So i was staying in a guesthouse (Gasthoff Bohm)around an eventual 50 mins drive away from St Polten, the race venue. Initially i was a bit concerned it was a way out but the roads are so pleasant in austria and the stereo so good on my rent a car that i didn't mind so much! Also the guesthouse was lovely and there were lots of triathletes staying there and the owners were great people and mr gasthoff bohm was also racing. The first evening in austria i had dinner with an Italian triathlete whose mama kept phoning him to see if he was ok! (ok generally i think, not checking to see if he was ok having dinner with me...then again..!)
The next morning i trailed round hardware shops trying to find an adapter plug as i'd brought the wrong one! so couldn't charge anything up. Luckily i have 2 phones (one no. that everyone has and one that not everyone has, aha! am just so important ;-)! so i could use both until i later discovered some Brits staying at the same guesthouse so i borrowed their adaptor - handy! I went to find the race venue and it took me nearly 2 hours!! I found St Polten ok but took the wrong exit off the highway and ended up driving around aimlessly for an hour wondering what the german for 'race venue this way' is. There were no signs except for a few Ironman posters fluttering from lamposts. I eventually found it, stressing a bit about how i'd ever find it again and then spent the rest of the day traipsing round doing stuff - so much for resting! The race is so huge (2400 competitors) and very well organised as it would have to be with so many people but the downside of that is it is very spread out with 2 lakes to swim in and two transition areas. So i registered, got Mr Felt tuned up, found the lakes, found the two transition areas, chatted to random people at the expo, stared at the map of the bike profile in the info tent and got a bit worried, signed up for the bus tour of the bike course, went for a swim in one of the lakes (after being punched in the jaw by the wetsuit..i am not joking, we hate each other :-Z ). Was exhausted by the time i got back to gasthoff bohm!
The next morning I went for brekky early as i was going on the bike course tour. (see above for pics of bike course and random people who had no idea they'd be appearing on my blog, ha!). Met a dutch guy called Eric who was also up early to go on the bus tour. He claimed he knew how to get to the race venue so we went in his car so i could see the way. Turned out he wasn't too sure either and we ended up driving the scenic route but at least we did get there slightly faster than i had the day before. Coming from 'flat' countries we were both very interested by the austrian definitions of 'flat' and 'hill'. A while into the journey we were told by the race director man that we hadn't got to the hills yet - haha we did laugh - until Eric wryly commented we wouldn't be laughing tomorrow! I was so glad i saw the course for 2 reasons: (1) i got to see the gorgeous scenery i would be riding through the next day - really i recommend this race just for the bike course, it is so so stunning it is such a joy to ride through and (2) i got to see just how the bus struggled up the hills and the 8% - and more alarmingly - the 14% descent signs. Yikes!
So i was staying in a guesthouse (Gasthoff Bohm)around an eventual 50 mins drive away from St Polten, the race venue. Initially i was a bit concerned it was a way out but the roads are so pleasant in austria and the stereo so good on my rent a car that i didn't mind so much! Also the guesthouse was lovely and there were lots of triathletes staying there and the owners were great people and mr gasthoff bohm was also racing. The first evening in austria i had dinner with an Italian triathlete whose mama kept phoning him to see if he was ok! (ok generally i think, not checking to see if he was ok having dinner with me...then again..!)
The next morning i trailed round hardware shops trying to find an adapter plug as i'd brought the wrong one! so couldn't charge anything up. Luckily i have 2 phones (one no. that everyone has and one that not everyone has, aha! am just so important ;-)! so i could use both until i later discovered some Brits staying at the same guesthouse so i borrowed their adaptor - handy! I went to find the race venue and it took me nearly 2 hours!! I found St Polten ok but took the wrong exit off the highway and ended up driving around aimlessly for an hour wondering what the german for 'race venue this way' is. There were no signs except for a few Ironman posters fluttering from lamposts. I eventually found it, stressing a bit about how i'd ever find it again and then spent the rest of the day traipsing round doing stuff - so much for resting! The race is so huge (2400 competitors) and very well organised as it would have to be with so many people but the downside of that is it is very spread out with 2 lakes to swim in and two transition areas. So i registered, got Mr Felt tuned up, found the lakes, found the two transition areas, chatted to random people at the expo, stared at the map of the bike profile in the info tent and got a bit worried, signed up for the bus tour of the bike course, went for a swim in one of the lakes (after being punched in the jaw by the wetsuit..i am not joking, we hate each other :-Z ). Was exhausted by the time i got back to gasthoff bohm!
The next morning I went for brekky early as i was going on the bike course tour. (see above for pics of bike course and random people who had no idea they'd be appearing on my blog, ha!). Met a dutch guy called Eric who was also up early to go on the bus tour. He claimed he knew how to get to the race venue so we went in his car so i could see the way. Turned out he wasn't too sure either and we ended up driving the scenic route but at least we did get there slightly faster than i had the day before. Coming from 'flat' countries we were both very interested by the austrian definitions of 'flat' and 'hill'. A while into the journey we were told by the race director man that we hadn't got to the hills yet - haha we did laugh - until Eric wryly commented we wouldn't be laughing tomorrow! I was so glad i saw the course for 2 reasons: (1) i got to see the gorgeous scenery i would be riding through the next day - really i recommend this race just for the bike course, it is so so stunning it is such a joy to ride through and (2) i got to see just how the bus struggled up the hills and the 8% - and more alarmingly - the 14% descent signs. Yikes!
