• Entrepreneurial Equity
  • Portfolio Investments
    • Current Investments
    • Historic Investments
  • Scribblings
    • Jane Taylor Book Launch
  • Fake News
  • Theology, Religion & Philosophy Corner
    • Does God Exist? The Rational Approach
    • What is the Evidence for Christianity?
    • What did Jesus Actually Teach? Only in His own Words
  • Linkedin
  • Twitter
  • Contact
  • Media Gallery
  • About Me
  • Home
  • Entrepreneurial Equity
  • Portfolio Investments
    • Current Investments
    • Historic Investments
  • Scribblings
    • Jane Taylor Book Launch
  • Fake News
  • Theology, Religion & Philosophy Corner
    • Does God Exist? The Rational Approach
    • What is the Evidence for Christianity?
    • What did Jesus Actually Teach? Only in His own Words

Blog Post

Exorcising the Ghost of Ironman Zurich

14 Nov 2012
0 Comment
Toby Baxendale

1JN08U9X-toby[1]After a poor performance in the above in the summer, I thought I should get back to the IM70.3 distances which I am much more suited to.

The IM70.3 Lanzarote event is held at Club La Santa, Mecca for the sporty person. I am surprised I have not been here before ­ it is simply a fantastic place. The temperature was 25 degrees with the wind “only” predicted at 18 MPH.

The swim in the sea is actually in a sheltered lagoon. The red flags were out and the Atlantic was blowing up a rough one, but we were OK.

There were a few Germans in Speedos only, fair play to them, they are mad for sure, wetsuits for most. The usual washing machine of the swim for the first 500m or so was as expected for us “mature” swimmers in the middle of the pack. I got out at 35.16. Happy with that.

Transition to bike, dead easy, then off on my strongest discipline, the bike. From the second I left the La Santa compound, I had to angle my bike at between 5% and 10% to the left to counter balance against the most extraordinary cross wind: I have never ridden in or like that before for a prolonged distance. Most extraordinary, in exposed coastal bits, sand dunes were blowing fully into us from the side. As it was an out and back course, bar for the accent and immediate descent of the mountain, it was like this all the way. Tip for anyone thinking of doing this event or the full Ironman here in May, don¹t bring any deep rim wheels, aero helmets or even a Tri bike designed in a wind tunnel etc: its all a complete waste of time, you need stability and that is it. There was 1780m of climbing, ironically the 10k stretch in the middle up 500m was the easiest and most pleasant part of the course. No wind and you could just sit in a gear. Descending in the areas of no wind or the wind behind you could get you over 50 MPH, but only for limited stretches. Most of the return had cross winds and head winds. I would not be lying to say I thought most of the home journey off the mountains would be a nice coasting free wheeling affair. It was get on the very edge of your seat, be thankful that you have had all your children, ride on the rivet and grit your teeth, burry yourself, and work hard to go down hill! I covered the distance in 3:19:45. My usual times would be anywhere from 2.30 hrs for a flat course to 3:00 hrs for a one with mountains. That said, it was certainly an experience.

The run was a three loop out and back along the coast with moderate undulations. The cross wound was with you all the way. I nailed the run in 1:41:45. I was certainly not expecting that, but I just felt great.

05:43:11 in total. 26 in age group and 168 out of the total field of 850 (I don¹t know yet how many actually started and finished – yet).

This race is for strong bikers. I certainly doff my cap with respect to anyone who does the full distance here and I fully understand why globally, it is the only IM race that never sells out!

Its a great race and a well managed one. I recommend it. I may well be back. It is a good way to finish the season.

Thank you to my family for indulging me with the time, to train Simon for coaching me, Brendan for our weekly ride, Tony for our great Alpine exploits in the summer and Darren and Sabine for putting me up in Switzerland for the full distance event.

My friends from Planet X, there is life in your chairman! Off to eat a cow, a pig and even a horse if I can find one!

From: http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/news/teams-and-riders/q/date/2012/11/14/exorcising-the-ghost-of-ironman-zurich

About the Author
“Toby Baxendale is an entrepreneur who built up, amongst other things, the UK's largest fresh fish supplier to the Food Service sector, see www.directseafoods.co.uk, and recently sold it. Toby is dedicated to furthering the teaching of the Austrian school of economics. He established and funded the 1st Distinguished Hayek Visiting Teaching Fellowship Program at the LSE in Honour of the Nobel Laureate F A Hayek. Toby is Chairman of The Cobden Centre. Richard Cobden's timeless principles of the abolition of legal privilege of the few at the expense of the many are worthy in this day and age to promote.

Social Share

  • google-share

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

*
*

More Scribblings

Japan, an Opportunity Awaits Us

11 Jun 2020

Austrian Economics Podcast

22 Oct 2019

Economics for the Many

18 Oct 2018

What is Right Wing?

06 Nov 2017

The Protectionist Zombie Is Back

19 Jul 2017

Brexit Podcast

16 Jun 2017

Liberty Me

20 Dec 2013

My Time for Speakers for Schools

07 Dec 2013

The Selfish Gene, its Extended Phenotypic Effects and Human Cooperation

19 Aug 2013

In Defense of the Euro (An Austrian Perspective)

15 Aug 2013

IM70.3 Mallorca - The Chairman's report

13 May 2013

AEP and “The Chicago Plan Revisited

18 Jan 2013

Ron Paul’s Monetary Policy Anthology

08 Jan 2013

Communist Approval For Western Central Banking

28 Sep 2012

The Motive Powers Of Destructionism

19 Sep 2012

The Hope Of Osborne And The Error Of Osborne

14 Sep 2012

The Ultimate Subsidy For The Rich

03 Sep 2012

Gross And Net Product

30 Aug 2012

Did The Savings Glut Or Massive Monetary Epansion Cause The Boom And The Bust?

13 Aug 2012

Forward To Liberalism

29 Jul 2012

Hugh Hendry v. Joseph Stiglitz

18 Jul 2012

Fraud - Documentary

13 Jul 2012

A Great Teacher

13 Jul 2012

Fraud

13 Jul 2012

Our Central Bankers Are intellectually Bankrupt

09 May 2012

From Nuts To Paul Krugman

08 May 2012

Tag Cloud

Austrian School Bank of England Banking Benjamin M. Anderson Economics F A Hayek Fractional Reserve Banking Fraud gold Hayek Hayek Lecture 2010 Henry Hazlitt Honest Money Huerta de Soto inflation Insight Jean Baptiste Say Ken Schoolland Keynes Keynesianism MIses Monetarism Quantitative Easing Richard Cobden Sean Corrigan
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Proudly built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Hertfordshire