Cluj Triathlon

At the second edition of the race I want it to repeat the victory in my hometown with the team relay. Alin Reus was the swimmer, I was riding the bike and Tudor Sofron was the runner. Our name for this race, as before: TVA Team (from the English VAT).

This time the race was at Tarnita Lake, a better place to swim and a whole different bike and run course. We arrived there the day before with Simona and Radu Vadan. We’ve prepared our tent, BBQ, gathered all the garbage left from by others who can bring the cans full of beer but can take them home empty. The fresh trout on the bbq was freaking awesome. I couldn’t rest that good because some drunk people were in the mood for a party playing manele. I agree that everybody can listen whatever they want, but when you are in a public space, you have to think at the others around too.

Race day: Alin had a great swim, getting out first out of the water as usual, but as the 1500m turned out to be 800m I couldn’t get the best warm up. The course was almost flat in the first section but had a lot of puddles and I tried to avoid them as much as possible in order to keep the transmission clean. Andrei Ianos who was the first at solo category caught me and I’ve managed to stay behind his rear wheel until I’ve got stuck in a deep mud hole that I didn’t managed to well. Then I couldn’t out the bike out of it and he was gone. The the first serious climb put me at work. I knew it was hard but I’ve decided to run a 36t chainring. It was so hard to push uphill. Then I’ve risked it all in the last downhill. Some turns were hard to negotiate due to the dust and loose rocks as I’ve almost got out of the track a few times. Managed to arrive at the transition zone after 1h26″, about 10 minutes better than I was expecting, totally exhausted, passing Tudor the timing chip.

Overall we’ve managed to win the team relay, but I am not really happy with the way I went. Although the result is a great motivation for the upcoming races and with this occasion I would like to thank my team mates Alin and Tudor for the great work they’ve put knowing that I was the weak link and that I could have done much more. Next year I promise will again guys !

Marius, my good friend and godfather finished second with his team so it was nice to be both on the same podium. Tudor C. who bought my last pink bike and represents one of my main sponsors was riding solo too and had a good run. Proud of you man !

Congratulations to everyone who participated, to the organizers for the event, to my wife Simona for being next to me, to my team mates Tudor and Alin for their great effort and to my sponsors for the support.

I look forward to the next race, the last stage of the World Cup in Val di Sole. I need to reset myself and to be in top shape. Hope I’ll make it.

Keep in touch, cheers,

Vlad