ATHelite Duathlon

A great Duathlon Training Session this morning in wonderful weather conditions - cool, clear & sunny & no wind for a change. Starting out on the old A77 the 5k run headed out & back on the Black Loch Road before everyone jumped on the bikes for the 20k ride & heading out & back on the A77 towards Stewarton. The second 5k run was a repeat of the 'undulating' first one.
Well done to all those who took part & huge thanks to those who made the effort to help out with marshalling & home baking duties. Everyone did so well on a tough course. Not all about times today but quickest over the course was Colin 'SuperCadence' Bain followed by Craig 'Unknown' Surname & Graeme 'Silent but Deadly' Allan. First Lady was Lisa 'Fluffy Canary' Allan.

Other mentions; Patrick who had the quickest T1 & T2, Big Don who seems to have transformed his biking, Gareth who seriously over dressed, boiled over then stripped off, Ian who was loving his 1st ever Duathlon, Sandy who hit a curb, blew his front tyre & got a lift home plus Special Guest Donald M from Lanark Tri Club who brought a bit of Veteran experience to the party. Colin F supervised proceedings - biking back & forth like a madman, Genevieve was Chief Organiser, Baker & Timekeeper, Lindsay was Marshal & Homebaker & Michael was Marshalling, correcting all Genevieves timekeeping errors & quality controlled the cupcakes.

More photos can be seen on the ATHelite Facebook Page - see the link to the left.

Ready, Steay, GLOW!!

The new 2010 Ronhill Vizion Hi-Viz range is now in stock. Great Winter Clothing & Accessories for you or some excellent Xmas pressies!

 

 

RonhillRange click here

Race Report

Here is a race report from Sundays race at Mugdock and a few pics.....

What a difference a week makes! After pulling out of my first ever race (cycling or otherwise) at the Strathclyde Park cyclocross race, was hoping for a return to some kind of form at Round 4, Mugdock Park. A good bit of rest for a full day, a turbo session on Tues and a ride to work on Thursday the week before, I hoped to get a spring back into my legs for this race.

Mugdock Park cyclocross, run by Glasgow Mountain Bike Club, is a classic on the Scottish CX scene delivers the most technical of the years courses and usually a lot of mud. Sunday was no different. After blowing up at Rnd 2 I have been making a big effort to carbo-load on the Saturday (this is actually quite difficult I have found!!) and due to the later race starts this year, I have been eating loads on the morning of the race too. Diligence I adhered to as I got prepared for the 13:30 start.

Mugdock is a difficult race to start due to the tight nature of the trails and the commissaire had decided to start us on a grassy climb this time. However, the grass in some places was a foot high and there were a lot of moans on the start line from the ‘pros’ looking for the best line. I opted for a cycling start where some opted for a running one! Sitting on the 3rd row, I was quite far back but when the gun went off, the field opened up in front of me like Moses Parting the Red Sea! Fantastic, I was about 6th over the top of the climb with a lot of the established stars behind me. This doesn’t mean I was going to beat them but it allows you to get into your rhythm earlier as you are not fighting for places before the natural order establishes itself. Round the finishing arena for the end of our starting lap and I was in a good 10th or 11th place and feeling pretty good about things. Second lap and my crash demons returned and an innocuous fall meant I was off running through the muddy woods before the end of lap 2. Unfortunately, I had to square up my handlebars and this lost me further time. No problem though as I had only lost 1 or 2 places.

My fall and mechanical put be back into the clutches of my good friend Brian and for the next few laps we duelled it out for position, me pulling away on the hills, Brian catching me on the technical sections. I lost my bottle on lap 3 when I put the bike on my shoulder for the steep muddy hill and with the rules stating ‘No outside assistance’ I had to resist the temptation to take the bottle from a kind spectator who had picked it up for me. I would have been disqualified. Oh the shame! Sometimes it’s a bit too easy to back off when you have no competitors around you and my duel with my friend was the competition I needed to push on a bit and within a few laps I had managed to get a gap on him and was starting to catch some of the guys in front. Not sure if I passed any of these guys but I kept a good pace up the race entered the last few laps.

