PBR Off-Road Tri (Oct 10); Race Report

This race plaques me. It plaques me due to this one tiny little section where you have to roll over a couple of, literally, 4" drops, maybe 6". I bailed on the 3 laps I had to do it last year and this year I was determined I would conquer the damn thing this year. If you don't want to read the rest, I didn't conquer the stupid little drops.

Pre-Race

Set up T-area. Make snappy remarks about some of the bikes people had - there was a Hummer Bike (sadly, he beat me)! Nearly died from trying a Gu. I'll never like those things. Complain about not having breakfast and the fact my husband was still sleeping when I left the hotel. He showed up about 20 mins before the start. With no food.

Swim

This is by far my best swim! Everything felt great, I just got in and swam. I caught up to and passed a significant amount of Flag swim caps - those guys started 8 mins before me! My goal was to be within about 2 minutes of Elaine out of the water and I was surprised to see her in transition as I was headed out. The girl who got first in my AG swam 4 minutes faster than I did. Nothing I could do about that!

T1

Could have been a little faster. Transition was on the sand volleyball courts so running was out (I don't do sand). Plus I ended up with tons of sand on my feet and I tried to wipe some off, didn't want blisters after all, but it would have taken too long.

Bike

Erik and I had gone over to the course the night before to scope out this stupid rock "drop" (It is like all of 6", but there are rocks you have to roll over before it and it is mildly steep). Last year I bailed the 3 times we had to do it. This year I bailed the 2 times we had to do it. The first time I was almost there but there was too many people on the course (going too many ways). The second time, I started to get there and just chickened out. The rest of the course was fairly uneventful. There are 2 steep climbs, the first time I had to walk the first from about the halfway (too many people walking and only 1 clean line), rode the 2nd one and then promptly laid my bike down on the next hard left by getting just a smidge out to the right and my bike hit some loose sand and just skidded out. I stayed standing so that is key. The 2nd time up the hills, I made it about 5' from the top when I hit a rock and just got stopped. I made the 2nd hill. They added an out and back along the canal that was fantastic. Easy to cruise at 12-13 mph (we're mountain biking remember) and pass people. On the rolly downhill stuff on the backside, I heard the medic talking about someone going over the handlebars....oops! Easy to see how that could happen in that location. I made it up all the rocky stuff on the 2nd lap. The first lap was fairly congested which made sections difficult. Since this is a good newbie off-road tri you get a lot of people who don't realize they need to get off the rideable section of trail for those us trying to ride.

T2

Again with the sand so I walked through transition. Off-road tri's are easy for me since I ride platforms on my mtn bike - no shoe change required!

Run

Yeah running still blows. I was trying to keep a 1min walk/1:30run going in the beginning to get the legs going. I thought I actually should have been doing better than I was. They changed the course a bit to add another rocky climbing section which is where I got slowed down. Steep uphills = walking. Once I hit pavement I moved to running between light poles 1-3 and walking 3-4. Then once the sidewalk turned downhill I tried to keep a steady (slow) pace to the aid station. Walk the aid station, run to the bridge, walk in the shade, do a little running, a last walk and then take it to the finish. Near the finish this girl passed me going not much fast than I was and I noticed she had 27 on her leg. Rather than pass her so early before the finish, I just sat behind her and went nearly her pace. With about 100 yds to the finish I said screw it and really picked up my pace and crossed about 6 sec in front of her. I'm happy to have passed someone in my AG while running. Small feats.

My goal was to A) not leave T1 w/a flat this year - success; B)Take 30 minutes off last years time - took about 22 mins; C)Have there still be water on the slip'n'slide when I finished - success.

My run was longer than last year which I'll chalk up to their additional rocky section. My bike was slightly shorter even with 1 less lap due to the easy out and back, last years bike was about 10 miles, this was closer to 13. My swim was phenomenal, nothing more I could have hoped for.

Pictures: PBR Urban Dirt Tri