A new bike case means finding a good way to pack the bike. As this takes some time I packed my bike into its bag a few days before the trip. The POD that I invested in is a hardish case bike case that only weighs ~6kgs. Good to avoid going over the flight weight limit. It packed up nicely and was well protected the whole trip. (See the pics next to)

We arrived into Brisbane on the Thursday morning and after hiring a large car to hold four people, luggage and a bike, we headed off to Dreamworld for the day. It was a good start to the trip as the whole family had a great time. From the Goldcoast to Noosa was an easy 2hr drive on some great freeways.

In Noosa we stayed at the same apartments as last year. The Metso is right on the course and an easy walk to either Hasting street or Noosaville. The two bedroom apartment gives us lots of room to spread out. The pool is also good to cool down and relax in.

My bike arrived in good shape and I quickly put it together. Pumped the tyres using a CO2 cartridge which is much easier than using a pump. All was going well up to now. The next morning my back tyre was flat. A few days before leaving Melbourne I had put on a new ZIPP tubular tyre and tested it by using a standard pump. All worked well. Now with a flat tyre I was not feeling good. I had a spare but if I used this I would be left with nothing in case something went wrong.

After pumping it up again it yet again went flat in 3-4 hours. The CO2 inflator I was using was a BBB inflator that screws onto the valve. I then noticed that the valve extenders were loose. !@#$@!# I didn’t have tools to tighten or locktight to hold it on. Luckily a local bike shop helped me out. Great that was fixed.

I also forgot to take my Tri suit with me. At least there was lots to choose from here.

Saturday morning the tyre was flat again. @!#$@!#$ now I was really worried. To cut the story short the valve had started to leak where its held on the tyre. What I suspect is that by using the screw type CO2 inflator it puts stress on the valve / tyre interface and caused the leak. Got myself a push on inflator from BASTA, put on my spare tyre and was all set. Not the best start to my campaign.

Registered on Friday afternoon so could sticker up nice and early. Took the bike to transition around 2:00pm on the Saturday and found myself a good place. There are no allocated transition places like down here in Melbourne but it still works well. Let some air out of my tyres to make sure they didn’t explode in the sun. I am not convinced that its really necessary because if I am out on a ride for hours I don’t let air out, if I stop for lunch I don’t let air out. Anyway better to be safe than sorry.

The night before I packed my bag and checked and re-checked it. Really worried that I would forget something. This is the only race I do that needs a race number on during the run so had to remember to take a race belt.

I woke up on race day to find it had been raining overnight. Had not expected that and had not protected my bike. Still it should be OK. The weather was very overcast and in fact it would rain on and off all morning.

Had a good breakfast and full of nervous energy headed to the start line to setup my transition area.

The water temperature was a balmy 23.4 so it was a wet suit optional swim. As I had mine with me I decided to wear it. Probably 50% of the field ended up in wet suits. The bridge supports had smooth protection on them this year which makes it much nicer if you get to close. Without them the barnacles would rip through anything. (See pic)

I had a long wait until my wave with the first wave at 6:30 and mine at 8:06. Good to see Emma Snowsill down at the start line support others even if she was not racing.

This year my swim was a different approach. Start on the shortest race line, head out fast and try and stay out of trouble. It worked like a treat and ended up with only a few other guys at the front of the wave. Shoulder to shoulder meant that I could spend more time swimming and less time looking where I was going. The course is a great one going around in the calm Noosa canals. Once around an island with a slight up and back of a channel.

Came out of the swim feeling good and what I learnt latter was a fast time (for me) of 24mins.

I do believe in visualizing your race and I try to do this so I know what to do in the transition. When I hit the waters edge I knew what to do and it all went smoothly.

The always enjoy the bike leg and this was no different. The course is fairly technical with roundabouts, speed humps and a very fast decent. With the ground wet and it raining I had self preservation in mind I took the down hills and corners fairly slowly. The final winner Courtney Atkinson had in fact come off on a round about. Last year I hit 80kms/hr down the hill but this year braked to 72km/hr. Still had guys go flying past me.

Being a late starter meant that I was going to pass lots of cyclist. They were all very well behaved and I had no troubles. Only one guy managed to stay past me.

Note to self for next year – don’t take Gatorade on the bike and it upsets my stomach.

Hit the run and my legs felt like lead. Good pointer for next year – do more BRICK sessions and by more I mean some. Towards the end of the run I think my head kicked into gear and I picked up the speed.

It was a great day and will be up for next year (family permitting). 4min PB in 2:20 on the Noosa course although not as fast a my last Olympic Distance Tri.

Notes for next year.

1. Don’t take Gatorade on the bike
2. Don’t fit new tyres to the bike 1 week before leaving Melbourne
3. Do more BRICK sessions before hand
4. Do some races before hand. Get into the race mind set before hand.

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