Wednesday 26 June 2013

French GP Race 1

Soon after I found out about coming to races overseas I was in contact with a French triathlon team Issy Les Moulineaux. After a few emails I joined their team and will race for them while I am in Europe.

Last Friday I took my first flight into Paris to meet up with the team, that night was the annual Paris Music Festival so I took a short trip into Paris with a few of the athletes to see the sights and have an excellent dinner. I stayed with two other athletes at their house that night as we had to drive to La Rochelle the next morning which was just over 4 hours away.
We arrived in La Rochelle to cold and wet weather but we still managed to fit a ride in before dinner. After a good feed at a local restaurant we headed back to the hotel so the coach could give the team a race brief and have an early night.
Up at 7am for a buffet breakfast with the team and then off to race site which was just across the road to put our gear in transition. Our race was not until 10:30am so we headed back to the room to relax before heading back to race at 9:30 for a warm up.

It was now 10:20am, warm up done and waiting with the team up on the boardwalk ready to be called down to the pontoon. Issy had 10th pick on the start and with at least 5 athletes per team the pontoon was very congested. We picked right in the middle to ensure shortest line to first buoy which was under 200m away that narrowed underneath a bridge. The buzzer was off, no warning but luck I was ready and had a very clean dive. I put everything into that first 200m and found myself in clear water placed about 5th. After reaching the U-Turn buoy my arms felt like they were dead and I started losing some places. Came out of the water in the front half of the second pack, the lead group consisted of 6 or 7 athletes including world class French triathlete Laurent Vidal. We only had a gap of around 30sec after lap 1 but the gap increased each lap as the pack was not working strong enough to catch them. I sat in most of the ride and tried to avoid any crashes as it was a group if 20 or so athletes on a slightly technical course. I came off the bike placed about 10th in the group and about 1min behind the leaders. Quick transition and I was off onto the run feeling good. The first km was crazy but it wasn't long until I started passing other athletes. The run course had a lot at turns and one stretch was extremely windy but still managed to run myself into 12th position and 1st Junior.

Happy with my first French Grand Prix race, was a very good experience and can't wait for the next one. Issy Triathlon is an excellent team, the athletes and Coach are great, very helpful (a few also know a fair bit on English too). They made my weekend very enjoyable and I look forward to racing for them again. Now back in Vitoria-Gastiez for a week's training then I'm off to San Sebastian for a local race

Friday 14 June 2013

ITU European Cup Cremona, Italy

After my crash last weekend I was keen to get back racing and couldn't think of a better place to go than Cremona, Italy. This was my first major race in Europe and with 83 elite men on the start list, it looked to be a tough race. Travelled to Italy alongside Tamsyn Moana-Veale (from my training group) on Friday morning with a short stop over at Frankfurt. We arrived late Friday evening, for some dinner and off to bed. Saturday consisted of some pre-race training, seeing the sights and race brief in the evening. Race start for the men was 12:25 Sunday afternoon. This was the first race which has two separate transitions. Had to put the shoes in at T2 at 7:30am and rego/T1 opening wasn't until 11am at the race start which was a 15min ride from the apartments. Arrived just before 11 to register, rack bike and warm up. Just before the start we lined up and it was officially announced there was 75 starters, I don't even know if the pontoon fits that many athletes.

