StoneBrixiaMan Xtreme Tri, July 3, 2021 (XXL)
Race Reporters: Nícolas
The initial idea was to involve my family and my coach while travelling to a new place. They would follow me in the car and my father or my coach would run the last mandatory part with me. My dad had introduced me to the sport when I was 10. Finishing with him would be the closure of cycle on the pinnacle of the sport that I had practiced for most of my life!
For months I trained with a lot of uncertainty and restrictions, but as time went by, the race confirmed. As did the fact that they would not be able to come due to travel restrictions with Brazil. Less than 2 months prior to the race I had no support but had to keep myself motivated and training! One thing at a time, everything was solved. Pedro, a friend in Milan, and Mareike Harder from the club accepted to join me and Andrea was assigned to me by the race organization for the mandatory support section as I couldn’t find someone by myself. Can’t thank them enough for it!
Moral is that I waited several yrs and there was never the perfect time, I just had to take the 1st step and make it happen.
Swim: Dive into the unknown.
4:00am, race is on! 1st time in the dark. As soon as I start, I can’t see the light beam, so I use the house above. As I progress I see people getting away to the left and no one in front. I get worried, but to my right there’s a staff on Stand-Up. Took me a while to understand as I could only see the lights on his body looking like a Xmas tree . “If he’s there, I should be in a reasonable direction” – I thought to myself. 1st km done and I start getting close to an island on my right. It doesn’t feel right and now the Stand-up went to my left. I still can’t see clearly the arrival and keep going. Suddenly some algae and the water gets hot! That scares me, I had gone too far to the right! I correct to the left; the island is gone.
Halfway through and now I see the light beam! The Stand-Up is close again and I see that there’s ppl right behind me. I get confident again and now I am sure where to go! 1km to go, it sems so far and I feel like I’ve been for hours in the water. I start to feel cramps behind my left leg. I reduce the pace, get behind someone, and try to appreciate the sky getting brighter and the mountains taking shape! 🤩 I start enjoying the swim and soon I get to the other side, but the cramps are stronger, which worries me for the cycling. As I get out of the water, my left arm and shoulder is also terribly cramped, hard to get the swimsuit out. I had no idea of my time. In T1, Pedro tells me I am 12th out. Much better than expected.
Bike: The best ride of my life.
A steady uphill lead to Ponte di Legno, km 140. I stop for another refuel. No sign of my support car, but Andrea is there and manages to find a RedBull I had planned to take.
It was fun to have some adrenaline in competing for places, but I wasn’t there for that. So I took my time at the top to put the jacket on, take a last photo and fix my camera on to film the descend. Needless to say, I gave back all positions taken on the way up haha but I enjoyed my moment. Apart from a totally dark 400m tunnel and the fear of flat tire It was a pleasant descend back to Pt di legno for T2, over 1h ahead of my optimistic plan.
Run: I AM A STONEMAN
A technical descent takes back to T2. Still feeling weak I let “gravity do the job”. A careless loose step and I twist my right ankle. I sat for a while waiting to see what I feel on my foot; if I could stay on the race. Anyway I had to get back to T2, so I get up again. Fortunately, the foot doesn’t bother much
Epilogue: what’s next?
The event focus on the experience, there’s no distinction between positions, but for those who like numbers:
Swim – 3800m - 1h12 (3900 actually swam) – 12th place Bike – 175km, 4500m D+ - 7h27 – 5th place (2nd best bike) Run – 40km, 2300m D+ - 6h52
Total: 15h33 – 14th overall / 84 finished / 130 started
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