Hello all,

Davide Giardini here. I didn't even know about the existence of this forum, till a friend pointed out to me that there was some talk on here about my recent performance at Texas 70.3

To people that know me, this swim/bike I had shouldn't come as a surprise, as in the past 3 years I've been in the sport (first year pro last year), I've been improving rapidly. Simply put, I know what my strengths are and I play the cards I've got. I won SuperFrog last year leading wire-to-wire. I was 3rd at Challenge Half Rancho Cordova by leading out of the water and putting 5' into the field on the hilly bike course (except Collington, who is a very good climber). In countless races I just replicated the same swim/bike scenarios.

What exactly are some of you implying about my ride (Thomas?)?

Simply put, I rode hard from the start, dropping Potts and everyone in T1 while they were taking their skinsuits off, and never looked back. I put my head down on the straight long boring way to the halfway-point turn-around, and yes I was shocked to see I had put huge time on the field. I rode hard on the way back. End of story.

I didn't ride too hard. I rode within my limits, but I simply don't have my nutrition/hydration sorted for this distance yet, and paid for it on the run.

Whatever some of you are implying about my ride, please come forth and I'm here to answer your questions.

Davide Giardini

So cool of you to post here, Davide. What is your typical HIM run time in relation to you stand alone PR 1/2 marathon?

While I sometimes side with the "pros don't matter" crowd, it's guys like Lionel that make me think otherwise. It's great to see him progress in the sport, and I sure would like to see him get stronger in the water to see what would happen if he were not playing catch up out of T1.

Based on where he is today, do you think he's currently <1:00 for 2.4 mi without a wetsuit?

Thanks for coming on....I saw you on the bike return leg and thought to myself that was an impressive gap.

Do you race with power and if so can you tell us your %ftp you aim for?

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2016:
IMFL #12
http://www.bestbikesplit.com

of course you did ::))
I don't know. Unless you come from an extensive cycling background (ex-pro? but even then?..) to put 3 minutes into maybe the top 1 or 2 riders in the sport and then blame your pedestrian-like run on nutrition issues ?? hmmm...perhaps:)
Hell of a race though and welcome to the 'twitch


.

I'm not really sure why Gerlach was so reticent to say what I'm 99% sure he's thinking, which is that the lead motorcycle/car was too close. That happens all the time. But it's also not at all the athletes fault. It's just something that happens. Whenever you see a fast swimmer who puts time into the field from the outset, when everyone is riding really hard, it's the first thought on everyone's mind. Shoot, I think everyone in the world has probably lost count of the number of times that Potts has been the one benefitting. I've certainly benefitted in the latter half of races where I've taken the lead. And I've also lost races - and places - to people benefitting from it as well. It's just part of racing, unfortunately, just like the very real benefit from riding at the legal draft distance. I sort of figure that, on balance, they cancel each other out, though there are also plenty of times where a small group gets a wicked pull, especially from a car, and then you've got double benefit going on. It was such an obvious issue in Kona that WTC had to change the media rules so that cars/motos now have to go up out of group to get photos and then drop back. First Off The Bike has this awesome photo of Chris Lieto riding "alone" with probably 20 vehicles around him. Any of the real veteran Kona racers talk about it. I bet it happens in bike racing too.

Anyway, on a pancake flat (and windy) course like Galveston, the draft from the lead vehicle could be significant.

If you benefitted from that, that's the fault of the driver and the benefit to you from all those years in the pool. It's so non-noteworthy that I'm truly surprised that Gerlach didn't just say, "I bet he had some help from a moto."

Maybe he'll come on and say now that I've "broken the ice." Not that I think there was really ice to break. Given that you're a relative newbie who always swims fast, you may even have come to think it's pretty much normal to have a car or motorcycle closer than they really should be.

Really, they should be a mile up the road. But rarely are they even 100m. Add it to the list of things wrong with pro racing...

Then again, maybe that had nothing to do with it. In that case, great ride. But regardless, even if the lead vehicle was closer than it should have been, I don't see that as a knock on you. It's not your fault.

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

It's real easy to sit behind your computer and make assumptions. As a coach and member of the Triathlon community you should be a little more diligent about your research before you start running your mouth and making accusations about someone you don't even know. Better yet why don't you be a man and actually say what it is you're trying to say instead of playing these middle school whisper games.

