The mug said it all

No, not me - I mean the memento mug, 'I Did It In The Mud'. To describe the mud on the bike section would not do it justice. Suffice to say on two of the four bike laps I got off and ran with the bike as it was quicker. In fact I actually made up a few places while I ran. I recon that could be a sensible tactic for future mountain bike duathlons - not there are going to be any. Never say never but you can take it from me that this is going to be the closest I ever come to saying never and meaning it!

The run sections were fine, I was well up the field after the first 2 miler, probably top twenty but as soon as we got to the muddy section on the bike I was pants. On the final 2 miler I gained somewhere in the region of ten places - these mountain bike types don't seem to be able to run but they sure as hell make up for it on the bike.

Regarding the bike, I have to say that my brakes were a real problem. It's so old they had only just invented the wheel when I bought it so it doesn't have any of those fancy disc brake thing-um-jigs. Consequently the mud just clogged in the old style brakes and added to the resistance. I recon that must have added a good few minutes.

Even with my crap equipment I still recon I managed to get in the top half of the field. I finished in 1:29, a bit slower than I had intended - I was looking for between 1:20 and 1:25 but I guess I have to be satisfied. My splits were, 14:36 for the first run, with a transistion of about a minute and a half. The bike section was around 58 minutes with about a minute for the transistion and then 14:39 for the final run. But when all is said and done it was still a PB! - but we all know the reason for that. Oh, and one final comment, I had to where my road running shoes as my trail shoes were too painful on the hell blister.

Anyway, here is the route (small lap - run, big lap - well, I don't have to say do I?)

PS Video to follow later today once it's been processed by Google