Hebburn Triathlon: Bike Chase-down

 . . . so Fat Robbie was about a minute or so ahead of me on the bike, on a two-lap course of 12 miles . . .

. . . by just under half way around the first lap, I’d closed the gap a little - there’s a stretch of the course where you do a virtual U-turn from one road to another, and he was just going the other way as I approached the turn. Time for some goading:

Come on Fattie, you’ve got to go faster than that!

Kinda wished I hadn’t said that though, as he pulled away over the next half lap, to open up a lead of around 400m. By then, my average speed was 19.9mph, and I was feeling pretty good. Time to push a bit harder - so much for taking it easy.

I finally caught Robbie one mile from the end of the second lap. He obviously had no idea that I was there, because when I went past (more goading) he seemed pretty surprised. So surprised in fact that I was glad I hadn’t gone with Plan ‘A’, and goosed him on the way past - he’d have fallen off his bike, probably taking the pair of us out.

I’d managed a near perfect negative split, with a 20.2mph average on Lap 2, and came into transition with a lead of about ten seconds (that’s actually HIM with a lead of 1min:50secs, but you know what I mean). I did a T2 that ran like clockwork, which gave me an opportunity for some more goading on the way out, while Robbie struggled to get his helmet off & shoes changed:

Hurry up Fattie!

I felt sure that I’d be paying for that within the next 20 minutes, but at the time, it felt great!

Would I manage to increase my on-the-road lead, and even catch up with Robbie’s clock time on the run? Find out in the next post: Hebburn Triathlon: I hear footsteps behind me!

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 08/03/2008
• Time: 07:50:00
• Total Time: 00:35:45.00
• Distance: 12 miles
• Average Speed: 20.14 mph

Filed under: Cycle, Friends, NE31 Tri Club