Over the finish line and I was delighted to have some form back and feel normal again. My cold had clearly been working on me during Rnd 2 and I probably shouldn’t have started rnd 3 but I suppose it is a good indicator of how my body reacts to illness. I always think it has taken 37 yrs to understand my body but I am slowly getting there. Results have me down in 14th place, not my highest ever finish but given but still pretty good and some decent point on the board. A few weeks off now but the club duathlon will be a great training session to keep me going before Rnd 5. See you this Sunday!

Group Training Session Duathlon

What is it: Group Training Session 5k Run, 20k  Bike, 5k Run
(This is not a race it is a group training session)

Where: A77 - Meet at Lay-by at the junction for the Black Loch Road


When: Sunday, October 31 from 9:00 am to 11:00 am

Tea and biscuits afterwards so bring a £1

This is great for all abilities. If you've never done anything like this before come along and see what goes on. If you don't have a bike come and do the 1st run. If you're more experienced come along and have a final blast of the year! See you all Sunday 31st Fancy dress welcomed :)

ATHelite Dirty Squad

ATHelite's Off Road Division were out in the muck again last weekend. Dawn, Graeme & Frank were knee deep in the mud racing at Mugdock Park (some good pictures to follow). Meanwhile Colin B was taking part in race 2 of the Cyclocross season and here is his race report..........

Lance Armstrong once said “Sometimes you're the hammer, sometimes you're the nail. Today I was the nail.” I pretty much felt like “the nail” after the end of round 2 of the Scottish Cyclocross season at Plean Country Park in Stirling. After finishing in 18th place last week and finishing this race in 14th last year, I had high hopes for a good ride. After some warm up and a few practice laps of the course, I was feeling a little tired but sometime this can be deceiving so I headed to the start eager to get going and get into a rhythm.

I got a great start and was inside the top 15 for the first lap but just felt like I was struggling to get any power out of my legs. Coming through the start/finish at the end of lap one I flew into the first grassy, sweeping corners and lost it on the last right hand turn hitting the deck quite hard but not overly concerned. Time to get up, get my bottle and move on before I lost too many places. Unfortunately, my chain was off, my brakes had completely disconnected themselves when my handlebars twisted in the crash and my bars where squint meaning it took me about a minute to get going again and I was now well down on the majority of the field! Still it was early on and plenty of time to make a lot of these places up again.

Once back on the bike, I kind of panicked and went for it. Addrenalin pumping, I made up several places immediately, and got a few more on the steep run up section. The Monday night intervals with Calderglen Harriers are definitely helping here as I was so much faster on the run up than anyone else. Over the next 5 laps, I made up a lot of spots using the tried and trusted 'carrot on stick' motivation technique. With about 3 laps to go, I was struggling to hang on to the guys I was catching ahead and within a lap, I was starting to get caught from behind. 2 laps to go and those places I took back started to be retaken and I was going backwards. Time to hang on for dear life but by this stage, some of the climbs, I almost came to a standstill. Damn, I had blown up. Into the last lap and I lost about 5 places and I was a struggle to get to the end. I always say that I will never give up unless my bike breaks so I limped to the end and almost collapsed. Phew, so glad that was over.

In the end, I finished 25th which considering the crash and the blow up, wasn't bad. No points though. Looking at the results sheet, I went from 17th to 25th in the last 3 laps! Pretty brutal but lessons learned. The races are starting later now and I am clearly not taking on enough food pre-race. Biggest lesson though...don't panic and trust in your fitness to get back any lost places. Lets hope I don't need that advice for the next race at Strathclyde Park this Sunday. See some of you there I hope.

Hill Climbing....bands!!!

some tips for hill climing at Triathletes World


Jack may do this swim session with us before the end of the year!!!
Triathlete's World swim with band!!

