Blog » Busso 70.3, 2012
Busso 70.3, 2012
So I flew off to Western Australia for Busso 70.3 after 5 weeks of the best and biggest training of my life and my final hitout before I head to the USA in a couple of weeks.
Busselton is 2-3 hours south of Perth and a pretty easy drive. Prior to the race I was feeling great in all 3 disciplines and really looking forward to racing the quality field that had assembled. I think Busso was a sign of things to come in 70.3's with a high quality field turning up for only a bottom ranked points and $$$ distribution with the sport growing so fast, but the fact that the event is run 2nd to none could also be a little factor in drawing so many pro's back each year. It really is an outstanding event all round and it would be nice if many other races learnt a lesson or two from Busso.
Anyway, briefing was an interesting affair with the officials not messing around with their explanation of why the swim course was changed... "high shark activity."
Race morning came around and although sharks were on everyones mind to varying degrees it wasn't something that was going to stop us from doing our jobs.
I felt good in the swim and the roughness played in to my hands a bit and came out first having swam relatively comfortably. I had Graham O'grady close behind and eventual winner James Hodge there also. I felt great getting on the bike and picked a gear and a pace I thought would be good enough to maintain or build a lead. However, James had other ideas and came past me rather quickly. I had been told of his cycling abilities and decided to ride with him for a bit, before realising that he was pushing super hard and could potentially blow up, me included. I dropped back a gear and rode my own pace, hitting the first turn at 22.5km about 20seconds behind him. I then had about a 30second lead over Graham, Luke Bell and Luke Mckenzie. I decided that working with them was a better option than myself so sat up and let them catcht me about the 30km mark. 5km later and my suspicions, which I had had for 10km or so, were true and my tubular went flat. I stopped and made use of my pitstop for the first time ever, lost about 4minutes on the leaders, and got going again eventually. I rode my ass off for 15km trying to chase my way back up to a decent position, but around the 50km mark the same tubular went flat again and with no technical support out on the roads it was my day over. Completely gutted. Was feeling awesome and had worked so hard for a good result there.
I then walked 5km home and managed to get myself some nice blisters as a take home souvenir.
Chin up and on to the next race in 2 weeks at the Columbia 5150 (near Baltimore, USA) where I'll be laying everything on the line from the word go.
I fly straight from NZ to the East Coast of the USA, so that should be an interesting mix to get right, but I am sure I can manage it.
After that I will be heading to my base for the season in Boulder, living and training with Clayton Fettell and Joey Lampe. Will be fun I am sure.
Catch ya soon
Dylan
