Hi Everyone

Just thought I would give you an update on my trip to the 2010 Triathlon World’s. The experience was quite fantastic, humbling and a great learning experience.

The Race!

Swim – 14 degree water was the coldest I have ever swum in so not easy to get going. There was a pack of great swimmers that I stuck with and man were they aggressive in the pack; often climbing right on my back. This made the swim very difficult and tiring to constantly be fighting for the line. However, in the end it was my best time of the year coming in at just over 19 minutes and I didn’t kill myself. I was in a small pack who were first out of the water. A bit humbled, cold but not exhausted. So far so good.

Transition 1 – Given the number of participants, 2 000+, the transition area covers several acres and had become a field of mud given the huge amount of rainfall over the past 4 days. Pushing your bike out of it was brutal.

Bike. The course was a 3 x 13.3 lap course on the parkway along the Danube River. The road was a little rough, but very flat, so I was able to hold approximately 40km/h at 240 laps for most of the race. This brought me in just under an hour for the bike. However, the course was exceedingly crowded with different levels of cyclists due to the various age groups, and different levels from some countries. There are also no drafting rules i.e. can’t follow too closely as this is a distinct advantage. I was riding well spaced from two Great Britain riders and a Hungarian rider when we came up on another pack riding at least 10km/h slower and spread out across the road. We slowed down causing us to bunch up. As a result the two GB riders and myself were sent to the penalty box by the motor biking official behind us. Yes, it is literally a penalty box where I get to stand not moving for 3 minutes not to mention the lost momentum and frustration. I figure the official on the motor bike was the Canadian and said to himself – hey Canadians grow up spending time in the hockey penalty box, he won’t make a fuss! Meanwhile off goes the Hungarian to catch up with the tight pack of Chip and the Americans systematically drafting off of one other all the way through the next lap.

In the end I figure this cost me a top 10 finish out of approximately 150 in my age class. In the end though it was still my fastest bike split ever and most importantly I came out without requiring any skin grafting or hospital treatment of any kind. So far so good.

Transition 2 – Exercise Induced Dyslexia (EID) kicks in. My number was 2087 and I put my bike at 2078. The running shoes didn’t seem to fit right. Where the hell am I! Oops! There goes another minute.