So... what went wrong?

Well, it wasn't the logistics - we got the whole car/dogs/people issue sorted by the addition of a very natty bike rack to the back of the Fiat...

We spent the weekend with good friends Sarah and Vincent and on Sunday the dogs needed the Fiat (yes, dogs need Fiats) so we took the wheels off the bike and put it in the back of S&V's Panda. Very simple - lesson from V on how to put wheels back on (easy - wind little rubber nut, put wheel in place, push lever to back, pull gears, insert other wheel, flick lever, dab brakes, done) and away S and I went for a girly triathlon day out.

And it wasn't the wetsuit... Other than the usual grimaces it went on ok.

I even checked that I could bend over in it - and it was fine. And, yes, I did apologise to the poor chap in the background. I think I put him off his lunch...

And it wasn't the swim - we set off, I counted strokes, I felt oddly constricted in the breathing department but otherwise ok, and it was over before I drowned, which is always good...

It was the bike.

As soon as I set off I thought I should have done more time on the exercise bike. It was into a strong headwind on the first 2k alongside the lake, and I was really struggling. On the return side of the lake it was better but I was still pedalling really hard and going nowhere. After two laps I was genuinely thinking of calling it a day, then the wind dropped a bit and I heard an odd grating noise. I looked round for someone to ask (not sure why - it was a big field, what was I hoping for? A tent with Halfords written on it???) and as there was no-one (big surprise) I had a good look at the bike whilst still toiling away. Front end looked ok, but seriously odd grating noise from the back wheel. I looked down and found the problem.

The back brake was jammed on.

Remember the bit about 'dab the brakes' after 'replacing the wheels'? Well, that's more than I did. Forgot that bit completely, brakes were jammed on. Hard work pedalling. As soon as I dabbed the back brakes (and, to be fair, I didn't either stop or fall off) they freed up and WHOOOSH - away I went. HOORAY! Suddenly I was whizzing along - and working a lot less hard.

YAY! Well, YAY except that I was already knackered from having done 12k of the 20k bike phase with the brakes on.

By the time I got to the running bit I was wiped out... so it was more jogging than running. I think I was about 38 minutes (same as last time) which wasn't bad with wobbly knees and rather odd light-headedness. There was water available on the run stage, so I chucked several cups over my head. Drank a bit too - very nice. I should have been able to have a drink on the bike but I'm always a bit wobbly (more especially so when I'm Pedalling Hard Because The Brakes Are On) and I couldn't get the top of my water bottle... I did try my teeth but stopped when all my molars started hurting...

When I eventually finished of course I did the whole 'never again' thing and decided that maybe this would be more my event (just the 5 lap version - don't want to go mad):

So, there we go. My time on my clever watch thingy says I was 1 hour 48 minutes 23 seconds. But I forgot to stop it as I passed the finish, so it might be a bit less - the official timings will be out in a day or so. Last year was 1 hour 42 minutes. So I was slower...

When we got home we watched some of the Tour de France. They are very fit and they cycle very quickly.

But, to be fair, they're not doing it with their brakes on...