Chilly Cheeks Duathlon #2 - Duathlon

So much for play time, this first 1.5 miles was rough. Started out on packed snow which wasn't so bad, but then moved to "trail" marked by little orange flags. If it weren't for the flags and the footprints from racers ahead of me, I probably would gotten off course. Lots of powdery crap and sank through snow up to my knees on several occacions. On top of that, it was slick so you really weren't sure if you were going to slip or sink. Tough run but it really was fun.

Maybe wear snow shoes??

I was pretty slow in this transition as a couple guys passed me here and I never saw them again.

Just wear my running shoes and use regular cage pedals rather than the SPDs.

Again, I was having fun and the ride out was good even though I got passed by a couple guys.

I only fell on one corner when my front wheel washed out. No biggie, just hopped back on and continued on my way. The rest of the 1st bike leg was great, I maintained what I thought was a good cadence and was only passed by 2 guys on cyclo cross bikes. I got into the transition area slipping and slidding in the softish snow pack but managed not to fall again.

So after running and transitioning to the last leg of the bike I felt good. I got on the road and was holding a great pace when about 4 miles into the ride, I'm pedaling along and my left foot comes loose. I look down and the pedal is still attached to my shoe. Unfortunately the other end of the pedal was no longer attached to the crank, so I did a one-legged drill for about a 1/2 mile, had enough of that and then stopped to try and reattach the pedal w/ no tools. It didn't work. I got passed by a whole butt load of people while working on it and finally changed my shoes to run. Immediately, I'm running up the steepes hill of the course pushing my bike. Good news is I hopped on the bike for the down hill and thought "Well maybe I can carry the speed from the down hill far enough and then run the last few miles" At the bottom of the hill, I decided that was a stupid idea and just walked directly to my car. My legs were toast and I had gone from super pissed, to laughing my a$$ off, to "oh well, I did what I could."

Add more air to the tires. The were only at 40-45 PSI - stupid move. But I'll stick to my fun theme here - I was having a ball :)

Racked my bike and changed shoes. Left my helmet on as I had seen others do. Don't know why I didn't do this for the first run cuz it would have saved time in the transition. In and out in a matter of seconds

The 2.5 mile run was actually easier than the the first leg, but that's not saying much. While the snow wasn't deep at all here, it was mostly a single track of snow pack. It was very rough and snowpacked, but felt great in comparison. Took short steps and kept my turnover high. I actually passed a few folks here and also got passed by a woman who I'm virtually certain won overall, cuz she went by me at nearly a dead run. At this point of the race, I think I was doing pretty well. I was certainly holding my own and was ready to get on the bike and start making up some time.

Wear some Yak Tracks?? I think that's what Cathy called them. I called them "springy things w/ some nasty coil looking things on the bottom of your shoe." Cathy obviously had a better idea of what she was talking about. Other than that, this run was virtually perfect. Of course I don't know for sure because I had to way to time it since my watch had died.

Met up w/ Mark just after the race and had some hot chocolate and just chatted w/ folks. I even got a transition chair which I had completely written off because I thought I'd signed up too late. Saw Cathy finish and the 3 of us all chatted for a bit over hot chocolate.


Lack of a proper mechanic - I'm firing the one I hired for this race. The dumbass that works in my garage sucks :)


This whole race series is low on frills but high on the fun factor. The RD has a never say die attitude for these races in the result for this race was an event I'll always remember because of the insane run conditions. Good times.