Iceman Duathlon
There’s a famous quote from legendary hill walker Alfred Wainwright that there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad choice of clothing. I wanted to tweak that slightly into something like ‘There’s no such thing as going into a race without enough training, just a poor choice of pace’, if I say it often enough I might be able to convince myself…
Originally I’d wanted to do a round of the Gorrick XC series on my birthday (27th) but sadly that had been cancelled – so the next best thing on offer was the Iceman Duathlon the day before. Based around the same woods as the Gorrick series I knew it was going to be a good venue but could I handle the distances? At 10k run, 18k bike, 5k run it’s rather longer than the Cirencester Duathlon and a fair old target for this early in the season…
The rest of the Bigfoot multi-sport crew sensibly opted to sit this one out, age befuddled my sense of self preservation though so I thought what the heck and entered anyway.
Rocking up to the venue we had some cracking weather, nice bit of sun and just the leftovers of a bit of snow and ice – the organisers had said it would be going ahead come what may and I think they liked the idea that we had actual ice on the ground to match the race name!
Running you know; it’s not natural!
I knew I’d have to take it easy as a 6mile trail run to get started isn’t to be sniffed at – the course was great but designed by a sadist, repeated very steep hill intervals saw me almost jogging on the spot before walking and then charging back down the other side again. At least cycling quads are great for downhill running 
Making it to the bike I was able to work out two points in very short order:
Runners/Triathletes/Roadies are still total mincers when it comes to even slight off road trials.
and
My calves were going to stage a revolt and start to cramp up rather nastily…
Having just about got my legs under control and putting the idea of what they might be like to run on at the end of the bike out of my mind, I was distracted by a bit of a hissing sound…
Ahh, now, sitting down, this is more like it!
Sure enough I ended up with the sinking feeling that can only mean that the air in your tubes is making a bid for freedom – arse, back puncture!
Whipping another tube in the wheel in double quick time I used the CO2 inflator to get some shape back into it. Unfortunately as I took the inflator off the valve had got all CO2 icy and jammed open loosing lots of air! By the time I got things back under control again the back tyre still didn’t have much air in and I had an empty canister - I’d deliberately only put one in my pack too ‘because I never get a puncture’…
At which point I decided to wave the little white flag of surrender and trudge back to the car (good job I found a marshal who knew where we were otherwise I might still be wandering around!). I’d been going for around 1hr 50m and was pretty relieved in a way, finishing the bike and doing the second run might have just finished me!
I wasn’t alone either as, judging by the results compared to the start sheet, around 30% of the entrants either bailed or didn’t start! I’d put that down to many folks underestimating the course and the distances involved, I least I had some idea (cough) of what I was doing 
As I said, for an early season race it’s quite a long one, I think if the organisers had made it a 5k/18k/5k they would have had a few more finishers.
Hmm, forgot to press down on the saddle more – the back tyre is flat, honest!
Sooo, lessons learnt? Well, carry two CO2 cartridges for a start I’m also going to swap my rim tape as the cloth tape I’m using currently has problems staying put with the tight fitting tyres (they’re tubeless rims so they’re a tight fit). The ‘ultra light’ Schwalbe inner tubes might have proved to be a little too delicate as well so I’m going to run with the standard weight ones instead – ultra light tubes are great to carry as spares though because they pack down so small.
Oh, and something about being fitter and do more training too
Great event though and one I’d do again, it would only be better if they made it a bit shorter! Roll on the next outing which I think is going to be the Cirencester Duathlon after which we’re able to get stuck into some spring rounds of the Gorrick XC series…
Happy birthday Andrew, and wow, you will certainly remember this one!
And lovin’ your 29er BTW, was that its 2nd or 3rd outing
?
…nearly up in to double figures by now I’d think
As I still felt in need of ‘closure’ I did a 5mile running race on the Sunday just for the fun of it, my legs are proper toasted now!
Well done Andrew, i bet your legs are toasted.
Nice start, shame about the ending. Better luck next time.
Bad luck Andy. Reminded me of the Olympic mountain bike event where favourites who had been training themselves half to death for four years had to give up on the day because of a puncture… Better luck next time but great write up: ” [...] just poor choice of pace”
Well done Andrew, way to treat yourself on your birthday – and ‘on my birthday (27th)’ – 27th Jan or 27th birthday?
Have you tried tubeless tyres? Or putting sealant in your tubes (if you have the ones with removable valve cores)? Might be a bit heavier but seems to work on my cx and road bikes.
And well done for pushing Paul’s pyjamas off the front page
Thank you, Janet!
@Dan – I think there were a few Olympic victims of the ultra thin ‘tubular’ tyres, but it’s a MTB race they should have fixed them themselves, old skool style
(I was going to say something about ‘removing Pauls pyjamas’ but thought better of it)
@Mikep – now that would be saying, a lady never reveals her age
Back in the day I used the UST system on some Mavic wheels which worked well but was a bit heavy. I’ve not had the courage to go for a ‘sealant’ based system yet but you never know, deffo time for some normal tubes as I think I’ve had three punctures in the extra thin ones now…
I should also point out that all photos are courtesy of Laura Maddison Sports Photography