A weekend of firsts

We were back in Germany for the weekend staying at Brownie Towers. As ever the three sirens of Margaux,Pomerol and Rioja were there enticing me off the wagon. A quick 5km run on Saturday morning with Brownie through the woods of Konigstein was the kick off to an all day medium paced session on Saturday, althought there was nothing sporty about this session as it was my first drinking session since May 2008.

Sunday I was surprisingly fine and even better when I received Tea and a Bacon buttie in bed. I can't recommend the hospitality at Brownie Towers high enough.

We got home around 4:30pm, the bike was calling me from the garage as soon as I opened the door. I got changed immediately and got right out there. A 3 and a half hour car drive from Germany not being the best preparation but I needed to wear off the guilt and I was dying to try the bike.

The roads round here really are terrible and I felt every bump through the carbon frame. Speed wise it felt faster than the mountain bike and the first 4km went off in a flash, well apart from my chain falling off.....which was easily and quickly fixed.

On the flats where the roads were OK I could coast at 30kmph without any real effort. Its a big improvement on the mountain bike in that respect. Up to the first big test Hedgehog hill. Up up up and hammer hammer hammer. Up to the top and definately faster than before. Down the other side and the speedo maxes out at 56kmph.......I had a quick dab on the brakes at that point given my fear of tarmac induced gravel rash.

Round the rest of the course was great even though it was windy I was above 30kmph quite a few times and on the flat and on the few smooth parts it was a real dream. On the rest of it it was a battle to stay on the thing as the steering is very quick and the bumps crash right up your arms and through you. I even managed to lock up both wheels as I braked for a pedestrian crossing. The effect of the speed and the high pressure in the tyres means you are forever pinging out stones and grit from under you.

Down the last big hill and up the final hill and I manage to get 75% up before I need to drop down the front chainset gear, usually I'm on the lower front chainset about a third of the way up. I finish the 20km in 46:31. My previous best was 51:56.

I'm reasonably pleased given the poor lead up to the session and it was my first time out on the bike for real. I also need to get real cycling shoes and pedals as I just have the pedals from my mountain bike on the racing bike. So some improvement there will be possible.

I am however a little concerned at the distance I am from my goal regarding average speed for the triathlon. I'd wanted to try and get a 30kmph average and so have around a 3 hour time for the cycling leg. This is far away from my current pace and I've not cycled more than 20km in the current training. So a lot of hard work to get under my belt before I'm as confident about the bike leg as I am about swimming and running.

13 weeks to go now. I have Alloa half marathon in two weeks and I'm 2 or 3 days in the UK this week. So time an opportunity are slipping away. I'm really starting to get worried. I don't want to turn up in Switzerland hoping for a flat course and smooth tarmac as being the only way I'm going to get round.