Endurancelife Coast to Coast
Raising the Bar on the Devon C2C
Fiona Spotswood (Photos by Sara) / 05.10.2006
This weekend threw the worst of South West weather at the 121 starters of the 2006 Endurancelife Coast to Coast. Within the hour it took to run the first leg – a 7 mile calf-stretching hill run from Brendon village up over a peak down to Foreland point and back – we had sweated in the sunshine, frozen in the rain, been buffeted by the wind and lost visibility in the fog. The previous year had started with a 2 mile run, so the field was considerably more strung out for the first transition this time. We quickly prepared for the bike stage, the core of day 1 – 58 miles from Exmoor to Dartmoor.
Now, some athletes (particularly roadies in my experience) refer to hills as ‘bumps’, ‘lumps’ or ‘undulations’. But Exmoor is hilly. And so is Dartmoor. The 58 mile on-road bike stage comprised dozens of granny ring climbs and 40mph descents. Although billed as a triathlon with ‘no navigation required’, Team Epic Adventure learnt to its peril in 2005 what happens when you have flies in your streaming eyes and miss a turn half way down a 25% hill. (10 miles extra.) Following the directions and at times the map were essential, (although the 1:50,000 scale prevented much detailed route analysis). No mistakes this year.
One word sums up the bike stage. Windy. Tucking in behind Gary I tried to merrily coast along, watching his head bobbing and shoulders rolling as he battled against the wind. But mostly the blasts came from the side, or both sides at once, and I found myself digging into practically every turn of the pedals. My back ached from the effort and my quads burned. There seemed to be no let up. My shallow panting breaths and the sweat dripping off my nose and mixing with the blood on my forearms from bramble scratches told a story of proper effort.
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