse and worse. Heavy rain and cross winds. Got to the high point with no major mishaps but the first downhill was frightening. I'm never very good at descending in the wet but this was all my nightmares coming at once. Heavy driving rain, cross winds and fast traffic. A steady stream of bikers had been coming in the opposite direction which must have been people who had called it a day because even at my slow pace and setting off in the last wave I wouldn't have expected to have seen the leaders yet. Saw loads of people dressed for a summer race in a tri suit and nothing else. They must have been absolutely freezing. Had a spoke go just before the turnaround so stopped and sorted it out then got to the turnaround and saw all the bling bikes stacked on the side of the road. Apparently they had so many DNF's that they had to take the riders back and come back for the bikes later. Toilet issues caused three stops on the return. I passed one rider 4 times and each time he gave me a more puzzled look. Must get my hydration and nutrition sorted for the next race.
Started the run and felt ok so obviously went too fast and regretted it by mile 8 when I ran out of energy and started walking On the last drinks station I found a half drunk "for goodness shakes" bottle and drank that. It tasted like nectar. Was hard work until the last mile when it got easy again. Funny how the sight of the finish line brings new reserves to the muscles. Finished in just under 7 hrs. A long way behind where I was hoping for but an experience not to be forgotten.
Highlight - The first pee in the lake
Low point - Realising at mile 8 that I was spent
Well done to all the pirates and for all the arrghs! and high fives on the run.
Next up is the Vitruvian.
Oh Waffy! Well done. You're one tough Pirate **and** a Princess!!
Well done Microbe Man. It really is a lovely course on a nice day!
Some of you should be giving your skull and cross-bones back
Terrible weather, pain in the bum course , slowest half IM time ever but looking back it was fun to pass all the elites in the ambulances waving, and the one in the phone box !!!
Great camaraderie from the other Pirates as always, the stick is always worth it
Well done to all who finished, I hope you all enjoyed your beer last night
Wow what a race!
The race reports above say it all really. Arrived on the saturday and had nice weather for a short practice swim and a BBQ in the evening.
Race day was just brutal. The swim was hard coming back from the turnaround buoy with waves just smacking you in the face and I felt as though I swallowed half the lake! T1 was simply putting on as much gear as I had but i couldn't zip my coat up due to freezing hands so just had to use the adhesive-type ties. I wondered why so many people were coming back from the bike as I set out - surely i cant be that slow? The sidewinds on the way out to the turnaround were scary and I nearly lost the bike a couple of times coming down big descents. I too saw the man huddled in the phonebox and others sat by the roadside hiddled in foil blankets with marshals hovering close by. On the return leg my fingers were so numb I struggled to change from the small to big chain ring and vice versa and just tried to maintain an even cadence into the wind and horizontal rain! I have never been so glad to see the Bala town sign and maybe it was the conditions but my neck and shoulders felt as though someone was stabbing knitting needles into them. I suspect it had something to do with tension!
i was so glad to get off that damn bike and onto the run. I passed RBM and his brother just out of transition (Max later passed me and left me for dead!) and plodded off along the lane. I saw Waffy in front and had a quick chat before plodding on. But the wheels began to come off at around the 8 mile mark which is annoying as I've put some reasonable run training in this year. Nothing really bad but I found myself power walking up some short hills and was nearly sick in a hedge! But as the final two miles loomed I picked it up again and managed to run to the finish where I have never been so glad to finish a race.
But i still really enjoyed the weekend and I wouldn't have swapped doing Bala again. It was great to see those competing and supporting again and having a couple of beers in Rio and Gary's tent afterwards!
i take my hat off to the supporters in particular- what an awful day to support. i saw Cona had arrived and I beleive he went out to support some bikers out on the course. i missed Min but heard she was there. I was cheered in by Pirate support and it does give you a big lift.
It was my wife's birthday yesterday. She stood in the rain with my two kids and cheered which ever Pirates they saw. Apparently my two children burst into tears after the swim as they'd missed me coming out of the water. they waited to check i wasn't the last swimmer ( a real possibility with me!) and then cried their hearts out as 'daddy had drowned'. A marshal pointed out to them that if my bike had gone (it had) then it was likely that I wasn't rolling around the bottom of the lake but out fighting the wind and rain (I was!) I have an awful lot of brownie points to make up and am off to the Indian in a mo to gat a nice birthday take- a - way. It didn't help that our tent had leaked in a few places as well and become a wet hell hole! Oh well as I kept telling my wife ' if you cant take a joke' and 'it's not a knitting club'!
My time was 6hrs 6mins - 15 mins slower than last year but I'll happily take that. Well doen to all those who competed yesterday. Max - i noticed that I pipped you by a couple of minutes. You're runnings all right but if you want a couple of tips regarding the swim and bike then just give me a call me old mate!!
Well that was fun ...not. Without a doubt the worst riding conditions I've ever been through, and thanks to my dodgy shoulder and a relay with Rio, I didn't even have to do the swim. Guess because I wasnt doing the whole thing, and not done a great deal of training as usual, was just looking to get around rather than set any records.
Great to see everyone again, and although we had a couple of DNFs at least we had no A&Es. I'm going to miss you guys 
Picked up Rio coming out of the water, swapped the timing chip, and leapt on the bike. Some ATGNFI guy nearly took me out on the left turn out of town up the hill, then slowed down up the hill. Twunt. Saw guys on bling bikes and all the gear turning around early, the poor bastard in the phone box in the middle of nowhere, but managed not to see the truck full of boomeranging bikes. Saw a couple of Pirates along the way but obviously not many of us had Pirate bike jackets and were all incognito on the ride. Swore a lot, got blown sideways many times, the brakes pads had the stopping power of marzipan, and the winter commuting gloves were soaked through. The 'make it up as you go along' nutrition plan let me down and starting the return leg I was out of energy and mojo. A trek bar and superstrength lucozade later I began reeling in loads of peeps who'd left me for dead miles earlier to get back to T2 in 3:04 plus change, only a few minutes off last year which means I must have slacked off badly then !
Went out of T2 with byflyer and just did a steady Kanga mince(tm) up/down/up/down/up the hill and back again. RBM came past at/on speed, having a great day, and saw a few others now flying the Pirate colours on the way out as we were coming back in. Finished about 6:14, happy with that given the crap conditions, just happy to clock up another race amongst friends
Slimshady had the same problem. Have you ever seen your wives in the same room at the same time