Race 9 Triathlon de L’Aiguillon Sur Mer (sprint) 15th July 2007

I am just going to come right out and say it. I did not have a good race here. It started out fine, nice sunny day, no wetsuit swim and good car park (rare in France). But that was about it. I found that although many people had told me it was no drafting for the race it was in fact drafting. It was not only me with the wrong information, there were a lot of guys at the entrance to the transition taking off their super long tri bars to make their bikes draft legal. The transition area was big enough for 200 bikes but with around 300 in the race, space was of a premium. Well all was going great for me in the swim. I started on the left, sort of alone and met the main bunch at the first buoy. I went around that with Tom next to me then moved through a few guys who were slowing down. I turned the second buoy in third and then passed the two leaders on the way back to shore. I wanted the pace to be fairly quick so not to have too many people in the bunch on the bike. The course for the bike was 5, 4km laps of a fairly technical circuit, so a small group would be good. I ran to my bike first rushed a bit too much, tore my number off its belt as I tried to slip it on and left the rack with my helmet not fully clipped on. As I ran towards the Arbitre I knew it was not good and then the whistle. I stopped and fumbled again with the stupid little clip, while my bike slid down my leg and on to the ground. A few guys ran passed me as I tried to pick up my bike while not knocking others, all adding to the panic. I got out of the transition in fourth and took off fast as I could. Yohan Vincent from Les Sable Vendee tri team, the race favorite, was up the front pushing the pace with Maxime Hillairet and Julien Leroy, both from Saint Jean de Monts. I went as hard as I could and slowly started to close the gap. When I was nearly there, I turned around to see how far the others were now behind after my display of strength. How far were they? 30 centimeters. About six were right on my wheel! I had gone flat out, breath gaspingly hard and these guys looked like they were able to sip a coffee and take some happy snaps. Bugger. The small lead bunch I wanted, ended up being about ten guys, and I was stuffed, so what did I do? I attacked. Why? I have no idea. 200m up the road with my legs feeling like a half eaten sandwich (not a honey sandwich, their pretty nice) I questioned my tactic. I was caught within 1km of my effort and nearly spat out the back of the bunch as counter attacks were made. Somehow the bunch all returned to the end of the first lap like a nice ensemble. I managed to sort of get my breath back, slip on my sunnies, and turn to see Tom wearing his massive Oakley M frames all the way from the future of 1985. Veeeerrry nice. It was at that point we hit the lapped riders. Chaos. The race circuit used both sides of the road meaning packs of riders passing other packs of riders. With only 4km each lap there was a lot of passing. And just if it was not bad enough, some Einstein had popped a whole lot of witch’s hats in the middle of the road, in case we got confused as to where that was. On one lap Jerome Joussemet hit a cone, as he had nowhere else to go, and it shot back into the bunch. It was super dangerous (I saw 3 crashes and heard another). All the dodging of cones and of lapped riders was starting to worry me. I tried to break away again but was too tired to do enough and resided in the fact that I would not get away today. It was actually so confusing at points that (as Tom agreed later) sometimes lapped riders would be caught in the lead bunch and you would follow their wheel until you looked up and saw the pack riding away. You then had to sprint around them to get back on a real wheel. After 3 laps I was not sure who was in the lead bunch and who were lapped riders. The lapped guys would stay there for a km or so, just enough to get in the way and then get dropped on a tight corner or with a pace change. On lap 4 I looked up the road to see a few guys trying to break away. There were two or three and a few more shot across. No big worries, but I was not aware Nicholas Tharreau had not only caught us but had ridden through the bunch and broken away. Worse still he had taken Yohan and a few Saint Jean de Monts guys along with him. That group was now strong. I tried to bridge the gap, got a little of the way there but was just dragging all the others so backed off. The Saint Jean de Monts guys were riding perfectly as a team. With guys in the break they were blocking our bunch, slowing the pace and covering anyone trying to bridge the gap. I was too tired to go it alone and no one else seemed keen to put in the work to bridge the gap, so we stayed behind for the rest of the bike leg. I came into transition not too happy, knowing there were about 6 guys 30 or so seconds in front. I may have run in the transition first out of our group but had a shocker in the cramped bike rack and ran out mid pack. It was sunny and I wanted my cap but with all the bikes in the rack I couldn’t actually reach it. Someone’s bike was on my shoes and I think at one stage I may have been cuddling Tom, I don’t know, it was pretty tight! I had a pretty crap run passed some guys got passed by a few guys and by 4 km found myself in 5th. Boyd Conrick was tantalizingly close in front of me in 4th but I didn’t care. I was tired and annoyed how the race had gone, I wasn’t running well and I was not close to getting on the podium. With the line in sight I turned to see if anyone was going to take my precious 5th position and with only seeing lapped runners slowed to cross the line. Total dickhead!!! One of the ‘lapped runners’ was a young guy that sprinted passed me and clamed the 100 Euro for 5th, a fitting way to end the story. Oh but what happened in the race race, well Yohan ran away and won, Nicholas was second, Tom ran through the field to get third and nearly second, Boyd was 4th, and all the Saint Jean de Monts guys in the break were caught on the second lap of the run.

