the road to austria
Triathlon Training Blog, Saturday, July 5th, 2014Road trip to Austria
So I leave for cardiff. The di are cast. Its just luck now. Meet heather and ben in the marina at penarth and load up. I did a bit of running around today, getting gels, new cleats ,mine are worn out ,been popping my foot out of the left one at times. Gels, valve extensions,Caffeine tablets , loads of bits and bobs.All thrown into a bag in a disorganised mess.
We leave cardiff a little after 10 pm. I am half tempted to ask Ben and heather to just hide me going across into France but then they would be in trouble too. There’s been a lot of nay sayers about this, everyone loves their own opinion. Everyone has looked sceptical ,everyone has told me what I already know, a driving license is not good enough.Not what I want to hear. It was bad enough hearing the first time.Having it constantly repeated has made me a bit snappy about it.
So i’ll just have to rely on the passport that looks more like my opposite to get me though and try and blag it. I am ….. a bit aprehensive shall we say. We get down to folkestone and ben has played a captains innings driving us there. Then we sleep. Surprisingly I sleep ok and a new dawn breaks over folkestone I wonder what the next 60mins have in store. I am bricking it. A years training ,thousands of pounds all boils down to what mood the passport guy is in this morning. If he got laid i’m off to france if he didn’t i’m back to cardiff for plan b. There isn’t a plan b.
We roll forward and there isn’t too much time to think. As we approach one booth my heart sinks we are asked to pull over. My heart is in my throat.i’m definitely not going to enjoy the next few hrs. Guy comes over and just checks if the gas is turned off and waves us on. We approach passport control. Not only did the passport guy get laid looks like he’s still on the job. There’s no fucker there. We roll forward don’t look back and bundle onto the train. First hurdle over. Fair blows the wind for France.
The train is a bit shit to be honest. Looks like a cattle wagon but it does the job. We roll off the train and I am scanning the exits trying to re organise my face to remotely resemble the photo in the passport. Nothing,noone ,rein,personne . We drive straight out and into the nearest service station. Are we out is this france proper? Yes it is. One international boarder crossed illegally .Two to go.
I drove from the stop after calais for 4 or so hours as ben slept and heather navigated. Then we changed and when I woke up we were in Germany. 2 borders crossed. Never been to Germany and it seems ok. We get lost around sttuttgart because of a road closure. Then I navigated as Ben told me about his life as a sex shop owner.Interesting chat that. Seems the Germans are by far the worst. What goes on at the trade shows beggars belief. We decide to push on after we drove through the centre of Munich. The autobahns were mental with cars going past us doing 80 like we were standing still. I was put on sweet buying duty and came back with a years supply of lockets. Result. We approached the Austrian border ,still with some trepidation but sailed through that as well. We are here. We carry on till just past Salzburg and crash for the night. We wake up to some magnificent scenery we are in the mountains and every view is a postcard. And I’m in Fucking Austria!!!
Arriving in klagenfurt and it is full of Ironmen. Everywhere u look some one is cycling,running or looking impossibly fit . Tens of thousands of pounds worth of kit everywhere u look. We find the campsite and it is at the start of the swim. We pitch up and heather and I go for a swim. I’m not 100 per cent happy with mine. Am a bit worried about endurance. I also pull to the right a lot when I take my foot/hand off the gas. The swim is ok and its pretty warm the water is crystal clear. We find a swim platform in the bay with a group of local hotties sunbathing on it. It warrants further investigation. I think I impressed them with my swan dive that ended up more like a running bomb. We decide to go in in just our tri suits.Not so warm but the difference in both our techniques is tangible. Much better,straighter without the wetsuit and it feels faster. Heather in particular was noticeably faster. Gave us both something to think about.
Checking out the expo and there are some very scary people about. Peroxide mullets are back in . But much more importantly we find a cycling outfit with lederhausen on it. Not only do I try it on , I buy it. Its the fucking don and I wear it all day. Awesome bit of kit. We go back to the van. Adam and Caroline are here now too. We hang around doing bits and bobs. Ben helps we change my cleats which wasn’t that easy.Then we go and watch a sprint triathlon which was quite entertaining. The companies tri it was called . Seems all the top companies in Austria send a team. It passed the time and we ended up going to bed pretty late
Friday
We get up now and into a routine. I break something in the camper Ben pretends not to notice. Today it is the heaters turn as I step onto it from my bunk. It seems there is a design floor and the 2mm plastic cover wasn’t designed to be load bearing after all.
I make the tea in what can only be called….silence. I go and get a shower ,have a shave and generally hide.
We go out and check the first 20 miles or so on the bike. It feels like a fast course and I do mini bursts ,even at this stage I am unsure that my legs have turned up. They aren’t responding and I dont feel great. We get mixed up with some unit who is happy for ben to pass him ,then me but draws the line with being chicked.Hilarity ensues. The rest of the day is spent sorting out gear.Getting the race wheels sorted. Ben has asked if I want to use his deep v clincher rims which I decline and opt for tubs .disc wheel back and tri spoke front.
Later we go for a drive with Adam and caroline and heather gets a lesson in how much food you have to shovel in your mouth to carb up. I think she was a bit surprised. As I tucked into my 22nd muller rice,with muller rice down my front washed down with orange juice and mueller rice. We drive the bike course.Ben doesn’t come as I think he is a bit washed out with tri talk 24/7 and who can blame him. It takes 2.5 hrs to eventually drive the course. Its not flat flat and two noticeable climbs. Hmmmn. We eventually get back and sort out all our gear and try for an earlish night. Feeling the pressure a bit to get one good nights sleep in before the no sleep night tomorrow. Nerves are creeping in a bit.
Saturday and a quick swim in the morning which went ok. Then getting the gel flasks ready and a hive of activity and bustle everywhere. Last min checks on bikes. Racking starts in an hour. Everywhere you look nervous faces pack and repack gear,check and double check ,go through t1 and t2 in your head and what you will need coming out of the swim and off the bike. Go through every step in your mind and rest your eyes on the kit in front of you ,visualise putting it on,what you will stow in your pockets as you run out of t1 bike in hand. Off the bike trainers on ,sunblock.will it be hot?hat, sunglasses?How many bikes will be racked when you arrive for the run. Its getting real now.
Adam turns up and heathers sedate flapping goes into overdrive. I refuse to be rushed and tell them to rack without me. Ben rolls his eyes. I want to go through my gear another time. Off they go. I follow on an hour later and have been allocated some good spots that are easily memorable for red bag and blue bag. The bike is racked in the last row too and I let the tyres down a bit . Don’t want them exploding in the heat this afternoon. Everywhere you see are nervous triathletes. The first timers boarding on autistic behaviour , fear has a grip on them ,hands are shaking and emotions are high. The veterans going through where they will be as they come in to transition, see themselves running to grab their gear where they will exit,all logged and locked in tomorrow to minimise time wastage. Be like a machine , autopilot through transition is what you want. No mistakes. I leave transition and get half way home and realise I haven’t got my chip. Ahem, Professional, yep thats me. Professional what?Like a machine!? Unfortunately a threshing machine. A bit red faced later I have my chip.Some of the supporters look more worried than the competitors , there are tears already. The mood is somber . Almost like the fear before going into battle. In a few hours time we all go to war with one of the toughest challenges most of us will face. My toughest challenge is getting out of bed every morning. Tomorrow it will be in spades. The clock keeps ticking down, tick tock like a drum in our ears the game is on. The time is near.let the fun begin.
Race Day.
