Terry Davidson,Endurance Xc Racing

Look maw - i can manual !

2009-07-05T21:55:00.003+01:00

[www.exposure-scotland.co.uk]

Found this on a site of a marshall taking photos at the strathpuffer lite race.

Dont know if merida will like me doing that with there bike but it was rude not to when i saw the photographer pointing the camera at me.

New Training bike

2009-07-05T21:41:00.002+01:00

After all sorts of issues regarding my Training bike which was

From Bikes and bits

[1990s puch road bike turned into a fixie]

At 54 cm TT it was just too damned small. I decided to stick it up for sale and find something a bit more fitting and along came

From Bikes and bits

Second hand for 200 quid - the guy didnt like singlespeed (nutter) so picked it up stuck on some middleburns i had lying around that wouldnt sell due to being 110 ATB fitting and a surly 14 tooth cog and became very chuffed that the rear wheel could be 42:21 or 42:14 without changing the chainlength due to the length of the drop out just turn the wheel, drop the pads and ride . Great thinking from specialized there. Fits great - really comfy from the box with the stock saddle on which is unknown for me !

Should be a good bike for riding out on friday nights with the ABC mtb ride. 42:14 ride there - 42:21 on the mtb ride ( currently ride 32:16 on a 29er) and then back on 42:14 - should cut down about half an hour on my normal time to get there.

Angus Bike Chain Hill climb Championships

2009-06-30T22:46:00.004+01:00

Its not a race ANYONE in the club looks forward to its roughly 10 minutes of pure lactate inducing vomit nearing hell.

But we all come back for it

Craigowl hill - roughly 200metres climbing in roughly a mile.

sounds not that bad till you realise most of the climbing is done in the first half mile as it goes near vertical - you realise 39-25 isnt quite enough just as you reach the cattle grid at the bottom and it looms over you like a wall!

note the road going up vertically in the distance beyond the cows. It then turns sharp right , goes over another cattle grid and round the side of the hill all the way to the mast on the top. By the top of that vertical bit your legs are in a world of hurt , you wanna spew but you can still see the boy infront.

If you dont colapse over the line then you didnt try hard enough.
I colapsed alright took me ages to get my breath back !

Round 10: Hillclimb Championship
Date: 30 Jun 2009
Position
Name Time
1 Terry Davidson 00:07:49
2 Neil Raitt 00:08:13
3 Mike Milne 00:08:54
4 Hamish Lean 00:09:57
5 Euan McArthur 00:10:13
6 Scott Davidson 00:10:42
7 Jayne Taylor 00:11:01
8 Steve Smith 00:14:15

I got a wee cup with some names on - Only cup ill ever get my name on that James O has his name on im sure !

Wimps Puffer - or was it !

2009-06-29T09:44:00.003+01:00

Riding a 12 hour summer version of the Strathpuffer in june sounds glorious compared to riding 24 hours in the mud,rain and snow of the "real" Strathpuffer in January (which ive done twice)

So when the entrys came up for "Puffer lite" me and Mark jumped on it. "Ach that`ll be a piece of piss we said"

We forgot one very small thing about scotland in summer in the north......

From Strathpuffer lite

[MIDGES]

The little gits came out in their droves as soon as the intense sun went in for the night.

With a relitively small field entered but lots of names we did not know we were both unsure how we would do although went into it aiming for a podium. Alex Glasgow assured us he hadnt done much training and had been ill for 6 weeks so "wasnt going well"

Mark made me do the first lap so i had a couple hundred meters running where i noticed i forgot my pump , lucky the race went past the pits so i grabbed another pump from Mark. We got a shift on up the climb and i moved into 2nd position behind Alex. I say behind - i couldnt actually see alex. This is where we stayed for the rest of race. Behind the 2 Alex` but second over all. The Squarewheels under 16 4 man team threatened our second place for a while but they eased off as the early hours came in.