Each athlete was called down in order of their number, I was ranked 27th. Ran down to the pontoon after being introduced and decided to start on the left as there was only a few athletes. Everyone was now lined up and ready for the start. After a minutes silence for a soldiers death in Afghanistan the race was off. Had a clean dive in the water and the fight was on, others were swimming ontop of me, grabbing me feet, elbows, legs, I copped a bit of a beating but wasn't long until I found some cleat water. After about 150-200m of swimming, athletes just stopped swimming and yelling out stop, I looked up and the boat was in front telling us we had false started, that's just great! Everyone started swimming back ready for 2nd attempt, when I got a bit closer I notice about 30 athletes were still on the pontoon. Climbed back up and ready for race start, only took a couple of minutes and we were underway again. Very similar start a lot of getting bashed except this time I could not find clear water and struggled until I found myself out the back by the first buoy and was hurting, couldn't find any rhythm and knew my position was not good. It felt like I put everything into the swim but found myself coming into T1 towards the back of the field and just missing a big pack ahead of me. Had 3 other athletes to ride with but after a lap it came down to only 2 others as one couldn't keep up the pace. Didn't feel very comfortable on the bike, think it may have been only doing one ride this week and also being on a different bike because of what happened last week. Came off the bike and with a very quick and smooth T2 I was out onto the run. Felt ok on the first lap of the run, by the end of first lap I could see a couple of groups from bike pack that got off over a minute ahead. Lap 2 I was starting to pass some athletes and gaining a couple of extra positions. Although the back half of the 2nd lap my shoulders started to get really tight and I felt a little fatigued and started to slow up. I shook it off pretty quickly and started picking off more athletes. By the finish I had gained several extra places but was still a long way back thanks to my poor swim at the start.

Finished a bit disappointed 58th in my first ITU European Cup, the race started bad and was very hard to recover. I now have 2 weeks training and on the 23rd of June I will compete in my first French Grand Prix race. Very keen for a good result there, very lucky to be apart of an awesome team Issy Triathlon who I will race for the first time that weekend.

Monday 3 June 2013

Arrived in Europe

Earlier this week I took the long journey from Sydney to Vitoria-Gasteiz, Alava. Left last Sunday night and had a very smooth trip to arrive at my apartment in Vitoria just after 9pm the following night. The first thing I noticed is how late the sun goes down, it was still light when I arrived. Settled into training early the next morning and lucky I did not feel any effects from my travels.
Needed to settle in quickly as I had race that weekend in Ondarroa, Spain with another aussie, Nick Kastelein, who is staying at the same place. On Friday we left Vitoria to travel to Biarritz, France to see some sights and stay the night before the race on Saturday. Biarritz was very nice but the weather was extremely cold and windy, would like to go back when the weather warms up. We left Biarritz around lunch to drive to Ondarroa for a 3:45pm race start. The race was Olympic distance starting at a fishing harbour and the ride followed the coast until coming back inland, through the hills and the run was 3 laps around the harbour. The water temp was 13 degrees Celsius so was definitely not getting in for a swim warm up. With over 450 males lined up on the beach ready to race, I was keen to get my European race season underway. 

With a little sneaky help from one of the local race officials he pointed Nick and I to the best position for the swim start. The race was on and after a 30m run down the beach I hit the icy cold water of Ondarroa which was a big shock. After 30 sec I was in clear water and already had a gap on the field with Kastelein sitting on my feet. The water was cold but didn't bother me too much as I was feeling great swimming and continued to put seconds into the rest of the field. Come out of the water first along with Kastelein just behind. When I got up on the bridge I could see we had about a 30sec gap on 3rd and a huge gap on the next bunch. Smooth T1 and started the climb out of transition. It wasn't until after 5min of climbing I came across a flat section to put my feet in my shoes, right foot in no dramas, as I attempted to put my left foot in the shoe somehow unclipped went into the spokes of my front wheel and jammed into the forks throwing me over the handlebars. I got up un-injured but I picked my bike up and the front wheel was only just hanging on by a couple of fibers of the fork. The shoe had clean cut the fork in half and that was my race over. Couldn't believe it and could not believe how it actually happened, I was so angry considering I led out of the water and had just finished a big cycling block before coming over, the bike would have probably been my strongest leg. The ambulance came to pick me up and the bike was brought down by one of the motorcycles. No injuries, just a couple of bruises and a broken bike.

Big thanks to the ambulance officers and race officials for their help and getting me back down the mountain. I have my second race for the trip at Cremona, Italy this weekend so main focus is getting my bike sorted and coming back strong over there.