Thursday, July 28, 2005
Riding the bike
In just over a week, I'll be taking part, once more, in the London Triathlon - 6th August, London Excel Centre. This is rather strange, as I can't swim, and have had a bad knee for the past two years or so (which prevents me running)! But I'm lucky, because I can ride a bike, and this triathlon allows three people to enter as a team. The team members each do one discipline - Dom swims, I cycle, and Nats does the running.
In 2003, my company paid for the entry for two teams; the three members of the other team all moved on from work into new jobs, but Pedro45, Dom and Nats remained to enter again thanks to the company entry fee in 2004. This year though, Nats and Pedro45 have taken the big fat pay cheque and left our former employ, which means we have had to pay the entry fee ourselves.
The reason we do this each year is two-fold: one, we really enjoy it, it gives us focus, and allows us to try to keep/get fit with a goal to aim at, and two, we have been able to raise money for charities - about £4,000 so far including this year.
I'm a bit competitive most of the time, so the first year we did it was kind of feeling the ground, not expecting to beat many (except the other company team!!!). In the end we came 78th out of 88, therefore beating ten other teams. This after I managed to fall off the bike at speed and break the gears; I reckon I lost about ten minutes or so because of this. Last year the aim was to beat our previous time (as we didn't have any company team to beat) and it should be simple if I stayed in the saddle and didn't break the bike. We did this, but only just. Reason? I was injured a few weeks beforehand and could not improve on my time. We came 88th out of 128, beating 40 other teams, so improved overall.
This year, after my knee operation, I have been training hard (thanks Jo!) and fully aim to beat my previous times by at least nine minutes. We don't think Dom can improve on his time that much as he's a pretty good swimmer anyway and is usually one of the leaders (top twenty) out of the water, but Nats thinks she can reduce her time if she is fit. Unfortunately, she hasn't done to much training this year so far and is going rely on her natural athleticism to get her through.
Our aim therefore is to knock around ten minutes off our time this year in total. If we do that, we should beat about half the other teams I reckon, and I have reason to believe that there are 190 other teams entered this year! So anywhere in the top hundred should be good...
I'll keep everyone up-to-date with the result once I've got my breath back after next Saturday...
If any of my readers feel they would like to sponsor us - our chosen charity is CHAS (Children's Hospice Association of Scotland) - drop me an email (or comment) and I'll pass on the Justforgiving sponsorship URL.
Now I'm off to the gym once more...
In 2003, my company paid for the entry for two teams; the three members of the other team all moved on from work into new jobs, but Pedro45, Dom and Nats remained to enter again thanks to the company entry fee in 2004. This year though, Nats and Pedro45 have taken the big fat pay cheque and left our former employ, which means we have had to pay the entry fee ourselves.
The reason we do this each year is two-fold: one, we really enjoy it, it gives us focus, and allows us to try to keep/get fit with a goal to aim at, and two, we have been able to raise money for charities - about £4,000 so far including this year.
I'm a bit competitive most of the time, so the first year we did it was kind of feeling the ground, not expecting to beat many (except the other company team!!!). In the end we came 78th out of 88, therefore beating ten other teams. This after I managed to fall off the bike at speed and break the gears; I reckon I lost about ten minutes or so because of this. Last year the aim was to beat our previous time (as we didn't have any company team to beat) and it should be simple if I stayed in the saddle and didn't break the bike. We did this, but only just. Reason? I was injured a few weeks beforehand and could not improve on my time. We came 88th out of 128, beating 40 other teams, so improved overall.
This year, after my knee operation, I have been training hard (thanks Jo!) and fully aim to beat my previous times by at least nine minutes. We don't think Dom can improve on his time that much as he's a pretty good swimmer anyway and is usually one of the leaders (top twenty) out of the water, but Nats thinks she can reduce her time if she is fit. Unfortunately, she hasn't done to much training this year so far and is going rely on her natural athleticism to get her through.
Our aim therefore is to knock around ten minutes off our time this year in total. If we do that, we should beat about half the other teams I reckon, and I have reason to believe that there are 190 other teams entered this year! So anywhere in the top hundred should be good...
I'll keep everyone up-to-date with the result once I've got my breath back after next Saturday...
If any of my readers feel they would like to sponsor us - our chosen charity is CHAS (Children's Hospice Association of Scotland) - drop me an email (or comment) and I'll pass on the Justforgiving sponsorship URL.
Now I'm off to the gym once more...
