Despite it being my birthday over the weekend, it’s been another busy few days for Tri Team Dawson…

Friday

After of spot of work as usual I had a short review of my Orthotics from the Foot Function Centre. All seems to being going well with the new insoles which I use everyday, all day and also for any running session I complete. They seem to  be working well and any lingering discomfort from my foot injury is gradually dissipating. Running is going well and I am steadily increasing my speed and distance with no problems so far. The plan is to now make small tweaks to perfect the orthotics so I can smash it from January onwards ready for the start of the season in April.

I was also able to pick up the new Matrix tandem from Madgett’s Cycles in Diss. Madgett’s have been working hard on getting the bike ready for me to use this weekend, albeit with a few odd bits and pieces on it temporarily until the posh new kit from Matrix UK (new website coming soon!) arrives. The reason for the rush jobwas that Luke Watson arrived late Friday night for a weekend of training and tinkering (see below). Madgett’salways do a great job for me managing to deal with all my last minute requests and difficult tasks. I usually get a response something along the lines of ‘we will try but…’ and then they always seem to pull it off!

Saturday

Question: What did you do for your Birthday?

Answer: Get up early and go for a 30 minute run in freezing cold conditions, go swimming for an hour of so to practise technique, pacing and tethering, tinker for about 2 hours with the new tandem, do a 30 minute ride on tinkered with tandem – all in the company of Nigel Farrow (photographer/journalist) who is writing an article that I will be able to tell you more about when it’s published. To keep us going, Jill cooked up a full English (Thanks!) and since it was my Birthday we had a meal out at anew restaurant in our village which was very nice. Phew!

I have to say that the new tandem looks really good. First impressions were of a light responsive bike, but we both felt our respective positions needed altering a bit to feel totally comfortable. We also have one or two little things to try out like different wheels and tyres etc. but plenty of time for that. 

Sunday

Iain & Luke check out their bike positions on their new Matrix tandem

Sunday saw Jill, Luke and myself attend the Buxton 5km fun run held in North Norfolk (i.e. not the Buxton in Derbyshire with all those hills around it!). The event takes place in a small village near to where Jill’s company is based, who sponsor the event. In fact Nigel the organiser is one of Jill’s colleagues and he does a fine job of creating a safe, well marshalled route catering for everyone from elite athlete to small child. They even have a fancy dress contest.

Luke put in a very good performance to win the event outright, even though he was dressed as Cinderella! It must have been odd for him wearing a dress (although he seemed to like this a little too much…), being chased by a policeman (he was a real policeman by the way!) and Darth Vader from Star Wars! For my part, I had a brisk but not earth-shattering run for training taking care not to push it too hard at this stage of my recovery/training. I was quite pleased with my effort, but had to be very diciplined not to give chase when the Incredible Hulk passed me. This was kind of OK, after all it was the Hulk, but when a bloke dressed as a nun came past I struggled to resist the temptation to let rip!

(L-R) Luke, Mark and Iain after the Buxton fun run

Jill managed to also pick up a win, well three actually, as she cleaned up in the raffle which included a very nice hamper.

So, lots of fun had but special mention to another of Jill’s colleagues, Mark (Above with Luke and myself) who completed the course in less than the 30 minutes target he set himself. He claims this is a new Irish course record! 

Luke and myself then spent another few hours in the garage with the tandem before doing a 90 minute ride. Much better after the various adjustments made to our respective positions today. There were a few places on our ride where we really were travelling at a rapid speed which bodes well.

Over-all a busy but very productive weekend laying some of the foundations for next season. Can’t wait!

Iain