Race 5 2008. Triathlon Dinan

The triathlon of Dinan takes place in the old wallled city of Dinan (funny about that) about 50km North of Rennes. Well thats not entirly true. The Dinan triathlon actually takes place in the village of Taden,.... close to Dinan, but miles away if you are lost and late for a race. It was actually quite a unique little race. There were two transition areas, one for swim to bike near the river and a second for bike to run about one killometer away up the hill and next to an old castle thing. It was very pretty with the finish line actually in the courtyard of the prehistoric structure.

This was my first Olympic distance race for the season, and I had the first round of the Grand prix circut the next weekend, so I went into the race thinking I would take it fairly easy. Gun goes off and I swim, ride and run at 100%, Smart. Well not entirly true. I got out of the swim with a few other guys, but 40 seconds behind some dude that had hammered us in the swim. I rode behind the other guys for some time then thinking I could push a little more took up the pace and made some inroads to the lone leader. Midway through the second of 3 laps, I was 10 seconds behind the leader, with Mathieu Gaudin of my team just behind me, when I caught sight of Laurent Levezu, also of Cesson, catching us rapidly from behind and hoping to join the fluro party. He caught us quick and asked if this was the head of the race. I showed him our leader (in a blue suit!! get with the yellow trend pal) and he took off in chase. Mathieu went with him. I hung back for a while hoping my legs would feel a little better, as sometimes when we think of riding and someone goes "oh if they go faster, just go with them" it sounds very simple, but the reality is my legs felt crap, sore and tired and the contemplation of just going faster was likened to pushing a rusty nail down the end of my di.. kick is what Laurent did to try drop Mathieu and I. Sensing that Laurent was getting away and with it taking the race win I reluctantly upped the pace. By the end of the bike leg Laurent and I were the only ones left on the front with Mathieu just 20 seconds adrift in third.

I got away in the transition and ran out in first. Two laps up a 1km climb made the 10km run solid in its own right but with the unseasonal hot sun it made the whole show pretty tough. I missed the first wet sponge statin as the girl delivering the wet goodies decided this was an oppertune time to brush up on her shot put skills and unleashed an attempt at the world record passed my left ear. I thought it may have been curtains if there was no other aid station but I was happy to see anoter just some 300m after where the next sponge doner used the prefered give the sponge to the athlete approach. (not thet I was the athlete at the speed I was running at that point but you can understand the principals). I tried to exicute some of my dont go 100% tactic, throughout the remainder of the run, but as you are staggering up a long dragging hill in the blistering sun its a little easier said than done. My one resipte was passing my bring your own cheer squad (Ella, Karen and Alexie) each lap where I was fortunate enough to be encouraged with crys of "Kristian is a premiture ejaculator" or "Kristian has a small penis". Thankfully I was runnig close to other lapped compeditors at the time so I could pass them and say go Kristian, removing the shameful pressure from myself.

I crossed the line first with Laurent second and Mathieu third. The Cesson girls went one two three also, causing the podium to be very dangerous for those watching without the safty of strong tinted sunglasses.

1st Me 2:oo'00 (you think they would give me one second!!)

