Fat Tire Tri - TriathlonSprint

I started on the outside right of the course and had planned to wait until everyone in my wave had gone so I could relax and take it easy, but of course as soon as the horn blew I was all in. The first 150m I swam way to fast and faded fast. I was completely winded, and the water was much colder than the advertised 76. I had breast stroke for about 100m to get my breath and relax, then I was able to get going again. My overall swim time was slightly better than the split reported because there was about 100 yard uphill run to the timing mat/transition and I decided to walk most of it to get my heart rate down.

Warm up a more, learn to start relaxed and pace better.

Took my time getting arm warmers, gloves, and CamelBak on. Saw the wife and kids and posed for a picture. The transition area was small and my bike was right by the fence so it made it easy for them to find me, watch and cheer me on.

Could have skipped the arm warmers but at the time I was cold.

I haven't been off road on a mountain bike in at least 10 years. I was a little hesitant at first to push hard for that reason, but after I got "chicked" I decided I better pick it up a bit. Passing on singletrack is different, almost rude and/or arrogant to interupt/interfere with someone working their hardest to put them on notice I am doing better than you and I want to get by you. But after about the 4-5th pass I just started speaking up right away and everyone was very polite about moving over. I wore my sunglasses which were completely not needed and actually wearing them made it difficult to pick out all the rocks/bumps, so I ended up fiddling with them the entire ride. I also need to get some clip in's and shoes. Riding with platform pedals was a little gnarly at times (feet flying off) and not nearly as efficient. Ran into a group of Asian tourists walking the course (going against the race flow) right at a sharp left turn over a narrow bridge. Almost went over the bars and off the bridge trying to avoid them - this was the one time not being clipped in was a good thing. Also ran into a 10 year old on his bmx bike on a section of the course that had a steep drop followed by a washed up incline while following a female rider and I almost ran both of them over, she did a hop off and almost crashed into him. I put some Xood in my CamelBak (came in the race goodie bag) and drank most of that on the bike which turns out was not a good idea. My stomach starting revolting near the last lap.

Upgrade my equipment and go for it, mountain biking is so much more fun than riding a road bike.

Nothing special here. Could have been slightly faster if I didn't have to get my arm warmers off.

I thought I recalled reading something about the run course being beginner friendly which may be relative for an off road tri, but I was a little upset to realize the run was virtually all up hill switchbacks with the top no where to be seen. Good thing it was a coll day or it could have been hell. My stomach was completely ticked off at me for trying out the new fluid drink (no offense to xood - I just can't tolerate it for some reason). I probably should have taken in some water at some point but I just couldn't get myself to do it. Once I finally reached the top, the downhill was fun. With about 800m to go I came around a corner in the middle of nowhere and saw the wife and kids again waiting to cheer me on. That was the highlight of the race :)

I could have pushed a harder on the run but without knowing where the top was I didn't want to flame out. If I had pushed even slightly I could have picked up 2-3 spots in my age group (a bunch of us finished within 50 sec. of each other)

Grabbed a Gatorade and a Mix drink and walked back to transition.


Not knowning the run course kept me from pushing harder, not pacing right on the swim cost me a few minutes, and my choice in bike equipment cost me a little also.


I have only 1 tri to compare it to (Pelican Fest) and never done an off road tri, but it was well organized and a really fun race.