From Strathpuffer lite

[the ABC pits at the top of the first climb]

The course also seemed alot rougher in places than the winter puffer.It developed alot more braking bumps than in the winter and as a result this took its toll on your upper body. Still an excellent course which is technically challenging instead of the boring round a field stuff we get in other places. Certainly was alot faster in the dry with the fastest laptime of the day being set by Alex Glasgow at 29.29 and that included the lemans start !

Me and mark averaged around 35mins a lap which kept us busy , it also meant that eating was hard so i kept my eating simple , sugar/gels and dried fruit.

From Strathpuffer lite

[energy food]

Big thanks to John McCallum for not only giving me one c02 can when mine blew up in my face on lap 7 at the furthest point from the pits on the course but for giving me another when it transpired that the one he gave me first was empty. He went on to take second in the solos. Colin Olden won the solo men - "do i really need to do this lap" he shouted at 7.50 - John has to do a 33min lap to even attempt another lap Colin. "Oh in that case im stopping if he manages a 33min lap at this stage then he deserves to win".
Dont know if i fancied my chances on that course, Im not a strong guy in the upper body department and im sure id have felt really beaten up on that course after not too long.Also Gavin Mclean did 9 laps on his own at a pace which kept him in the top 3 of pairs till he blew up(understandably). His team mate Hendry Mcnicol became ill after his second lap and emptied his stomach contents across the pits.

From Strathpuffer lite

[it seems after 12 hours racing ive forgotten to smile]

From Strathpuffer lite

[Team mates - the Colins(your left or my right) in third place]

From Strathpuffer lite

Mark in celebration mode PRE race.

Driving down the road after the event became interesting and after about 20mins showed its self to be dangerous so we stopped in inverness morrisons and slept for about half an hour had 2 iced coffees and a lucozade alert before pressing on. Mark how ever decided he needed a snooze ...

From Strathpuffer lite

Good event and other organisers take note.
Technical courses
Live results on a webfeed (as our pits were so far from the race center due to space issues at venue it saved a very long walk each time we wanted to see results)
Good catering

Its not all about the bike

2009-06-26T00:31:00.003+01:00

But it sure does help.

From Bikes and bits

I managed to get a demo on a Merida Scultura evo 705 for the latest round of the Monikie summer series. I put my tri bars on and dropped the front end as low as possible.

From Drop Box

[me and John matched for pace almost all the way round]
With my Achillies and knee issues from the last round showing no signs of flairing up recently , largely due to my newly learnt stretches for hip flexors. I managed to improve on my run by just over 3 mins reducing my deficit to catch Paul up on the bike.I entered the bike section 2.5 mins behind paul having covered the 5kms in 22mins.

From Drop Box

[possibly the only time ill ever beat Jannette on the run!]

Once out on the bike i settled into the aero position , found the saddle a little uncomfortable but that may have been the lack of padding in my orca tri shorts. I picked off riders one by one all the way round till at last turning at michelin i had paul in my sights.

The course climbs all the way from the turn at michelin i made ground on him while climbing until he spotted me and tried to make a break on the flat to keep away from me. 50:12 at 120rpm gives a max speed of 38mph , but i wasnt catching him while he was turning 53:12.

Once we hit the newbiggin hill it was all over for Paul. I span past him and took the coveted third spot from him.

From Drop Box

[me lifting from aerotuck coming into the finish]
Run 22.03 and bike 35.18 - taking a minute off my bike time in what was windier conditions. That has to disprove the old theory that its ALL in the legs (although most of it is ;) )

From Drop Box

[Team Angus Bike Chain at the end]

Handing back the merida scultura tomorrow. It rides well although at 6 foot 2 i found the medium too short in the top tube despite it being longer than my current road bike (but i have a 130mm stem on as oppose the meridas 90) It doesn feel as "zingy" as the giant TCR advance i had out previous but it is lighter and seems to be comfier than the giant which was very harsh.My only real niggle with the bike was the compact ultegra chainset. as mentioned above i found my self spinning out on the flat or any downhill gradiant (all be it at 40mph but still annoying when your competitors have 53:12) It certainly matches colour of my MTB and we all know thats the important part ! Could do alot worse than this bike for £2499.99.

