Failure at Falls Creek

So the plan was set, early rise on Thursday to catch a flight to Melb and then 5hr drive to high altitude racing grounds on top of the Bogong High Plains in the Victorian ski fields to the Falls Creek Triathlon. Australia's high altitude long course race 2km swim, 80km ride and 20km run which also doubles as the Austtralian Championships.

Generally a skiiers destination during winter and a runners/hikers paradise through summer. When i was up here for a few days after NYE this year it was a ghost town.  There was a triathlon training camp happening and a few runners but other than that, dead.

Come the 2nd annual SuperSprint long course triathlon there was more compression and TT helmets than an Ironman at sea level.  With one coffee shop trading (well only one that made a hot coffee - go Alta Cafe and Laruel who remembered my affogato from a few weeks earlier) it was easy to spot the tourists!

Anyway back to the travel side, have a read through "The Whippet's" blog for our travel details...just easier that way.

Come raceday (Saturday morning which is a great day for it BTW) I, along with the other 3 travel weiry racers were ready for a cold start to the event.  With a temp range between 3 and 9 degrees we were ready for anything except the perfect blue sky and excitment of a frozen transition. 

With 20mins to a mass start we wandered down to the swim start, sorry i wandered down and the others fluffed around a bit more, typical of Scott but not sure about Ken or Clint.  Minutes to go and it was now time to test the water temperature.  We had been warned that a brisk 15 may 14 degrees would be waiting for us, on first touch it wasnt that bad. I stood in the water in a full length wetsuit so only feet exposed, it was ok, i had forgotten that walking barefoot for 20mins on wet cold cold ground kind of numbs the feet.  It was time for a splash, wetsuits work wonders until you dive in and that first gulp of cold water goes down the front of your suit, two strokes and then it fills up again. Yep chilly!!

Once in the water and a few hundred meters in the cold got to me a little.  Having not done any warmup or swum in a neoprene skull cap before this got a little restrictive, add the high altitude and it being the swim i had to recompose before getting a rhythm.  The only thing that made me feel better about this was reading Dr Mitch Anderson's post race report (The Dr came in 3rd and had a similar recomposure). Finally out of the water with freezing feet the air temp felt reasonable with the sun shining down, i made it up the long hill into transition where i saw Scott and shortly after Clint.  A slow transition was needed as i dried off a little, put on arm warmers, gloves, a vest and then head for the road.

At the start of the bike i was feeling great, out of the water and some nice rolling hills to attack. I started overtaking the quicker swimmers and keeping an eye out for numbers around my category.  I saw Scottly as he exited transition and new that he wasnt that far ahead of me so buried it for the first part of the lap to try to gain as much as possible before the turn around.  On the way out there were three noticable rises with some quick descents with the final descent to the turn quick and technical, due to cold hands and arms i took it slower than usual. Just as i hit the bottom of the descent there was Scotty and didnt have too much of a lead so pushed again to get to the turn and then the 2k return ascent.

Spinning out well on the return ascent i passed a few more riders and pushed as soon as i peaked the top, more descent and another ascent. Feeling great still i knew there was only two more rises before the return flatish stretch home.  As i started ascending a rise i dropped back a few gears whilst still in my aero bars, now hitting the steeper part of the hill i changed down into my little chain ring (not the big one on the front, the other one) and instantly i heard a mass of metal failing and crunching as my rear wheel locked up and i started sliding.  I was coming to a slow stop with one hand on my handlebar and the other on the aero i angled left towards the ditch at the side of the road, continued to brake and then unclip and get off.

With shock and disbelief i looked at the rear wheel to see what may of happened. My rear derailleur has somehow pulled so far across that it has caught the spokes and then been ripped over the rear cassette, whilst doing this mangled the spokes of the wheel, pulled itself clear of the frame of the bike, bent the rear triangle of the bike and who knows what else.  That's it race over at 17km into the bike and nearly a 2hr wait to get a lift back to transition, then wait around and cheer Scott and Ken on as Clint have a body malfunction and pulled out. So 2.5hr flight + 6hr drive (went the long way) and all i got was a 35min swim in 14deg water and 31mins on the bike, 2hrs of spectating and then a 2km walk back carrying my bike (thanks Scott who offered to carry it some of the way).

Luckily i have a good insurance policy (CycleCover with QBE as the insurer) and its all covered. New frame on the way, strip the running gear, pedals, handlebars etc and put onto the new bike.  If only i could have been running the disc wheel this might not have happened...

Just to finish off this ling winded account, i applied for the World Championships in Spain in July of this year, not having completed this race or any other and guess who is going to SPAIN!!! So now along with my Olympic Distance Australian cap i now have a Long Course cap too....
Congratulations also goes to Scott, Ken and Clint who also were selected and our Beijing counterpart Paul "Rubio" Thistleton.