Survivor Mexico

To get right down to business, and to fill in those of you who watched the live coverage from this past weekend’s Huatulco World Cup on what exactly happened to me, I got dropped from the front pack 15K into the bike. To be more specific, I got dropped on the 20% grade climb we had to do each lap of the eight lap bike course. I didn’t finish the race. But on to more interesting things…

I flew into the small resort town of Huatulco last Thursday on the plane I mentioned in my last posting – the fokker 100. The fokker was everything I dreamed of and more! A small regional jet, it barely fit 25% of the luggage of the people heading down to Huatualco. Only Ethan received his bike and luggage on-time. The lost baggage line stretched out of the airport’s main “area” and out into the loading/unloading zone at its peak length (I would say main “building” except that the Huatulco airport is made of tiki huts).

The Fokker. I might be the only person who is amused by this.

In addition to all of the triathletes traveling with bike boxes, several reality TV stars were on our flight to start filming VH1’s newest reality TV show I Love Money 2, which is being filmed in Huatulco. I Love Money 2 is a show that takes reality TV stars from other reality TV shows and makes a new reality TV show! I never would have recognized them but Jarrod Shoemaker did. They also did not receive their baggage and they were not pleased. They threw a fit, but considering the depth of character required to star in a show called I Love Money 2, I wasn’t surprised.

Jarrod later found out that the show Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern also filmed a show in the exact spot we were staying (Santa Cruz Bay in Huatulco). This happens to be one of my favorite shows, right behind Good Eats with Alton Brown. Apparently Huatulco is known for its pulpo (octopus) and mariscos (shellfish).

A view of Santa Cruz Bay from my hotel.

Onto the race: The swim was two laps – one 1000 meter lap followed by one 500 meter lap. I found myself about 10 meters off the back of the main swim pack after exiting the first lap of the swim but somehow managed to time trial myself back up to the front of the main pack by the end of the second lap. This would be my only pleasing performance of the whole race! Out onto the bike I settled into the front pack without much effort. Then came the hill – I got dropped a little bit on the first lap but managed to descend back into the group. I got dropped even more on the second lap but again I descended back in. On the third lap I got dropped for good.

A cool shot from triathlon.org. From the bottom left, Matt Reed, Matt Chrabot, me, and Ethan Brown in T1.

I dropped out of the race after riding another lap by myself and realizing I would eventually be lapped out. The race became very much a race of survival. The group went over the climb five more times with various people being dropped, some getting back on and some not. By the time the run started for the men’s race it was around 100 degrees (F) and 98% humidity in blazing sun. Everyone appeared to be suffering except eventual race winner Kris Gemmell and Jarrod who got second. The Americans did quite well, placing 2nd, 9th, 11th, 12th, 15th, and 17th.

After the race I got to sample some of the local cuisine at the post-race awards dinner. I’m not exactly sure what it was that I ate, but I narrowed it down to three possibilities: Calamari, octopus, or shellfish. It was all wrapped up in a burrito-type thing. Whatever it was, it was delicious! And after the dinner the Mexican team decided to throw everyone into the ocean and we had lots of fun.

A jellyfish sting I got the day before the race.