For me, the reward for competing in the chill of the early months is to look forward to the European champs during May. This time round, the host venue was the beautiful city of Nancy. The course was stunning, with the transition just off the world heritage site of Stanislas square.
Anyway, off out onto the first run and the pace was lightning quick. After taking on board a TORQ gel 1 minute before transition (one of my tricks) I got into T1 in 31.49 (not quite 10k!).
After a swift transition, I was on the bike course for 8 laps of a beautiful city centre course. Whilst on the course my new Fast Forward disk wheel behaved fantastically and even though the course was blustery the bike stayed true and I especially felt the benefit of the disk on the downhill section.
With 2 laps to go, I took on board another gel. This time it was my favourite Banoffee flavour with guarana. This was the first time that I had used this flavour in a race and I can say I really did feel a kick afterwards. You need some proof? Guess who got the fastest 2nd run split off his bike – 16.22 for the last 5k. Yeah, it was me!
Job done and I managed to finish 9th overall in my age group.
Warming up in my non ITU-approved kit!
Chasing the French on the first run
