Post race report from France

I woke up this morning to the sound of thunder and torrential rain, which is not good! The start time was quite late here in France with a 2pm.  I knew that rain coupled with the fact that the short course was racing in the morning would equal a chewed up course.  The transition was very spacious with double racks with numbers up above, which is easy to sight.  The gun went off sharp at 2 pm and 700 racers plunged into the water of the lake in Xonrupt.  This swim was a one 1500 m lap and it was a bit crazy until the first buoy.  I was out of the water in 27 min and was pleased with it.  As you all know, what would be an Xterra without a few crashes, it seem that I would have to pay my dues to the gods of xterra with 2 crashes withing the first km.  One not too bad, the second one a full over the handle as I was pushed off my track and hit a depression.  Enough for me to have to take the tools out and having to fix my handle bars.  I was off again but I knew that the course would be muddy and that I would have to fight my way through.  1/3 into the first lap, there was so much mud that my chain started sucking up, which caused me to have to either get off the bike up hike of really slow down in order not to snap it.  At the end of the lap, they had a natural jump and if you took it fast enough you could get some sweet air time, problem is the angle would cause the bike to lean forward, but I had paid my dues so no crash.  The second lap was misery, mud, more mud, chain suck.  I also broke the cardinal rule of racing, I used the nutrition on the course although I had never trained with it, it was either that or bunking.  I finished the bike course in 3:15 and to date this has to be the longest Xterra bike course, 39 km with 5000 feet of elevation gain!!! Quick transition and off to the run, which consisted of a 2 5 km loop.  After the first 10 min I found my legs and forged on, booking the run in about 48 min.  Overall time of 4:35, 185 overall.  This was definitely a hard race, due to the climbing and mud.  It was nice to have Dave and Stephanie cheering for me!  I hope you enjoyed the journey, as for me its time for some R and R.  I will be back at it for Xterra Whistler, until then happy trails!

Carpe Diem