Snow roads 300k

2009-06-07T12:58:00.006+01:00

[snowgate at Glenshee]

Recovering from the snowroads today, hence the sudden influx of new posts.

My self and Mike W opted to ride the snowroads 300k audax yesterday. Neither of us having intentionally set out to do 300k before , but both having completed (and with good results) 24 hour solo mtb races.

with 28 starters and 20 hours in which to complete it. It was going to be a long day. We estimated 15 hours in the saddle (13mph ave due to the hillyness of the route) Rob a hardened Audaxer having ridden the LEL a few times had other ideas and had us zooming along at 20mph most of the first half. Somewhere between Rhynie and Dufftown on the Cabrach i dropped off the back as my legs we a bit frazzled from the midweek duathlon and just hit my own pace which was only a K or 2 slower than rob and mikes.

[the whole 9 yards ....full distance]

After Dufftown the real climbing starts over the Lecht and then over Cairnwell i rode alone from the start of the lecht climb to the finish. The climb over the lecht road is relentless. Its just up steep hill ...down steep hill ... up steep hill you see in the distance ...down steep hill ....up steep hill thats up there on the left and down steep hill. Thankfully there was a tail wind up the cairnwell as having ridden it 3 weeks ago with a headwind it is hellish and took nearly an hour. Yesterday it took 35 - 40 mins. Quick blast down glen isla and home for a bridie ... 15 mins behind Mike , Rob and some other dude that passed me when i was in a dark place at the top of a climb eating food.

[maximum speed coming down the cairnwell in the wet ! ]

Surprise of the day was a finishing time of 13.5 hours - riding time of 11.5
coming in at 7.30pm.

[average speed]

Monikie Summer Series

2009-06-07T12:54:00.003+01:00

Its that time again. The monikie summer series.

Nick seems to have got more interest this year with a start sheet of 35 competitiors instead of the 15 he had last year.

Having done no running training for a fair while due to knee problems i opted to take it very easy on the run. posting 25 mins for a 5k which is very very slow even for me i should be doing it in about 21...... But still damage limitation.

Jumped on the bike and did my usual of going from near last to near the front. posting third fastest bike time. Enough to move me from 6th last off the run to 6th over all (4th senior male) right behind Coops so im happy enough with that !

10 under the ben 2009

2009-06-07T12:31:00.005+01:00

HOT HOT HOT !

Do not know how frazer manages it but for the last 3 years its been sunny and upwards of 20degrees.

[me , image by Darren Wilkinson]

Hummed and haa`d about using my SS for this ride as i knew Rod Mason was in attendance and was using his SS. Spoke with frazer on friday night and he informed me of a big climby prologue loop designed to thin out the riders before the singletrack. Knowing i would get caught up in the bottle necks at the singletrack if i rode SS i opted to run the Merida with gears.

A relaxed start out the Nevis range carpark up to the fort william cycleway on the road behind a motorbike pacer saw the pack thin out slightly and once we hit the north face carpark we were let loose on the hill. A relentless climb which saw many of those at the front of the paced section be left behind. The first descent was down the Lazy k which interestingly doesnt make a very good descent ! Down the sandy brae and through the transition to begin the first lap. The first section all the way round to the bottom of the lazy k was the same as previous years with it taking a right turn ala sxc 08 onto the fire road for a slog up to the pipe. down the descent between the fire roads and a sharp right on the fire road to a newly cut wooded section with some ridable lines and many non ridable lines. Along the puggy line and then up the old jumpy swoopy descent to almost where you were before. Head along to the cackle (awesome flowy swoopy boardwalky rocky descent) before slogging up the puggy line to the witches brew. Where the course went back to the same as previous years.

