Bonne Discipline, Yah!

A week ago, I was in France, racing in my first Winter Triathlon World Cup. It was quite an adventure, and I've been so busy since then that I haven't managed to get this story written until now. It was a really quick trip — I flew Thursday night, raced Sunday and flew back Monday morning. At first, that might seem like it wouldn't be worthwhile, but I made the most of my time. The weather was really snowy for the first day I was in Valberg, which is a small mountain town a couple hours outside of Nice. Once it was all said and done, we had a solid three to four feet of fresh snow. Made me wish I had my tele skis with me! Especially when the course was neither marked nor groomed the day before the race. Oh well. I was staying with the Czech team, which was pretty amusing. Only a couple of them spoke English, and even then, communication was challenging. Those guys are so funny. They eat all this weird Euro food and like to hang around in their boxer-briefs. But they are fast.
The race itself was pretty good overall. I had an amazingly good run, which was a surprise, as that's usually my weakest discipline. I was hanging with the leaders the whole way! Probably helped that the course was straight up and down an alpine ski hill. Either way, the bike was a bit disappointing. I had too much tire pressure and the snow was very soft. However, I battled back and had a good ski, finally earning me ninth place on the day. Helloooo USAT performance bonus!
The excitement didn't end there, though. I found out, shortly after the race, that I would have to go down to Nice that afternoon, even though my flight wasn't until the next day. That meant packing up my crap. Really fast. Once I was down there, I made the best of the circumstances. I found a pretty nice hostel and went out on the town. I had some great beers, an amazing Nutella crepe and I went down to the beach, which was really nice (hahaha get it? Nice... nice!). It was an unexpected way to end the trip, but I really enjoyed it. Now, I head off to Durango and then Bend. Valberg was a great confidence boost... I'm ready to rock!