I have made it home safely to New Zealand after several long
flights to get here from St. Croix. About 24hrs of flying plus extended
layovers at each stop so by the time I got home I have slept and slept. Almost
time to invest in a private plane like one of my competitors from last weekend,
Lance Armstrong.
My third and final race of this trip was the St. Croix 70.3
in the US Virgin islands in the Caribbean. It is a race with so much history
behind it and so many legends of our sport have been down to compete. This year
was much the same and probably the most stacked professional men’s field the
race has seen, including Lance Armstrong who actually raced this race in its
inaugural year way back 24 years ago.
I seem to be dragging the bad weather with me wherever I go
and St. Croix, the hot tropical island was much the same with plenty of rain
and flooded roads even on race day.
I had the opportunity to meet Lance a couple times before
the race and he seemed like a nice guy and a good swimmer… for a cyclist.
Actually he was good non the less. The island deserved the Lance effect with
the Oil refinery shutting down a couple weeks ago and 3000 people being stuck
without jobs.
I felt like I had recovered well and was ready for a good race but when I got out there it was not to be my day. I had a great swim start the put me in the lead but didn’t manage to hold onto that for long with Andy Potts and Stefan Poulat, two of the strongest swimmers in our sport taking the lead and moving away from us other guys. They would later go on to take first and second place. I was swimming with Armstrong and Fredrick Van Lierde and by the end of the swim we had lost a sizable 90 seconds.
Off onto the bike with the rain come down and puddles of
water covering the cracks and holes in the road. I struggled to find my biking
legs and when Lance made his move I had nothing to react with. I ended up
riding most of the 90km super hilly bike solo and not feeling great, by the
time I got into transition I had been swallowed up by the chase group of guys
some 7 minutes behind Armstrong.
I was determined to keep my moral up on the run and give it
everything. I found a good rhythm and soon with some company from Allesandro.
We were pushing the pace and trying to bridge the gap to the 3 in front of us.
The legs were sore but I managed to keep on top of them, at mile 5 he made a
move and I couldn’t go with him but I kept him in my sights. Ticking along
around the course and waiting for the other guys to blow up… which they did. I
was glad when I made it into the home stretch. This battle was over and now I
can go back to the drawing board and get ready to make my next step forward.
Thanks to my great home stay Ed and Linda Staats. The
hospitality on the island is overwhelming and I “thoroughly” suffering on the
hard, hot course with the guys.
I am back in NZ for a couple weeks then I will head state
side for a few more races.