[Image by Xpressphoto.co.uk]

Despite having reservations about the Merida and the XT cranks mounted upon (im having knee issues that i put down to the increased Q factor on the Merida) the bike was comfortable and maybe the Q factor issue is all in my head as the only pain i experianced on saturday was CRAMP! and i wasnt alone ! with the temperatures hitting the high 20s and intensly sunny weather all day it was key to stay hydrated. So when my cage dropped my only full bottle somewhere between the start and the back climb i was in trouble ! Reached down and i had no bottle to drink from.

I managed to blag some water off Andy Barlow and Helen Dixon to try and limit damage and slowed down a good bit but it was futile. The next lap saw me starting to cramp up badly in both quads. At least twice a lap from there in i cramped. Sometimes bad and sometimes bearable. Ended up lying in a ditch cooling off as all the muscles in both legs cramped at once and i couldnt unclip.

In the end i kept plugging away and finished 7th over all. stats were 175k & 4500m climbing in 10 hours 51.
Jayne Jo and Char came 1st in female trio
Gordon Bathgate and Mark Smith came 2nd and 3rd in male solos
Mike Webster came second in male vet solo
Mike Milne and Neil Scott won Male vet pairs

So a good day for the ABC + Gordon !

[Image by xpressphoto.co.uk]

Dundee Wheelers 10

2009-05-19T23:15:00.002+01:00

Not long for recovery after the 200k audax came the dundee wheelers 10mile TT out of Meigle.

Both me and Jayne entered this as our first forae into scottish TT. The starter was a bit of a kit snob commenting on Jaynes poor choice of bike for the event (because her bike was not bought for time trialing) but other than that the competitors seemed friendly enough.

The course although looks flat when driven in the car actually holds some quite even short climbs and a bugger of a headwind on the way to coupar angus that doesnt seem to be a tail wind on the way back either !

With legs feeling akin to jelly after the 200k i pushed as hard as i could and passed 2 folk in front of me to come home with a time of 24.35 , id set a target of 22mins but in the wind it wasnt to be. The winner didnt even break 22mins with a time of 22.10mins.

Jayne came in with a very respectable 28.55 for her first 10mile TT,(winning lady at 26.30) A bit of work with the tri bars will help loads due to me only fitting them late last week they are still quite alien. Hopefully i will get the drop bars and STI units fitted this week after i have serviced her MTB for her to ride while the Roadie is in the workshop !

Deeside loop 200k audax

2009-05-19T23:01:00.002+01:00

Sunday past saw the Deeside loop audax come round. I have often looked at it and thought that sounds like a good ride but audaxes are for old people.

Turned out that others in the club had been thinking the same so me , Baff , Euan , Hamish , Scott , pops and dougal all turned up in the pouring rain thinking "this will be hell" ....and we were right !

The sun broke through right at the start of the event and gave way to some spectacular scenary , some long climbs and a bugger of a headwind on the return leg from braemar

first group in - euan hamish and baff did 7 hours riding time

second group with me scott and pops came in with 7 hours 15 riding time

Good relaxed day out in the saddle with cafe stops. Next audax is 300k starting from kirriemuir and taking in the snow roads.

audax - Deeside Loop 200k
Find more Bike Rides in Forfar, United Kingdom

deeside loop 200k

Snow Roads 300km Audax
Find more Bike Rides in Kirriemuir, United Kingdom

snow roads 300k

Hilly TT midweek league

2009-05-19T23:00:00.002+01:00

With my dodgy knee and achillies handling the Drumtochty challenge i chose to test them a bit harder with the ABC 14 mile Hilly TT over Carrot hill and harecairn.

