Aug 8th Ibiza Update From Hill

I finally found the triathlon that I,d heard about on the grapevine….just a short one but a race is a race and I really fancied one…everything here is “manyana” (tomorrow)..so finding the race was a task on its own…anyway the race was due to start at 10 am…gets a bit hot by then,well it ended up starting after 11 am so it was very hot ,probably around 36 dg

Race distances were a 300m swim…6k bike(3 loops) and 2k run….so u can imagine u cant make a mistake in a race like that….

It was a bit hard to see what competition there were but I knew I had to stay as close as possible to the front swimmers

Gun went off and I swam straight into a reef !!!!...bummer!..then stood up on a prickly thing….great start I don’t think which I ended up about a min behind 5 leaders at the end,quick transition and out onto the bike,noticed on first loop they were all on wheels!..so caught 1 guy and he was straight on my wheel,I soon got a thing going and we worked together a bit for the short time we were out there…my poor ol heart was pumping like crazy haha…onto the run and before I knew it I was in 4th plce, took one and ouch it was hot!...went after the other two that were 50 secs ahead….so close but yet so far I ended 10 and 20 secs behind them at the finish…finally finishing in 3rd overall…u should of seen the trophys!!!!!...see attached…good or what!...great day tho and met a lot more people,all my cycling buddies were there watching and by now the whole island knows about the race….its a small island and news spreads fast between the locals…

That was Friday(it’s a weekend fiesta holiday)Yesterday and today I did my two rides for the w end…the big news was a pro rider was going to ride with us,felix from team bianci who had won a stage in tour de Italia I think and does tour de france….he turned up and everyone was buzzing…of course in this crazy ego cycling world everyone wanted to take him on,that was so predictable,it was the same on my first day but I didn,t bite haha…any new person goes through it and takes there pecking order in the group….no organized rolls or anything,its more like everyone bumps u as u ride…a bit of a nightmare really and yesterday someone finally came down although I think that was probably due to a clubber driving tanked up with exstacy lol….

Anyway soon as the hills came it was all on….i think he was playing with us because at the top of each hill I was still there but the group of 30-40 had gone to 3 haha…in the end I think they then decided to really test me and we climbed a 2k hill that was so bumpy but about twice as steep as any kiama hill and I finally broke…ouch that hurt and my bike was nearly stopped trying to get up it…at the end I was about 100m behind..but not bad for a time trial bike up that beast……..today (Sunday)it was all on again against felix the pro rider…I had 170-180 and after yesterdays 130 whilst they did 60k each day I was thinking this could hurt……they headed straight for the biggest climb in Ibiza after a few crazy spurts and yes it was all happening again…about 50-60 riders today from 2 areas of ibiza and a bit dangerouse so I hung a bit off the back trying to get e2 in at the same time….the hill came and I chased…overtook all but the first 4 with the pro but just couldn,t get there..it was about 38dg and phew it hurt ….got my arse kicked and lost about 10 litres of fluid but it was fun

Next week a French pro triathlete is coming over who was top 10 in Hawaii?..not sure who it is but I guess we,ll meet on the hill haha…see what I mean about a small island,everyone knows everything but its fun….think I have a 1500 swim race next week

Ok that’s all for now…its fiesta w end and I,m getting some sangria in me tonight for the first time since I,ve been here…just watching the athletics from Helsinki on tv..great stuff!

Have fun…hola and adios from sunny Ibiza!!

jh