I went for a run to the bike turn around just to assess the exact location and the course was what we expect except more narrow – two lanes divided by a line of cones making for less room to pass and no room for mistakes in this draft legal format. As I ran back I identified what was the most dangerous spot on the course – a mild descent into a 90 degree right turn  that was a bit slick and had a super narrow, one lane exit. As I stood to watch a couple of age groupers go through one of them over shot the corner and wound up on the other side of the cones in on coming traffic. He returned to his lane unscathed but it was clear this spot would be an issue for the pros.

The elites arrived and I hung with their bikes during their warm up. They racked ‘em and I found a spot on the wall beside the board walk to watch the women start. Jasmine Oeinck was fist out of the water with a group of 6. She rode with intelligence, leading into every dangerous section (there were many on this technical course)

Margie Shapiro was out of the water about a minute down on Jasmine’s group but crashed on the first lap. She popped up quickly, got back in the hut and closed the then 2 minute gap down to 40 seconds before stepping off for the run

Margie ran into 2nd place. Jasmine hung in for 5th.

Ian

Before every ITU race there is the “Elite Meeting”. This consists of every athlete (it’s supposed to be a mandatory meeting – as in, you don’t make it to the meeting, you don’t race – but that’s rarely enforced) and some coaches and it’s lead by an ITU official and all done on PowerPoint.

This meeting kicked off with a display of traditional Chilean dancing. The first thing about a Cueca that a gringo like me noticed was the garb. The Senoritas were in gowns with a billowing skirts and the Caballeros had on wide brimmed hats a short poncho and the biggest, most dangerous looking spurs anyone has ever seen. There is a bit of a ceremony with white handkerchiefs, then some vigorous clapping timed with the drum and horn dominated music. Then the couples spin and twirl around each other with the hankies mingling,  heels stomping, and spurs threatening. I looked closely at the shins of the woman to see if any scars existed from the early years of practice but only saw the tasseled ends of her championship sash – it seems dance contests are much the rage in Chile.

The meeting was led by PATCO (ITU’s Pacific arm) powerhouse, Leslie Pujol – who is fantastic. Her passion for the sport is obvious. She cares about the atheltes, has her priorities straight and was in a huge quandary about the event’s predicament: the city came to the race organizers the day prior and basically said you can’t have the bike course you want. The bike is supposed to be 8 laps of 5k, but this was going to be more like 4.2k. Leslie wanted to keep it at 8 laps making a 33k bike instead of a 40k bike but that’s no good so an uproar ensued in he meeting.  She handled it all – in Spanish, English and Italian. We all settled on a 9 lap course and with no riders lapped out after 6 laps.

Everybody was ready to rock and roll at the end.

Tomorrow’s race day – bring it!!

We made our way to the race start sight and set up camp in the park there. The athletes headed out into the water for a swim. There’s no pool to speak of here so the ocean was our best bet and it’s always good to get a feel for the water at the race site.

I own a bike specific for travel, it’s made by Ritchey and it’s called a BreakAway. The bike is steel and I find it dreamy for travel as the case gets seen as a regular bit of luggage – which used to mean it was free but more and more means it’s $15. I like this bike but only ride it a couple of days every other month so I’m still getting to know it, trust it and for it to become an extension of my body like the others at home. Foster and Hagenbuch and I rolled out of our hotel into Vina del Mar, Chile and straight into the smog filled traffic of this busy coastal city. I want to say something nice about this ride at the onset so I’ll say this – while the drivers here are all about the horn – they honk at other drivers, pedestrians, everything – they were pretty cool about honking at us. Okay, on with the dirt…

The hazards are almost too numerous to name: dogs, packs of dogs, no bike lanes, no shoulders, drivers passing super close, more exhaust (both diesel and gas) than you can imagine, pot holes, vertical grates, horizontal seams, vertical seams, cracks, splits, etc. etc. etc. Add to all that the fact that athletes like Henry and Chris don’t ride slowly, they don’t really know how to do that and it’s a waste of their time. Or, this is the theory of relativity and this was slow for them. We found our way onto the coastal road and proceeded north at 23-28 mph. Just as the traffic started to wane the road went from 4 lane to 2. We passed through sections that reminded me of Gold Coast, Australia, Santa Monica, California and shanty towns. Add to that the distraction that the coast line itself, the shore, looks exactly like Monterey, California with jutting rocks pounded by Pacific Surf. Add to that distraction was the big X factor – I had slept about 4 hours in the past two days. If there was ever a ride to be “sharp” for this was it and I was NOT.

