Dadathlon day!

So, as an alternative to the now cancelled oxford tri (grr) we decided the show must go on, so we created the “Dadathlon”, a rather ad-lib but totally sweat worthy triathlon in Verulam Park.

As there was no official course, guides, or safety staff (as per a proper tri!) I decided to with Elijah and make sure he was in and out of the public swimming pool safely, cross the road to the park, and find his way around the course for the first lap. To the course, 4 x 33m pool laps (132m), the park was around 600m circumference but google maps, so we decided 3 x 600m (1800m) bike laps followed by 1 x 600m running lap.

Eli and I by our homemade start/end flag – a painting pole with the flag from his playhouse sellotaped to it!

Eli lapped 4x33m in 4m10seconds! Then out of the pool, and about 100m run down to the park.

Eli running to the first transition to bike from the pool!

Quick on with the helmet

Pushing to the start flag from transition

Lap 1 down!

Zooming into transition after 1800m bike in 10mins – it was a was wet and hilly!

I had a slow transition as i had SPD bike shoes, so it took me most of the running lap to catch Eli, he was flying, especially when he saw me coming!

Nearly there!

Eli was tired but very happy to have finished! Proud Dad gave him a make-do but official (yes really)  ”Dadathlon” medal – not as much competition or glory as a real tri but just as hard work!

We’ll count up the rest of the donations as we follow up IOU’s and post the final total later in the week.

 

Tri-ing times!

So no1 son has been snuffling with a cold for the last week and off school on friday. On the mend now though so we had a couple short bike rides this weekend. I have been recovering my strained hamstring which has had no effect on swimming or biking but has left me unable to run, and mostly useless at taekwondo! Its getting there so i’ ll go for a 30min run and lunchtime tomorrow, whoopee. So all in all it hasn’t been going well, followed by some bad news that the Oxfordshire triathlon has been cancelled.

So, plan B. There is a couple of options, one in http://ferndown, one in Bournemouth, but looking at the distance to travel and the start time I think it’s best to consider a plan C… Another Daddyathlon!

We’ve posted sponsorship leaflets through the neighbours doors and will be emailing the school list aswell I’ll email my colleagues at work. So this week I’ll be planning the triathlon around st Albans, and hopefully rope in some friends to help out.

Bike pimping

I spent my friday evening bleeding the front brake on the mojo, its a tiny bit better, aswell fitting some wider Easton Haven carbon bars at 711mm wide they already feel better suited for the bike than the 660mm ritchey.

For no1 sons bike i took a few links out the chain to tighten it up but now its too tight so a new chain tomorrow! Also fitted a tri bag to the top of the frame and an awesome new bike computer so lil man can see how fast, far and hard he’s riding. He also has a lovely new hi vis bike jacket and some proper mtb gloves that are pimp. So tomorrow we’re off for a good ride, perhaps Aston Hill it is.

lastly a hug and a high five to JT and SR for their donations! Still short of our target so keep em coming and we’ll keep training!

Sunday family training, swim & bike

Eli bested yesterdays swim distance with a pool swim of 8 x 33m = 264m!! Daddy managed 8 x 33m followed by 6 x 33m, not a great effort. In the evening after a few hours essential shopping for the new school term we went mountain biking with our Dog, Bru, completing an challenging off road route covering 3.7miles with a break to use the outdoor gym. Lots of pull ups, sit-ups and dips.

kids road bike update

Having discovered that the pro-lite available in the UK has the gear shift on the down tube – thanks to my totally obsessive compulsive spec trawling and review trawling – we wont be getting that one, although the latest models have shimano sora type shifters I cant get one in the UK. Then my next choice was the Moda Minor but the cranks are 155mm which are short-adult length, not 8yr old length, so it does indeed prove true that the islabikes luath 24 is the best all round 24″ bike available for kids in the UK. My misgivings are that the wheelbase is long, only a single chain ring upfront as i know eli will care about top speed when racing daddy im sure it will be quick enough for a while though.

Surprisingly you cant buy online, i have to speak to someone between 9 and 5 – groan. Don’t they know that’s when people are working! And there is a 3 week lead time!

I do happen to be bidding on a Trek on ebay but im pretty sure they are shilling the bid so out of principle i will withdraw my offer (which is now at £251 for a second hand bike! Without shilling it would have been £100, much more like it.)

Saturday swim training

Just as it all was going well i pull my hamstring, quite badly, last sunday so i spent the first half of the week limping to work, i almost wimped out of going on tuesday it hurt so much to walk. But with gently stretching and a light bike ride of friday its starting to heal.

an old pic of westminster lodge pool where we train!

Friday we went for a mountain bike ride, Eli’s pace and bike handling skills have really improved lately, he almost cleaned a downhill run, stopping just once for nettles, through the local woods which is plenty tricky with rooty sections and steep roll in drops that will land you on your head/arse if you don’t pay attention.

Today we cycled to the pool, i swam 12 x 33m in 8mins and Eli swam 4 x 33m in 4m17s followed by a joint 6 x 33m , his longest ever continuous swim of 6 lengths or 200m to you and me! Bravo Eli. Tomorrow we’ll probably add a longer ride to our training. Still no running while my hamstring feels like it may ping apart with the wrong movement!

Of course we had to finish off todays training with a carbo – protein refuel (thats an ice cream milkshake at the shaken cow with popping candy topping).

 

8 yr old Kids road racing bike, finding one!!

Looking around for a small kids road racing bike for Eli, which by the way is much harder than it sounds, I came across some cool stories on the pro-lite website of young kids and their road racing! link link 2

I found a few bikes from reading a lot of forums and after analysing a lot of specs I have an ideal bike checklist that you may find useful and a top 6 kids road bikes list which makes hunting around a bit easier, IMO !

Things to look for in a kids bike:
weight , good of the shelf seems to be around 9kg, with a race built up bike with carbon forks at 7kg and £££.
hand reach to brake levers
Shimano sti brake and gears integrated mean kids hands don’t leave the handlebars to shift
Cyclocross top bar brakes are nice for safety while riding in an upright position.
Crank length , around 140mm to 145mm for a 24″ wheel bike
Looks , so the little dude will want to ride it

1. Pinarello F0 – but not sold in uk
2. Pro-lite 24
3. Islabikes Lueth 24
4. felt f24 – not sold in uk
5. Moda minor
6. trek kdr 1000 – not sold in uk

My choice.. Hard choice between the Lueth and pro-lite, and the Lueth is British designed made and built, but the single front ring doesn’t work for me for faster long distance riding.

First donations in!

Thank you to PD and YL for your donations! (names withheld for privacy) so we’re off and running, literally! Elijah sent the day bowling , good practice for one arm swimming? We both have taekwondo tomorrow night, need to perfect Do San for our green belt grading coming up.

bank holiday training

We cycled 1mile to the pool where I did 2x33m lengths and 8x22m lengths and a timed length of 33 m in 55seconds. I would like to improve by keeping my back straight. Eli.

And I swam 18 x22m and 4 x 33m plus a sprint length along with riding to and from the pool a couple miles at a leisurely pace. Dave.

Sponsor our family triathlon to raise money for a special needs school robbed of its special needs bikes!

Yup, no1 son (he’s only 8 but has mad Tri skills!) and I are going to do a triathlon in a months time with a target of £600 to get a new special needs bike for the local special needs school. You can read all about it on our special “sponsor us” page thankyou! http://myfirsttri.wordpress.com/sponsor-us/