first race of the year done, a good start to the year but plenty to work on.

It`s nice to get the monkey off my back of never getting on the podium in Japan. I`ve raced here many times over the last 12 years and had my fair share of blow ups, walks and subpar performances (save a 6th at the 2005 worlds in Gamagori).

I was actually really excited to race this weekend, the two weeks at home post Flagstaff went really well, I was able to shift gears from "coming out of winter" mode to "spring races" mode and get some solid confidence building sessions in before flying out. We arrived and settled in almost straight away, I was careful to bring a lot of my own food (bars) and much more careful about what I ate when I was here (read; fiber). I stood on the start line smiling, enjoying the pre race chit chat and excited to see where I was at. Tim Don and I came to the "captain smarty pants" decision to start on the left even though the current wasn`t flowing like it usually does.... we paid for that and after fumbling with my googles and still moving up the left side of the swim I was behind coming up to the first turn. I managed to shoot some gaps, sneak around some slower swimmers who started on the right side and still be with contact as we excited the water on the first lap. I swam through some guys, bridged the gap to the back of the lead pack and settled in for the rest of the swim. Out of transition I quickly moved into the lead group and we settled into a semi committed breakaway. It was a bit disorganized at times, Poulat does like to yell in french and those besky russians were a little inconsistent but after teasing the chase back by giving away 10secs on lap 4 we got organized (panic) and worked until we had 1min 15sec.

I felt good coming out of transition, ran steady and in control as I knew this course to be punishing to those who didnt pace it out. I settled in with Raz and Reto eventually dropping Reto with 1.5laps to go and decided to surge on Raz before the hill to see if I could break contact. I was successful and tried to manage my cadence through to the finish.

I very pleased to have won in Japan and really proud of our squads open to the 2008 season with some great results, great job coach.

Colin, Tim Don, Ben Bright and I rode 2hrs and 30mins this morning making it around the island, chatting it up and having a great laugh. its off to Oskaka now with a whole day tomorrow in Kyoto before our flights (anyone know a good pool in Kyoto?).

as Tich would say, "thanks for reading"

S