W is for Wild and Windy in Wilmslow

Round 3 of my race season took place last Sunday, as I went to south Manchester for the largest-ever Wilmslow Triathlon, which attracted over 600 entries. As I arrived a heavy rain shower hit, and unbeknown to me the playing field serving as the pit lane was already a quagmire more akin to a cross country race than anything you might come across during summer race season. After battling with the usual (useless) number transfers and resorting to a Berol ink marker, I put the bike in its pit box just as Chris Levy turned up for his first triathlon in two years. He's still on a Focus Culebro Tria from 2009 which he still enjoys riding but finds it a little difficult to run off (in other words get yourself a P2 105 they only cost two grand nowadays). We discussed upcoming races and the final day of the Premier League season, before heading into the pool area for our briefing, but not before I'd warmed the lower legs up in the baby pool, which had a mini-jetflow emanating from one of the steps. Therapeutic, indeed. Anyway, me and Chris would be set off at exactly the same time, third off in lanes 1 and 2, and before we knew it, we were getting our five-second countdown to begin.

Something really weird happened next; as I set off on the first length a toe on my left foot went numb. This restricted my ability to kick for the first few lengths before it settled down after I'd been up and down the pool a couple of times. At the end of length number 10 I caught the person in front of me and he even let me through without me having to tap him or get into an argument. As such, I was very happy to be putting my bike shoes on at poolside with my watch showing 8:13, and now I had an added boost as I could leg it across the field while everyone else tried not to get their ankles lost in the mudbath. T1 was a very speedy affair and soon I was off over the speed bumps and into the wilderness, my race less than ten minutes old.

Unlike 18 months ago (when I did the same event branded as the South Manchester Triathlon) there was no car boot sale to contend with on the first main straight, though some vehicles did rather too good a job of blocking my path especially having passed me prior to the first junction. As I came down the descent prior to the airport tunnel I nearly got blown off by a gust of wind at 35mph and clung to the rather flexy base bar for dear life. That'll teach me to upgrade to a 3T Vola for more out-the-saddle punch in future. As I entered the tunnel I spotted Chris ahead on his Focus, and as we passed through the second Monaco segment I pulled alongside and waved to him and pulled well away. The left turn after the tunnels is a prelude to the toughest part of the course, where the road is always tending up and down, never flat, which is particularly tricky on the S-bend descents which feature more times than on the Oswestry course, while the wind proved just as tiring and gave me a hard time when it came to keeping the bike straight and confident through the many technical turns. As I entered Mobberley I couldn't help but notice a fluffy kitten eyeing up a bird in the middle of the road; let's just say I saved the bird's life as without me I think kitty would have had her lunch well and truly accounted for. Our westward turns weren't over yet though; each one had me thinking "PLEASE TURN RIGHT" just so we could get a bit of tailwind. Then again, the tailwind wasn't as much use as one might think because it was during a particularly rough stretch of road, with ridges and potholes causing me to change line all too frequently. Either that or I really am distracted a bit too easily by obstacles while the elites just power through and over them. Eventually Wilmslow came into view once more and I could at least breathe a little easier knowing the windy struggle was coming to an end, but before I got to transition I had to first hide behind a Nissan Note driver who wasn't really up for driving at the speed limit, then a Mini driver who was much slower than me over the bumps. Having eased off before the dismount line, I could enjoy a swift dash to T2 in the knowledge my leg cadence was high enough for a quick run. And, after once again ending up on my derriere while trying to get my feet inside my shoes, a quick run is exactly what I got.

I didn't think a course PB was possible given the clock was already past the 50 minute mark and the ground was slippery and muddy, but I passed one runner in the early going before the bridge and got into a much better rhythm of dealing with the steps than two years ago. The locking not on my shoes then fouled me big-time, enough to make me stop momentarily to fix it, but I was on my way very quickly and took heart from the fact that others were struggling up the main incline much slower than I was - including one girl who was reduced to walking. Easy solution for that; join me for 8x400m in 80 seconds or less, on the by-pass once a week. The trip through the housing estate was, admittedly, pretty arduous, given the rising warmth now that the sun was out but hey, it's better than being rained on incessantly. The descent was a real blast not least because I picked off three more runners, but then a real comedy moment ensued. The sign saying "RUN ROUTE" was pointing forwards but didn't distinguish between the footpath and the posh houses on the right, so of course I ended up having to stop myself just as I thought a bit of house-hunting might be in order Subsequently, a right-turn brought us out once more at a bridge crossing, and the sight of yet another runner wearing Manchester City blue barely able to make their legs turn. Well, I caught them on the descent and squeezed past on the right-hand bend through the mud without suffering the dreaded "last-minute choke slip" (then again I could have at least CHINOOK'D them if I'd fallen over), before negotiating the final left turn out of the woods and sprinting for the line in a final time of 1:18:34, amazingly 44 seconds faster than in 2012 when the swim was cut to 350 metres. Never did I think I'd get a PB; and I'm sure Chris Levy didn't expect such a strong return to the sport after two years away, he made the top 70 on a day when 567 people finished, while my time was good enough for 25th overall, although I got chicked to the tune of two seconds. If only I hadn't gone house hunting with a mile to go..........

Now for the results, in association with my next purchase, the 3T Vola:

Distances: 400m/T1/24.2km/T2/6.3km
Times: 9:06/0:38/41:06/1:10/26:34 = 1:18:34
Average Speeds: All new course PB's especially the run (no idea how)
Fluffy Kittens nearly run over: 1 in Mobberley
Scary Moments: 2 (the numb toe plus the near-crash before the airport)
Post Race Nutrition: 7/10 (Jelly babies and Jaffa cakes at the finish followed by a mozzarella Panini and caramel latte at Costa in the town centre)

REJECT OF THE RACE: The "Run Route" sign before the posh houses
(Try tilting it to the left next time, I wonder how many others ended up stuck down a dead-end)

Three weeks until the next big race of 2014, at the Cheshire Triathlon in Nantwich, the week after our sportive. Now you can see why my predicted time for the Roman Road is the wrong side of 5 hours - got to keep my nose clean for the race even if not those (now muddy) white-striped tyres..........