Swiss Gigathlon Day 2 2007

I woke up at 4 am and got my skates on.  Peter helped me with this.  It was close to a 20 mile skate and I was nervous about being around so many people.  Dirk said the beginning would be hard getting out of town and wanted me to find someone to hold my hand.  Georgio was going to help me but to tell you the truth I was afraid he would not be able to hold me up.  He looks just as uncomfortable on the skates as I do.  Another friend Daniel came to my rescue.  This is the Daniel that I trained with when I came over for camp.    He was very nice and helped me out a lot.  I am not sure I would have survived the skate in the beginning if it were not for Daniel.  Georgio came to my rescue at the end of the skate.

The Skate-  This was first and we had a neutral zone in the beginning.  I think it is since we had to get out of town and there were some speed bumps and stuff.  I did not know what was ahead or I might of just quit then.  The race started and Daniel held my hand for the first 20 minutes.  We were making turns on down hills and also going over speed bumps that had cobble stone on it. I was holding on to Daniel and screaming most of the time.  Oh yeah..let’s not forget the curbs and drizzling rain  I think I would have died if it was not for Daniel.  He helped me so much.  We then began to realize we were through the neutral zone and it was time for Daniel to race.  Georgio was still hanging out with me and once again we were bringing up the rear.  I really thought that I was doing pretty good but we were not gaining on anyone.  The skate path was nice until it was time to go back to town where we started.  We had to go over all those speed bumps and curbs again.  I did not have Daniel this time and there were times that I was on a down hill bouncing over speed bumps like a canon ball screaming my head off.  One time Georgio actually went ahead to warn some people that I was coming and to help me stop so that I could make the turn.  There was no stopping for me on the down hills parts and I really did have my heart beating like a rabbit.  There was one occasion that I almost killed some kids crossing a cross walk  getting out of school.  You could hear me coming from miles away and I know that I looked like an idiot.  Georgio hung in there with me and we got to the transition to start our next leg together.  I am pretty sure that we were last.

The Transition-  Well I did better then my crew thought I would since they were not in the transition.  Dirk always got a text message then I came across the timing mat so I knew that he would be there soon.  The race announcer paged them and I could hear Dirk running.  He had this little gadget that sung Boom Chicka Wow Wow  every time he took a step.  I always made me smile.  He was running with my cloths in his backpack and peter followed with my bike.  I had a little food and took my time changing and then we were off.

Road Bike-  It was still raining and you could tell that it was going to pour. I had a rain jacket in  a camel back today just in case.  This is where Georgio and I started to have fun like the day before. Georgio was on fire again and we were pedaling our butts off.  I think that it took about an hour but we did start to reel people in.  It started to rain and it was really pouring.  I actually saw Daniel at the top of a climb in his blue rain pants and thought about ripping them off of him since I was so cold.  I have not ridden in rain much on the road bike except at the Race Across America but I was handling it ok.  I was actually flying down hills really fast.  I was squeezing my brakes as hard as I could and the brakes were hardly working.  I though it was from the rims being wet.  I actually scared myself at times.   I would scream at people to let them know that I was coming. I know that they thought I was an idiot.  What I was doing was really dangerous.  I was having to wait for Georgio after some of the down hills since he was being safe.  I did half of the ride without my jacket and did not know that I had it in the camel back until we stopped at tent that had some hot food.  I did not want to wait long and Georgio wanted to get some food.  I decided to go ahead and take a brake.  They had some blankets and hot chicken broth that we could sip on.  We got some food and were eating and one of the guys pointed out that he had a water bottle full of chicken broth and was using it as a warmer.  Everyone at the table started copying this guy and we all had big bottle of bullion between out legs with our hands on it trying to get warm.  It was really cold!!!  We all had teeth that were chattering as well.  This was a nice brake but it sure was hard to get started again. Some guy had told me that we were 6  miles from the transition but we were really 2 hours.  This was a surprise but I survived and had a great ride with Georgio.  We rode really strong and had fun.  We were miserable but the gigathlon is so crazy you can’t help but smile.   We finished but we were popcicles. Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I had to stop one time since the rain was falling so hard that I could not see.  I had taken my glasses off and that was a big mistake.  I was on a downhill and the rain drops were falling so hard that they were hurting my eyes.  Of course I could not stop until I got to the bottom but I was really worried.  I guess I learned a lesson that when the rain is falling that hard then it is best to keep the glasses on. 

The |Tranistion-  Both Peter and Dirk were there all smiles.  They allowed us to go into a building to change.  I was greeted by Dr. Rudolfo ,  I  stayed with him and his wife Rennie before the race so it was nice to see him.  He was going to run with me.  Now this guy is one hell of an athlete!!  He can do an ironman in 9h and 20 min.  He was so nice to stay with before the race and knew the run course.  We were going to finish close to his house.  It was really nice that he came out.  Both Georgio and I were about as cold as you could get and moving slow in the transition. The temp was cold and the water only made it worse.  The rain had slowed but I bundled up anyway. Rudolfo said he had a rope to put around me to keep me from falling,  I thought he was kidding.  Anyway on the way out of the run I thought I would check something on my bike.  Turns out that both brakes were completely open. I showed Dirk.  I am really lucky to be alive.  I knew that something was wrong.

The Run-  Well this was interesting.  We did not walk much of the beginning.  Rudolfo was cracking the whip and ready to go.  We followed him and he was very encouraging.  He really was fun to run with and he would let us know where a climb was and how far we needed to run before we could walk up a hill.  I had no idea that this run was going to be so hard!!!!  We got to one of the big hills and it was so steep and muddy.  I am so thankful that Rudolfo was there to help me and tell me how to get up them.  I always hated rocks being on a trail but the rocks actually help you get up steep climbs.  Rudolfo showed me how you step on them instead for traction.