Doing a Triathlon using a unicycle
- 25 Aug 2011
On Sunday, 21st August 2011, I did the Stockon Sprint Triathlon. This was a 750m river swim, 20k cycle and 5k run. Of course I chose to do the cycle using my 36" geared unicycle.
I had not announced to the organisers that I would be riding a unicycle, I just rocked up with it and racked it with the 239 other bikes in my race.
I am not the best of open water swimmers but am competent. Even with me weaving left and right on the course I came out of the water in 17th place only 1 minute behind the fastest.
The cycle was fun, I definately got the biggest cheer as I went by the large crowd. I will not say that I beat lots of bikes, I did not, I only over took 8 bikes. I suffered a lot in the blustery wind and I completed it in a time of 53minutes and in 127th place. My speeds for the race were interesting; I cruised at just over 20mph and got a top speed of 24.8mph.
I had decided that I was not going to do the run as I had been having hip and knee problems. Although as I came in to the transition I had my friend Keith shouting at me to hurry up, this was the quick transition as I didn't have to change my shoes.
So I plodded out of the transition area thinking, well I could walk it if I had to. I then noticed that everyone was going really slow... I jogged along next to a guy for a bit, he then stopped! So I told him that if I ran, he certainly must do too! So we plodded on and I got more confident as I got less pain, eventually leaving that guy and turning in a reasonable time in the end and coming in in 57th place.
I eventually finished in 19th place in my catagory and 63rd overall. Not bad I think for my first Triathlon.