Specialized BG FIT

The Specialized BG FIT (body geometry fit integration technology) was something that I really wanted to have done for my 2014 bikes. Hearing and seeing the results that the BG FIT has helped yield meant that I was very keen to get underway and see what kind of changes could be made in order to make me more comfortable, aero and above all faster on my new S-Works Venge.

My BG FIT took place at Planet Cycles who had already put my S-Works Venge together earlier in the week. Jarrad Adams first talked me over the process and also asked what I expected to achieve from this process. In addition to this we also chatted about my pervious injuries in great detail, all of which were documented. 

The next step was for Jarrad to get a better understanding of my flexibility as well as my foot structure, knee position, spinal curve, shoulder movement, hip flexion and any leg length discrepancy. During this process it was found that I had quite high arches which suggested that I would be better to change from the flatter red specialized foot beds to the higher arch supporting blue foot beds. The change Jarrad explained, would help to me to deliver more power to the pedals and less knee, side to side movement during each pedal stroke. 

After all these issues were addressed it was time to jump on the wind trainer and work on fitting me to my new Venge based on the completed analysis. During this process Jarrad had me riding at a solid tempo making several adjustments throughout based on his measurements and my feedback. This took some time with adjustments such as a shorter stem length and changed cleat position all adding up to what now feels like a very positive change to my road bike fit. 

The BG FIT lived up to all my expectations and much more. I was not expecting much of a difference to be honest. However by the end all the aforementioned changes really added up to a noticable difference. With people spending thousands on the best bikes money can buy it is great to see that Specialized provide the technology and expertise to match people to their ride which helps them to go faster, ride longer and reduce injury.  

Thanks to Specialized Australia and Planet Cycles for this opportunity. For more information about the Specialized BG FIT - CLICK HERE -

Hell Of The West - 1st

Hell of the West... the name itself should give you an idea of what you are in for. This race has crowned champions such as Luke Mckenzie and Pete Jacobs and this year it was my turn to give this infamous race a go in an attempt to add my name along side these true champions of the sport.

I drove to the race on Saturday morning and really must say a big thanks to Bevan and Gill for giving myself and my partner Bec a place to stay. Seeing the course the day before I honestly didn't really give it a second thought as the swim was in protected river waters, the cycle held on flat roads and the run on what looked like mostly shaded footpaths. The plan was to go hard from the start, get a good gap in the swim and never look back until the finish line.... this was NOT to be!

Race morning started with a 3:30am wakeup for a 5am swim start in the pitch dark. I started hard and within the first few meters had a good gap which keep increasing with every stroke. Being that it was so dark the only thing keeping me on course was the boat in front which had a bright orange light on the rear. I emerged from the water with around a 1 minute 30 second lead and felt confident in my ability to extend this lead by a few minutes over the next 80km ride. I rode within my set wattage/power meter limits but just before the turn around was surprised to see 5 other athletes hot on my heels. I stayed in 2nd after the 40km u-turn and really struggled to hold pace with Nick Hull driving the pace up front. My legs were hurting but I keep on top of my nutrition and stayed in the aero position onboard my S-Works Shiv for most of the ride back into T2.

I hit T2 feeling quite average with Lindsey Wall having ridden about 30 seconds into us in the final stages of the bike leg. Nick Hull went on the charge early and I had to fight just to hold 4:45min per km pace over the first of the 3 run laps that made up the 20km run leg. By the first lap Nick had chased down Lindsey and now had a good 1 min & 30 sec lead over myself. Despite this gap I still kept telling myself that I was still racing for the win and that I COULD pull back the time over the last 2 laps. I fought hard over lap 2 and managed to get the gap down to just under a minute heading out onto the final lap. This is where I knew I had to kick it up a gear and made myself run at 3 minutes 30 seconds per km or below in a last ditch attempt to close the gap. I could see Lindsey and Nick were starting to really hurt from setting such a fast pace early on and I had to make the most of this opportunity. I finally caught the two front runners with just under 3 kms to go. I kicked at km 18 and put in a big effort (3.20min/per km pace) and followed it up with a 3 minutes 15 second at the 19 km mark to break away and hit the finish line totally spent physically, mentally and emotionally to take the title of 2014 Hell of the West winner!

This was without question one of the hardest races I have done and with the body only giving me so much the mind had to be strong and to be honest I really believe that this was the only thing that got me the win today. 

1 Sam Betten   03:42:30 Open 1 Male 1 00:28:05 02:04:09 01:10:16
2 Lindsey Wall   03:43:00 Open 2 Male 2 00:29:44 02:01:51 01:11:24
3 Nicholas Hull   03:43:19 Open 3 Male 3 00:29:47 02:02:10 01:11:21
4 Richard Pearson03:47:02 Open 4 Male 4 00:29:33 02:02:53 01:14:36
5 Daniel Stein   03:48:45 Open 5 Male 5 00:30:03 02:02:19 01:16:22
6 Adam Gordon   03:50:14 Open 6 Male 6 00:33:38 02:02:31 01:14:04

Link: FirstOffTheBike.com race report: CLICK HERE

Next up Challenge Half Batemans Bay.... stay tuned

QTS Robina Sprint Triathlon - 6th

After winning the previous race of the QTS Triathlon Series at Raby Bay I was really hoping for the same result at the first QTS race of 2014 held at Robina on the Gold Coast. I'd had a tough week of training leading into the race and was really feeling it on race morning but with a longer warmup I felt ready to go and give this race a red hot crack. With some heavy hitters on the start line this was to be the toughest field that the QTS series had seen in a long time.