2nd Laurent Le Vezu 2:01'36

3rd Mathieu Gaudin 2:03'03

4th Cyrile Neveu 2:04'12

5th Ludovic Martin 2:04'44

Race 4 2008. Saint Gilles Croix de vie

Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous. I was scared on the first of the five laps of the bike course. This was a race I wanted to win just because the name sounds cool 'sont giles cwar der vee', say it fast a few times. Oh well I like it anyway. Now the race is in the small town of St gilles, on the Vendee coast. The course was all in the center of the town, and on the beach. Swim in the sea, five 4km laps on the bike and most of the run in the sand of the beach. One hour before race start the rain arrived and turned the pretty technical bike course into a slippery slide. Ok so my race started like this. I picked the wrong side of the start line, fought the current and went too anaerobic, did some backstroke, regained my composure swam back to the front guys, turned the last buoy with them, got a little wave near the beach and ran out the water third. Quick transition and I was off on the bike alone and in the lead. How the hell did that happen. The race had allot of guys from the Vendee teams of Saint Jean de Monts and Les sables and I was sure the pack on the bike would end up being big and dangerous. I rode as hard and careful as I could, which was comparative to an injured snail, I soon found as Laurent Suppi passed me on the inside on a corner I thought was surely smeared with vaseline. Speaking of which the new Aussie import for the Saint Jean de Monts team (Adam) managed to get vaseline used to get his wetsuit off quickly all inside his goggles, with no vision in the water he lost the course and any hope of winning the race. Back to Laurent and his death wish. Yes he caught me quick, giving me no option but to follow and corner at stupid speeds. Two guys had crossed the gap with him, Nicholas Tardieu and Sylvan Le Bris, making our bunch four. It was a great number, not too dangerous size wise but enough to push the pace. I was little help for the first lap and little better for the second. In two laps we had gained about 50 seconds, and Laurent took the pressure off. I was so happy, and my fear subsided. Nicholas said to e after the race he felt the same, choosing skin over time, but unwilling to back off at the same time. All of us had our wheels slip out at least once during the course but we never crashed. Laurent went missing for one lap and later told me he had to drop back as had no control over his rear wheel, thinking he may have gone through oil. We approached the last transition together and ran down the slippery little ramp to the beach promonard them alongside the transition area on tiles that felt as slippery as ice. I had to laugh as we were seriously going at walking pace and still slipping. We entered the transition (which was on sand) and I saw two more Les Sables guys just entering the slippery ramp. One was Nicholas Tharreau, who I know can run really fast. They had missed the break and ridden together the whole way, just off the back. Seeing this gave me all the more urgency and I sped out of the transition and headed for the beach, just behind Laurent who must have been in the same mindset. For the whole run I was not super comfortable as I had at least 3 guys chasing me and in the deep sand felt as if I was going nowhere fast. It was almost like one of those dreams where you are trying to run fast but are just slipping. Or is it just me that has that dream?? I Felt better running off the beach and tried to make gains on the lead Laurent had established but as soon as the course lead to the deep sands, it was all about preservation. I finished the race in second, glad to be off the bike in one piece and out of the dunes.

1st Laurent Suppi 1:11'05

2nd Me 1:11'19

3rd Nicholas Tardieu 1:11'31 4th Nicholas Tharreau 1:11'41 5th Sylvan Le Bris 1:12' 24

Race 3 2008. Rennes sprint triathlon

Although I have lived in Rennes for the past two seasons, this year was the first time i had competed in the Rennes triathlon. I had a pretty good swim, got away on the bike and did the rest of the bike alone. It is a fairly technical course so in some ways I was glad to be alone, but with the thought of people grouping together behind and catching me near the end of the 20 km, I was also apprehensive to put 100% into the bike leg. I jumped off my bike, ran in to transition found my spot and slipped on my shoes, grabbed my number belt (to avoid the arbiters whistle) and ran out just as the chase pack arrived. Good, I figured I had at least 30 or 40 seconds. I was able to run easy for the 5 km run, but stupidly didnt, choosing to push hard and make the whole experience unpleasant. The commentator, Jean Michael followed me most of the circuit, calling out exactly what I was doing, fixing my cap, commenting on my new ultra bad hair hair cut, and weather or not I took a drink. I was glad my Cesson suit was not too tight around the groin, requiring some discrete adjustments!