Set off third from last with Neil Raitt and Euan Ritchie firmly on my tail and Euan out seeking revenge for me beating him last year i was a marked man. The start felt ok , and i caught up Neil Scott and Dougal Dargie Grinding silly large gears up carrot hill. Something ive worked hard on over winter is my ability to spin as ive always been a grinder and its made a noticable improvement in my cycling abilitys (when im not injured) So after twiddling an easy gear past them on the climb i then set about catching Scott who was in sight. He was caught just at the top of the climb and proceeded to pressure me all the way down the other side, something he does really well. Once we turned back onto the wellbank road i managed to climb away from him and catch up with Jayne and eventually at the monikie junction i caught Euan Mcarthur the man at the front.

At this point i realised i was doing well and just thrashed my legs as hard as i could but to no avail , shortly after i came in Euan Ritchie came in cutting 1min 15 off my time and pushing me into second !

Round 5: Hilly 14mile TT
Date: 12 May 2009
Position Name Time Points
1 Euan Ritchie 0:36:32 30
2 Terry Davidson 0:37:46 28
3 Neil Scott 0:41:09 26
4 Neil Raitt 0:41:20 24
5 Scott Davidson 0:42:08 22
6 Euan McArthur 0:43:35 20
7 Jayne Taylor 0:46:58 18
8 Dougal Dargie 0:48:46 16

another excellent result for Jayne especially since she still has a flat barred road bike and no tri bars (both about to change)

Drumtochty Challenge

2009-05-19T22:55:00.003+01:00

Myself and Jayne took a trip to Drumtochty for the annual Drumtochty challenge last weekend. This was my third attempt and Jaynes first.

I made a schoolboy error at the start , In previous years all the big points have been over in Durris and it looked like it was possibly the way forward again. So off i went and 20 mins after the start i was up to my knees in bog. Pushed on and was having a good run of points till i could not find the one on Swanley hill. I wasted too much time looking for it and ran out of time to get some of the others i planned.

I returned to base to find Jayne smiling having racked up 630 points compared to my 700 by going a completely different way and having a more relaxed day than i. I had to really push my self taking the route i chose.

Jayne Came 1st female in the lead by 200 points !

I came second missing out on my second win by 50 points (exactly the number of points on offer on swanley hill...gutted)

There is always next year !

No evidence ....i wasnt actually there

2009-04-27T16:30:00.003+01:00

Yesterdays race was a non event. SXC round 2 was supposed to be my debut into the expert catagory. I didnt get a mention on the results sheet and there are no photos of me ...my performance was that bad im keen to keep it that way !

I might as well have been in a wheel chair. Legs just didnt let me get out of breath.

IT band on the right knee throbbed from the start even with a heavy dose of Vitimin I so i pulled out at the end of the first lap through fear of doing major damage to the knee.

The course was excellent , although i couldnt get the power down on the ups i regained a large number of places through my gung ho downhilling style on the technical rooty downhills which were awesome to ride and showed out the roadies of the pack !

Mike Milne and Neil Scott did great in a veteran field packed of names from the past and some fast irish boys ! 9th and 11th respectivly and Mark Smith also kept his side up with a very respectable 5th place

Hopefully the woman im going to see tomorrow night about sports massage therapy can work some wonders and I`ve also come round to the suggestion i should take up yoga as prevention for injury.

Quote of the week

2009-04-25T23:15:00.001+01:00

Terry

ran 3/4s marathon with 2k elevation and a 4 hour enduro last week

cured one injury

caused 2 more

23:11Michael Boyd

do you not have a tv, they are great for just using up time

rather than killing yourself

Some more bits for the merida

2009-04-24T20:19:00.002+01:00

Ordered some Cane creek Ergogrips for the merida last week. Had a package arrive today

From Drop Box

Inside. Going to give them a punt on the bike , pretty comfy in the in the hand test ! Plus carbon Plus lighter than ergogrips.

Possibly all in futility as im an avid user of Ergon Grips but they weigh a metric tonne so trying some other options first !

