"Help! My Bottom Bracket Is On Fire!"

I wish this was my comment. But it was not meant to be. Sadly...


I went for a session with ENR after months of absence. It was the usual guys and was nice to have met them again. There was a guy whom I have never met. Japanese bloke called Tomoya in the forum, probably his name as well? Finished top in AVIVA 70.3 last year in his age group and went on to compete in Foster Grant Clearwater 70.3 Championships. His qualifying time? 4:44. It was amazing!


Anyway, back to the title. We were cruising along Coastal at almost 40kph and I was on big chain ring with cadence in the region of 90. Tomoya? He was on SMALL chain ring and cadence of probably 110 or even higher? It was incredible! Of course he did occasionally switch to big chain ring, but even then, his cadence was still very very high! Yes, I am sure his bottom bracket would have been on fire if not for the lubricant... And I think he would have to change his BB bearings really often!


There were only 3 of us in the lead pack and by the 2nd loop, there were only 2 of us. As per common practice in ENR, we all take turns to pull the pack. But with only 2 of us, I found it difficult to battle the wind and sustain the pull. I tried as much as possible to help out, but most of the time, Tomoya was the one who led the draft. I was merely sitting on him and getting my lungs to recover from the lead.


What was comforting was that I was able to last the 2 laps with this bloke. And with him helping to lead the pack of two, I was able to hammer in to the finish at the end. But I led him merely by only a bit. And considering that he was leading the draft most of the time, this lead I had on him is really not justified. It was a good session in the end I must say. Coz it is also clear that I have improved since I started on triathlons.


I am just so glad that he is not in my age group. Otherwise, he would be passing me really fast and demoralising me on the bike leg. Apparently, he is really strong on the run as well. Darn! Hammer hard on bike and yet still able to run well??


On a side note, he did mention that he did not come in 1st in all the 3 legs at AVIVA. This only means that the top participant on every leg did have a weakness in one or two of the other two disciplines. And it also means that this Tomoya has individual legs that are of equivalent competence. Wow...


This morning I had a 8km easy pace run. Averaged it in 5:19/km pace. Started off with body stiff and still cold. After only 4km, legs started to come alive. The 1st 4km I was doing a pace of 5:39/km. Meant that my 2nd half was about 5:10/km. The pace during the 2nd half felt good. Not too fast and yet comfortable. Hopefully it will be a pace that I could sustain for a longer run.