Tuesday 11 November 2014

Challenge Forster... And how to make friends with strangers

One of the things I love most about triathlon is how it brings complete strangers together solely on the basis that we like to do three sports on one day dressed in the same piece of lycra. There will be no awkwardness; rather you will indulge in hours of non-stop chatter about training, racing and where to get the best post-ride coffee (note: in Forster this is Tartt).

Stepping off the plane in Sydney I was greeted by Pete, who was a complete stranger for all of a minute, until he asked what was in my bike bag (cue the beginning of non-stop tri talk). This was handy as we were soon confined in his car for the four hour road trip to Forster. He tried very hard to unlock the secret of racing professionally - or even just racing fast. I did give him my two best tips:
1. Spend A LOT of time sitting around in cafés in lycra drinking good coffee
2. Always have a flat phone on you - the sign of some hard core instagramming (a must). 
I hope these tips help his future racing.

I soon discovered Pete was a man of many talents - taxi driver, entertainer, bird rescuer, IT guru, tour guide extraordinaire, cyclist, triathlete, beer conniseur and owner of "Pete's Hotel", aka his apartment, with the best view of Sydney.
Pete had kindly volunteered to drive me to Forster to deliver me to my homestay.

Wayne and Vanda had opened up their home to both me and Lachie, an Aussie pro. I was lucky enough to spend race week doing a little riding and swimming with the local training groups, eating the amazing food Vanda was whipping up, and drinking some awesome coffee (see tip 1).




Race morning rolled around soon enough, and before I knew it I was wetsuited up and eagerly waiting for the swim start.
The swim was uneventful, with me sitting on the feet of Julia Grant for most of it.
Out on to the bike course Julia soon opened up a bit of a gap - as much as I tried to go with her, my legs felt a little heavy and incapable of producing the power I know was in them. This lasted for 40min before I began to find a good riding rhythm.  It always seems to take me a while to really get in to the bike.  I like to call this Post Swim Trauma Disorder. I am also currently seeking some kind of support group for this.
By then I was about 2km off the paceline the other girls had formed, so settled in for a solo effort over the 90km course, Some good undulation and headwind kept the legs working until riding in to T2 in town.

The run was a 2 1\2 lap run. I LOVE lapped runs. Not only is it easy to see how much ground you are making up, I am also a little OCD about consistency, so it keeps my run solid for the entire race. I soon caught and passed Julia and Michelle. Knowing third place had quite a lead I then settled in to a comfortable pace to finish.

Crossing the finish line, I was stoked to see both Wayne and Vanda volunteering in the finish area (I think they were working harder than I had worked all day).  Wayne was conveniently in the beer tent (on a side note, there happened to be a discrepancy of beers and competitors.....).

Overall I am happy with a solid race performance off the back of some big mileage in preparation for Ironman WA.

I want to say a huge thank you to Wayne and Vanda, and to Pete, who all opened up their homes to me and made sure I had everything I could possibly need.  They definitely made this trip feel more awesome than just a trip overseas to race.
A big thank you to Forster Cycles as well for their help before the race - the team there were fantastic.
Also to Bob's Bikes for keeping the Trek running so sweet, to Shoe Clinic Hamilton and Asics, and to the team at Elite Energy for putting on an awesome race in such a beautiful location. I will definitely be back next year!