We did pick up a local in roadie garb and he sat 4th wheel the whole time. We turned around near some dunes and he asked where we were from. It was a nice friendly greeting from a local who say our similarities in the love of cycling before the differences in our obvious foreign status. We had ridden ~40 minutes out and were headed home – the local was doing that out-n-back 4 times!!

Back at the hotel it was time for a nap.

Then dinner – I’ll keep this bit short as it’s the main trouble of traveling with a group to a race. There is always a long discussion followed by an even longer walk for the “right” restaurant. All the US men were together – Foster, Hagenbuch, Steve Sexton, Ethan Brown Nick Vandam and we were later joined by the two US ladies here to race; Margie Shapiro and Jasmine Oeinck. We finally settled into a restaurant at 8pm – far too late for me – and we were the only folks in the place; even when we left!!! Amazing!!!

• Social Studies: Chilean couples do this thing that’s so wonderful. They kiss. They kiss in public, on park benches mostly, and they hold the kiss for a long, long time. Sometimes without much or any movement almost as if they’ve fallen asleep with their lips connected. These aren’t necessarily teens and twenty-somethings either, many of the couples we saw where 30+  and 40+. I can’t wait to get home to Alexandra to try out this new technique and just breath her in.

More to come.

Travel for such races can be tough but not as much when with a traveling companion. One pro heading down to do both events is Henry Hagenbuch, an athlete I have the honor to be working with. He and I flew out of LAX, via Lima, Peru and into Santiago, Chile at 6am.

The air outside the airport was smokey but was still welcome change from the stale air on the plane. We boarded a bus and headed west for a 2 hour drive to the coastal town of Vina del Mar.

The climate here is nearly identical to Los Angeles with much of the same vegetation, trees, flowers. The driver and tour guide raved about the agriculture in the area as we passed fields of corn standing over 6 feet in height, avocado orchards and miles of vinyards.

Vina sits on the coast but has crept up the nearby hillsides. We pulled over for a photo before dropping down into town.

Vina from above. The swim start is right at the base of the pier with the crane on it

It’s easy to find yourself in a funk after sleeping a couple of restless hours and waking up in a foreign country. We checked into the host hotel, put our heads down for a nap and then got out for a run to clear our heads and check out the town.

It’s Friday, the race is Sunday. I’ll keep you posted.

Ian

He has raced in over 35 triathlons and dozens more multisport events including duathlon and aquathlon. He is a national championship qualifier at international distance tri and a world championship qualifier in aquathlon. He has raced at distances from sprint to Ironman, having finished his first IM in 2004 at Madison, WI in 11:28:59.

He is also a passionate bicycle racer, racing at the Cat 3 level in both road and cyclocross. In 2007, he won the California State Cat. IV Criterium Championship.

His athletic background is primarily aquatic. If you can put on the cap, goggles and suit, he’ll teach you to have a great swim.

Hailing from Seattle, he is a Northwest native having graduated from University of Washington in 1997 with his BA in Geography. He moved to SoCal in 1998, settled in Santa Monica where he lives with his little girl Frankie.

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Cherie has three college degrees in education and computer science, including a Masters from the University of Washington, and is the founder and director of Exceeding Expectations, a highly successful program that uses the sport of triathlon to positively re-direct the lives of at-risk, inner city kids in San Bernardino, California. She was honored for this work by being featured on a Wheaties box in 2002/2003.

She has been coaching Triathlon at all age and ability levels for many years, as well as writing a series of articles on training techniques. She is still an active competitor in long distance triathlons, generally participating in two full Ironman races and several Half-Ironmans each year, with an annual return to the lava fields of Kona. As a coach she specializes in training both beginners and experienced competitors trying to improve their race performance!

All the best, and good luck in your 2010 racing season.

Ian

Our members are bicycle racers who want to be a part of cycling team that balances solid racing with fun and a great attitude. Newbies, women and juniors are welcome. TTS Racing is about inclusion and keeping perspective on what cycling and multi-sport are all about: fun, competition, friends.