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Terenzo Bozzone's Journal
Xterra New Zealand
posted by at 04:10 PM on April 24, 2008
What was I thinking entering an off road triathlon. A 1000m swim in the Blue lake in Rotorua, then a 26km Mountain Bike around the Redwood forest and to finish off an 11km run. Well that was how I spent last weekend
The afternoon before the race I thought I would go and check out some of the course and see what I was getting myself into. I didn’t want to ride the whole thing mountain bike so I just did the first 30minutes, well that was no fun – it was all up hill. Then I wanted to get back to my car… the short way, I found a straight line down the mountain on the National Downhill MTB trail, woops, I shouldn’t have done that. I couldn’t stop praying for it finish, I think I almost wore the brake pads down on my bike completely. So this little outing really was a blow to the confidence, I arrive confident and went to sleep that night thinking oh well, I did just come down here for fun.
Race day was beautiful. The sun was up and had warmed the cool air by the time our race started. Off on the swim and my competitiveness took over, pushing my way to the front and trying to keep the pace up as I knew I would have to put some time on the better Mountain bikers. First out of the water and off onto the bike… uphill right from the word go. To summarize the bike, the “uphill” was no fun, but I didn’t loose any time to the skilled bikers and the “Downhill” was exciting but I got time drilled out of me. Thankfully for my Specialized Epic mountain bike I managed to keep my deficit to a minimum.
I was off the bike 3min 40sec down on the leader and second and third were also well ahead, so I found my rhythm and pushed the pace. I now know why they call it an off road tri. Side stepping through the bush, would pay its dividend on the second lap where I experienced cramp so bad I had to stop and stretch it out. That was when I lost back the lead I had caught up on the first lap, so back in second and hobbling along, trying to prevent the cramp from returning, every stride I thought my race was over. I tried to change how my foot was contacting the ground, which seemed to work, and then laid the hammer back down.
Finally I got to the finish in first place, my first Xterra. Second place, Mark Leishman was only 20seconds back and had really made me work for the victory. I couldn’t believe what a great event it was, after racing around the world I was surprised to see an event in the middle of the forest on such an international level. Everything was run so smoothly, from the tricky parts deep in the forest to what would normally be chaotic transition zones. And the media covered the event well.
Well, what is next for me? After the huge upset in not making the Olympic team I have decided to focus this year on more of the non drafting races. I will be racing the Half ironman at Wildflower in 2 weeks and then be returning Back to San Francisco in the beginning of June for the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon. My main goal for the year is going to be the 70.3 (half ironman) world championship in November in Clearwater and I am still undecided on the Xterra world champs…hehe
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