XTERRA Black Diamond - TriathlonOther

Took it easy on the swim. The water was lovely and warm and I didn't wear a wetsuit! Had to run across the island, then back to transition.

Nuttin.

I was so dizzy. When will I learn to wear earplugs?

EARPLUGS!!!!!!!!!!

OMFG! This was hard. Harder than ANY race I've done in my life. My bike is ok (Cannondale) but it has NO SHOCKS! I felt every rock, stump and branch on the ground. I tried to move fast but whenever I hit a tree stump or a rock my bike would freeze. I hit the handlebars countless numbers of times and almost went over on several occasions.

The 1st loop too was a pain because I had to keep stopping to let everyone pass me. I must have stood there a good 10 minutes at one point. I was getting a bit pissesd off as everyone would just ride up my arse and not let me know they were there. WTF? IDIOTS! One guy just ran into the back of me, didn't say a thing either, no sorry, no nothing. Arsehole.

2nd loop I floored it, I knew no one was going to pass me so I did so much better, was almost a good 35 minutes faster! I certainly sped up after word got around there was a bear on part of the trail. At that point I started to sing and whistle and tell the bear that Scottish blood did NOT taste good.


There were a few steep parts, both up and down, I walked those. The tyres I had just didn't cut it. I tried but failed, but I tried :)

The best part was having to dash through the water carrying my bike! I loved that! There were also some parts of the trail that were just incredible to ride through, I don't think I ever stopped smiling once.

Bike with shocks.

All I had to do was grab my race belt, gu and hat. Course my hat was buried underneath all my crap. Whoops.

Nuttin.

Yip, it had hills. I think I did really well considering what my lower body had just been through. I walked the hills and ran the rest. One of my tri teammates joined me in the 2nd loop and she kept telling me how impressed she was with me :) Made it SO much easier.

FOOD! Someone went to their house and made ME pasta and brought it back to the race site. Made it jut for me!!!!!!! How cool is that?

Did lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of stretching.


Inexperienced in trail riding/bike plus I never really did any serious training for this. I just went and did it. I am CRAZY!


I recommend you ALL to put this on your bucket list. It was rated TOP Xterra in the Country last year and event some peeps from USAT were there checking it out! Just make sure you do lots of TRAIL RIDING AND RUNNING!