Also fitted a thomson elite (black) seat pin to the bike as i needed a little extra length over the stock FSA (250mm). The thomson lets me get the seat up into the correct position while retaining the full recomended distance into the frame.

Lost the 20mm layback that the FSA had but this has brought my weight forward which i thought i needed having given it a propper ride !

SXC round 2 this sunday at aberfoyle for us. Me , Mark , Neil and Mike heading down on sunday morning. Looking forward to trying out expert. No high hopes. Aiming to finish hoping not to get lapped !

ABC midweek league round 2

2009-04-23T21:56:00.002+01:00

Another win for Euan , but its mtb next week that should sort him out A good time for Jayne especially since she did it all in her middle ring due to a mechanical error.

Round 2: 1 Mile Sprint (Standing Start)

Date:
21 April 2009

Position Name Time Points

1 Euan Ritchie 00:02:02.2 30
2 Neil Raitt 00:02:04.0 28
3 Terry Davidson 00:02:05.3 26
4 Colin Murray 00:02:06.8 24
5 Mike Milne 00:02:08.2 22
6 Colin Nicol 00:02:09.0 20
7 Scott Davidson 00:02:09.4 18
8 Ewan McArthur 00:02:10.2 16
9 Mark Smith 00:02:11.1 14
10 Derek Clark 00:02:11.6 Guest
11 Dougal Dargie 00:02:11.8 12
12 Neil Scott 00:02:15.6 10
13 Hamish Lean 00:02:18.2 8
14 Steve Smith 00:02:23.3 6
15 Jayne Taylor 00:02:26.5 4
16 Andy Davidson 00:02:29.8 Guest

Reid Park Revolution

2009-04-23T18:06:00.001+01:00

From Bicycle riding in scotland

Im entered - are you ?

Iroc adventure race

2009-04-22T23:27:00.004+01:00

Stats for my attempt at event

RAN - 3/4s of a marathon with 2000m elevation
cycled - 8k in 30 mins at night then 3hrs and 15 mins in the enduro
Punctured - 5 times
ran out of tubes - twice

For having done no running training i think i did quite well , 5th U23 catagory or 84th out of 186 competitors.

took 12th/2nd U23 in the night MTB time trial , gutted as i got a puncture. Even with the puncture i was only 3 mins off overall win !. ( this was also my first ride on my new merida race bike)

In the enduro the puncture fairy was to stay. On one particularly rocky descent i punctured the rear wheel , then on the next lap the front wheel. Had to get Pauls spares and pump to fix it as i was only carrying a co2 can and a single tube. I punctured another 2 times and then packed up for the day having no tubes left.

Im going to have to review my set up. More PSI and eventually a tubeless set up i think. The rocket rons were also not suited to the rocky terrain , as i was expecting muddy conditions the only other tires i brought were 1.8 fire mud pros and they would have been even worse in the rocks !

You live and you learn and my lacking of toe nails and multitude of blisters have taught me that i shouldnt fell run !

The event its self was very well run from an organisational point of view with only 1 or 2 minor minor snags. The team from inov8 seemed to have thought of everything. Including the great weather we had !

Dr Andy

2009-04-22T23:17:00.003+01:00

Not something i want to write here , but i feel it important enough that it needs to be documented.

earlier this week Andy Cathcart was killed while riding his bike in south africa

This has been a massive blow to my self and everyone i know who knew him

My self and Jayne wish Rona and the family the best of wishes and hope that his repatriation goes smoothly.

From Kirroughtree SXC 2009

Andy doing what he loved. Was only taken 4 weeks ago at the kirroughtree SXC. Seems like a lifetime now knowing its the last time that we will see him mowing down everything in his path !

IROC adventure race

2009-04-16T23:33:00.002+01:00

in true dave fashion....weatherwatch !

SUN SUN SUN !!!!

leaving tomorrow at 10am for durham in the mighty golf !

First ride on the merida too, Quite looking forward to it.

