Opelousas Rotary Sunrise Duathlon - Duathlon

This run seemed long last year .... and it seemed a little long this year. Maybe it is all the corners and turns. I'm sure it measure out though...

Hmmmm, Not much. I was trying to do an 8 min mile pace and I was pretty close.

I decided not to carry any water for this race because it was only 1.5 hours ish... so I took a couple of swigs and jumped on the bike..

I didn't have a good bike today. It wasn't bad but just average. I got passed early on the bike by about 20 people and rode all alone for most of the race.

At about mile 6 my chain came off my big ring and got stuck between the two rings. I reached down and managed to get the chain on the smaller ring but after that I couldn't shift back to my big ring. I have no idea why that happened but I suspect it was somehow knocked off with all the jarring from the rough road.

One good thing was that the ride went fast, I was never uncomfortable, and I felt pretty good coming into transition.

I need more riding time. Even with my improvement since last year I have gained the least in the bike imo.

Took a swig of water slipped on my running shoes and started to run.

Nada

While the second run is always somewhat uncomfortable it was still a pretty good run.

I noticed that my second run was ranked 80th which means that a lot of people were a bit more slow on the second run than me. I didn't burn up the track but noone really passed me except maybe one or two people (that I remember).

I think it is a combination of using the tri-bike and learning how to pace myself better. Last year I got off the bike barely able to breathe.

This second run was the best aspect of this race.

Walked, talked, drank fluids.


Post race Jambalya, Beer and lots of good folks!!! Oh yeah I did win a door prize too!

If it weren't for the road quality I would have no problems rating this race a 5.

Also, I wan't to point out that this is Louisiana's Duathlon State Championship race.... Lot's of big gun, heavy hitters showed up. I bet the transition area had $500,000 worth of bikes and gear in it... Lot's of quality athletes at this one..... :)