JUAN VERGARA DNF REPORT THE CHAMPIONSHIP SAMORIN
WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK IN SAMORIN
- THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BAD LUCK AND POOR JUDGEMENT
- NEVER ABANDON BEST PRACTICES
- HAND CARRY YOUR ESSENTIALS (and never connect through Paris).
- PRE IDENTIFY THE BEST BIKE MECHANIC IN TOWN.
- PRE ESTABLISH CONNECTIONS WITH LOCAL TRIATHLETES
- DNF DOES NOT KILL YOU
The above is the summary. Below is what I wrote, to myself, in detail, in order to reflect and register the TWO MAIN LESSONS.
Warning: long read .... proceed only if interested in detail (and “soap operas”)
1-THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BAD LUCK AND POOR JUDGEMENT:
It is so easy (and tempting) to blame a mechanical failure on your bad luck, hide behind it and pray during the next race for it not to happen again. Or you can HONESTLY AND SERIOUSLY ANALYZE what and how it happened, to conclude that you could and should have made better pre race (even pre travel) judgements and avoid that specific incident.
In this case, my rear tyre blew up; exactly 400 meters before the turn around point.
But how can a brand new, tubular clincher, with liquid inside, blow up?
Rewind 5 days: arrived in VIENA Tuesday evening and out of 2 suitcases and 1 bike bag we checked in, only one suit case arrived: my wife’s.
My bike and my suitcase, with ALL my gear, where both left behind.
Past 24 hours and neither the bike or the suitcase have been located by the airline (in the mean time purchase run and swim gear to get some training done).
Past 36 hours (Thursday late morning after bike course inspection by car) and still with no news where the bike is, Plan B is initiated: locate a rental TT bike and begin mapping purchase of all the racing gear: race suit, race belt, bike shoes and cleats, helmet and wetsuit rental.
By the end of the day, the rental TT bike has been identified and reserved at a local bike store.
The only problems are:
(1) bigger frame than ideal (though a very good FOCUS CARBON frame)
(2) would need to cut the seat post to allow lowering to my measurement (the bike store needs to obtain permission from the owner).
Friday morning (42 hours from bike check in deadline) permission is granted and the process of bringing the bike as close as possible to my measurements is initiated (in parallel with the gear purchase).
By the end of the day, when we are basically “all set” and the rental is in my room, notice is received that my bike (just the bike) has been located and will arrive in a flight from Paris later that evening. We drive back to Vienna airport (1.5 hours), pick up the bike, return to Samorin by 10:30pm and begin assembling the bike. All good until I pump the rear wheel and the inner tube explodes. Being latex I consider it normal and proceed to put in a new latex tube. Pump again.... explode again and that’s when I notice it’s not just a micro hole but a bigger hole which I assume was caused by my inability to deal with latex. Being almost midnight I decide to leave that job to the (very good) mechanic on site who will be there at 8am.
08:05 sharp he mounts a latex spare with enviable ability ..... pump ..... explodes again .... same hole .... same location ... puts in a new non latex continental tube .... pump .... explodes again .... same hole .... same location.
That’s when we realize the rim must have a problem and decide to put in a new and thicker inner tape. New tube ... pump again, explode again, same place, same hole.
At that point I contemplate (in my mind) the idea of using the rear wheel from the rental TT bike but the local shop mechanic suggests we “use a tubular clincher which will by no means be affected by the apparent hole pressure on the tube causing the explosion”. Suggestion accepted (*)Mount that tyre, pump past 110 ..... all good and went out for a 30 minute ride with 110 pressure. All perfect, take bike to the room and relax.
By Saturday morning all continues ok. Tyre has not lost any pressure.
Check in the bike in T1 and released a bit of pressure on both tires as I always do.
Slept like an angel the night before the race knowing we had successfully solved the inconveniences and it was time to relax.
Race morning arrive with plenty of time in T1, all continues good .... pump 110 .... all set to race.
Next chapter in this “Mexican soap opera” is the tyre explosion, 400 meters from the turn around point, while on 3rd place and gaining ground.
(*) In retrospect the EXACT MOMENT OF POOR JUDGEMENT was to accept the clincher tubular option. The smart decision would have been taking the rear wheel from the rental bike which would have costed me just a few watts (versus my disk wheel).
But was this the only moment of poor judgement? Rewind two weeks to May 17th, when I hit hard a very deep hole on the road (hidden by a tree shadow) and had a flat on the last half mile of my last training session on the race bike. This is most likely (90% surely) when the rim got damaged (though imperceptible even with careful examination). THIS INCIDENT WAS DEFINITELY BAD LUCK.
Went straight to my bike mechanic for him to make a PRE SCHEDULED, DETAILED PRE RACE CHECK-UP (asking him to take a closer look to that rim). Mounted race tires (Vittoria Race with latex) and 4 days later, took the race ready bike for a final check spin before packing. ALL PERFECT.
Packed the bike that same day ..... and that’s when I made another mistake which I’ll note as my second learning: I did not fully follow my “best practices”
2-NEVER ABANDON BEST PRACTICES
“BEST PRACTICES” is a concept I apply to everything in life; from business, to family, to triathlon.
One of those has been to take two racing wheels sets to races in case an emergency happens. It never happened. I never had to use that extra set which just added weight to my bike bag and made packing just a bit more complicated.
Bad call to leave my FLO set behind this time around. Never again!
Lessons number 3, 4 and 5 are straight forward. But I do want to expand on lesson number 6:
(6) DNF DOES NOT KILL YOU
This was my first DNF ever and most likely than not, it will not be my last if I am blessed to be able to race for as long as I envision.
I had been afraid that the day it happened it would, somehow, affect my love for the sport and make me review my long term triathlon goals.
Well, if anything it made my desire to win stronger and it got me back on training, earlier than scheduled, for my next race: Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Port Elizabeth, Australia, September 3rd. Besides, knowing a DNF does not kill me, I feel more confident to take risks (when needed) to test my limits. Actually, that was exactly what I was doing when my tire exploded. Having come out of the water 5 minutes behind plan (mostly due to very windy, choppy, strong sideways current conditions), I had decided to RISK IT BIG and was averaging 210 watts versus a 185-190 plan. Somehow after lowering my heart rate (aprox 5k into the bike course) I heard someone’s voice which had recently asked me ..... “don’t you ever think those numbers sometimes might limit your potential?” .... I thought about it ..... calculated I had lost quite a bit of ground on the swim (which actually was less than what I thought) and decided to give it a try and accept that I might not be able to deliver the run ..... but will never know if I don’t try!!!! We will never know what the answer would have been for this race in Samorin ..... but at that point I had already accepted that DNF WOULD NOT KILL ME. Completing for a medal versus competing for a podium could.
#moveon #nevergiveup #workworks #mywifekarlaisazing
A few extra notes on the race, the venue and the Slovakian people:
This is a great race, not only because Challenge does a great job but also (and mostly) because the venue, X-Bionic Sphere is simply AMAZING!!! Check it out on line and whatever you see on the screen (already amazing) does no justice to real life. Hard and almost impossible to describe the grandiosity and the details of the place. Worth the trip.
Either the Slovakian people are simply wired to help with a smile or God was putting a series of angels on my way to take me through the learning process. Karla and myself received an incredible amount of support (with solutions) all the way from the initiation of this “soap opera” all the way to assisting Karla to reach the furthest point on the course, to pick me up while the closed roads race was still going on. God bless them all.
Comments
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for sharing.