RIP VAN WINKLE II - TriathlonMini Sprint

Steady light showers by now and some wind, created the choppiest conditions I've ever swam under. Still manageable, just relaxed and took my time. Good bit of jostling over the first couple hundred yards, then it got spaced out.

Better technique. Working on it.

Long run uphill from the water, then barefoot on a gravel road. Took the bike off the rack before putting on helmet, not the smartest move. After I got the helmet on, running to the mount line and jumping on was uneventful.

Helmet first then bike. May have been that my bike was on the wrong side of the aisle, normally like to have the drivetrain to the inside.

Caution was the theme of the day, plenty deterrents to speed: wet rural roads, cane-field mud slick as ice in spots, accumulated water in the wheel traces. Nearly stopped at every right turn, kept speed between 22-23 on the straights. About six miles in I realized my shouders were hurting from riding so tensely.

Saw at least five people flatting like I did in the first race of this series.

Loosen up, be more comfortable on wet crappy roads, or find a dry race.

Evidently they had some spills coming into transition because everyone was warning to slow down because of slick conditions. Came in slow, dismounted early and ran the rest of the way in.

Speedlaces make the shoe a little harder to get the shoes on, might loosen up or get better with experience.

Nothing. This was decent enough under the conditions.

This was a nice run. Still cool, still drizzling, got into a good pace and was able to hold it for most of the run.

Must have got a rock in my shoe, felt it on the side of my foot but I though it was one of the SpeedLaces fittings. Turned out it was too low for that, but I have a nice hole in my foot from it.

Run rock free. Otherwise, this was a good effort, probably my fastest pace this year.

Drank a few gatorades, watched everyone else come in. Went eat (jambalaya and cookies).

After all the bikes were in and I went to get my stuff out of transition, I saw I had a hole in my tire and a flat. Evidently I picked up a rock or something toward the end of the ride that resulted in a slow leak. No telling how long I rode on low pressure. Oh, well, if you're going to get a flat in a race, that's the time to have it.




The rain, the wet roads, my big butt, and lack of training. But I'm getting there.

At least I can say I raced in a hurricane! And, yeah, first in AG.

The 3rd place guy beat me soundly on the bike (by 3-1/2 minutes) and on the run (by 3 minutes). I picked up less than a minute on him in transitions, but beat him by almost 9 minutes in the swim!

Wish I can say it was something I had done to improve my swim, but my 600M time was a rather pedestrian 14 minutes. What has me curious is what he was doing in the water for over 23 minutes. And look out if he ever figures out what he's supposed to do!

Upon closer examination, I see that I beat the 2nd place guy by all of 56.2 seconds on the overall time. I beat him in the swim by 56.8 seconds. If our swims were equal he'd have won overall AG by 0.6 seconds.

Just call me Aquaman!





This is our tri club's race series, and we do a great job if I must say so myself. Great venue, lots of volunteers, good food after. Rain didn't help, but we can't control that.