Hi guys,
I live in South Africa and am moving to Basel in January 08, and currently in training for the IronMan South Africa triathlon in April 08. Training is going well here but i'm stressing about keeping it up once i get to Basel (arrive 1st Jan - yes i have fly over new year's!). Does anyone know where i can cycle and swim? Are there tri clubs i can join? I think it will be too cold to cycle outdoors so is there an indoor cycling studio i can join? Anyone out there training perhaps for one of the europe ironmans? Anyone need a training partner??
This is a huge goal of mine and i don't want this move to stuff it up. I've gotta keep up the training.
Any help or advice you can offer will be highly appreciated!
Thanks
Ant!

I live in Zurich and don't to Ironman... but a few thoughts. Triathalon is huge in Zurich, there are quite a few tri clubs here (only websites I found were in German). I imagine Basel would be similar and there will be tons of support for triathaletes.


Swimming - there are lots of good public pools in Ch so don't that will be a problem, my colleauge even participates in a twice a week 6:30 am morning training swim with alot of triathaletes. he is a swimmer not an ironman.

Cycling - it is never too cold to train outside, just get the proper gear. I cycle all winter on the weekends (when I am not skiing). There are definitely spin type classes, my gym has 1.5 hour one every Monday which is geared towards cyclist/triathaletes.

Now, this is Zurich but Basel must be similar.

A few things.

Switzerland is so open that you can find plenty of space to ride out in the country-side.

I tried keeping up cycling training in Brisbane and it's next to impossible. Switzerland is much better in that regard, so I don't think you will have much trouble with that.

As for the cold, get yourself some pull on sleeves and some leggings, once you are riding they are more than enough, also a light spray jacket for the colder days. i'm not sure how your wheels will go there, you may need to alter and not use slicks in the winter. During summer its between 12-35 degrees celcius, and the sun goes down at 10pm. Perfect for those long afternoons of training 3 hours on your bike after work. It's not cold all year round there, it starts to get really badly cold around November and then up until about march or may it should start to get warmer depending on how long the season decides it will be.

I would also recommend some altitude training.
Run, and cycle at altitude. You will seriously give yourself an edge over all other triathletes as this is not something that they use for training (except for your world iron man champs)
If you can find a place at altitude where you can practice swimming legs also then another bonus. you will find the first few weeks of altitude training very hard. Don't push too hard when you commence this training, altitude training is something your body will take time to adapt to.

Good luck. I haven't done a tri for a looooong time now, I remember the 3 hour stints on my bike....not cool.

I am sure you could find a good cycle squad there to ride with, best bet is to ask around at the bike stores as usually most of the guys that work there will already ride and probably have some connections you can take advantage of.

Here's a link you can use to look for Triathlon clubs anywhere in Switzerland. It seems that many of the clubs are for youth, but you could always try contacting them and they could point you in the right direction.

Of course, if you don't speak the local language yet then it might be easier just to use this forum to meet people for swimming, biking, and running...

It may take some time to sort out the best places to do these things around you and to find training partners, but overall I don't think you'll have a problem - Sport is very important here in Switzerland! There are so many beautiful places to bike and to run... I think you will love it.

Hi Ant
I hope IM SA went well for you. The conditions were perfect, weren't they? My fiance and I are also new to Basel (he arrives on Monday from SA and has also just done IM in PE).

He is definitely on the look out for anyone like yourself wanting to train together. In fact he coaches athletes and has just put a squad of about 30 through IM SA (one of whom achieved a Hawaai slot). Please get in touch with us, it would be great to catch up.

Cheers
Lyndi

Hi there Lyndi!
Wow your fiance sounds like quite an athlete! I actually didnt do IMSA. When i moved to Basel i decided to rather do one of the europe ones instead (give me more time to settle in and not have to battle out the winter on my bike!). So, i am doing IM France in 2 weeks time, and silently ****ting myself because i've had an awful knee injury for past few weeks and dont know if i can finish......fingers crossed.

WOuld love to get togther for training. Are you guys from SA? Enjoying Basel?
Pop me a mail - antdiet@gmail.com

Kind regards
Ant