Races are great! Traveling to them is not always fun! It can take the whole day, you can miss your flight, lose your bike…but this time except for some delays it went smoothly!
27 years ago I went to New Orleans as an au pair, first trip to America. 27 years later I come back to New Orleans for a 70.3...
Friday
I decided to book a hotel in the French Quarter, I wanted some charm…got the charm, great location, just a bit tight through the doors with my bike case…the only triathlete in an old hotel in the French Quarter! Loved it though. To see the craziness, the beautiful houses, not your typical Fairfield County City…
I called the lady I used to babysit for 27 years ago. She picked me up at my hotel and took me for a tour of New Orleans, her artist studio in a new artsy area in the City, great dinner in a brasserie on Frenchmen street, quaint jazz bars, her house and bed. Quite a good start to my little trip.
Saturday
Quick jog along the Mississippi River and among the crowd. Put my bike together, checked it. It looked good to go.
Registration at the Hilton was easy. Met with John G and Chris M, first 70.3 for Chris. We got a nice massage.
First little possible problem there were no shuttles to take us to transition at the University of New Orleans…so we took a cab.
The wind was blowing hard, but the water did not look too bad, although quite brown. Chris started to worry about the swim.
We took another cab, late lunch with ... oh no French fries….
Then another stroll in the French Quarter, early easy dinner and bed.
Sunday
I had a really good night! Normal breakfast, quick walk along the river to catch the shuttle from the Hilton. We got there quite earlier, it was windy and kind of cold. That is when the RD decided to cancel the swim, so we will not be doing a 70.3 after all today. Bike Time trials start per age group, 2 at a time every 5 seconds or so. Different!
The bike was very windy, I was blown away several times with my disk but ok, spent a lot of time trying not to fall off! The first part was into the wind, at least 25 miles…ouch the legs, but had to do it! The roads were better than I thought, flat with some little overpasses, nothing to call hills really. We rode along the newly built levies, no cars on the road, for that the bike course was quite good.
Then the run! Always dreading the run! My legs felt a bit tired, I know I pushed a little bit too much on the bike with the wind. Oh well, I am strong I can do it. I don't think I ate enough on the bike either.
The run had a lot of zigzags and it was a point to point. They had it to finish right in the French Quarter. I started well, and of course got tired! I passed 3 or 4 women my age group in the first mile so felt better, but still I was getting slower.
The Time Trials start made it hard to know if you were ahead or actually not, but that was not my worry. My worry was to finish the run which seemed very long to me, one mile at a time.
A young man passed me and said “oh 50 I thought you would be 45!” Can you believe that, he could, at least, have said 35, I think. (I was told it is called a partial hit when it happens) ;-)
The last 2 miles were very long and seemed to never end, the roads were very bad, but lined up with beautiful old houses, some in real need of TLC. The last stretch in the French Quarter to the finish was quite cool though!
The rest was fun, a few beers, good food, great friends. I even got first place!
Mary Dunn, my hero, won again in her new age group 60 and almost won the whole thing! When is she going to stop?
John did great, specially the run.
Chris M did awesome for a first time, specially on the bike. Coach Rickey did a good job this winter at the studio.
Both John and Chris did a 70.3, as they both added 1.2 miles at the end! Way to go guys, I only did a 69.1!
What I really love about these races is the adventure and great friends, and team mates. It was really cool to be with John and Chris.
So would I go back? Would I recommend it?
New Orleans is a fun place for sure.
Ironman organises good races but they are getting a little bit too commercial. The bags you get are always the same. The food is ok. Pizzas are cheap, but don’t you think they could work with the community and offer great creole food next time? I know it requires a lot of work to do and more money, but would be nice.
Local races are not too bad after all. Traveling with a bike is the problem, so expensive and a bit of a pain. Traveling for a run race or a swim event could make more sense. With the popularity of the sport, there are now a lot of good quality local races.
