Somtimes Triathlon coaching is about building relationships.
I've spent all year trying to make Nicola fall in Love with Pierre. Pierre is a French Man, he's a romantic and he needs to be treated right. The problem was Nicola didn't know how to make her little french boy want to ride with her. They were going around the same race courses, but they were fighting, they were not as one.
We had some public arguments at the start of the season. A number of fall outs at the Ilton race circuit and when Nicola took Pierre to Blenheim I don't think they were even talking. The poor frenchman wasn't ready for a British castle weekend.
I think Pierre might have been homesick, I organised a romantic 2 weeks in the French Pyrennes for the little love birds. For the first week they were awkward together, they didn't quite know how to talk to each other. Lots of hard ups and some going down at speed and by the second week there was a little spark.
Next up was a dirty weekend in London, it went ok, infact together they got some podium action. I thought i'd make the most of the new found frenship, so it was back to London the following week for a quick one in Hyde Park. 4th at the nationals with another year left in the age group.
I could see my chance, so I thought i'd step up the game and get the kids to seal the deal. A long weekend in Paris had to be the answer. Well Pierre is only carbon and he just couldn't resist his girl. They started with a gentle ride together as the sun was setting along the bank of the Seine, then it was off to the horse racing at longchamp. Nicola swum in the front pack with some of the best athletes in the world then she and Pierre sat comfortable in the front pack. Nicola ran for top 20 in a proper race. Good work kid, we've made alot of progress in a year. I told you that you could ride a bike!
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