Turns out we are now in the pairs category(both racing) which means i have to fell run , could be a laugh

Our competitors in our category withdrew leaving us as the only competitors in the pairs (one racing) category.

At least now we get to compete for the prizes....shame we wont be near the front haha

Booger! & yay!

2009-04-15T15:52:00.003+01:00

Slight hinderance with the whole new bike testing day on sunday.

I had a stinking cold complete with smokers cough and snotty nose. I have also developed Tendonitus in my ankles.

The good news is that yesterday I went to the physio, She said best thing to do with it since its not really bad tendonitus and very little swelling and no Bursitus is to keep riding. With that in my mind i set off to the first round of the Angus bike chain summer midweek league.

Round 1 , 8.5 mile TT with 340m climbing

Position Name Time Points
1 Euan Ritchie 0:21:20 30
2 Terry Davidson 0:21:45 28
3 Mike Milne 0:22:31 26
4 Neil Raitt 0:24:03 24
4 Mike Webster 0:24:03 24
6 Dougal Dargie 0:25:26 20
7 Hamish Lean 0:25:49 18
8 Roger Peart 0:26:46 16
9 Steve Smith 0:27:22 14

With my mind at ease about my ankles falling apart i just let my legs go , adrenaline is a wonderful thing and i did not feel any pain till the cycle home :D ....but yesterdays physio made the pain alot less intense than the last few times on the bike.

Off to the IROC adventure race on friday for the weekend. running , orienteering and MTB all under one roof ! guess its my first race of the season really and my first MTB ride on my new bike.

New plastic ride

2009-04-08T00:57:00.003+01:00

Having always been a makedo and mend sorta guy. Receiving a new bike today where everything fitted together and worked as it should first time and very little fiddling needed to make it work as it should was a bit of a shock to the system.

A boxed merida FLX 3500D arrived in the shop today for me.

2 hours later i exited with a nice shiny carbon frame with Sids and mix of XT and XTR.

Weighed it on the scales when i got home and came up with 22.2Lbs

No idea how it rides yet , will find out on sunday going out on a 5 hour ride in the hills with it ..with another guy from the club who has the same bike!

and finally the pictures !

From Bikes and bits

will report back after ive ridden it properly on sunday

SXC round 1

2009-03-30T11:32:00.002+01:00

From Kirroughtree SXC 2009

[St Andrews uni, Chris Bell looking a little too happy mid expert race]

For a couple of reasons i found my self unable to race at the first race of the season so i went down with Mike and Neil from the ABC to feed and do bottles/tale photos (click the photo above)

There were certainly plenty people in attendance , most notably a large womens field.

Course looked and sounded good with plenty of singletrack to create some questionable passing maneuvers !

Paul Oldham(hope) looked to be ripping up the Expert/Elite with over a mins gap by the first time he passed us about 5 mins from finish. Paul Smith{SWC} was trying his hardest to close the gap. Lots of new faces in category but as expected new face in expert Dave Henderson was showing them what he was made of and when i left wasnt going to be far off a podium.

Looking forward to round 2 where i should be able to race

roll on round 2 when i can race !

Nearing home time

2009-03-15T08:02:00.003Z

THE END IS NIGH!!!

From sydney and blue mtns

Currently in sydney railway central YHA for the last night. Fly out of Kingsford smith on an A380 double decker tomorrow night at 9.45 for Dubai. 2 days there . Then we get on another plane at stupid oclock in the morning and head for Glasgow international !

Been a great trip but it will be good to get back into training. Looks like it`ll be a late season peak this year.

Try a Tri

2009-02-18T05:29:00.006Z

[Taupo ironman from feb 2008 NZ trip]

Me n Jayne are going to be dabbling in a little mid season Triathlon ,Sprint distance. Nothing serious though, there will be no wind sprints or HR monitoring just good old fashioned fun

If we enjoy it we may join a tri club when we move to Aberdeen at the end of the summer. Good motivation for the off season