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Kent - how were the triathalons?!


kipstar

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What triathlon? How far? Good luck and watch out for the sharks...they are hungry this time of year. :lol:

Uh..well, where to start?

Been a big year for changes. I moved from Minneapolis to St. Louis. That's not a very positive change for snowboarding, but has been for road cycling. The good news is that I have a new home in Telluride, so I'll be there often this winter.....along with getting back to Mpls.

No Ironmans in 2006. Made a decision to take a year off to focus back on work.

But, I did a bunch of races, with dismal results. Definatley a re-building year:

Pre-season - bunches of Crits/Road races / enough to Cat-up again, so I'm happy about that.

Memphis in May (terrible swim, puked 5x on the run)

Buffalo Triathlon (flat tire)

Innsbrook Olympic (left my helmet on in T2, poured Heed on my contacts as I thought it was water, everything went wrong this day)

Horribly Hilly (slept in a farmer's field for a hour as I got sick, but finished)

Triple Bypass (well, I finished..it wasn't a pleasant day)

MN State Tri Champs (double flat - didn't defend my title)

Pigman 1/2 (bad swim, good bike, plantar/achilles on the run made it a long day)

Chequemegon Fat Tire (broken MTB frame, but finished)

Burning Bluff 12 Hour MTB (3rd place, finally a decent race result)

Cyclocross season so far (8th, 2nd, 4th, DNF)

Looking forward to 2007 already:

RAAM Qualifier

MN State Tri Champs

Ironman Louisville

Leadville 100

Chequemegon

Burning Bluff 12 Hour MTB

Ironman World Champs (yea right)

Ironman Florida

CX National Champs

As for bikes, all is good...but I'm shopping for a new road bike. Torn b/w another Soloist, Soloist SLC, R3 SLC, Scott CR1 or a Cannonale System 6. If I "cheap out" with another Soloist, I have enough budget for a SRM. That's probably the route to go.....although Javelin called today and has some wicked deals for the end of year. Urghh.

Can you get deals on frames over there????

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No, i don't think it is that much cheaper; especially now with USD so low, the bike price on a Scott looks quite attractive. I'll ask around though.

Suionds like you've been hit with a string of breakages, flats and bad luck. Back on the horse for next season Kent, I have no idea how you can do an ironman; you are the man!

My one and only race in 8 years coming up late Nov is an olympic course; no sharks as the Chinese ppl ate all of them round Thailand in soup already.

Should be easy enough, except that I have done probably 1 month of running in prep for it so far and that is it. Haven't ridden a bike more than probably 10km cumulative in the last 12 months, and have swum 100m once in the last year.

So...probably need to do some training as it is in 17 days I think :-) However, on my side, the muay Thai training has probably got me fit enough to get through it, and it is a bit like riding a bike. In that, it is actually riding a bike.

prior to that I am yacht racing the weekend before, which is a beer skulling fest, so that won't help.

on the plus side, I am used to 30-35 degree heat here; something some of the other ppl may not be used to. but it could be a long day.

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I was planning to do the Phuket Triathalon; however I am also doing the King's Cup regatta in my new sport boat featured here:

http://www.shawyachtdesign.com/SYDmenu.html

check out the shaw 650 turbo; that is her....

aptly named porn star. Therefore, I cannot do both, and have chosen to drive a boat and drink beer, rather than wear myself out in a relatively tough cycle. Phuket is pretty steep in parts, my idea of triathalon cycling is preferably a wind assisted 40km of gliding on the flats in the same gear most of the time :-)

If you mate wants to have a pal in BKK he is welcome to get in touch; as a shortlist it really depends on where he is going; however a few days by the beach is always nice; a spot of windsurfing; maybe a retreat - very hard to recommend without knowing budget, likes/dislikes, lifestyle of the guy; for some people coming here all they want is to hang out with women, while for others, that is the last thing on their minds!!

The one thing I probably cannot recommend is coming to THailand for the snowboarding :_)

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  • 2 weeks later...

You will not believe this, but I managed to come 2nd in the National Thai championships in the sprint Triathalon, open mens division. I got a trophy, photograph for newspapers,and so on.

I managed to acheive this without riding my bike on the road at all in the last year; spending about 4 sessions in the pool, and a lot of running. I came down with a cold a couple of weeks prior to the race, which severely restricting training.

What was the key to my success?

Jellyfish.

The lead group of sprint competitors (including the Thai national team) were the first in the water, and the same course was used for olympic length and sprint length with a single start and olympic course doing two laps. Right before the start, a few jelly fish must have congregated around the outside marker, and the lead group of swimmers plowed right into them. Sadly for them, most were stung in the face/shoulders (no wetsuit) and most either had to retire immediately and go to hospital, or continue competing with a massive handicap.

By the time I came out of the swim, somewhat surprisingly in the 1st major group of olympic distance swimmers, I ended up being the 4th person to go out on the bike, which was a complete shock as there were about 100 sprint competitors in my devision, including several people flying in to do the Phuket triathalon.

I then had a reasonable cycle, and near the turning point saw that the lead group of 3 were drafting (1 open, 2 juniors) which is legal; the next people behind me were the top 2 UK competitors here to do Phuket and doing the olympic distance; again drafting in a pair and they caught me right as I was going into T2. I then had the run, knowing that the 3 in front had about 5 minutes on me and without a chance really to catch them, since I hadn't actually cycled 25km in probably 5 years, and this had left my legs a bit tired.

The next person behind me was 5 min behind, so i coasted into the finish with a 2nd :-)

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Very nice! Great story.........

Although, it does sound like you're a sandbagger on the bike!!!!!

At Ironman Florida (2003, I think), a few days prior to the race there was A LOT of jellyfish. While swimming, it felt like a game of asteroids. Folks were freaky out. Wind shifted on race day, luckily.

Sounds like Phuket is next on the list.

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I'm doing it next year provided it doesn't collide with the yacht racing too much; welcome to join me; I gots the transportation, hotel and all that sorted.

The other guy from work is in it; hard bit with the heat, but I guess florida is much the same.

Plus then I get to see your fancy bike.

Do it Kent!

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