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What’s the
difference between the tour riders and the elite Ironman racers?
This may cause quite the debate but when you really look at it, its
almost the same.
Racing as a pro
Bike racer is nuts. They race over 100 races per year not to mention
the tens of thousands of miles, not kilometers covered in training.
Ironman athletes will race 2-3 races per year and do a group of
Olympic and half Ironman races too. Barring Petr Vabrousek who races
seven Ironman in any year, and he almost finishes on the podium each
time.
It always comes
down to the individual’s goal right? Wrong in cycling. If you are a
domestique you are responsible for all housekeeping. Housekeeping!!
Yep, cleaning up after the boss leaves the mess.
Job description:
- Go to the pub with the team
and buys beers all night.
- Go on a ride in the rain,
clean team bikes, wash team leaders clothes, dry and fold and
massage team leader.
- Pull the team leader around
the race, sacrifice yourself whether it be shielding the wind or
chasing down a break for hours on end.
- During the race, drop back and
collect up to a dozen biddons (water bottles in cycling terms),
race back up to the team leader and distribute.
These are just
some of the descriptions carried out but there are plenty of others.
Now, let me see.
Triathlon doesn’t have domestiques in racing or do they?? Good
question May be, hope not!
Let me translate
for you. The domestique can be a Porch Monkey, as Paula Newby Fraser
named her training buddies, one of them quite famous around the
traps that will go unmentioned, John Duke!
John was as loyal
as Tyler Hamilton was to Lance until recently when he moved to
another team to showcase his own talent.
You see, John
would go to the pub and shout you a beer but he cant stay up later
my daughters feeding time, 5.30pm!
John would never
clean Paula’s bike because he drives his own cars and bike to the
drive thru car wash.
John would never
work for an athlete in a race because he was to busy riding behind
Fernanda Keller or some other goddess on the bike course, and
finally, when he saw an aid station he would fight you to get to it
first.
Really, not a lot
of similarities there.
Ethics: All Pro’s
that I know are extremely ethical, training and nutrition and
attending to sponsor commitments or keeping their bodies in check.
In cycling the
team takes care of this, for instance, you train and return to a
nice massage, someone to cook for you and a bike mechanic to clean
and check it. It’s just the way it is.
As the tour is
happening at present its refreshing to see how a triathlete turned
Cyclist dominate this race. Lance raced extensively as a young pro
in the USTS series in the late 80’s. He is a good friend of Mark
Allen and Tinley and I can say I had the great pleasure of the young
punk busting my behind in a duathlon on 1990.
The
transformation was that Lance was scouted by US Cycling and was
almost immediately put on the National team. Armstrong is a natural
and it helps to have the eye of the Tiger but as I call it the”
Mongrel Dog in Ya”. The guy just loves to compete. If you have read
his books then you know what I’m talking about. There lots of people
like this. Dave Scott is another. I was at San Francisco airport in
transit to Kona back in the 90’s and I had noticed him with the kids
and Sian and I went over and sat down and small talked for a while.
His kids were getting agitated so he set a course for them. This
time the competition did NOT include the MAN but his children. So he
gets up and goes through the course like Diana Bertsch in Kona
giving the Briefing. Dave is pointing to the course and says to the
boys, Ryan and Drew, “OK boys listen up, now, you hit the toilet
door then its over to Starbucks, around the first table and over to
gate 68, then really bring it home to me”. I thought, man the guy is
weird, but he simply competitive, a bit like Lance.
This years tour
marks the Don of a new Era in cycling. If Lance wins, and I think he
will, he will be hailed as the greatest cyclist ever. That will be
incredible and also inspiring for all walks of life, for Cancer
survivors to people looking for motivation.
The tour requires
a great deal of preparation as does the Ironman but it takes a true
pro to do it right.
Lance spends the
early part of the year in Europe preparing for the year and
sometimes going over the course for the up coming Tour De France in
July, weather permitting of course. triathletes spend the winters
doing cross country skiing or cross training and building strength
if your North American or European and if your in the Southern
Hemisphere, then its off to the beach, or to a party ( party for
me).
The early part of
the season usually sees the athletes doing training races to gauge
their training then ease into the season proper.
The early season
races in Cycling are generally the time for the domestiques to notch
up a win or two and triathletes simply race their way into shape.
The final push
for the two sports is the same though. The tour riders do the
Dauphine and the Tour De Swiss whereas the triathlete finds a half
Ironman or Olympic distance event 3-4 weeks out.
Its all about
preparation though. Your result is a reflection of your efforts
leading up and if it isn’t right then it shows, there is nowhere to
hide in the tour and Ironman. There is always someone giving it 100%
and you will notice it. Lance goes to France quite often to ride
stages even when they are covered in snow, and Peter Reid and others
have taken the time to go to Kona train over the course to
familiarize them with the course. It’s important to know the course.
If you cannot go to Kona to train I can tell you one of the ways to
train on the course. Computrainer is a simple method, its expensive
but worth it. You can ride most triathlon courses and you can race
someone if you wish. Its all about preparing correctly.
To finish off,
there is such a thing in triathlon like the tour. The French Iron
Tour took place after the Tour De France and the athletes were
shuttled around day after day. They raced as teams with also a
individual competition. Some of the stages were over the tour route
too. In any case, I respect all tour riders and all triathletes for
their dedication to training and accepting the challenges of
competition.To sum it up, thanks really go to the support teams
because if you have to do it alone then it becomes difficult, very
difficult. If you have a support tem, acknowledge them, love them
and buy them a beer. As for John Duke, buy your own at the early
bird happy hour! |
