Leadman Tri Bend Epic 250 - Triathlon

• My best overall race swim so far
• Great sighting, kept a straight line
• Watch dug into my skin cutting my wrist
• Stopped to adjust 2x on last lap
o Also happened at IMCDA – Never happens otherwise
• Lake temps perfect (<60’s)


Stupid watch dug into my skin enough to cut me in several places. I had to adjust this 2x during the swim for comfort.

wow, this was horribly slow. Out of practice I guess

Go faster.

Entire course seems to be in the sun. There were also a bunch of unexpected changes and my own mistakes. All leading up to a pretty epic meltdown.

o Park Service forbid the race from handing out water bottles due to trash from last year. Offered Gatorade only unless you wished to stop and refill from cooler
o Trained all season with varying forms of on course nutrition, but never with “known good” Infinit mix until race day. Turns out concentrated Infinit is an acquired taste gained through consistent usage...

• First summit of Bachelor felt tough at target wattage. I was hoping for recovery on backside of Bachelor before returning to the climb

• ~+20mi of chip seal before starting 2nd summit of Bachelor took rest of energy and desire

• Second summit of Bachelor sucked.
o Sickly sweet combo of Gatorade, Infinit and Payday bars from SN bag on hot day did not go down well upsetting my stomach. Sun never went away. Finally started seeing water, in Gatorade bottles around mile 90 but it was too late.

o With the upset stomach, I largely stopped eating and was having trouble hydrating. Bad news considering there was still 50 mi to go, much of it up hill (about 30 of the 50 still). I was having difficulty maintaining even 50% FTP on the climb.

Heat, altitude, poor nutrition management and failure to lower my wattage goals during the first lap (when it was clear it felt difficult to hit) all lead to a really tough 2nd ½ of the ride. Easily the worst day cycling I’ve ever had. I held 10W higher NP during RAMROD for an additional +4hrs and felt 20x better than when getting off the bike in Bend. I have never felt so crushed after a bike ride.



Not be stupid. Lower wattage when it was clear I wasn't up to hitting race goal Watts. By stubbornly sticking to a plan, regardless of reality, I burned all my matches on the first summit. Rest of the day turned into a crappy slow bike ride

Made it into the changing tent with another competitor who also looked to be having a real bad day. We both commiserated for a bit before heading out. No real rush at this point, it was clear I wasn't racing against the clock anymore. Simply marching, very, very slowly towards the finish line.

Not ruin my day on the bike.

There was no running going on here. Nearly puked 2x simply from taking in water at the aid stations. Didn't start feeling much better until the sun went down, and by that time the day was pretty well over.


See comments from "T2"

Absent my own poor race management, the actual race and volunteers were very good. I will do this race again.