...I work in a small team of four fairly active people, my boss JB competes regularly in open water swims, Adam had trials of the British rowing team and I fall off bikes. We have not been working together long so I thought it would be a good bonding event to have a crack a team triathlon, (the other feller could look after the stuff whilst we were racing). We chose the September event at Dorney Lake near Eton, it is a great venue when the Olympic Rowing will be held. It has been engineered to give the rowers the best possible chance of setting a world record, angled to catch the wind and stream following through it to give a current.

Preparations went well I fell off my bike three weeks before the event and Adam was admitted to Emergency Surgery with a severe Asthma attack just one week before the event. Frenchman JB however was living up to stereotypes and swimming like an amphibian, he completed the swim in at great time in 22min 32sec for 1.5km, 6th out of the water. I found the bike leg tough, there where experienced looking time trailers with disc wheels, aero helmets and low profile frames. My first lap did not go according to plan, with cold legs the idea was to average 160-170 bpm heart rate to warm up.

 A near miss with a geek in a an aero helmet who nearly took me out on the first corner meant I was forced I tried to hang on, he pushed and pushed until I had to give up, averaging the first lap at nearly 39kmph 183 bpm heart rate. Lap 2 was a little slower at 36kmph but still at the same heart rate, I manage to chat to a couple of people on the way round - you have to be civil! One feller suggested we work together for a few laps, It was not against the rules so we gave it a go. One fellow competitor did say ``oi stop drafting`` but is he was in full aero kit, i figure that what we were doing was no worse than throwing money at your outfit to beat your competitors, so a two fingered salute was the only response necessary.

 The rest of the laps ground by jollied only by polite `how dos and waves are we sauntered past the occasional aero geek. We worked hard taking a minute or two at a time on the front, as soon as the one resting felt the pace dropping or there was a glance over the shoulder we would overtake and crank up the pace again. Into the wind was utter pain, watching the average speed fall away, lactate burning quads and glutes. By lap 35km I had nothing left, but the draw of the finish line gave the needed boost, the final straight felt great, hammering along at over 50kmph setting our fastest speed flying past the other riders. I finished in 9th in 1:06:22. I really enjoyed working with this chap, no idea what his name was, just caught up in the bubble off the effort. I never thought i could maintain an average of over 90% of my max heart rate for over an hour. Adam suffered horribly on the run, he was nowhere near his usual form, finishing the 10km a good 10 min behind his usual time in 47min 57 seconds. Our total time was 2:18:33 in 12th out or 103, 6 min behind our target of the top three

Tim