Rev 3 Quassy - Half-Ironman

If you are one of the two persons who follow my twitter and facebook account, you by now know what happened in Quassy, so I will be brief.

Middlebury is an astonishing and very traditional little town in Connecticut. Myself, Jacqui Gordon and Damian Hill were very welcomed at the house of David and Jill Carbone. David is a 50yo stud who just raced his first IM in Lake Placid last year and will do it again this year. Only faster. And Jill is a very charming music teacher who was very welcoming from the first minute. Bryant, the son, is a multi-talented kid who would volunteer at the race. The Carbone family hosted us, fed us and pretty much made all the days leading to the race very confortable and relaxing. We can't thank them enough.

Race night was bad. I was anxious and very pumped for this race. I felt like I could really do well after seing how tough and hilly the run would be. So after a very short and irregular sleep, I was out the door by 5:30 to ride my bike to transition. We were really lucky to be so close to Quassy Ammusement Park.

The gun went off at 6:50am. The field was stacked and we had really good swimmers in the mix. The water was at 69F which meant it was a (again!!!) non-wetsuit swim. I saw some guys using the old (and now illegal)skinsuits but it's not up to me to check that stuff. So on the very short run to water I positioned myself right behind Matt Reed and Terenzo. I figured they would take off and I hoped I could hold on for a few meters, avoiding the "battle" with the other guys and settle into a good rhythm. It kinda worked well and I had a clear start and a reasonable swim. I came out of the wet with Gambles and was up for a spin.

Into the bike, Gambles immediately took off and I got "packed" with a small group with Tim Reed and Damian Hill. I felt like everyone was going too damn fast so early on the ride and looking at the splits afterwards, I come to think that a lot of guys just blew up on the hilly and very challenging bike course. It didn't take too long for James Cunnama to catch up with us and that was a good "pack" for me to stay with. Really focused NOT to get a penalty for stagger or drafting, my World fell apart when I felt my rear tubular failing. Didn't panic right away as I had a quick-fix. Stopped, used the quick-fix and it seem to solve it.. for 100 meters. With no spare tubular, I was out.

So I can go over the subject of carrying a spare tubular on such an important race or my bad luck but.. it's not worth it. The fact is that I've again DNF'ed a A-race in 2011. Three in three. Abu Dhabi, IM Texas and Quassy. I can't express how frustating it is and how sad I was on that day. I drove with Jacqui right after the race to her town on the Jersey Shore. It was good to leave the crime scene ASAP, it was a faster way to get over the race.

I won't even try to explain how the past 5 weeks went as for racing. You make your own luck. I don't expect to win by chance. Triathlon is something I find worth fighting for and I'm still a great believer that the harder I work the more luck I will get in the near future.