The Dirty Duo

As I couldn’t do Drumpellier and witness the ladies golden performance, the Dirty Duo in Calderglen on Sunday seemed like a good alternative. It was billed as a fun run which was reassuring as I have never done a cycle race in my life. I dusted down my fifteen year old mountain bike, tightened a few bolts and blew up the tyres. Everything appeared to be working.
I gathered my stuff and cycled up to Calderglen. I had decided to go with road tyres as I watched last year's event and the steep up hills were on the tarmac path beside the play park.

The start/finish was on the grass in front of Torrance House and the transition area was roughly where we change into our cross country shoes. The course was a two lap run over the South Bridge and Horseshoe Falls, a four lap cycle down to the left of the play park, zig zagging over the bottom field then back up to the transition area, and the final run was the same two laps as before but in reverse.

I looked more closely at the map. The cycle route had changed. The uphill section took in the hill we do our cross country reps on. Oh no! I’ve got road tyres! I’ll be wheel spinning to a standstill! And what about that big bump at the top, the one we all trip over in the dark? That’s sure to be a stopper! Panic set in. I had 30 minutes to get home, change my rear tyre and be back. I could do it provided there were no technical difficulties. There was. I couldn’t find my tyre levers. Improvising with screw drivers I changed the tyre in a time Sebastian Vettel’s pit crew would have been proud of and had my bike back in transition with minutes to spare.

That was my warm up. The whistle went and we were off. I finished the first run in sixth place. There were a lot of better cyclists than me though and I dropped to about 13th, but I made it up that hill every time! The transition from cycling to running was a new experience and I waddled the first few hundred yards. I got back into my stride and picked up some places finishing 10th over all in 59:14.

I enjoyed the event and I will be better prepared the next time! The winner was Brian Taylor in just over 50 minutes.