I spent most of the morning before the race stewing in the hotel. I'd have liked to go in to town earlier but I had a transfer package booked with Nirvana, so waited with a few others for the transport. I took great delight in seeing that Sufferfest had changed their Facebook banner to my picture below.
We were dropped off, and made our way through the town to transition, where we showed our numbers and were allowed in. Bike were racked using the upright gaps in crowd fencing. To keep the bikes upright we had to push them quite far in, which made it difficult to get the bike in/out with shoes attached. We were also each given a transition box, similar to the WTS. Plenty of faffage ensued. Had a gel 30 minutes before the start, then joined up for the team photo.
A good run warmup was had. Taking in some of the run route and seeing the elites and juniors do their thing. Plenty of pickups and strides. After dumping my last bits of kit I wandered to the start and found a quiet back street to do some heel flicks, high knees and more pickups. Soon I was surrounded by other athletes doing the same.
We got to the start line, but the race was delayed as the female junior race had over-run. Not just over-run but run-past; the marshalls hadn't clocked 2 Russian Federation athletes miss the finish chute! Once they were correctly herded, the start horn went off. I'm not sure anyone was expecting it!
The run course was 2 laps of a twisty-turny 2.5km course. The starting gate was some 3m wide, and it was cross-country rules. So many people in such a small space.
As the athletes spread out we took up the width of the road and pavement. It was like a parcour run. We streamed around bollards and jumped over kerbstones. As the run went on the field began to thin out. First km was 3:30. There was a part of the course where the run went through a grassy area with path. I stuck to the path but saw that a few were running a straight line on the grass.
Throughout the run I kept the pace strong and stuck with those around me. The first run in a duathlon is tricky - too slack a pace and you lose a lot of places. To fast a pace and there is nothing left for later. Run #1 for 18:26.
T1 went very smoothly initially, straight to bike, helmet on, grab bike and go. I got to the end of the bike rack and realised I still had my trainers on. Shit! Leant the bike on the fence and ran back to dump my shoes. I was expecting about 45s for T1, but this schoolboy error cost me 1:31 in total, and 16 places.
Out of T1 and I jumped on the bike, slipping my right foot straight in to my shoe. After a few turns of the cranks I tightened up the strap, span a bit more then got my left foot in to the shoe. Strap tightened again after a few more turns of the cranks. After this phot was taken I turned my race belt round.
Normally at this point it would be down on the aerobars for the next 20km, but Horst had a town centre course. Like the run it was 2 laps, though each was 10km this time. Each lap wound through the town until we passed under the motorway. Then we could nail the bike until the 180 degree turn point, then back in to town. On the return we wandered around Horst again before finally making it back to the centre to start the second lap.
With so many people on the course there was inevitably some drafting going on. The draft police were out in full force, and I saw some people being put in to the penalty box for drafting. Once out on the open road for the first time the field did thin. From this point onwards it was a war of attrition and technique. Pulling close to the bike infront but not infringing the 8m box, then pushing on past for the overtake, before dropping in front of the bike, causing them to drop back out of the box. All whilst not infringing the draft box of the bike in front. At one point I did a triple overtake. Because of all of this, the ride was not a like a true TT and the power was a lot less that I thought I'd do. Average Power was 244 W, and Normalised was 247 W. This gave a VI of 1.01. Cadence was a lot lower than normal at 92 RPM.
I'll happily admit that I am not the best technical rider. I'm fast in a straight line, but corners can be tricky. At one point I was sparring with an Irish guy. He'd overtake every corner and then I'd hammer the exit and overtake again. After many corners I managed to get far enough in front for it not to be a problem any more. One final turn in to town and I removed my feet from my shoes and rolled in to T2. Bike carefully shoved in to the correct fence gap and helmet carefully thrown in to my transition box. Bike 35:20. I'd managed to pick up 9 places.
T2 was happier and I exited after a speedy 48s.
The second and final run hurt.
The pace started off shockingly low, every step a jelly-legged effort, but I pushed on. Out on the run, no longer the parcour course of before but a lonely trudge. I lost a few places initially, but as the legs began to warm up the pace began to increase. This allowed me to edge closer and closer to the pack in front. At the same time I could hear footsteps behind. As we came around the corner past transition I pushed the pace and dropped the GBR athlete behind. The final corner was where the GBR team manager was based, with a large bunch of GBR flags. I fumbled the pickup so continued. I moved on to the finish chute and fumbled another flag pick up, Finally I shouted out FLAG!!! and grabbed a GB flag from a random spectator (Thanks!).
There was another GBR in front, but he seemed out of reach. One last big push and I'd take him.
All that was left was to cross the line (and stop my Garmin).
Run #2 worked out at 2.8km, as the sprint transition was moved to create more room. The last run took 10:49 and I finished 13th in M35-39 age-group.
So sitting back afterwards, what are my thoughs on the AG system?
I really enjoyed myself. Yes, the cost can take away some of the enjoyment and quite a few in the hotel were eating their home-brought food instead of paying the €14 for breakfast. However we were there representing our country. Pretty much the pinnacle of our athletic careers. I met some great people and had an absolutely fantastic time.
Many thanks to all that supported me, especially TrainerRoad for keeping me true on the turbo throughout my training!
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