Black Bear Triathlon - Sprint Course - Triathlon

Hands down this was my best swim in a race yet. Everyone clustered towards the inside buoy, and I headed out to the far buoy away from the crowd and by myself. Race starts and I get on it. At first I can see a large group on the inside, but as time goes by I start to find myself pulling away. My sighting is spot on (based on some advice I read) and I keep swimming my own race. I hit the buoy and take it hard into the shore. I'm out of the water first by over 30 seconds and have my bike and making my way down the exit chute before the next guy gets out. I did get beat my someone in a later wave on the swim.

Nothing except possibly take it a little harder. I felt good on the swim and definitely felt like I had some left.

This was my first race having my shoes on my bike and it was a fairly long transition. But I was able to continue to move. It wasn't until exiting for the bike dismount that disaster struck. After spending a few hours practicing flying mounts (to perfection), I thought I had things down. I didn't anticipate the little bit of extra fatigue from the uphill run, went for the jump and caught the bottom of my speedsuit on the back of the saddle. I was stuck. I eventually pulled my self up and found that I tore my brand new suit to the right side of my crotch. I got my feet on the pedals and into the shoes and found that I hadn't checked my left shoe -- the velcro was pulled the whole way through. I spent the better part of the first mile trying to get the strap back through.


#3 time on transition (1 was 1:22, 2 was 1:24).

Practice my mounts more. Still probably faster then a stop and mount, but I can't afford to replace a $100+ speedsuit every race.

This was my first race on a TT bike. I had an entry level road bike previously. The course was hilly (about 1800' of climb), road was rough in spots, and some technical descents -- all things I have practiced due to having similar road conditions locally.

Being first on the water, I was able to have the advantage of a pace vehicle in front of me to keep my moving. I spent the first couple miles slightly stressed (and overly amused) about what I was going to do on the run with my ripped suit because my "goods" were partially showing. I hammered the pace and eventually was passed around mile 4 by the top rider. I kept riding my own race and could not see anyone behind me.

At mile 13, there was a turn that was different then the course packet and map -- an announcement I had somehow missed at the pre-race meeting. I was coming down the hill at a good pace on a nice road surface. There was a turn, a bridge, wet road, and a pothole. I hit the pothole, my back tire slid out and laid my bike down going 37mph and I slid -- FAR. Being my first experience with a wreck, this hurt bad. Road rash on my hips, thighs, back,a deep gash on my elbow from sliding directly on it, and a bloody nose. My gear box and spare tube go flying as well. I found out at the end of the race that the impact from the fall caused my wedding band to fly off and subsequently get lost in the weeds and brush on the side of the road.

The volunteer comes running towards me asking if I'm ok, trying to get me to sit down and checked out. I tell her I'll be ok. I gather my stuff, fix my chain and get painfully back on the bike. After about 1:40 of lost time, I ended up leaving and biking -- taking some time to get back up to speed. I was soon passed by the guy behind me and I tried my best to keep him in my sights. Over the last mile I started pulling him back and was able to get back within 15 seconds.

Covered in blood with a destroyed trisuit (now in other areas), I was happy to be done with the bike. All in all, it was a solid bike performance that really went better then I expected. What a difference a TT bike makes

Not fall on the bike. Bike recon is something I take seriously because it is a huge safety thing. I don't know how I missed the announcement about the road change.

I think without the fall I could have picked up about 2 minutes on the bike from a combination of the lost time on the fall and the slower biking due to the pain.

Transition was good. First flying dismount in a race, and it was executed perfectly. Definitely a time saver. As I came running through ripped suit, bloodied and beat up, it was funny to watch people's expressions change. I could see the guy ahead of me by about 25 seconds, so I had a visual of what I needed to do.

The running was going to be a bit tough because I could feel it on my hips from the road rash -- but I was in OA podium position and was not about to let off.

My shoes and socks were prepped perfectly and I used my race belt to cover the tear in my crotch.

Not much. I was moving a little slower than usual because of the fall, but didn't really waste much time.

First thing I noticed was "Wow, my legs feel pretty fresh from the bike" -- must be the TT bike.

I felt pretty solid on the run, but took it out a little slow to feel out any issues from the wreck. I tracked down the #2 guy and passed him around mile .75. My first mile was a little slow in about 6:40 as I was feeling things out. After the pass, I turned things on and ran a 6:03 for the 2nd mile. I didn't see the leader, and knew nobody could catch me from behind and ran the last mile in 6:38 before hammering it home for the last bit. I felt great at the end and was thrilled with the 2nd place OA -- my first OA finish ever. I was able to make up a :25 deficit on the run and take 2nd by a little over a minute.

I just missed the top run split by 5 seconds.



Keep hammering. I think without the fall on the bike, I could have possibly been in site of the leader and I believe I may have been able to run him down with that motivation.

The guy who won was a top 60 for 30-34 age group in the national rankings and beat me by 3:00. I think without the fall, it could have been a very close race. I'm excited to see how things shake out the rest of the year

Spoke with the winner after the race, and then went straight to the medic to get cleaned up. This part was no fun. Ate some food. My pre-race diet is down so my stomach finally felt great after a race. I was sore, but thankful that it wasn't worse. My wife and I went back to the crash site after the awards to look for additional lost gear and my wedding band. No luck on the wedding band!

When we got home we cleaned up everything with Hydrogen Peroxide. I would much rather compete in this race 3 times straight then go through that again.

Monday -- took bike to the LBS and was thankful that there was minimal damage -- nothing structurally. Should have it back by the end of the week.


A high-speed wreck. Besides that, nothing else.


This is my 2nd CGI event, and just like the 1st I was happy with it. They put on a great event. It is organized, ON-TIME, safe, and well run. I did offer some feedback about the course change being a dangerous decision because of it not being updated on the course maps/social media/email/etc. They got right back to me and said they would be more vigilant about this in the future. This is what makes the difference between a good race director and a GREAT race director.

If you haven't raced with CGI -- do it. It's a tough act to beat.