Race 8 Triathlon De Saint Nazaire 8th July 2007 (750m/ 20km/ 5km)

Not knowing where the race site was, not booking any accommodation and renting a Renault Kangoo (one of the ugliest cars on the road) were some of the factors that determined our sleeping arrangements before this race. After arriving in Saint Nazaire in the dark and reading race signs and bus route maps in the rain, Ella and I finally found the race sight. Soon after moving some barriers and sneaking our Kangoo into the race area we were caught by Said Moulai (the race organizer, and Father of Tony Moulai, who’s photo was on all the race signs as he had won the last few years). Said was happy to see us as I guess he was expecting thieves or vandals at that time of night. He told me some stuff about the race and that we could not stay where we were so off we went again. A little longer searching brought us to a car park close to race sight and we set about converting the car into the Hilton. For some crazy reason the design of the Kangoo allows a person to almost stand up while inside but not lay down! This excessive headroom is of little benefit or comfort while sleeping, but enough of that on to the race. The day of the race was warm and rain free. The two lap “australie”swim (called that because of the run out of the water between laps) was timed to start when the tide was slack, as the current is so strong people may start and never return. Even at slack tide the current was incredible, as anyone who took a direct line to the first buoy could have found themselves well off course and with an enormous task to swim into the current just to round a buoy. Just for fun there was a false start. I was happy about that as I copped a punch in the eye and my goggles were all over my face. Start 2 was better for me, I got some clear water and headed way left of the direct line to the buoy. It paid off as the current brought me nicely to the buoy like a perfectly weighted putt in golf (yes you can picture it cant you). Now what would have been good was if I had have applied the same principal to the second buoy. I didn’t, and like a brainless piece of seaweed I was soon whisked well off the mark and out to sea. Well it felt like that. It was a battle to get to the second buoy and I was glad to finally get to it. After lap one I was second 15 seconds behind Adam and after lap two I exited the water still in second 30 seconds behind Adam, with 3rd and 4th over 40seconds behind me. The current had really scattered the field in the swim. It was a two lap bike course and it took me the majority of the first lap to catch Adam. I pushed hard on the second lap and came into transition with about a 1:50 lead on Adam and over 3 minutes to the guys in 3rd and 4th. The first 1km of the race takes you over the beach and through some deep sand then up a whole lot of stairs. Not the best way to get the legs going. After that demanding section I was joined by a lead bike who traveled with me the rest of the way. Where was he on the beach huh?? I crossed the finish line with my arm raised in the air, not because I’m cool but because I had seen all the pictures of Tony Moulai doing just that so figured I better keep with tradition. After that it was time to go back to the Kangoo/Hilton for a shower and lay down. That’s a joke of course. . . . . I wouldn’t have a shower.

Result from race 8 – 1st

Lesson learned – False starts help fix goggles.

Race 7 19eme Triathlon International Le Mans (1st July 2007) 1500m/40km/10km

Now before you read on about the gripping events of this race I just want to state that I did this race far from feeling good. I am not making any excuses but the night before I had a little too much to drink and coupled that with about 3 hours sleep. It was all fun at the time (a party for a few girls in the club) but as I laid in the front of the bus, with one hour before the race start, and my guts churning, I was questioning my party decisions. I was hoping that no one would turn up to this race. I was number 1, but I soon found out that 2 was Xavier Le Floch (French long course champ), 3 was Stephan Bignet (Olympian), and there were a heap of guys from the Saint Avertin team all there. Great. I felt good to be in the water and had a pretty good swim start and as the field found their places settled in behind Boyd Conrick and Gareth Bannon (two Aussies from St Avertin). I stayed here for the rest of the swim, and we got out of the water 3rd, 4th and 5th about 30 seconds behind Adam Beckworth and Bignet. I rushed through transition and went hard out on the bike to catch the two swimmers. I got passed Adam but couldn’t see Bignet. And then (and you may smirk) I went the wrong way. I got to an intersection with a guy standing to one side and he looked to be pointing for me to go straight ahead. I went straight ahead and he just watched. The road soon became skinnier then turned to gravel and at around the same time I heard Boyd (who had just made the same mistake) yelling for me to turn around. I made a little u turn and rode my way back to the course, thanking my mute official friend on the way (on the second lap he was standing in the middle of the road). It was a non drafting race but I soon found that I was now in about 7th behind a pack of guys. I had probably only lost 30 seconds but it was enough to put me back in the field. I caught and passed them again and tried to go on alone but turned to find them still with me. They were not blatantly drafting but getting enough to stay with me. I could feel in my legs that I did not have the strength to get away. I decided to save what little energy I had left for the run and rode controlled with them for the rest of the bike leg, keeping well back as a few had been carded for drafting. 5 of us entered the second transition way WAY behind Bignet. He had rode about 2 minutes faster than us and had pretty much won the race there and then. All the guys took off for the first one kilometer much faster than I wanted to go (actually the way I felt walking was exceeding the limit at that point, but I digress), but after that started to slow so I just maintained the same pace and by two or three kilometers completed found myself alone comfortably in second. I actually had the thought of running really fast to try catch the leader, but two factors made me change my mind. 1- I felt pretty crap when I went too much harder, and 2- at the u-turn I saw just how far he was in front. I would have to run as fast as a car to get to him. My decision to hold back on the bike may have cost me the chance to win the race or it may have saved me enough energy to get second, who knows. I finished the race second and got the fastest run time, and a spiffy trophy to boot. Adam out sprinted Bignet out of the water and got himself an . . . .interesting trophy. Stephan Bignet could have got fastest in all legs but certainly deserved the fastest bike trophy.

Result from race 7- second + running man trophy Lesson learned – Pretty easy to work that out!!