A 90 km individual time trial is a fairly rare event for a bike rider, but this was exactly what awaited me in the Mooloolaba 70.3. I was in a team from Dalby (with the very creative and inspiring name of 'Team Dalby') with Robert Onfray (swimmer) and Tony Nolan (runner). I am pretty sure the average age of our team was about 47 years old. There was no Masters category available so we competed in Male Open Teams.
Robert had a solid swim and put me onto the road in good position. I was really hoping to do the 90 km in under 2 h 10 min. With 20 km to go (the last turn around) I was looking good for my goal. However, the last 12 km or so was into a very stiff south-easterly that had sprung up late in the race. This slowed me right down to 36 km/h in places and of course my time was knocked around. I ended up 2 h 12 min. Average speed of 41 km/h which I am fairly happy with over 90 km. Tony had a solid run to finish off the team effort.
What happened next? A few coffees, some nice lunch, a bit of a walk around Mooloolaba and then the drive home. It never occurred to us to go to presentations, because we never (ever) expected that we would be anywhere near a place. It wasn't until we made it back to Dalby and checked the results online that we realized we had placed 2nd in open teams and I had managed the fastest cycle leg of all teams on the day. Surprise is an understatement ! One for the old (ish) guys !
Thanks to coach Mark Brady for doing a good job of prepping me for this one.
Thanks to coach Mark Brady for doing a good job of prepping me for this one.
