18th agosto 2011 Ironman needs a bike

18th agosto 2011 Ironman

A few weeks ago Stu competed in his first Ironman at Zurich. Since we are on continental Europe we decided at the drop of a hat to drive up and see him, this is a pretty cool option in Europe, you literally can jump in a car and pop off anywhere, it was a long drive (7 hours) but well worth it. The Ironman was exceptionally well organised and great fun to spectate. We took our bikes and cycled around and even did a little running after him up a cycling hill just like they do on the Tour de France. In fact, it inspired us so much that somehow we both got inspired and have decided to enter Ironman Regensburg next June - so that is a 2.3 mile swim (I cannot swim), a 112 mile bike ride and a full marathon, not to mention 6 months of the longest training ever. Ciao life!

On the plus side it did finally make me buy a new bike! After many years of loving my Claud Butler Roubaix, I have gone for a full carbon bike - a slightly used Scott Addict SL . Everything is carbon and supremely stiff. The world of difference between this and Claud are incredible, especially on hills where it feels that every little piece of power being put in is transferred directly to the hill.

Of course a good bike needs good shoes. Being in Italy there was only one option I could embrace - when in Rome n all that :) So here they are - carbon Italian shoes, 30th anniversary from Vittoria - in Gold!!! Audacious. Of course, it was much cheaper for me to buy them in the UK and get them posted back to Italy such are the prices in Italy.

Smokey challenges these shoes. For him cycling shoes, a la Eurostyle, should always be white - I'm not convinced, I think he's be in California too long surely.

The shoes have not brought me luck so far. On their first spin out (53.8 miles, Siena to Murlo via San Rocca, stinking hot day, riding with Martin and a random) about 15 miles from home something happened. I am not sure as I really don't remember but my guess is the following: I was looking at my GPS watch versus my bike computer and I looked up and suddenly was heading towards the edge, I swerved away and rammed my brakes on, forgetting that I was riding a Eurobike with brakes on the wrong way round, I must've hit the front brake hard and I ended up doing a complete 360 degree flip forward and over the handlebars landing more or less on my feet/right front after completing the front flip. I was traveling at about 22 mph I guess and when I picked myself up I was amazed that:

a) I wasn't dead

b) I hadn't broken any limbs

c) I wasn't bleeding or cut too bad

d) The bike was ok



Martin picked me up and put the chain back on the bike, a car stopped and asked if I was ok and that was it. Got back on the bike and came home, through the stinking hot sun. Really my only memory is of Martin swearing something as I was flying through the air and he was swerving to avoid my debris - kudos to him for not being wiped out too.

Buying a 2nd hand carbon bike was a gamble and against a lot of advice. When you buy 2nd hand you have no guarantee that the bike has not had a big knock and the carbon is damaged. Well - I would have no comeback now, but I have to say this bike must be extremely tough as I cannot believe that it is still in one piece. So far, touch wood, there appears to be no cracks in the carbon, no damage to the carbon spokes, the wheels, even the handlebar tape. I will find out next time when I give it a bit of a bigger test but so far it seems to have survived.

I was not quite so lucky, a lot of bruises and cuts, cuts to my hands, and then I developed a really swollen throat (mal di gola) and ended up being in bed for two days. Nice holiday for Martin - sorry bud! After three days it was getting worse, very sore liver (doloroso di fegato), very dizzy (capogiro) so we ended up in Pronto Soccorso aka A and E. That was a nice holiday for Martin. Certainly its a little different to the UK version, Martin observed that there was a lot of paper driven action and he is quite right - this is rampant in Italian society so it is no longer a surprise to me. Anyway, they looked after me very well and did an ultrasound and x-ray to check I hadn't smashed my liver when I fell but all was fine. Then they gave me antibiotics and steroids - all free! Thank you Italian health service.

So now I am ill and off work for a couple of days to get better, still a little dizzy but getting better. Itching to get on the bike again too, to check it out and to check myself out, it will have to wait though. Middle of August in Italy is not a happy place to be. Every day it starts fairly cool, maybe 22C and gets up to about 35 or 36 everyday, peaking about 6 pm, not starting to cool till it gets dark after 8:30.

Off to get better - ciao!