After a brief delay in the start due to a snake in the water (a pretty standard practice with races in Queensland after a similar situation happened at the Noosa Triathlon a few months ago) it was go time. The swim start quickly produced two groups which fought their way to the first turn can. I myself swam with the front few athletes in the right hand side group which turned out to be a bad move with our swim group having to correct its course in order to get to the first turn marker. This meant that after only a few hundred meters I was already down time on the leaders.

Out of the water I saw that I was just off the back of the front pack which meant that for the first 2 of 4 bike laps I played catchup chasing down the lead pack who were working well together up front. It was a big effort however I finally bridged the gap, took a few minutes to catch my breath again and then proceeded to ride past the lead bunch in an attempt to put time into the others. This seemed to split the front bunch up a little with some of the athletes dropping off the pack unable to keep up. The downside was that because it took me so long to catch back up I didn't have enough time (or legs) left in order to try and put time into the lead bunch. This meant that after the bike to run transition I was caught within 500 meters of the run and a chance at a breakaway win was gone. I tried hard to stay with eventual winner Dan Wilson and the other 3 ITU running machines but the effort of the bike had taken its toll which mean that I was running for a top 5 at best. My training partner Kenji ran past me after the first of two run laps but I was able to hold off the rest of the chasers and come home in 6th.

Not a bad result but far from a good day out after winning the last race in the QTS series.

Results

1 Daniel Wilson 00:58:06 00:08:26 00:32:39 00:17:00
2 Mitch Kealey 00:58:40 00:08:26 00:32:39 00:17:33
3 Matt Baker 00:58:49 00:08:30 00:32:36 00:17:43
4 Ben Shaw 00:58:58 00:08:33 00:32:31 00:17:53
5 Kenji Nener 00:59:30 00:59:30
6 Sam Betten 00:59:39 00:08:38 00:32:24 00:18:35
7 Giles Clayton 01:00:33 00:08:48 00:33:42 00:18:02
8 Drew Box 01:00:50 00:08:36 00:33:53 00:18:20
9 Nicholas Hull 01:01:13 00:08:58 00:33:35 00:18:39
10 James Seear 01:01:19 00:08:33 00:33:00 00:19:45

The catch just out of transition... 

Training partner Kenji (5th) helping me to cool off

QTS Raby Bay Sprint Triathlon - 1st

In all the Queensland Triathlon Series races I have done I have never been able to pull off a win at the QTS Raby Bay event. I have had some great wins at both the QTS Robina and QTS Caloundra (even one on my birthday a few years ago) but for some reason the QTS Raby Bay event has never been a happy hunting ground of me.

After deciding to sign up the week before I knew that I might not be up to scratch but never the less wanted to try and break my winless record on this tough course.

I had a great swim emerging 2nd behind ace swimmer Shane Barrie thanks in part to my super fast Huub swim skin.

Onto the bike I rode very smart covering any major moves and even trying a sneaky attack off the front which the boys behind quickly closed the gap on. Due to the tight course I opted to race on my S-Works Venge rather than my S-Works Shiv as I felt that the Venge was better suited to the tight and twisty cycle course. A small gap opened up between myself and Callum Millward of NZ and Australian Commonwealth Games runner Mitch Kealey in the late stages of the bike leg which meant I hit transition with a small time gap to make up.

I went out onto the run chasing hard and shut down the gap to two leaders within the first 300m with only Mitch Kealey being able to stay in touch with me. As the run went on I tried hard to keep the pace high and by the half way turn around I had about 10 seconds on 2nd place and another 25 seconds or so to Callum Millward and Drew Box who were running in 3rd and 4th positions. I was able to put a few more seconds into Mitch by the end of the 5km run leg and take my first ever win over the 750m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run QTS Raby Bay event.

Sam Betten, 1st (54:53), 2nd, Mitch Kealey (55:14) and 3rd, Drew Box (55:45)

Race Videos by AusSportTV

Kingscliff Olympic Distance Triathlon - 2nd

After winning the 2012 Kingscliff Triathlon I was very excited to try and go 2 for 2 in 2013. I had only been back doing 2 weeks of some light training after a 2 week break post Noosa Triathlon so it was always going to be a tough ask. A big thank you to the event organisation for providing me with some amazing accommodation for the weekend.

Video race report

My S-Works Shiv the day before the race from my beachside accommodation.
1st & 2nd place

Noosa 5150 Triathlon

Its taken me a while but here is the first instalment of my video race reports. Noosa was a really tough day for me this year both physically and mentally. I really wanted to be right up there on the podium but it just wasn't to be in the end.

 Enjoy the video race report

Sam Betten TV... coming soon

Last year I had to idea of putting together a video project of what I get up to in training as well as video race reports rather than the usual photos and text only blog format. I am hoping that leading into 2014 I can put together a lot more videos and get some exciting footage to add into this blog. Here is a trailer of whats to come...