North Wales cylocross Series: Round 2- Bethesda Duathlon

Sunday the 24th October saw round 2 of the local cyclocross series head once again to Bethesda leisure centre with yet more great sunny weather, but 10 degrees colder than it was a fortnight ago! The race was run as a duathlon involving 5 laps cycling, 1 lap running, 5 laps cycling and another lap running to finish. Cyclocross duathlons are pretty rare, I wouldn't be surprised if this was Britains only event, but nevertheless I was excited to get going and test my running legs.

Me leading the way from the start. www.sportpicturescyrmu.co.uk 

As is the norm with cyclocross racing, the start involved a sprint to the first corner and as it happened I managed to get there first, which was cool. What wasn't so cool was that I went the wrong way at the corner so about 10 people went passed me, making my efforts pretty useless. Ah well lesson learnt. The first couple of laps were pretty chaotic, with positions changing frequently until everyone settled into their own rhythm. The first 5 laps of cycling was soon over and done with so it was onto the transition, where I had another blunder, somehow managing to fall off my bike on the last corner, so I ended up looking like a plonker and in addition to that my chain came off. Smooth.

Someone taking a tumble behind me on a descent. www.sportpicturescyrmu.co.uk

I hadn't done any running straight off of the bike in a while so I had jelly legs big time. I found it hard to get a good rhythm going and overall felt quite slow. I didn't catch the person in front or get overtaken by anyone so it was pretty uneventful. I found watching cyclists with all their gear still on and running quite amusing, something about it doesn't look quite right, kind of like a hermit crab with out it's shell I suppose haha. Then again I must have looked the same!

I got to the transition from the run to the next bike stage and Barry Davies had kindly put my chain back on so I was straight off for another 5 laps. I got overtaken by one guy a couple of laps in, but then again he was using the concrete cycle path instead of the grass on the long hilly bit of the course, which no-one was meant to be riding on. I wont name any names but they're only cheating themselves haha. I managed to keep Llyn Cycling Clubs John Holt within sight until the run came around when he had about 200m on me.

www.sportpicturescymru.co.uk

I started the final running lap and felt a lot better than I had for the first run, I got a good rhythm going and had a rabbit to chase, steadily making ground on 5th position in front. with about 200m to go I caught and passed John, and gave it everything I had left to keep it that way. I crossed the finish line in 5th place, and was pretty dam shattered.

Due to two veterans finishing ahead of me it turned out I came 3rd in the seniors category, so I stayed around for the prize presentation and got a voucher for Revolution Bikes which is pretty cool. Might splash out on some energy bars and gels for next weeks TLI National Cyclocross Championship. Can't wait. Big up to Gwynfor James once again for getting some great shots, check out the rest of them here.

Overall it was a good race. Things could have gone a bit smoother but then heinsight is a great thing. I'll be better rested, better fuelled and pumped for next weeks race so we'll see how that goes...