Jaja comes out to play
Sorry for the crude posting here, I posted this on Calgary Tri and Bike, a blog for bike weenies. So I need to provide some background info ahead of this story. Here it is.
Laurent Jalabert was one of the top cyclists of the 90s and early 2000s. He has won many stages of the tours de France, Italy and Spain, and was ranked number one in the world for several years, just prior to Lance Armstrong's reign. In my humble opinion I believe he is a more well-rounded and versatile cyclist than you-know-who.
Jaja brought his endurance legs into the triathlon and marathon world, running a very solid 2:50ish at the New York Marathon. He then got the attention of the triathlon world by going 9:20 at Ironman Switzerland, with an expected ass-ripping bike split followed by a world-class marathon of 3:10. Fortunately for us mortals, he is only doing the sport "for fun". Hahaha, me too. Takes all the pressure off.
Jaja blows away Kona
Darn, I think a newbie is supposed to be humbled a bit here in Kona. Jaja was not in the least bit intimidated, pretty much replicating his IM Switzerland performance. He went 1:15, 4:45 and 3:10 for a stunning 9:19 and 12th in the ever-so-humbling 35-39 age group. I got a good pic of his bike, but I am bandwidth-challenged right now so I will download it later. It is a very inconspicuous looking Look 486 with Jaja's name engraved on the top tube. The man himself was not there when I took the pics, but unfortunately after i had turned in my dry bag he showed up complete with a cottery of media hangers-on. He has a very cool tattoo on his chest, and is much smaller than you expect. Surprisingly, did not use an aero helmet.
I talked briefly in some broken French to one of the media dudes, and i think i got across to him what a big deal we all think it is, of jaja coming out to play with us. In my opinion the man backed up the hype with a hugely solid 3:10 marathon, proving he is not just a bike stud. He also swam the same split as his open-water wetsuit swim at IM SWI. He's obviously been working on the fish thingy.
Yeah, Lance, Jaja is setting the standard for ex-Protour dudes in the afterlife. Are you man enough?
Laurent Jalabert was one of the top cyclists of the 90s and early 2000s. He has won many stages of the tours de France, Italy and Spain, and was ranked number one in the world for several years, just prior to Lance Armstrong's reign. In my humble opinion I believe he is a more well-rounded and versatile cyclist than you-know-who.
Jaja brought his endurance legs into the triathlon and marathon world, running a very solid 2:50ish at the New York Marathon. He then got the attention of the triathlon world by going 9:20 at Ironman Switzerland, with an expected ass-ripping bike split followed by a world-class marathon of 3:10. Fortunately for us mortals, he is only doing the sport "for fun". Hahaha, me too. Takes all the pressure off.
Jaja blows away Kona
Darn, I think a newbie is supposed to be humbled a bit here in Kona. Jaja was not in the least bit intimidated, pretty much replicating his IM Switzerland performance. He went 1:15, 4:45 and 3:10 for a stunning 9:19 and 12th in the ever-so-humbling 35-39 age group. I got a good pic of his bike, but I am bandwidth-challenged right now so I will download it later. It is a very inconspicuous looking Look 486 with Jaja's name engraved on the top tube. The man himself was not there when I took the pics, but unfortunately after i had turned in my dry bag he showed up complete with a cottery of media hangers-on. He has a very cool tattoo on his chest, and is much smaller than you expect. Surprisingly, did not use an aero helmet.
I talked briefly in some broken French to one of the media dudes, and i think i got across to him what a big deal we all think it is, of jaja coming out to play with us. In my opinion the man backed up the hype with a hugely solid 3:10 marathon, proving he is not just a bike stud. He also swam the same split as his open-water wetsuit swim at IM SWI. He's obviously been working on the fish thingy.
Yeah, Lance, Jaja is setting the standard for ex-Protour dudes in the afterlife. Are you man enough?
posted by Myles Gaulin @ Wednesday, October 17, 2007
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