Yep, Alana's sister Barb is an avid tri sport athlete. She runs in the pool alot because there are not a lot of sidewalks on the narrow roads, and she rides some sensational routes around her house. Cote d'Azur on one side, mountains on the other.
It was a bit of a memorial event as Barb recently lost a friend in a car accident. Barb thought that doing something big, fun and with family would be good. We agreed.
Now to the business at hand how to finish the TransRockies 7 day mountain bike race and in 3 weeks swim 1km, ride 100km and run 10km?? My good friend Robb has this expression: "when is the best time to plant and oak tree? 20 years ago. When is the second best time? Right Now!"
We started to run a little the week after the race, we ran in Paris, we ran in Dijon (yes the Mustard Capital of the world), we ran in Grasse, we ran in Opio. 3 days before the race we had run 10.5km pain free, albeit slowly.
We started to swim after getting to Barb's house on week prior. We swam in her pool, we swam at the gorgeous outdoor municipal pool, we swam in Antibes, we swam in Cannes. 2 days before the race we swam 800m pain free.
We biked. We borrowed bikes off of Jen Potts, Barb's friend and past Calgarian. Alana's bike was a bit too big, my bike a bit too small. we adjusted as best we could and got in some spectacular rides last week. I was a little leery about going out on such narrow and twisty roads, however the French drivers are incredibly accomodating to cyclists. They will sit behind you for 4 minutes until there is a good place to pass, even in a 70kph zone going uphill. No honking, no fingers, no bad looks. It is so part of the culture that is evident by the 40 plus riders we saw on our route, Tuesday 10am. This is where people come to ride. The Tour de France came by here in 2009 and I road up the hill that they used in this years Paris Nice race. The names of the pros were still on the road.
Okay to the race. Mass start swim, water temp. 23.4 wetsuit cut off 24. Alana and I were amongst the select few without a wetsuit. Oh well. We let everyone into the water then joined the confusion and anarchy that is tri swimming. I don't really like swimming that close to people but who does. I had to keep calm and just swim. It worked. I was quite comfortable and started to pass people. I caught sight of Barb and moved over a bit.
All of a sudden they person in front of me stops dead and it is like hitting a buoy. Oh what, it was the buoy. I didn't look up, Barb just grazed it and I swam head first in to it. F&*#!ng Buoy.
Out of the swim and a sort of quick change on the bike. I saw Barb in T1 and we were off. Check out the bike profile. Yep 20km long gaining 700m altitude. It was like another day at the TR.
up and down all day long. I was riding my little bike that was very sketchy going down but managed to hold on only losing it in one switch back corner. I made good time on the uphills and just rode a steady tempo. As i passed the $6000 to $10,000 road machines on my old, small, creaky bike, looking like a chehuahua humping a football, all I could hear was The Kids voice : "Ya, ya did". Why is it fun to be the dirt bag??
There is no drafting in this race but as I climbed I would see groups working together or just sitting on a guys wheel. I passed a group of 9 guys and went by each on " drafting, tsk, tsk". A few got mad and blew past me on the flat sections but I reeled them back in and left them on the hill. I was not going to be beat by cheaters!!!!!
The bike was awesome the views outstanding. The last 15 km were downhill to the run in Monaco on the F1 race course. A quick stop in T2 and I was off. I felt okay and knew my legs would come around in time. That might have been the case if I didn't start feeling bonky! I thought there was an aid station just before the downhill but there was not. I did not really have any fuel in the 30 minutes leading to the run. I was okay until the hill we would encounter each lap. I made it to the top but felt like crap. I had a caffeine gel in my hand and did it in. I had to wait until the aid station to wash it down and had to go into survival mode. Once I got some water in me and on my head i cam around and started to pick up the pace. One lap to go and I knew I was going to do it.
Yep across the line in 4:42ish. I did not have to wait long for Alana at 5:20 and Barb at 6:00. A great day for us all. We had a slight route navigation problem the morning of the race but the day was enjoyable for us all.
Barb had the fastest downhill speed at 65.1kph Alana and Barb both got stung by jelly fish and I had to sacrifice a pair of underwear to make a number belt. The last time we did a tri was 8 years ago in Lethbridge with Barb, her husband Brent and Evan. I like these things. Maybe more in the future.
Yep, a full type A with their bike cover.
Alana at bike drop minutes before the start.
Celebrating with real Champagne from Champagne. Great job Team Heise-Neilson!
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