National (drafting.....) Duathlon championships

And so to Milton Keynes. Well, the somewhat more splendid Emberton country park actually. I was hoping to improve upon my somewhat poor showing in this race from last year and after nearly cracking the top 20 at Clumber park I was confident of a good performance. Well I was almost 3 minutes quicker than last year and managed improvements in all three disciplines, particuarly the bike. Unfortunately this didn't really translate into a notable improvement on my position from last year and I failed again to crack the top 50. Why? How on earth could I have been almost 3 whole minutes quicker than last year yet fail to improve on my position? In a word, DRAFTING. There was a ridiculous amount of it going on. At about the 6 mile stage on my bike, a group of about 20 came flying past. What do you do? Grin and bear it or....cheat? I can't see the point of cheating. Frustrating? Yes. But I know I put in a good performance on the day and I know it was MY performance.

Early morning mist

B of the bang!