Some maths...

Please don't run away. Not just yet, anyway.

I've been crunching some numbers regarding the Ilkley bike leg. Now, it's fairly well established that the circuit comprises three fairly distinct sections. I usually call them "the flat bit", "the up bit" and "the down bit", but let's call them M1, M2 and M3.

What I've been looking at is what speeds are required for each section, in order to make a certain time for the bike leg. This is what I came up with:

M1: 20mph
M2: 11 mph
M3: 25 mph

That gives roughly 32mins 30secs, add 2mins 30secs for two transitions, and magically we arrive at the 35mins mark. Which, coincidentally (not coincidentally) is what my target time for the bike leg is.

Looking at those speeds, M1 and M3 seem pretty easy (especially now we've had a "levelling" of bike speeds), leaving M2 as the only tricky spot. Which, seeing as it's the hill, is the case anyway. It's very clear to me that this is the part of the course where the time is gained or lost, so it's tremendously important that we do a whole bunch of hill training. Hooray! *sigh*