Wiggle are supporting Steve Colligan’s 1000km trek across the roof of the World to Everest on a Unicycle and he just sent us his latest update!

Just completed 4 days of riding and arrived in Gyangtse (4000m) today. So far the riding has been on good roads. The hardest thing so far is having enough energy, due to loosing tons of sleep. The beds in Lhasa (acclimatising) were rock hard (Chinese style), then I had problems sleeping due to the altitude and now I have a bad cough. Got a ‘flat’ 65 miles to Shigatse tomorrow where I stay two nights in a hotel (I have a rest day).

The days are fairly long ones, but doing well considering I’m riding a unicycle. I’m riding with some mountain bikers. They go faster on the flat and down hill, but I really come into my own going up these mountains. Had some snow on yesterdays high pass, but apart from that the weather has been very good. Things are also getting colder in camp as there was frost on the inside of the tent two days ago.

I am receiving masses of attention from the Chinese, Tibetans and foreigners alike. Practically every car that passes me will slow down so they can take photos out of the window.

The uni (and me) coped very well on its first big pass, climbing a continuous 1200m to a height of 4800m (the height of Mt.Blanc) and beating the two-wheeled ones!! Yes the air was thin, but not too much of an issue on long cranks (170’s).

Scenery is breathtaking - very barren mountains, with snow-capped ones in the distance.

Not sure if and when I’ll be able to post next.

Steve

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For More info on Steve and his charity visit www.unicyclesteve.com

With Dallas being the last race in the series and three athletes Myself, Andy Potts (World 70.3 Champion) and Greg Bennit Last years series winner that could take the overall series in one race I new the pace would be on from the gun.

It was a non wet suite swim so that was great news for Andy potts and he took the swim out extra fast, I came out of the swim in the main pack with all the main contenders including Matt read (USA tri champion) and Greg Bennit
The chase was on for Courteney Atkinson (Australia Olympian) and Potts the two swim leaders. After 20 kilometres the main pack which I was in caught the two swim leaders and I knew it was going to be between the three of us on the run. Onto the run my legs felt very heavy the reason being I had to bike very hard to stay in the lead pack and with it being non drafting I could not just sit at the back and wait for the run.

Greg took off and left me and Andy to running together and at 5K Andy dropped me and I had to settle for 3rd place 1 min behind Greg and 30 sec behind Andy and 3rd overall in the series.

With Dallas being my last race of the season I just would like to say thank you to Focus for supplying me with such great bikes, Wiggle for all the other equipment which you need so you can race against the worlds best and Team Dillon for changing my training and giving me my best season in my career.

Sponsored Wiggle and Focus rider Matt Page stormed to victory at the biggest endurance race of the season at Dusk til Dawn at the weekend! The podium topping performance is his 3rd major victory and the perfect finish to Matt’s debut season with us - congratulations Matt!

Epic, definition: very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary (especially in size or scale)

That was the word that I feel sums up Dusk ‘til Dawn the best. I’ve ridden my bike for longer and in worse conditions but this was my toughest race that I have ever done.

It didn’t exactly go as planned either, one week before I picked up a stomach bug which kept me off the bike for 4 days. I was starting to panic, but luckily it cleared up on the Wednesday before so I was able to go to the race and pick up my Number 1 board that I earned from winning in 2007. I did a practice lap before the race; it was dry, very fast and great fun. Rain was forecast, but I’ve never raced at Thetford in the wet before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. With that in mind and with my experiences from last year to build upon I made my tyre and clothing choices for the race and headed to the start line just as the rain started to fall.

The race got under way with a 1 mile rolling start behind a quad bike. It was pretty chaotic with people jostling trying to get towards the front along the narrow tracks, I was happy to get around and still be on my bike, but I was a little further back than I had hoped. I pushed hard as soon as the racing got underway and eventually caught up with the soloists ahead. At this stage there were 4 of us who formed a small pack with a few other team or pair riders. Whilst following a rider on a section of fire-road I got some grit in my eyes half way round the lap. It was quite painful but the main problem was that it started to affect my vision. I put up with it until the end of the lap, but had to stop then to try and remove it. It seemed to take ages, but I eventually cleared it and stormed off having lost 4 minutes to the riders in front. My second lap was a big effort, I knew I was pushing too hard but I wanted to get back in touch as I felt like I was on my back foot and not able to control the race how I like. It took until the end of my third lap, but I eventually caught up with Josh Ibbett and Anthony White who were ahead.

