Update on Nice2tri.com’s Phillip Graves
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First of all please could i thank nice2tri.com for providing me with such a nice De Rosa for the coming season. I’m looking forward to doing some damage on it at some of the Corus Elite races that are coming up in the next couple of months.I had my first real triathlon focused race a couple of weeks ago at the national Duathlon championships which turned out to be a disaster becauseof a cold I had and conditions that really didn’t suit me; pouringrain and freezing temperatures! Therefore, i spent a couple of days getting over the disappointment while trying to recover from my cold that had been bugging me for the previous week. Training had been going well, i was running on the track 4-600 reps at over 20kpm and my cycling had been there or there about after a training camp i had been on with the BTA so it was a disappointment i did so bad. All i could really do was turn my focus to the two events i had planned for the following weekend, the BUSA 10mile TT and the Rutland-Melton Cicle classic. The BUSA course was not a fast one (Michael Hutchinson only went just under 20mins in the open event) so i was relatively happy with my 21.41 for joint 8th place (it really is that tight at the top), 35seconds behind the winner. Considering i had no disk wheel or proper TT bike that all the other students had bought using their student loans, and the fact that this was my 1st ever 10mile TT i obviously want to go sub 20 this year. So, onto the big race of the weekend, the Rutland-Melton Cicle classic, 100miles of country roads with some off road sections in there too, including the famed ‘Sommerberg’. The race started off very twitchy and there was a huge crash witch must have taken out 1/3 of the 160 strong peleton after just 15minutes which really seemed to spook me, in this first period i managed to lock my rear wheel twice and i have no idea how i didn’t end up in a hedge or graciously having a one on one meeting with the tarmac. The off road sections started after about 70km into the race and where particularly fun. I managed to get myself into a group just behind the front few packs of riders as the race was blown apart when the off road madness began. I managed to stay strong in this group and decided to have a go by myself with about 15 mile left. So i set off in hot pursuit of those in front of me on sector 3 of the off road (the sectors count down 11-1) which was the descent of the sommerberg we had previously climbed. I managed to claw 15seconds back until i punctured towards the end of that section, with no neutral service cars behind me and just over 12miles to go, I had to accept my race was over and hitched a ride back in the broomwagen. I was disappointed not to finish but it’s all good training |
for the triathlon season ahead!
