Simon Whitfield, Paul Tichelaar, Colin Jenkins.
2008 Canadian Olympic Triathlon Team
and All American, Kevin O'Connor.
Last night I had the privilege to go on a ride with the men's 2008 Canadian Olympic Triathlon Team. Simon Whitfield, Colin Jenkins, Paul Tichelaar, and with the added bonus of All American, Kevin O'Connor.
We started the ride as a group with the Gear West Triathlon Club. My training schedule had me slated for 60-90 minutes tempo so I was looking forward to a good butt kicking...and I got it. After a usual group roll out and warm up. The pack sort of split up and that's when the pain began. A guy in my small group flatted right next to me so I stopped to help just as Kevin rolled up and whipped out his repair kit. We changed the flat in a couple minutes and Kevin told me to "go ahead, we'll catch up".
I made a wrong turn and had to double back to try and catch Kevin and the crew.
I had to hammer for 15-20 minutes before Kevin finally looked back and saw me so he slowed up a bit for me. Thank goodness. I was red-lining.
He let me draft him and I was still in my tempo pace and thus doing my prescribed training. Kevin is one bad ass triathlete. He's done Kona a few times and just last year, he finished with a 9:40 something. No wonder he's an All American.
I had to stick to Kevin's wheel for at least 30 minutes, after he let me catch up, to recover from being on my own (read as 'dropped') for about 20 minutes at LT.
I was happy to realize that I could hold that LT pace for that long and not completely blow up. Thanks coach Kris, you're gonna get me there in good shape.
After the most fun ride I've had all season, we all hung out and socialized and I got Simon, Colin and Paul to autograph my jersey.
Me and Simon chatting before the "drop"
The good karma in all this is that I'll be racing at IM Canada on Aug. 24th and I got to train with the Canadian Triathlon Team. It's gonna be great.
Very nice guys.
If you ever have a chance like this, don't pass it up.
12 comments:
that is soooooo cool! i'm jealous, although its a good thing it wasn't me, i'd have gotten dropped before they even got on their bikes ;)
WOW!
It's a lesson to us 'fraidy cats about what you can reap from having a go and hanging in there. Congratulations - bring on IM Canada
How cool! How'd you get hooked up with that?! It sounds like they're real stand-up guys. I recently had a brush with a second-tier elite and she was a giant c*nt. I beat her. I guess if you're REALLY good like those guys, you don't have to be a jerk. Either that, or it's because they're Canadian.
At first I thought I clicked back to Jenny's post. Way to ride with the big dogs.
no WAY! that is awesome! James has a man crush on simon whitfield- he is QUITE jealous...great picture!
benson....you got good karma to the max...thats very cool...
great pics and post...
looks like you were really confident...i would be intimidated....
That sounds fun and like a great workout too. I like your lighthouse photos from the last post...we always enjoy photographing lighthouses.
great job hanging with that crew! Sometimes that's what it takes to realize your training potential.
I'll also send you good Canadian karma! For what that's worth :-)
Lucky! hahaha awesome!!!
Wow, Benson! That is very cool! Ain't no shame in being dropped by those guys. Not at all. What a great experience.
Holy Cow!
What an awesome ride. I'm jealous. How did they happen to be in your neck of the woods?
Sounds like an awesome ride and a lot of fun.
Post a Comment