The Rest Of 1990
My plan for the 1990 triathlon season was to take my Skoda Estelle on tour and do the Carlsberg Grand Prix. The BTA released plans to restructure the series. But unfortunately it never went ahead.
However, I still did my first Olympic Distance race in Swindon and focused the rest of the season on local events such as the BTS Gravel Pit races and the monthly Harry Kitchener Series in Biggleswade.
Preparation for the season started in November 1989 by attending a training camp in Reading (below). I met other people hooked on the sport and rode the velodrome at Palmer Park. This would become a regular training venue until I left the country forever in 1996.
To further prove my growing tri-nerd creditials I also got a letter published in the February issue of 220 magazine.
At Christmas I got my first turbo trainer from Geoffrey Butler cycles in Croydon. It was a Tacx, front wheel off, fan-flywheel model.
On cold nights I’d crank the Genesis in my parents’ garage and follow sessions from Advanced Turbo Training by Peter Read. I destroyed the fan piece numerous times before retiring the trainer in the late 90s.
As I was planning to study Sports Science at university I wrote to Robin Brew to see if I could help out at one of his training camps. He said yes. Top bloke. And I attended the May novice course below.
Image: 220 (UK) January 1990
Ever since I got a road bike, maybe in 1987, and started doing longer rides out of Slough, I had been doing my own wrenching. Learning by trial and error and getting the occasional tip from Dave Russell.
So it’s surprising to me that it took until the middle of 1990 to have a self-inflicted, race-ending mechanical. It happened at the Farmer Giles Super Sprint Triathlon in Aylesbury. Race report below.
Images: 220 (UK) August 1990
In the week before the race I carried out my first cassette removal and clean. But I clearly didn’t re-tighten the lock-nut enough. So mid-race all the sprockets moved right, off the free-hub. Lesson learnt.
As a fan I was psyched to follow the 220 Marathon Triathlon. This was the ironman distance event organised out of Cotswold Water Park by the 220 Magazine crew. Entry fee was only £2:20 for subscribers.
Images: 220 (UK) May 1990. 220 (UK) July 1990.
A race report is below. I’d actually considered entering. But I found out that I was too young. It would have been a complete disaster. In 1991 they moved the event to Ironbridge and even had Kona slots.
Images: 220 (UK) August 1990. Triathlete (UK) August 1990.
I was hoping to end my season at the Portsmouth International Triathlon. It was the race organised by Tri-Athlete Magazine. In 1988 and 1989 the event was held in Southport. And in 1989 it was covered by the BBC.
But my entry was returned because I wasn’t 18. I remember writing back to say that Spencer Smith also wasn’t 18 yet but they’d accepted his entry anyway. I guess they thought he was going to be a big deal.
Again. Full blog post on that event coming soon.
Image: 220 (UK) August 1990
I ended my junior career by gettting a drafting penalty at the national championships at Holme Pierrepont. My brother, pictured in the race report below, got the crowd pumped by ripping a 10m skid into T2.
The next day I took part in the national relay championships with Berkshire Tri Squad for the second time. The event is still truckin’ with essentially the same format. I’d love to go back one day.
Images: 220 (UK) September 1990