Swimming

No swimming Wednesday 13th October.

The school is closed for holidays.

Back to normal next week.

London 2012 - Join the team

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) is calling on dedicated and passionate people to apply to its London 2012 Games Maker volunteering programme and be part of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Applications for these generalist roles are now open until midnight on Wednesday 27 October 2010.

For more information on volunteering roles available and the application process, please visit www.london2012.com/volunteering

Vote for the British Triathlon Annual Awards

In what has already been another spectacular year for triathlon, Home Nation Association members now have the opportunity to vote for the coveted British Triathlon’s Annual Awards.

The awards celebrate the achievements of our GE Great Britain elite and age group triathletes, and recognise the outstanding contribution to the sport made by officials, volunteers, coaches, clubs and event organisers.

To vote for the awards please click here. The deadline for voting is 15 October.

The first round of the Scottish Cyclocross

Our very own Colin Bain will be participating in the Scottish Cyclocross Series this winter. Read on to see how his first outing went...(pictures to follow hopefully)

Sunday 3rd October 2010, the first round of the new Scottish Cyclocross season and the day very much had the feeling of the first day of a new school terms. It was great to see all the old familiar faces again, most of whom I've not seen since Dec 2009 and the finals in Mull. It sa good family atmosphere and thats what I like about the series. Nobody takes it too seriously, unlike road racing.
Rather inconveniently my sister decided to have her 40th birthday part on the Saturday night so I was on my best bahaviour with Sundays race I mind and only had 2 pints at the beginning of the evening. Despite this I only managed 5 hrs sleep so off I yawned down to Meadowmill Sports Centre near Prestonpans for the racing. Due to the popularity of cyclocross in Scotland, the races have all been split up and my race, the seniors was off at 12:45 as Seniors have a race of their own now. Plenty of time to get used to the course, eat something chat to friends and warm up.

The wait was soon over and I managed to get a good spot on the second row of the grid. It was clear that some of the better cyclists in Scotland (and some from England) fancy their chanes at cyclocross this year as there were a lot of good riders lining up at the start. No chance of a top 10 this year for me! Nerves just about to kick in and the gun went off with the usual frenetic start ensuing as we hurtled towards the first corner and a sharp left turn onto a slippery grass decent. I managed to avoid the crashes behind and emerged from the first few corners sitting aroung 20th place. Meadowmill turned out to be a cracking course with fast flat sections and several steep hills just short enough to cycle up. Round the first lap with no dramas and it was time to try and settle into a rythym, heart pounding an lungs absolutely bursting out my chest. I heard the announcer tell us “6 minutes of racing completed” and I had to ask myself why I was putting myself through the pain. Don't we all when we're racing. Anyone got any answers on that???

15 mins in and the general order was pretty much established and it was a case of hanging on to your postion and maybe catching a few other riders. That I managed to do over the next 9 or 10 laps and apart from a scare on a slippery tarmac turn where I made a miraculous escape from a crash, the race was pretty uneventful but still enjoyable nonetheless. I made it to the finish in what I felt was a pretty good position without losing many places and also picking up a few as well. I just had to wait for the results to appear on the SCX website. The organisers are trialling a new electronic timing system (with manual backup). Thanks goodness for the manual backup as the results show I only did 6 laps and was 2nd last!! Hopefully my mail to the race organisers will resolve that problem. With a bit of judgement, I'm pretty certain I was 21st. Not bad considering the quality of the field. I don't have a hope of beating about the first 10-12 of those guys so I'm fairly satisfied. Anyway, it was a lot of fun.....roll on round 2 this Sunday at Stirling.

Feeling the cold?



Craft 3D Knee Warmers



Craft 3D Leg Warmers


Craft winter stock now in








Craft 3D Arm Warmers

 




Made from a soft and really elastic fabric. A pannel knitted fabric with different structures in order to be warm and a thinner material where you're more likely to generate greater heat.