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Admittedly the last few weeks have been pretty hard. Not because I’d been training loads, in fact quite the opposite as I had been lacking motivation and training had taken a nosedive.

The Strathclyde Supersprint triathlon was a disappointment and I could only finish 6th. I made the decision to swim without a wetsuit over the 300m course and considering the water temperature was 14 degrees this probably wasn’t a wise one! Not making the front pack in the swim cost me a placing. Not surprisingly I came back from the race with a hacking cough. At least I had done enough to win the Overall Series.

I had already booked and paid for my next race, the L’Orient World Cup in France and I was also taking my mum so I couldn’t pull out of this one! I was dreading it as it was a quality field and I knew I was only semi-fit. Although I felt terrible, my legs felt like bricks, I managed a creditable 10th. With this result, I am now ranked 8th in the World Cup standings with one more World Cup to go, which tempts me to keep going until the last race in Mexico on 26th October. I think this has given me a boost as so far this week I have managed to put in a good few days training.

I have a busy few months ahead as I am booked onto the BTF level 1 training course, the UKCC level 1 swim teaching course and also the Lifetime Professional Fitness Instructor Award. Should be a challenge!

I’ve just returned from the World Duathlon Championships in Rimini, Italy. I was really excited going into the race as had not raced a duathlon in over a year and had never raced over the standard distance (10km run, 40km bike, 5km run). Not only this but as an Under 23, I would be racing in the same race as the senior elites, so this meant it would be a really hard race no matter what!

The first run started very fast but after a couple of kms I found myself in the front group and managed to stay in the group throughout the first run although it was very hard and there was a lot of surging at the front. Going into transition I was towards the back of the pack and I had a poor transition (as well as needing to change my shoes rather than wearing pyro pedals) so I just missed the lead bike pack by a few seconds and not matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get back on. Soon a group came together to form the chase but we were losing time so I saved energy for the 2nd run. I ran really well, posting the 5th fastest second run overall and finished 3rd in the U23’s so was really happy to get a good result this year!
I am going to race again in 3 weeks in a ITU Points race in Turkey and hope to get on the podium again!
Ritchie

I had been hoping to start my winter training proper yesterday but some little gremlin had other ideas as I’ve been wiped out with a stomach bug since the early hours of the morning. I haven’t been this ill for yonks and as someone who usually has a voracious appetite I’m saddened to say the most I’ve managed to keep down is a paltry glass of flat Lucozade. Ugh. Here’s hoping I’ll be able to send this horrible little bug packing very soon and resume training…

I have taken quite a laissez-faire approach to training for the last few weeks as I think it’s important to give your body and mind a bit of a break at the end of the season. It was interesting to read on Slowtwitch (an American triathlon website) that Chris McCormack (aka Macca, current Ironman World Champ) takes a seven-week break at the end of his season when he says he does “absolutely nothing - I don’t run and I don’t swim or bike. I let my body heal and put on some weight and recover.”

I think there are a lot of athletes who would be terrified of doing this for fear of losing fitness but I really believe there is a lot to be said for Macca’s approach, particularly if you devote a large part of your life to triathlon (or training for your particular sport) for the remaining 45 weeks of the year. I think triathletes especially are also at risk of becoming tri bores, who do very little other than think or talk about swim-bike-run if they’re not careful. I think that’s one of the reasons why it’s vital to take a break. It also means you can resume training in the autumn significantly fresher - both mentally and physically - than if you’d ploughed on through. I must admit I’ve struggled to do the full Macca and go completely cold turkey on the swim-bike-run front, but then I’m not Ironman World Champ - not yet, anyway ;-)

Happy training - or resting
Cheers
EK

Below is the latest diary entry from Wiggle-sponsored triathlete Michelle Dillon who has just undergone surgery on her back and is now recovering at home. Mich, have plenty of rest and get well soon from everyone at Wiggle!

