Race 7. Laval Triathlon 31 May 2009

After having a less than pleasant cycling experience the week before, the sight of the name Jose Jeuland on the start list, scared me almost as much as his enormously aerodynamic equipment. Enormous is probably not the best choice of word, as he is not some massive giant, but crap can he ride. A 4th place at ironman Nice with the 3rd fastest bike time is one of many results I could use as a weak excuse to attempt to explain the hammering he gave me on the bike. He was a big feature of the race last year (winning no less) so my fears were not unfounded. In the swim I stayed with Max Toin, for about 1km of swim circuit, then swam off on my own, hitting a massive boat, and cut my hand. I had not swam off in front, but rather to the side of Max, thinking I was the brainiest person in all the world by using the current, only to find a massive boat hull, which might as well have had ‘you’re a dickhead’ spray painted on it, blocking my way. I spent the remainder of the swim fruitlessly attempting to get back to Max, and left the water 13 seconds behind him. I had watched the Cesson girls, Claire, Charlotte and Alexandra, in the sprint race that morning and saw many riders get on their bikes on the gravel exit of the transition. It was a little sketchy, but no one crashed (I think!) and it sure beat running 200m over the rocks, so in the race, thinking I was again very smart, I did the same. I had told Max of this cleaver advantage and as we approached the road we were presented with a lovely stop and go penalty. On the first major climb I lost Max so spent the remainder of the bike leg alone (I was almost joined momentarily by some dickhead coming the other way, who cut the course and managed to haphazardly steer his bike head on between the lead motorbike and me, where was his stop and go penalty??). At halfway you follow the course back into the heart of Laval, turn at transition and commence the second lap, giving you, your only real chance to see where everyone is. I saw Max and a guy from Gonfreville tri team in 2nd and 3rd, a few others a little later then Jose with Nicholas Tharreau a fair while back. I was estimating the gap at around 2 minutes, or perhaps more so rode the second lap thinking ‘huh, not this year jose, I am the best bike rider in all the world’. Well, those lofty visions of grandeur were all in my dreams, as I put my bike in my transition place just 15 seconds ahead of a Max and with Jose just behind that!!! Eeeek. On the run I was getting all kinds of time splits that Jose was gaining fast, gaining slow, just behind me or he was knitting a nice wool jumper. I could see him at some points but couldn’t be sure it was him or a lapped runner and I didn’t want to spend too much energy running like a emu with my head turned right around. It was not until the third and final lap that I was given the news he was a bit more than a minute behind, which was great as my legs were feeling as fresh as the baguette I had left to cook on the bus dashboard. In the wash up, I was first, Jose second and Max third. For our team Nicho Leroy claimed 11th, Jerome Louapre 12th and Manu Ripoche 56th, which was enough to get a podium by team…..yipppppy. Please note that at no time did Alexandra put her feet on the ground.