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Thinking about entering the end of year one at Dorney or the October Thruxton one for a bit of "fun" as I do a fairly even split of riding and running, but have no interest in adding being a bad swimmer to my list of skills!
Has anyone done a duathlon before at Dorney/Thruxton or both? I'd like to do one of these as a first-off, as they're closed road for both the ride and run. Are they fairly easy for a total novice to navigate in terms of organisation/what you do with your kit etc.? I've never done a multi-sport event and I've got premonitions of turning up and having to run in my socks or something because I've messed up the logistics!
Reassure me/tell me tails of your mistakes so that I can attempt to better them for entertainment purposes...
Yeah I’ve done a few at thruxton over the years, as well as Castle Combe and goodwood
They are great events for some high intensity work. What I like about them is 1) no getting wet, 2) safe and traffic free and 3) the range of abilities. I’m not an athlete and always get overtaken by everyone on a TT bike in a GB skinsuit, but there’s plenty of more casual participants that gives it a really inclusive feel.
You can’t really go wrong tbh and then it’s just a question of being efficient in transitions. Ultimately it doesn’t really matter does it, and I wouldn’t go and spend a load of money on it, but my set up is:
- tri belt for race number (this is the only thing I would say is a must have because you’re meant to have it behind you on the bike and in front of you on the run)
- Velcro cycling shoes
- laceless running shoes (I use ON clouds which have their own system, but you can also buy tri laces that you can put into your normal running shoes)
Make sure your helmet strap is easy to clip in and out. Sounds stupid but cold / shakey hands from the run make it harder.
I’ve never done a draft legal one, but the sprint distance this year is draft legal, which adds an interesting dynamic. Usually drafting is a DQE crime.
Thanks @curto80 those three plus points are essentially the reasons I also want to give one a go, I'd forgotten about Goodwood even though I do cycle the circuit semi-regularly on their open days.
I do need some road (or at least less trail) shoes anyway for road running league races this autumn so I'll look at laceless for those to kill two birds with one stone and pick up a tri-belt.
I'm not competitive with others particularly, only against myself/want to know I've tried my hardest so I'm more than happy to be left for dust by everyone on a TT bike!