Scott Tinley's Adventures - Off Road Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Seemed a bit longer than the claimed distance. 12 minutes should be enough for me to swim 500m easily. Even though I swam extra I don't think it was that much extra.

The sun was just coming over the hills and it was hard to sight for me on the out leg because I can only breathe to the left side and it was on that side.

Aside from getting a little behind on my breathing between yards 100-200 as usual, this was a pretty strong swim for me. Navigation really let me down, adding maybe an extra 50-75 yards.

A guy I took surf lessons from once said that step one when surfing a new spot should be to look around from the beach before you even get in the water, and have a plan. I didn't think enough about the boat ramp and its surroundings before taking off. On the way back I thought I was doing a good job sighting the exit arch, but I swam straight at a pier next to the ramp and wasted a lot of time swimming around it to get lined up to the ramp.

Wasn't really planning an aggressive transition. Even so, it took longer than expected. Aside from falling down on the slime on the ramp, I didn't shuck off the wetsuit, or take off my swim cap, or remove my earplugs at all until I was all the way to my spot.

One of my socks got twisted and was tough to straighten on a wet foot. I decided to chug a canned cappuccino I'd left there in case my stomach came around, so the sugar and caffeine would be there for me later in the race. This took a little time but was probably a good idea as I never felt like I was running out of gas all the way through to the end.

I forgot to put on my camelbak which was not a big deal except that I had no spare tubes or tools. Fortunately the bike didn't need any work during the race. The lack of extra weight and not having anything trapping heat and sweat on my back may have worked in my favor.

The course is well supported with handouts of water bottles so I grabbed one and stuck it in a pocket on my spiffy new tri top.

Looking back on the results makes it pretty obvious with a more efficient transition I could have picked up several places and been on the podium in the AG.

Wow. I just got into mountain biking this year after being serious about road biking for a few years. Having some offroad experience already definitely helped in knowing how to find the right balance between avoiding wheelies or having the back tire slip when climbing the steep, slippery sandy sections. 3 or 4 times, people lost momentum and toppled over right in front of me.

Even though I was going faster than most people on the downhills there was definitely more free time to be had there.

If I'd known that I was in contention for podium in the AG I would have gone closer to the limit on the bike and tried to hold on on the run. The bike is my strength and I probably could have gained a few minutes and only lost less than a minute back on the run.

As it was I backed off the climbs a bit on the second lap and let the bike fly a bit more on the downhills. There was too much traffic on the first lap. I guess the other lesson there is don't let the whole field get ahead of you in the water and T1 and you won't have to pass them on the bike.

Not bad. Got tri shoes for my road bike but my mountain bike shoes still have ratcheting straps. Couldn't get them unbuckled while moving. Maybe could have saved 10 seconds. T1 was what really cost me.

Not much. Keep up the same intensity in transition as on the course. If I'm going to do a lot of offroad tris or xterra races maybe getting different shoes with easy on/off for the mountain bike would be a good idea.

This is an even bigger surprise to me than the bike ranking. I am so not a runner. Either the fast runners didn't show up for this race, or the bike course took a lot out of people.

Not much. Run more. Current level of fitness is pretty good so I could probably tolerate adding more running.

Not much. Packed up my stuff. Wandered around the expo and watched other people finish. Hung around for the AG awards. Had a piece of home made carrot cake and a mountain dew. Nearly got a rude surprise when lifting the can to take a drink and seeing a yellowjacket sitting on the lip of the can at the last second. I may have said a bad word right then. Someone found a tarantula in transition and moved him to the fence so he would not get squished. Took some pictures of him.


Spacing out on the swim a bit. Being nonchalant in transition.


Very pleased with this event. It started on time and the announcers were doing a good job dispensing info over the PA about the course, when to get ready, etc. There were tons of volunteers who were very supportive.