Nathan - TeamGossy.com

After much ummmming and ahhhhing, I have joined a Triathlon Club, here in London - the Ful-On Tri Club, based in the Fulham / Richmond Park Areas.

I went along to their weekly Thursday night session, at the Fulham Pools, and was quite impressed with the setup.

The people were all really nice and accommodating, and the club seems to be very well run, and organised.

Time will tell, but I think I have made a great choice of clubs, both from a convenience point of view (their sessions are quite easy for me to get to) and a personal fit point of view.

Check out their websit for more info: http://www.fulontri.com/

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I am finally back in the pool, to sort out my rubbish stroke, in order to get to a level where I am still relatively assiduous when I exit the swim leg of the upcoming UK Half Ironman.

I am trying my hand at a Swim Technique called “Total Immersion” which, if it does what it says on the box, teaches you to swim efficiently, and doesn’t require much use of the legs at all - PERFECT for Triathlons, especially long course like Half Ironman & Ironman.

Stay tuned to see if I sink, or swim!

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It was going to happen sooner or later…… I set myself the goal of completing at least one Half Ironman triathlon (UK Half Ironman booked and confirmed), and eventually a complete Ironman triathlon. There is no way one can complete one of these gruelling events on a bike setup for road riding. It just won’t work when you get off the bike and try to run! Well…..that’s what I kept telling myself! A Time-Trial bike is required!

But which one? There are so many amazing and impressive TT bikes out there. I started with a proper fit session at Sigma Sport, south west of London. Once that was done, we had some great dimensions to work with. This helped to narrow down the selection, removing all those that will not fit. What did we come up with?

This little baby:

Cervelo P3C

So the search began to find one in my size, to begin the build. Sigma Sport had none. The UK distributor had none, and knew of none in the UK that were not already sold. Bugger! A quick check of when the 2008 model (same, but with new, ugly paint job) will arrive - March. Damn - that’s way too late for a June Half Ironman! What to do?

Let’s go Stateside! A quick search on the Cervelo website gave me a sizeable handful of dealers in the USA. So, a quick few phone calls, and I found a single 51cm Cervelo P3C at Cadence Performance Cycling Center in New York City. Brilliant! “It’s how much?” I ask again? WOW!! That’s a great saving over buying it here in the UK! ……Do you have a set of Zipp 404 wheels in stock? …..”Yes Sir!” WooHaa!! Gimmee a set of them too!

Zipp 404 Wheels

So, a Cervelo P3C with Zipp 404 wheels will be arriving in the next few days! Brilliant! The build will begin at Sigma Sport in the next week or so, once I have decided on the rest of the components of the build. The two areas that are my concern are the Aero Bars and the Saddle. Too much to choose from, and once you have tightened the bolts on the part, it is yours. No returns. Hmmm….. much investigation required!

In a few weeks time, I will be ready to Rock n Roll on the new speed machine! There will no excuses for a rubbish bike split in the triathlons now!

“Go Gossy Go!!”

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A few weeks ago, Kate, Matty and I headed to Sorrento , Italy for a long awaited holiday.

We had such a wonderful time, and really relaxed - something we haven’t managed to do for quite some time. Luckily, we were blessed with beautiful weather for almost the entire trip - on the Saturday, Sorrento experienced a HUGE Thunderstorm, and deluge like we haven’t ever witnessed! The Thunderstorm lasted at least 9 hours! The sheer volume of water was amazing, and unfortunately, managed to enter our hotel’s main entrance and bar/lounge area. The staff were madly running around with towels, mops, and rolled up expensive carpets/rugs.

The best part of the trip was that we had nothing planned. 4.5 days of doing whatever we wanted. So, we decided to spend the first morning just wandering around Sorrento, enjoying some lovely food/drink/gelati. This left the afternoon free to be dedicated to spend beside the pool! With lovely 26deg weather, this was just what the doctor ordered! Matty donned his little swimmers, and lifevest, and splashed away in the water to his heart’s content. Coctail time! Since we were supposed to be relaxing, we felt it necessary to order ourselves a cocktail each: Pina Collada for Kate, Strawberry Daquiri for yours truly, and a Smile for Matty - his first ever cocktail (Yes, it was non-alcoholic! hehe).

One day, we jumped on a ferry, and popped across to the playground of the Rich - Capri. A very cool place - especially if you are into the expensive brands, such as Prada, Armani, etc. After enjoying a lovely stroll around the charming little alleyways, and streets, we headed back to Sorrento - with credit card still intact, and not dented at all!

The highlight of the trip for Kate and I was definitely the hiring of a Vespa, and riding along the Amalfi coast, to Amalfi, and back, stopping along the way in Positano for lunch. What a beautiful part of the world!! Magnifico! Meanwhile, Matty was living it up with a lovely local babysitter, who took him out for icecream with her Italian friends. Matty had a ball!

All in all, the trip was exactly what the doctor ordered! Time out, to relax, and spend some quality time with Kate & Matty.

Molto buona grazi Italia! Thank you very much Italy!

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