A month on from the consultation and although outwardly the future is much more clearer there is still that element of doubt whether my decision to delay my operation (mainly because I don’t want to lose a leg if the surgeon slips up). In those other moments, those times of the day where I’m not reading books, exercising, rehabilitating or spending far too much time on social media, it will always catch up with me. In truth I can always run away from my problems, I can always distract myself but there will always be that uncontrollable monkey in my brain just as I’m about to go to sleep each night – what ifs are always the order of the day (night)!
As major distractions would have it, my opportunity to represent Great Britain in the Aquabike in the Long Course World Championships would be quite a thing. I guess if it wasn’t for the crash (I hate the word “accident”) I would still be taking part in Triathlon and still trying to push myself without getting injured. Aquabike as a discipline wouldn’t have even been entertained – but here I am, wearing a GB Trisuit at the startling with over 100+ Age-Groupers just about to throw myself into a very choppy River Danube and a 2000m swim ahead of me.
In the weeks leading up to myself & Suzy going to Samorin, near Bratislava, it was time to try & lift my game for the race ahead. My coach was trying to prepare me for the event by sending me out every Wednesday on a 3hr+ ride on my TT bike with 3 efforts lasting at least 45 minutes each. As it would have it Suzy had Covid in the lead up to the event (she was doing it too) and her pre-race preparations were severely hampered. At the time I just got on with what was on the schedule and as a consequence was falling short, either in power or in time elapsed and the last 3 “race specific” rides were ultimately a disaster. Looking back I can see that some Covid-related illness took hold of me too and I was operating at 80%, if indeed that much. I convinced myself I was fine and took part in a couple of local Time Trial races with pretty impressive times – a personal best on one occasion. My fragile perception of my World-Class form was hanging by a thread.
So into the Danube, within 30 seconds I was consumed by the chop, I couldn’t breath, I tried to work through it without losing sight of the swim pack but I had to admit defeat… Breaststroke for a minute and go again… defeated again. Breaststroke again for a minute and go again. This time I stuck with it and just made the best of a bad situation coming in 5 minutes behind where I should’ve been.
Having taken part in The Championships in May this year I knew the “hobble” to the Transition area from the river would be epic. The looks from some of the spectators of me with my crutch coming into the main arena was interesting, most were saying “WTF?”
Onto the bike and a serious tailwind to the 40k turning point, I got there a shade over 52 minutes and was brimming with confidence catching quite a few M50-54 Age-Groupers on the way. A complete u-turn in the road in the middle of nowhere and a little acceleration into that horrific headwind the area is renowned for and “click” my shoe cleat starts to detach from my pedal, or so what I thought, instead it was my shoe cleat detaching from my shoe! Now I was saying “WTF?”!
Cadence dropped to keep some kind of pressure on my right pedal, my left leg was pushing and pulling and the headwind had reduced me to 20mph if I was lucky. Amazingly, I was still catching other Age-Groupers and was only caught by 3 top cyclists in the event that started a matter of minutes behind our race. I came in at 2:08, losing about 7-8 minutes in my estimation to the front of the race. Little did I know but I was still in 4th place. Looking at my data after the event I was over 30% down on my power so the Covid-related thing definitely put paid to any successes regardless of mechanical issues anyway.
This is the “kick a man when you’re down” moment… The Organisers and World Triathlon decided to add a 800m run onto the end of the race, from Transition so we could finish at the same finish-line as everyone else. Aquabike is usually undertaken by those who can’t run for whatever reason – to be told you now have to run to the finish is a bit of slap in the face. My “hobble” round to the finish cost me 3 places in my Age-Group and about 25 places overall. So 4th place soon turned into 7th and overall was now in the 40’s instead of top 20. I’ll say it again – “WTF?”
The consolation was I had auto-qualified for next years’ World Champs as I was in the top 15 and I was 3rd GB competitor. So Ibiza here I come! Let’s just hope the Organisation have heard the considerable amounts of complaints made by Aquabikers who can’t run.
Suzy soon finished and I waited for her in the finishers area and we celebrated that we both had exactly the same result – 7th in our AG and 3rd Brit! Ibiza here WE come!
What happened next was totally unexpected – a was a sobbing mess for a few minutes. I guess a culmination of several months where I haven’t focused on anything else except this race – a total distraction from the injury and the implications it will have for the rest of my life. Suzy consoled me and we hugged each other whilst sitting in the grandstand, watching other competitors finish, whilst I cleared a burger and chips I no time at all.
Returning home, we just got home and decompressed on what had just happened. Except for the baggage-handlers losing our bikes in Luton Airport, when I say “our” I mean at least 30 passengers, all sitting in baggage-claim 6 with some looking at the “Air-Tags” moving around through the double doors but never emerging. This added a 3-hour delay on our journey and we finally got home at midnight. Adding to this – the baggage handlers left their mark on Suzy’s bike by snapping the rear-mech hanger clean off!
Home…
What now?…
Suzy had Bilbao (European Champs) in late September but I didn’t have anything, not until next year anyway. So I signed up to The Vitruvian – a middle distance event based at Rutland Water, obviously I was doing the Aquabike event and Suzy was coming just to watch and have a weekend off.
Long story short – the swim went quite well but I hadn’t anticipated an ex-pro and a World Champion Age-Grouper to show up so to podium was going to be difficult. A lumpy bike course suited me more than I thought it was going to and made 3 places up in the last 10k to come in 4th place – only seconds behind the 3rd place. The winner? Well he finished 15-minutes ahead of everyone else!
Looking back at the split times I lost 3rd place in the transition area – sounds familiar right?!!!!
Home…
What now?…
No more Aquabike events for me now, that’s 2022 done & dusted. Two wins, a 3rd, a 4th and a 7th.
Focus is now to make The East Anglian Monkeys the best Mixed Really Team in Challenge Majorca in Mid-October. I’m doing the bike-leg, Danny’s swimming and Kate is running. Back to where we got 2nd place in 2018 and qualified for The Championships.
I’ll still swim open water as long as the temperature doesn’t fall away too much. Keep up with my pool swim sessions as best I can and keep plugging away at the cycling, albeit most of it on the turbo trainer as I still don’t trust drivers.
Gym work is still a work in progress, my PT still annihilates me on Mondays & I put one or two other gym sessions in each week on my own. Chiropractor still is looking after my twisted back because of the shortness in my right leg and Katie is still looking after my fragile mental-state. She’s warned me of future sessions looking at the trauma of the crash – this worries me as I’ve been distracted from it for several months, not quite sure what it’s going to reveal but (I’m told) better out than in.
I’m also digging into quite a few books at the moment rather than spending life-melting hours on social media. I’m also considering a few more courses for my self-development over the winter, maybe something to do with my coaching cyclists & triathletes. This, alongside the numerous emails and various correspondence to do with my injury and it’s management I’m becoming quite good at project management!
One last thing – Suzy. I know I harp on about it all the time but it shouldn’t go without mention. She’s been looking after me for so long now and I’m beginning to get quite conscious about it. I get a glimpse of the thought of her not being around and it isn’t a pretty existence without her – I’m glad she’s here by my side and I’m proud of her achievements despite her demanding job, her training schedule and looking after a tempestuous teenager (me) sometimes!
