The Big Triathlete

I decided to defer from the Outlaw Triathlon full aquabike due to lack of training but having lots of Mojo Triathlon Club & Coaching for Females ladies racing that day I decided to help volunteering in the run feed station together with lots more Mojos!
Someone had the dangerous idea of trusting me with the microphone 🤣 I hope I helped some of the runners by giving them a smile and cheer then a bit! 😊 One of them even stopped to sing!

And even better, one of our relay teams got third overal place!! Amazing ladies!!!!

Great day with the Mojo Triathlon Club & Coaching for Females ladies in Castle Combe Circuit practicing some skills: riding on the drops, pedalling while drinking and even giving and taking a bottle. Sounds silly but they're a bit deal for me!

F1 themed Parkrun today!
My local parkrun is in Towcester. Just 10 minutes away from the Silverstone circuit. With the F1 race this weekend in Silverstone they decided to do an F1 parkrun and it was so much fun!
The tailwalkers became "safety cars", the marshals were waving blue flags to warn from faster runners coming, the first timers became rookie drivers, but I think the funniest thing was the start with the "red lights" going off!!
I was in charge of waving the checkered flag at the end. It was so cool!

Hadrian's cycleway C2C Day 3
Once Brewed to South Shields.

Camping was 10 minutes away from Vindolanda. They opened at 9.30 and that was a mandatory stop so I decided to have an extra rest and leave later than usual.
The place is stunning. They were excavating on site at that moment and I spent a while chatting with the volunteers while they were finding bones and small Roman pieces. The lady was very proud as she had found some dice a couple of weeks ago

The massive place meant I didn't start pedalling until 11am. Big hill that I walked after Vindolanda followed by a very scare steep downhill that wasn't fun with my dodgy rear brake. My hands still hurt! At the end of the downhill there was a van going extremely slow... A farmer moving the sheep between fields really wasn't in my list of problems to expect! 🤣

Great cycle path by the train line to reach Hexham, which included a scary cross of the railway! I then stopped for lunch and prepared to walk the second climb of the day when a nice couple stopped me for a chat asking me about my adventure and telling me about their adventures in Spain

The next stop was the Corbridge Roman Town. Not as spectacular as Vindolanda but definitely worth a visit! Some more cycling on quiet roads until I reached Prudhoe with stunning views from the bridge and a superb cycling path to Newcastle.

Newcastle was frustrating. The great feeling of I'm finally here but at the same time I still have more than 20km to go through cycle paths and crossing roads and it had also started to rain. When I finally reached the Ferry to South Shields, a sign said there was a restricted timetable and the mast ferry wasn't as 8 a like it was planned, but at 6.30. I arrived there at 6.35! I saw the ferry leaving 😭 I felt completely defeated and I nearly cry. There was a tunnel that meant I had to go back 20 minutes, but I was too exhausted and cold so I took the metro instead to reach my car in South Shields and drive back home arriving at 2am

I did it!!!!!!! 🥳🥳🥳

Hadrian's cycleway C2C Day 2
Port Carlisle to Once Brewed (or Twice Brewed, depends on which way you enter it!)

The day in general has been a lot better than yesterday. An early start at 8am through some very quite and ondulated roads until I reached Carlisle, the first big stop. Cycling through Carlisle was a bit of a nightmare with so much traffic so I did a bit of my famous bike hiking on the footpath (which included a stop in Sainsbury's for p*e and pizza). Thankfully when I reached the castle a nice cycle path through the park started and kept going for a good while until I reached the next quiet road and the hills really started!
Big climb to reach How followed by another one going through Hayton. The third one started so soon after that I decided to rest the legs and walk it and then kept going to Brampton where I stopped for lunch.