Actually, I have done my research, I have contacted a few pros and they all corroborate with my theory. And yes, I do know David, have raced against, and have researched him thoroughly. I have already asked David about my speculation in another thread on the topic and he has yet to respond. So yes, it is really easy to sit behind a computer, and make assumptions.

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No idea about the race this weekend but I recall several of the Stewart's squad in Gold Coast, riding with Lothar Leder a few years after he'd gone sub 8h in Roth and Leder saying that there were so many cars around, they would go 50km/h without pedaling much.

His name is Davide. Learn a book

Davide Giardini here. By the way, it's DavidE with an E at the end of David.

Posted this reply on another thread, and figured I'd post this here as well.

To answer some of you guys' questions and clarify a few things:

- Whoever wrote that I do 20x100yds in the pool in 59", because "he knows me", that's not true for the following reasons: a) I can't remember the last time I did that many 100s; b) I can't remember the last time I swam in a yds pool. I swim in a meters pool. Having said that, my swim threshold pace at altitude (Boulder, CO. 5500 ft) is roughly 1'11"/1'12".

- There was a lead vehicle out front, which was very well ahead. There was a slight cross-wind the whole entire pancake-flat straight boring ride. As I said, I put my head down from the start, suffered BY MYSELF in good ol' time-trial fashion for 1hr down and 1hr back up the road, and grinded out my biggest gearing (54x11) the whole entire highway.

- Would LOVE to have a power file to post, but my power meter broke (water must have infiltrated in the battery compartment) after about 24' into the ride. You can see my ride file here (https://www.strava.com/...s/293564433/analysis). If you click on "Analysis" you can clearly see my power output for those first 24' of correct reading. It averages out to 310w of NP. After that my power meter went dead for a bit, and then read super high (in the 1000s-2000s). My threshold at altitude is 306w, so I shoot for a bit higher than that in a half at sea-level. As I said in my previous post, my ride was within my ability and I didn't go over my head. Last year at Challenge Half Rancho Cordova I went absolutely all out trying to stay with Kevin Collington, averaged 313w NP, and I/we dropped the rest of the field by 4 minutes.

- I weight 68kg (149lbs). That's before pizza, beer, and ice cream.

- I dropped my front head by about 2cm over the winter after the brand of bike that I ride (whom I won't mention, because I get nothing from them) came out with a low-stack bar clamp. It took months of riding to be able to push power with the lower hip angle without my glutes burning up. I guess it paid off (well, technically speaking, it has not...factoring in all the acupuncture and massage therapies it cost me).

- My training has changed since last year (first pro year; 2nd year in the sport), and every day I learn more and more about training and how my body reacts to it For once, I can tell you I put my ego aside in training (why does everyone always wants to race you all the time?!) and decided to let my racing do the talking. I go ez when I need to go ez and am tired and I go hard when I need to go hard and feel good.

- Yes, I am racing Wildflower this weekend. Can't wait to race this classic, as I hear it might be the last year running? Someone said "it's not all black and white", and couldn't agree more. Every race is different, and that's why triathlons are fun. My quads are beat from Texas; Jesse Thomas is beast, knows the course better than anyone, and is a world-class athlete; it's wetsuit legal which makes it harder to get away; there's a long 3 miles (?) run to T1, which is going to change the whole bike dynamic.

Hope I answered most of your questions!

Cheers

DavidE with an E

2 things:

1) if you're a better runner in training than what you showed in Texas, I bet that 2cm you dropped your bars is a problem. You may be more aero. But I think you're paying the price for it. If you need acupuncture to adapt, I'm gonna go ahead and say that's too low. I've done more bike fits than I can count during the time that I lead the FIST workshops with Dan, and at some level, there's really just no "adapting" to bars that are too low. You always will underperform somewhere.

2) Wildflower is a non-wetsuit swim just as often as it is wetsuit legal. Bring your swim skin.

That's as much advice as I'll give BEFORE the race. I'll gladly share some more afterwards. I don't want to make any more work for myself than I've got already with you, Jesse, Jeff Symmonds, Matt Lieto, and everyone else...

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

My name autocorrects to Jesse Thomas (Jussi)