Race 2 2008 Triathlon de Plougonvelin

All I need to say about this was the water was 12 Degrees!! Now you may say "oh thats cold" just as I did before trying to get my head in, but cold is not the word. I simply could not put my head under for the whole 47 second warmup time. It was shear pain, and I was not alone. Once the gun had fired and we all ran into the water for the actual race pain was forgotten, but my hands and feet still were not functioning too well. I had a pretty crap start, then got my act together and finally got out the water in the lead with about 20 seconds lead over Xavier Le Floch and Laurent Suppi. I rode as hard as I could on the hills and open flat sections of the course but the two of them, caught and passed me on the technical and dangerous section at the end of the first 10km loop. Suppi actually yelled yeee-harrrr as he flew past. I didnt want to go with him as he knew the way and was really pushing it into the corners. Xavier was a little more cautious and we both lost time. Same section of the course on the second and last lap I was joined by Nicholas Martin. We entered transition and exited together about 15 seconds behind Le Floch and about 50 seconds behind Laurent. The run was not what I would class as a fun experience. If the road was not going straight up it was going straight down. For most of the 5km I could see Xavier just ahead, and knew Nicholas was just behind, but could do little about either situation. I felt like I was crawling up the steep hills, giving spectators enough time to cheer, have a break, quick refreshment, power nap, and then cheer some more. The four of us all ran about the same times and finished in about the same staggered formation that we left the last transition area. 1st Laurent Suppi. 58:38 2nd Xavier Le Floch. 59:04 3rd Me. 59:22 4th Nichola Martin. 59:29

Race 1 2008 Cesson Sevigne

To set the scene for this race we must cast our minds back to my first French race of my first French season. It was here in Cesson that I was beaten and drowned in the swim, nearly suffered frost bite and finished, not under the finish arch, but in hospital getting stitches in my chin, after crashing my new bike in a desperate attempt to catch the guys who had earlier left me behind. Ahhh, fond memories. This year Raph (our team manager) told me they had changed the course just for me. Not true, but sounds nice. It indeed was a different course on the bike, where it seemed they found the only real sort of hill in Cesson Sevigne, then mathematically determined a route that would keep all competitors on it for the maximal time. For a flat town it was a hilly circuit. Well this year I started the swim on the extreme right of the course (as apposed to two years ago where I placed myself in the middle, did one stroke at the start then felt every competitor behind me grab and push me under, while rearranging my goggles into a temporary suffocating device) and got a quick clean start. I stayed relatively fight free for the remainder of the swim, got out third and ran for my bike. It all went very smooth again, as my wetsuit came off trouble free, helmet went on without issue and before I new it I was running out of transition in the lead. On the bike I was joined by some familiar faces that eventually made up a lead pack of 8. This number dropped to 7 at the end of the first lap when we lost Julien Leroy (who everyone in Australia would remember as ‘Frenchie’) in a crash on the most dangerous corner of the course. Not long into the second lap we were joined by two guys who I am sure were riding motorbikes when we weren’t looking (Laurent Suppi and Antoine Le Soz). Not great for anyone in the lead group as these two were without question the better runners of the group. It should also be noted they were the best riders of the day as they bridged a 45 second gap without bringing the 15 strong second pack with them, and got the fastest ride times for the day. Now to facilitate the story a little I will refer to the dangerous corner as ‘Juliens corner’ or ‘JC’. 400 meters before ‘Juliens corner’ Laurent surged off the front and in the final 50 meters of the decent before ‘JC’ (where it preferable to apply the brakes), Antoine did the same. It was Laurent who first began to crash then managed to somehow remount in mid air and find a way through the barriers on two wheels. Seconds later he was passed by Antoine, who gained the lead for half a second then span out, hit the ground hard, and completed a spectacular ninja turtle roll maneuver, that exfoliated much of his left sholder, hip and leg. I went around next, passed Laurent fishing for his pedals and said holy shit that was close. The seven remaining riders made it to transition without further drama. I entered the last transition third and ran out seventh, thanks to my inability to complete the simple task of putting your left foot in your LEFT shoe! The run was a bit of a demonstration by Suppi who scored an easy 26 second victory from me with Laurent’s Les Sables Vendee team mate, Nicholas Tardieu snatching third, just 14 seconds behind me.