Two weeks ago I started the Triathlon de la Montagne Noire deep in the heart of France’s Languedoc region. The region is beautiful and offers a challenging but gorgeous course. Shame I couldn’t finish it.

The swim featured a three-loop lake circuit with a “double-australian” exit and a tight transition area. Not ideal, but ample width in the lake made for a pleasant swim with minimal combat swimming.

The 44km bike course proved to be my downfall. A particularly steep and gravel-filled descent took out a handful of cyclists, including me. I left the race in an ambulance with a fractured clavicle. Season over. Major fail.

To look on Monty Python’s proverbial bright side, there are a handful of ways to spin a positive light on this:

1. I found an excuse to escape the grueling 12km run course which I was dreading.
2. I can claim to have lost out on the bike split to Laurent Jalabert, former Tour de France cyclist who was also competing in this race.
3. Most importantly, I witnessed the best in human nature: A fireman triathlete who happened to be behind me stopped his race in order to resuscitate me and call the paramedics. I figure I cost him at least 8 minutes off his finishing time. This man is a saint and reinforces what triathlon is truly about.

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