Posted: Thursday Sept 25th

I have only today come out of hospital after spending the last week in a hospital bed after having my back operation which has caused me so much grief over the years. I must admit this was a shock to me when I saw the last scans before going under the knife on Friday morning 19th Sept. You see I thought I was having a disc replacement at Level 4 and a fusion at L5 but I had one more CT scan on Friday morning before going in which would help us see the bone better in my back. To my horror the doctor called me into a room to discuss my options that morning after looking at the scans I was scared,

The scans showed a big fracture at the vertebrae at Level 4 which had broken into 3 pieces and was making things complicated. Mr Wilson explained to me that if I were to have a disc replacement at this level the chances of it holding up were slim, so he explained that fusing this level and the one below would be the best solution long term. This meant Double fusion at levels 4 & level 5 and after seeing the scans I was shocked. He explained this as a unique case that he had never seen before and that my back had taken a pounding and needed something to be done. ….

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It was a big thing for me to win the Final race of the French Grand prix. Going into the Sprint race I knew I was in good shape from racing the Non-drafting series in the USA and new I could have a good race if I could handle the fighting around the buoys and the tight bunches on the bike.

I didn’t feel that great on race day, I was still jet lag and a little tired from my third race in a row.

The swim went great. I stared hard and got on the lead swimmers feet and found I was doing it easy but I didn’t realize we had 20 sec on the rest of the field. On to the bike I was with the strongest bikers in the race and with team tactics being played my orders were to wait for the run, so I did and came off the bike with a 50 sec lead on the chasing pack. I took the run out hard and won by 15 sec to Freddy Bealobra who is the current European Champion.

I’m off the Dallas next week for the Last race in the Life Time Fitness Series and then on a long break.

25 – Sept - 2008

Just over one week to Dusk til Dawn now and I’ve finished all the hard training and I am into my taper. In terms of competition this will probably be the toughest race of the season. There are 230 solo men all looking for a piece of the £5000 prize pot and whoever wins will walk away with £1000, so there is a lot at stake. Looking at the entry list is a who’s who of the UK endurance racing scene, almost all the top racers have entered along with a few fast XC racers so it’s going to be an extremely difficult race.

As the reigning champion and with good form coming into the event I have as good a chance as anyone, I’ve prepared for it as best I can, so if it doesn’t go to plan it is not because of lack of effort. As far as I am aware, no one has successfully defended the men’s solo title in the 5 years the event has run, but I’d like to change that.

In preparation I’ve been doing a weekly night ride which has been great fun, I love riding at night and I’ve been getting faster and faster each week as I get more used to the darkness. I’ve also been doing some seriously hard core muscle workouts which have left me aching for days, but Thetford Forest is extremely punishing on the lower back so I knew that I needed to work on that area of my fitness.

I have an idea of how I’d like the race to go, but I never plan anything because too many things change and I like to be flexible. I’ll have Nia and Ben helping me out and they are going to be working non-stop just trying to work out which riders are where and giving as much info to me as possible, along with feeding me and keeping the bikes running. All I have to do it pedal… but lots of it! Being a flat course means no rest as there are no downhills, I will be pedalling non-stop for 12 hours!

Roll on October 4th, I can’t wait!

I was very happy to qualify for the U23 European Triathlon Champs after my injury. As defending champion I really wanted to do my best to defend my title. But it didn’t work out. From the start I felt flat. I had a very poor swim and it got worse from there. I was really disappointed with this result but I think I know what the problem was. I had to do a lot of hard work going into the race to try and get into shape but I was running out of time and wasn’t able to taper properly for the race and freshen up. This came back to haunt me.

After the Europeans I went home and my good friend Jonny Brownlee came up to sunny Scotland to train. We have had a tough week of training but it has also been great fun. Last weekend we went up Loch Ness to compete in the First Monster Duathlon. This was a team duathlon in which a team of 4 people ran and biked. The team as a whole ran and biked around Loch Ness. I was on the first leg and felt that I ran and biked extremely well. Our team, which contained me, Jonny, Liz McColgan and a local triathlete, finished in a respectable second. It was a fun day out and a good training day.

I am hoping to do the World Duathlon Championships next. When I was younger I competed in dauathlon to a high level and it will be great to return to this.
Cheers
Ritchie