The hilly route kept going through some quiet roads until I reached one of the two Cat 4 hills of the day: the hill to Banks which reached 14% at one point. Nearly at the end of the hill, I did a brief stop to look at the ruins of Turret 52 and then kept going to stop again and visit the Birdoswald Fort where I made two new friends in the shape of Roman sheep 🐑🐑

The hilly (seriously, I'm talking 5-6% hills...) route continued until Greenhead where the second Cat 4 hill appeared with a great 18%. Again I didn't even tried it, I walked all of it (thankfully this one had a cyclepath to walk it) until I reached the Roman Army Museum which I also stopped to visit.

After the museum, I entered some sheep fields and lots of cattle grids (I hate them...). A bit tricky to ride on the road bike but all good until I reached the proper gravel path and I started walking while missing the MTB a lot 😅 a bit of a scary moment when cows where in the middle of the road looking at me! And I was like please...Can you move?

I got back on the main road that thankfully was really quiet and started getting lots of 6% climbs one after the other one. There was a moment that I saw the next big one and I thought I'm sick of this, I'm going to walk this one! And just at the top of the hill there it was! Finally the campsite!! 🥳

Last day tomorrow!

Hadrian's cycleway C2C day 1.
I left the car in Newcastle yesterday and took a few trains to Ravenglass to start from there today.
The first thing to do was visiting the Roman Bathhouse in Ravenglass. The official start of the journey! From there I cross a really high narrow scary bridge that of course I had to walk 😅 From there to Holmrook (the first steep hill), Drigg and Seascale. Here is when it started getting dodgy as I had to walk about 2km on a narrow, rocky, covered on sand path until I reached the Nuclear station at Sellafield.

I kept going until Egremont where I got completely lost 🙈 I started walking up and down until a lovely guy stopped his van in the middle of the road just to ask me if I was ok and gave me directions to Whitehaven. Thank you!! The cyclepath to Whitehaven was absolutely lovely and then a nice stop in the Whitehaven marina for a massive pizza lunch (well deserved!).

I kept going to Parton (where I got lost again) and all the way to Workington where the roadworks meant more bike hiking. Some narrow dodgy overgrown paths that I had to walk again until I arrived to Maryport.

Unfortunately, by the time I reached Maryport it was already 4.30 and I still had half way (about 60km) until my destination in Port Carlisle so I decided to play it safe and take the train to Wigton and ride again from there. I also took the shortcut to Bowness on Solway (the start of the wall!) instead of doing the entire peninsula.

Dinner in Bowness and now resting in Port Carlisle. I did about 90km instead of the planned 120km probably due to all the bike hiking but ey! my adventure, my rules! 😁 I'm not a confident rider (I suffer vertigo!) so if I'm not sure, I prefer to walk it I'm ok with it.

80km tomorrow and starting to see the wall! It's going to be hilly and a bit rainy so I'll leave early to be able to see all the forts!

What a weekend!!!
It was really hot in the Netherlands but thankfully it cooled down a bit during the weekend just in time for Ironman 70.3 Westfriestland.
I've had some health problems which meant I haven't been able to train in the last 2-3 weeks. I went to the race knowing that it was going to be hard with the lack of training and thinking this could be my first DNF.

My swim started great. I was in the 48+min wave and started overtaking people from the beginning. I had a great consistency and feeling good.
The bike route was amazing completely flat but we all know whatever direction we go, we always get the headwind 🤣 it was good just struggling with saddle pain but I managed to fuel a lot better than last time.
The run was the biggest struggle. It started getting REALLY hot and I was throwing water on me on every water station.
People in the village of Hoorn was absolutely amazing!! The crowds were crazy clapping and cheering everyone until the last athlete, having water hose cooling everyone, loud music and having a party for us. During the ride they were outside their houses cheering and even people doing the wave to every rider. It was crazy fun!!

Thank you Hoorn, Ironman and my sister who worked really hard as a Sherpa de entire weekend.

All ready for IRONMAN 70.3 Westfriestland!
My first ever Ironman branded event. came with me to Netherlands to spend the weekend. Really hot day yesterday in Amsterdam and enjoying the beautiful Hoorn today. Racing tomorrow!