I had nightmares last night about not leaving Tall Friend’s house on time tomorrow . . . running to get my transition area setup, a broken spoke making a comedy wobbly wheel . . . the predicted weather forecast (RAIN and 17mph winds - except this is true ) And then I woke up...
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Oh, the power of the internet. Here’s the translation that Jen did for the captions of the Japanese swimming video posted yesterday. Thanks Jen, you’re a star! Here are some of the captions translated and the times with which they correspond. 3:36 rolling 2:50 entry 2:45 catch 2:40 some sort of pull (Maybe circling, but not sure) 2:35 finish 2:30 recovery 2:20...
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2.4 miles is a long way. I had my first swimming lesson  with a professionally qualified coach today. I’ve got a little work to do, it seems. The main problem with my stroke is that I’m ‘playing catch-up’ - keeping my leading arm forward almost until the recovering hand passes it’s wrist before I start the...
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As part of my serious reflection (Ha!) on IronMan, I read Stuart Staples’ book, Not Normal Behaviour over the weekend. This tells the story of Stuart’s year from sitting in the garden admiring his new landscaping (and realising that there must be more to life that this), to taking part in the 2001 Lake Placid...
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I’m giving myself the whole of May to make up my mind about IronMan. Who an I kidding? I’ve probably already made up my mind, so now I’m seeking a slightly more balanced viewpoint, and allowing myself time to really think hard about what the training commitment will mean. So if you’d like to contrubute...
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These last two weeks have been murder . . . too much to do, too much time in hotels, and too little time to write about it. I’ll be posting individual details rather than one long rambling stream of drivel, but for now, the highlights include . . . A road trip to Manchester to...
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With only seven days to go ’till my ‘big’ race, I thought I’d better get some practice in with my transitions. VonSmallHaussen’s visiting for the weekend with her bike, so she agreed to help out. We set up a transition area on the promenade above Tynemouth Long sands, and did six repeats of swim-bike and...
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I think I might be turning into the grandmother from the BBC’s Goodness Gracious Me. Here’s yet another thing I’ve found that I can make myself. All I need is some honey, some peanut butter, a little hot water, and a small aubergine. Actually you don’t need the aubergine. This started when I decided it was...
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 . . . can mix extremely well. On the trips I’ve made in the last two weeks, I’ve taken the bike and managed to get out on rides from short (mechanical problems - damn those early life failures!) to long-ish. Running is an easy kit to pack, and provided that you can avoid feeling too...
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Last night I went to the pool, and had one of those Road to Damascus moments. I was swimming groups of lengths, interspersed with Total Immersion drills, which concentrated on my left-side breathing. Since the drills are pretty slow lengths of the pool, I kept out of the roped off lane and in the main...
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I’ve had the feeling all week that I was building up for a dehydration problem. Sure, I’ve been taking about 3/4 of a litre of my funky rehydration mix with me on every ride . . . and finishing it. But with the weather getting a little warmer, and the workouts a little longer...
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I’ve been struck the last few days about how much of a role technique plays in changing your race day from an ordeal into a tough, but very enjoyable experience. In swimming, my freestyle is really starting to come together (I know you’ve heard that before, but it’s true), so much so that it’s now...
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One of my biggest heroes is . . . . . . a little Japanese chap who died in 1990, and was one of the founders of, and leading experts on the Toyota Production System - the TPS. Shigeo Shingo He was one of the production engineering geniuses who in post-war Japan reversed a 10:1 productivity...
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So here’s the problem. Most of the triathlon / fitness blogs I read are written by real people. People like you or me. And they do really amazing things. At the moment, I’m not even a triathlete at all - it’s more than 12 months since I last got painted, dunked, wind dried and pounded....
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OK, so Whitley Bay is hardly The Big City, but while I was out today, I had several of those moments of clarity that only come from either monetary sobriety in a drunk, or every darned day on a bike for the rest of us. Seeing the flowers growing right next to the road that...
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Today I had to visit three customer sites - one in Walker, one in Sunderland, and one just up the road from home. Unfortunately, our car’s suspension went ‘pop’ at the weekend, so the car was in the garage . . . So I had to go by bike! To prove that this evening I...
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The Urban Commuter posted an excellent, thought-provoking article at the beginning of this month on the hows and whys of many accidents involving cyclists (and others): Cycling London - Urban Commuting by Bike: Average Car Drivers Don’t Intend To… I was reminded today of this when I was out walking out huge dalmation. A cyclist came...
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They give you . . . . um . . . . gas / wind / etc. It might have something to do with the quantity I’ve been eating - dunno. That’s all.
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The Giant SCR LTD I went back to the excellent Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative (artwork, left, from their site) in Byker (no, really) at lunch time today, and asked ‘em if I could have a go of the Giant with aerobars on. So they fitted a set of Profile T2+ aerobars for me (this took...
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Well, waddya know . . . no-one was interested in buying my carbon offset that I’d put up on Ebay. Three possible reasons for this: In general talk about climate change is cheap. Ask people to spend some money to do something about it, and the room goes very quiet. Perhaps I was just listed in...
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In the blue corner, we have ‘global’ £625 Giant SCR Ltd ‘07. In the red corner, spoiling for a fight, the all American hero. It’s the £749 Cannondale CAAD5 Tiagra ‘07! OK, I’ve just got back from the bike shop, where I took both of these out for a quick tour around Byker’s rush...
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