Days Leading into Noosa

The trip to Noosa was always going to be more of a holiday than a race weekend. All up it would be 7 nights in Queensland. With this coming only 2 nights after our 3 day Training Camp at Bright, we were very much entrenched in the holiday spirit.

There are 3 different accommodation rates at Noosa: Off-Peak, Peak and then Noosa Triathlon week. Not only is the accommodation very expensive, but you are also forced to book for a minimum of 5 nights. We ended up choosing the Outrigger apartments on the edge of the National Park in Little Hasting St, about 500m from Hasting St - the main drag and where all the action is. The resort has a gym and 2 pools (one is a lap pool) and is understandably full of triathletes. Whilst here I have seen Craig Alexander (3 times Hawaii Ironman World Champion), Emma Jackson (Olympian) and Peter Kerr (last year's Noosa winner), so it is obviously not a bad choice.

The race entry and accomodation was booked 12 months in advance of the race, but I held off on the airfares hoping cheaper flights would appear. After most triathletes had booked their flights, the unpopular dates to fly started to appear cheap. Getting a good deal meant arriving 2 days earlier than planned, but the savings in airfare was very significant (ie. $89 compared to $299). Rather than extend our expensive Noosa accommodation  I booked 2 nights at Coolum Beach instead, which is half way between the Sunshine Coast airport and Noosa.

Coolum Beach was very relaxing and it was a shame to leave after only 2 days. We still saw quite a few triathletes, but in general it was pretty quiet and the surf beach was great. The photo on the right shows the view from our balcony. And it was great beach weather the whole time we were there.

We drove the short distance to Noosa on Thursday and the town had already been taken over by triathletes. All cafes on Hasting St were overflowing and there were expensive bikes everywhere. During the Hawaii Ironman in Kona, Lava Java is apparently the place to be. In Noosa it would seem Aromas on Hasting St is the 'It Place'. After being lucky enough to score a seat, Robbie McEwan (Aussie cycling legend) was having morning tea at the table next to us and later on we saw the boys from Bondi Rescue.

Thursday afternoon Elaine and I did a run along the coastal trail that borders the National Park. It is a beautiful run with cliffs overlooking the ocean on one side and bushland on the other. Elaine ran 6km while I continued on for a 10km run. The problem with going further than most people is that you get to surprise snakes sunning themselves on the path. However it was only a very small snake, so nothing to worry about.

Friday morning I decided to ride the bike course. There is a climb and a very fast descent I wanted to check out. We had driven the course on the Thursday, but there is nothing quite like actually experiencing it on the bike. At roughly 4%, the climb turned out to be very easy. Whereas the steep descent (different bit of road) was extremely fast. It was during this descent that I discovered I hadn't tightened the front end properly and the whole bike was shaking as I battled the cross winds (with deep dish wheels) at 60kph.

With just a couple of kilometres left on my ride I experienced a puncture. Being an interstate race we didn't have the luggage space to carry 2 sets of wheels (ie. training and race wheels), so it was one of my tubular race tyres that suffered the fate. Luckily it was the tyre that came with the bike which was of lessor quality than all my other tyres, so one I was planning to replace at some stage anyway. With our luggage weight exceeding our allowances (even after purchasing extra), I left all non-essential items at home - including spare tyres and tubular tyre changing tools like valve removers.

After tracking down a new tubular at the Triathlon Expo, I then had to organise the tyre change with the Event Bike Mechanics. CycleZone Mooloolaba provided the services and did a wonderful job. However with 8,000 competitors, it seemed like every second athlete needed their services and I ended up waiting 3 hours for the tyre to be sorted. But at 15 dollars for switching the valve extenders across (need special tool) and gluing on the new tyre, I'm certainly not complaining - especially as I would not be racing without them.

The Expo also had massage services that Elaine and I had pre-booked. 30 minutes each for $30 (a dollar a minute). My masseur spent a lot of time on my calf and hamstring muscles as he found them to be extremely tight. But was then surprised to discover my quads were in far worse shape - obviously not helped by 3 days of cycling in Bright. Having run out of time, I booked another 15 minute massage the next day.

With seemingly everything sorted I put my wheel back on my bike and then set about tightening the front end. Tragically, the steering tube internals gave way. So not only could I not make it tighter, I could not even screw it in. Knowing this was a problem that could not be fixed before race day, I simply tightened the head steam onto the steerer hoping that would be enough. The other worry was that it would picked up by scrutineering when I checked my bike into transition. Down to transition check-in and they didn't give my bike more than glance, so hopefully all problems sorted.

The expectations for the race are not high. Having missed 2 weeks of swim squad and it being a non-wetsuit swim will guarantee a slow swim split and I strongly suspected the forecasted heat will destroy any chance of a good run.