Date – 8/5/07
Description – Duathlon (2k/34k/7k)
Location – Fergus, Ontario
Race Name – Belwood Duathlon
Sport – Duathlon
Race web site – http://www.trisportcanada.com
It was one of those days that I am starting to get used to when it comes to my young Duathlon career. It would be way too easy for the Multisport Gods to let my race go by without any incidents these days. I guess they need to get a laugh out of some poor sap.
The morning started out well as I got to the site in very good time, just shortly after 7 am for the 9:15 single wave Duathlon start. I quickly found a nice place in transition to set up my gear and then went out to beat the lines to the registration table. It was a very speedy process on this morning and left me with some shopping time at some of the vendor tents.
After a short browse and nutritional purchase, I headed back to my vehicle to grab my cycle and change the tube as it was still in need of repair from the last race (I have been training on my other wheels). Well, this was the first tube I have had to replace on these rims and of course there were issues. First the tube I was suggested to buy did not have a long enough valve so I had to scrap that idea and trust that a patched tube was going to make it through the race. After letting the glue set, I started to place this onto the rim but my weak hands could not get the tire back on it for the life of me. I wasted a good half hour with this chore before giving up and heading back to the vendor village to let a pro take care of my needs. Ten dollars later, with a new tube to boot, I was racking my bike in transition with plenty of time for a quick run warm-up before the gun.
I eventually made my way up to the start line where I noticed a lot of new faces so I really was not sure what to expect today. While waiting for the official I stretched a bit more and tried to get comfortable with the trail (although a fairly packed trail) we would be using for much of the running portions of the event. I heard the race director covering the instructions and headed back to the line for a final deep breath of air and before I knew it we were sprinting out along the dam in search of the one kilometre marker. On our way there a group of ten made a move to the front with Team Running Free athlete, Badih Schoueri, leading the charge. He hit the turn a little stretch ahead of the second pack that I clung to.
As there were still some patches of loose gravel the first 2k of the duathlon was not a blistering pace but we were still working pretty hard to make some distance between us and the next group of duathletes in the 129 person field. Fighting back through the wind, we traveled back across the Belwood
Lake dam to the bikes. I was not too aggressive on this day but was in very good shape hitting the line in 9th, only 6 seconds behind the 4th place time.
After a very respectable switch over to my cycling gear and a quick drink of a special gel concoction, I made a severe error that had retirement thoughts flashing through my brain for much of the ride. Even though I have had issues with these particular clips in the past, today was the worse to date. I tried to clip in many times but they just kept slipping off the pedal. I continued to move forward but was not secure and as I slipped off the pedal again my foot kicked my front wheel and sent it sideways and everything came to a quick halt. My back end flew up in the air and donkey kicked me over the handle bars and onto the pavement. I landed right on my shoulder, then slid across the road on my back for a few feet. I was in shock at first that this had just happened.
I thankfully refocused as quickly as possible and, with my handle bars pointing to two o’clock, jumped back on my bike and tried to get back into the race. I actually saw quite a few duathletes I know jump past me while I was getting back to my feet so I knew I had my work cut out for me.
The first section of road was into the wind but I was still able to get some decent speed up and felt like I was gaining on some of the other racers. Down the straightaway to the east I could see a large group of riders climbing a small hill in the distance and guessed that most of my targets were in that pack of bikes. With my sights set on them I got to our first turn and headed south down the road I traveled in my car to get to the park. I took mental notes when I was covering the land by car and new I had some quick down hills in the future as long as I made a nice climb that came up on us slightly after the turn. I was really attacking the hill and made my second mistake of the day. As I was trying to keep a very quick cadence I switch into the low ring on the front but had not switch the back correctly and my hasty gear change threw my chain off the gears halfway up the hill.
I was very flustered at this point and ready to throw in the towel. I thought back to the flat tire incident in the Niagara race and didn’t want another DNF so I battled to get the chain back up on the gears and very carefully got back on my bike and clipped in to make sure I didn’t stall being in the middle of the hill with no momentum. A little beat up mentally at this point I knew it was just a matter of finishing now. I pushed very hard knowing the wind was going to assist on the next two section of the route and was aiming for a 35km/h average for the bike, even with the two dismounts. I figured that would be pretty good based on other event averages for 15th spot but everyone was flying on this day and my 35.9km/h was well behind the 41.2km/h posted but not bad given the circumstances and possible shorter mileage?
Once again, I was able to have a pretty quick transition and was looking to make up some spots with my feet on the 7k flat trail. I got out of the gate very fast and was already passing people in the first couple hundred metres. Shortly, after the first kilometre I started to see the leaders (Badih leading all Duathletes!) heading back towards me as they made their way to the second arm of the “Y” shaped course. I could see must of them were well up but as I got closer to my first turn around marker I made note of some competitors that may be within reach.
As I hit the turn I could tell it was going to be a struggle but really wanted to catch as many as possible. The only person to pass me on the run was really pulling away and my feet were shuffling very close to the ground. I think I made the error of taking water instead of my usual Gatorade at the stations along the run. I really could have used that extra boost on this day. Thankfully, others were slowing as well so nobody else was able to catch me and I was still able to reel a few others in, seven people in total from the time I left T2 until the wonderful sight of the finish line.
Overall, I battled hard for an average result which should have been in the 10th to 15th area, maybe better if I was up with them and got the adrenaline pumping on the last run. One thing the lost points from the past two races allows me to re-think my schedule and take some races off and possible add the Parry Sound race on Sept 15. With 8 AG spots for the World’s up for grabs you never know what can happen. Maybe others will take my bad luck and I can reclaim some of form I had in earlier races.
