LEARNING FRENCH

It has been some time since I last shared my thoughts with you, and for good reason. Coming off a challenging summer of racing on the domestic front, I needed some time to re-group and prepare for my up coming Tour de France. I thoroughly enjoyed spending five weeks at home training with my old mates and dining on mum’s gourmet menu! Unfortunately I did not catch up with many of my friends and it will now be several more months before I have the chance again! In the meantime, I’ll be thinking of you as I’m chipping away at things from this end. While I was home I did manage to duck into a few of the local pools for around 230km of swimming, which is approximately seven times across the English Channel… Unfortunately, it’s not enough “clock the sport”, but I believe I have improved which is reward enough for now… The swim block came at a good time as it gave my body the chance to recover from a crash in March that caused a rather unwanted disruption to the program.

My French crusade began on May 14^th as I left Melbourne for Toulouse, via Dubai and London. In the space of the twenty-eight hour door-to-door transit I was able to double the number of countries I have ever been too and to my surprise, I am now much smarter! For example, I now know that French people actually speak French, not just English with a French accent like we see in the movies… Having never visited a non-English speaking country, this actually caught me off guard. My French Team (Sud Tri Performance, STP) have been nothing short of brilliant since I arrived. The team manager, Le Fred picked me up from the airport in his Mercedes convertible and took me to my new home at the Presidents palace in Labege, which is just outside Toulouse. Bernard and Valerie (my French mum and dad) have been spoiling me with French cuisine and teaching me the language. Labege is just as you picture a small French Village! It has old style housing, narrow streets and green grass.  We are a stone throw away from the Canal du Midi, which runs right across the country from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. The canal is a hive of activity each morning with runners and cyclists, many of who are commuting to work. I would love to tell you about more of the places I have been exploring but to be honest, I’m a little scared of the narrow roads and the misspelt (French) street signs. Out and back is fine for now ;)

On Saturday I travelled to Mimizan with my STP teammates for a unique Team TT race. It was a 3.5-hour drive from Toulouse in a mini-bus packed full of bikes and excitable Frenchmen… I can tell they are a funny bunch by the way they laugh, so I laugh too, although I have no idea why… They are probably just laughing at me, laughing at me (if you know what I mean)! Believing the race start was at lunchtime, I had planned my meals accordingly and began to strategically pick through the collection of snacks to ensure I was in good shape for the race. We arrived at 12pm and registered straight away. Just as I was about to take my pre-race gel, each of the boys unveiled a three-course meal from their backpacks and sat down at the table to eat. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the memo that we started at six and it would be a good idea to pack a proper lunch… At least I gave them another laugh when I filled up my drink bottle with some Dextro Energy powder and treated it like a cup-a-soup…

Mimizan is a popular holiday spot and is renowned for it’s beautiful sunshine and tourist resorts. It’s fair to say I got it on a bad day, as it was 9 degrees and raining the entire time we were there! Luckily (umm…) the water was a balmy 14 degrees! We spent the afternoon cooped up in the mini-bus alternating seats every so often. I felt like I handled the wait well after my recent travel experience. We posed for some photos in our new race suits before we rugged up in our wetsuits and made our way down to the ice (lake) for the start!

This was my first attempt at the Team TT format and I didn’t know what to expect, especially give I did not know my team and they did not know me! I figured it would be much the same as any other draft legal race I had done, but without the bash and crash to start the swim… And maybe a little colder!

After the abundance of swimming I had done in the past six weeks I was determined to do well in the water and was pleased to comfortably slot into my place in the line. For the first time (and maybe the last), I was actually disappointed to have to get out of the water despite the temperature… The team had organized a TT bike for me to use in the race and I was lucky enough to recognise it in transition. It was raining heavily and the roads were lined with a layer of water that splashed up into my face as I starred at the wheel ahead. I was told to stay out of the turns to start the bike and if I felt okay I could come through and join in. I was keen to be on the front to share the work and contemplated coming through for a moment but when we lost one off the back I thought it was better to wait. Plus I was hardly going to be increasing the pace at the rate we were going. We needed three of the five to cross the line in order to stop the clock and I was a designated runner so my job was to hang tight on the bike. After 10km of chewing the handle bars I began to feel the cold and my legs and chest tightened up. I was slipping off the back around some of the corners and I was forced to chase all out to catch back onto the STP train… After 2-3 attempts at this I could not respond and my heart rate failed to retreat. For the first time I can remember I was dropped on the bike and my teammates were forced to slow up and wait for me. Until, I was dropped again and then again… The last 5km of the bike seemed to take an eternity and I was stuck in the gear I had because my fingers had frozen over I could no longer shift the lever. We finally reached T2 (probably as fast as I’ve ever got there) and I thumbled to get my beloved New Balance shoes on. I tried to unclip my helmet but my fingers were paralysed, so I yelled for a teammate to get it on the way past! We took off at a steady pace to start the run aiming to build into it. I can’t recall exactly how fast we were going, but it was too quick for me and again I was off the back. The boys hesitated for a moment but soon realized I would be no use for the rest of the day and left me to finish the lonely and disorientated canter through the puddles. I was really disappointed to start the season with my new team like this and couldn’t help but feel like I was the guy who kicked a point after the siren… Only, I felt like I did it at the end of every quarter!

We ended up in 3^rd place overall and only twenty seconds separated us from first. I’m not sure if this made me feel better or worse! Nonetheless, I was very impressed with the form of my teammates and I’m excited to race with them for the rest of the season. It is another lesson learnt for me and I’m glad I had the chance to blow out some cobwebs before a bigger challenge next weekend in Dunkirk, for my first French Grand Prix.

When I woke up this morning (Sunday) I was still exhausted from the day before. It was not only the race but also the travel to and from, the wait time and the hours of shivering that made it one of the hardest days I’ve had in the sport. There’s no doubt the French are a tough breed! After breakfast I had another four hours sleep and then I did something a little different! I said oui (yes) to a social occasion and spent the afternoon exploring the city of Toulouse with Bernard who was a great tour guide. It was nice to do the tourist thing and it helped to take my mind of the day before. I’m enjoying the challenge of learning a new language and I will be continuously reminding myself that I have a Tertiary education to avoid feeling like Captain Stupid each time I speak…

It has been more difficult than I expected to integrate into French society, although I am in good hands here with my STP family in Labege. I am looking forward to catching up with my D-Squad buddies at the race in Dunkirk and then we will be heading to Morzine In the Alps to start the next chapter! With any luck the weather will warm up and I will stop regretting the decision to leave my “famous red jacket” at home!

Until next time, take care and bonne chance (good luck)…

Mitch’s Next Race: French Grand Prix, Dunkirk (May 26^th)

Mitch's Pictures: 

Léo Lagrange, Toulouse

Canal du Midi, Labege

Team STP- Sud Triathlon Performance

"Just waiting for a mate"

Homemade honey at the President's

Capitolium, Toulouse 

Bernard The Great (STP President)

Le Fred (STP Manager / Police Chief / Moto GP Rider)