XTERRA Switzerland

All quiet in tranistion, only 1.5hr before the start!!

I've always wanted to try an offroad triathlon, and today I got the chance at Xterra Switzerland, in the Vallee du Joux. Just beyond Vallorbe, this area certainly feels far more like France than Switzerland, being only a couple of km from the border. Luckily the heavy rain passed by to the north as I drove past Bern and we had great conditions with a lake at 18 degrees and dry dusty trails for the bike and run.
I still find it annoying that we pay a large entry fee for such events, then end up having to pay another 35CHF for a day racing license, but thats the way it is.
It was nice to race again on the mountain bike, its been too long without racing the single trails and rocky descents. I was very relieved that the course was changed from previous editions, so no river crossings - the photos of this just looks annoying, wading through a river and carrying the bike should not be part of any race. So instead we had fast single track and open fields, with minimal connecting sections of road. Towards the end of the lap was a rocky section that had many walking, but the whole course was rideable up and down.
Two laps of the small lake for the run, included a small hill climb up and back down to the finish area.
In all, it was a very relaxed atmosphere in a great location and great practise for next weeks Xterra France in the Vosges. However, this is Switzerland and mountain biking and trail running should involve big mountains, running beside glaciers, no? Not complaining, its lovely scenery, good racing conditions, just think that an Xterra event in Suisse could be much more impressive in the high mountains.
 

Pos.								Temps total		Swim	T1	Bike	T2	Run
88								2:54:02		31:29 (148)	1:58 (118)	1:31:20 (86)	1:32 (128)	47:41 (65)

Tour de Suisse Stage 5 - AKA Tour du Valais Part Deux

First refill of the day

Crans Montana

Valais - descent from Crans Montana to Sion via Lens is outstanding

Sion

In Verbier, I was trapped at the 50m to go line as the riders finished!
They arrived faster than predicted, so I could not get back down the
hill to a decent viewpoint.

Tour de Suisse Stage 2

Breakaway of 6, 3 made it to the finish ahead
of main group with Cameron Meyer(OGE) taking the win

Sagan clipping a wheel, but skills keep him upright

Spartacus

Cavendish going too fast for me to photo

Nice to head down warm sunny Valais

Pfingsten - The heat is on

Pfingsten (Pentecost) weekend brought the first of the summers heat - and today it was 25 degrees at 8am in Freiburg. The first challenge of the day would be getting the bike to Freiburg. A quick check on the timetable showed many trains, but all InterCity Express trains, which do not allow bikes. For the next two weeks, some construction work is taking place so there are no local trains between Basel and Freiburg. This means more ICE trains, so in a way in Germany when theres construction on the line, the service improves! (only if you want to go from Basel to Freiburg of course)
Normally its easy to avoid the ICE trains in Switzerland, as there are so many regional trains which travel the same speed.  Today I took out the rinko bag I used to use on the trains in Japan, it covers the bike completely apart from the saddle, and no questions were asked so I arrived in Freiburg a mere 31 minutes later, ready to roll.

Maibaum -May tree - Bernau

The roads were nice out to Kirchzarten, then right up to Schauinsland, fast down to Todtnau then a long climb up and over the Feldberg. I've done this once before, and I remember its not nice, far too much traffic. Quick loop of Titisee, Schluchsee then the heat really was building. 37, 38 - my only thought now was to get back home and out of the heat, so no extra climbing of Gersbach but straight down the Wehrtal. It was here that a fast group from VMC Liestal overtook me, so I sprinted and jumped on the trail as we raced down the gorge. Too much work in this heat? Could be, but I just wanted to get home at this point.
Luckily they were taking the same route, down to Wehr, turn right along to Rheinfelden and fill water bottles/refresh/swim in the water fountains before the final segment. A fast group, and they invited me to Wednesday evening rides, I could look into this.
Highest temperature ever seen on the Garmin, 40.5 degrees!

Pragel, Satelleg

IRONMAN 70.3 Switzerland

I've done several triathlons in the past, sprint, olympic, middle and long distance but this was my first with the brand "Ironman".
Its been 4 years since my last in Kamaishi, Japan and in recent weeks it has been valuable just trying to put my wetsuit on. Of course the obvious jokes would appear here, but really, the wetsuit has dried out and shrunk in the past 4 years to the point that its impossible to put on. The solution, as the name implies, is to wet the suit. Several days soaking in the bath, and its back to what it was - slightly too short on the legs and very tight, but enough to keep me floating and warm in most waters.
The water temperature of lake Zurich was 17 degrees, and I feared I would have a similar reaction to my experience with the 13 degree waters of Loch Tay, but this extra 4 degrees proved to be enough to be comfortable. A small harbour beside the real starting point of the swim could be used to "warm up" in , or more correctly could be "acclimatize to".
For me, out and back is a great swim formula as it means I can swim out wide, away from the masses and just concentrate on not drowning. Alas, the waters were far from the "crystal clear" description on the official website, looking into the murky depths there were no fish or turtles swimming above a sandy floor as I became used to in Japan.
Anyway, survived the swim, onto the bike and this was a nice course two laps with lake sections, hills and cowbells.
I was borrowing some Zipp 404 wheels from ChezVelo for the race, they felt light and responsive, and must have helped but its not possible to say how much without a controlled loop to time against.
The course is great, some steep climbs up then the descents are long and gentle, not technical at all. I did about as well as I could on this leg.
Into the run, and just 1km in I found I was developing abdominal pains which would not go away until I finished the distance and stopped running. I tried resting, water, iso, food etc but the act of running was clearly the aggravation here. Still a decent time, but on the whole I could have taken off many minutes on the run if it were not for this pain. But then, what do you expect after a long swim and long bike ride? Maybe thats just my limit.
A slower overall time than my Aberfeldy Middle distance result, but then theres twice as much climbing involved in this course, but also somehow my swim was much faster back then.

Swim: 00:44:14
Bike: 02:39:32
Run:  01:46:03
Finish: 05:19:18

Div Rank: 138
Gender Rank: 767
Overall Rank: 916