What an interesting trip back.

18hrs of flying and 3 days of driving, my butt hurts. I would have been back early this morning but had to stay overnight at Threeways because I missed the station by 30min.Then on the way from Katherine, I was second on the scene at a two car accident, Spent 45min traffic controlling and getting the women so when the ambo's came they only had to take her away. Then 100km south of Darwin another accident with a 4wd on its head, Too many people stopped already so didn't bother.

A note to all drivers out there, DO NOT drive long distances or at speeds with doors locked, makes rescuing you much harder, you are assuming that once you crash you will still have the ability to open the the door, In most cases you do not. (You are not going to get robbed if your going faster then 60km/hr, plus you hhave the ability to run them over anyway, Stop being so scared people.)

I am allowed to have one rant a year, well this is mine. Have sense and think with both sides of the brain.

Yeah it was a tough day, not as tough a course as I thought but the day was tough. 

Started out with a long wait before we were allowed to swim, with us huddled into a small strip for 2 hours. My wave was the last to go and started at 0800. Pretty squashy in the water, felt like sardines in a tin. It felt great to have Whit call my name out as a good contender for top ten. 
We eventually got underway with a very rough start. The first 300m I got hit, kicked, smothered, swam over top of and grabed and pulled back. Nothing I haven't gone through before but I didn't expect it to go for so long. I then found some good feet sitting just out of the main stream flow to sit on until the 1500m mark when we started to overtake the wave before us. I went the wrong way around someone and ended back in the main pack, time to get smashed again. Fairly happy with swim but would have loved to have knocked 2min off. 

It was a very long run to transition but went pretty smooth, the volunteers were great and was ready with the transition bag for me. Not many bikes were left but you would expect that being the last wave. Im not use to it though. There was a steep hill to get out of T1 and there was a bit of congestion going up to the mount zone. Made for a slow T1. 

Race brief led us to believe there was not a flat section about. I started to think that was correct until the last 10km. I felt really good during the bike and was flying up the hills. I was enjoying the hills and making some good ground in the first 35km. After the turnaround it was a long decent, and my weight played a big hindrance as everyone was flying past me. I was in the biggest gear and pedaling plat out but everyone was just flying past me. I only got out of my seat twice and once was to pick up speed after the turnaround. 
I kept a cool head and felt comfy, which is what I needed to work on. Legs were starting to tire a little but I didn't think much of it. I got to the 80km and was still sitting at a good speed but couldn't push the legs any harder. The draft buster was sitting right behind me from the 15km to go to the 5 to go (pinged everyone except me). Got off the bike feeling pretty good but legs were heavy. 

My stride didn't come to me straight away but at the 2km mark I was feeling good again. It was a 3km downhill with a corresponding 3km uphill course. The first lap felt ok, I started to pick up the speed half way through the second lap and then on the uphill part of the third lap I was tiring and the legs were hurting. I had 3 small walking sections and then finished the last km strong. It was an amazing run course and the atmosphere was great.

A great effort seen by the professionals out there, some amazing times. Congrats to an Ausy top 2. There were some pretty fast age group times out there too. 

The legs are still a bit stiff after long periods of no movement but recovering well.

The course was great, I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I did not see the need for the T2 and finish to be in a separate spot to T1 and start. I didn't have anyone spectating me personally but I heard from others that it was not a very well thought of set-up for them. Also we were made to check our morning bags in 2hrs before we started, which left us holding our rears and getting bored. not allowed to enter the water or get out for a jog, so a warm-up run was done in a 200m long walkway dodging 1000 other people. 
Well about to get on the plane home so KIT.