Xterra Camp Eagle - TriathlonOther


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Rock Springs, Texas
United States
Xterra
80F / 27C
Precipitation
 		Total Time = 2h 50m 1s
Overall Rank = 19/99
Age Group = 50-54
Age Group Rank = 3/3
Pre-race routine:

I'd been looking forward to a Texas road trip all summer, as visiting various XTERRA venues is a blast. I'd never been in southern Texas before, and was very impressed with the beauty of the hill country. Arrived the afternoon before the race and decided to take a nice easy spin on the bike course and get a feel for the route. I was immediately struck with how technical and different from Colorado/New Mexico/Utah bike trails the course was. In the Four Corners, where I'm from, the courses require lungbusting, thigh burning, and flat out speed, whereas this course is much more technical, slower, and is more of a mental test than a physical one. So of course, practically right away, I biffed, and bent my big and middle front chain rings, breaking some ring teeth to boot. Crap! After bending the chain ring back in place back at camp, I swam in the river for awhile, ate a fantastic prerace pasta dinner, given by the host, and went to sleep with raindrops falling on my tent, making a mudpit of the course.
Swim
  • 30m
  • 1094 yards
  • 02m 44s / 100 yards
What would you do differently?:

I just need to become a better swimmer
Transition 1
  • 00m
Comments:

We had timing chips, but apparently they malfunctioned, because our times were not broken up in the results. I had no wetsuit on, so transition was fairly easy.
Bike
  • 00m
  • 10 miles
  • 0.00 mile/hr
Comments:

age group and overall ranks are guesses, as chip timing bonked
What would you do differently?:

I wish I had a singlespeed, perfect course for singlespeed
Transition 2
  • 00m
Comments:

I took my time a bit in transition. After the biking ordeal, the race was more of an enduring test, than speed, and after slogging/carrying the bike for 10 miles, the run was a piece of cake.
Run
  • 00m
  • 4 miles
  •  min/mile
Comments:

No idea of ranking. Could/should have probably run faster, put out more effort.
What would you do differently?:

I need to improve the run, be more steely, faster pace, better training intervals, more 10k's in the winter.
Post race
Warm down:

Basically washed off my bike with a garden hose and swam in the river to clean up.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

The biking conditions, no question. I'd like to try the course under dry race conditions.

Event comments:

Despite the conditions, I had a great time. I came to Texas for a racing experience, and certainly got one. XTERRAs are the best, any XTERRA. Once you've experienced the dirt, blood, scrapes, nature, views, cameraderie of an XTERRA, road tris just don't do it any more. This is the most gorgeous race venue I've ever seen, and recommend it to any off road enthusiast.






Last updated: 2008-08-23 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:30:00 | 1094 yards | 02m 44s / 100yards
Age Group: 3/3
Overall: 0/99
Performance: Bad
Suit:
Course: The swim course is the coolest I've ever seen, by far. You start with a wade in the Nueces River, which is spring fed and exceedingly clear, head downstream in age group waves, and since the downstream depth is negligble, can either swim or wade for a long ways, with swimming being faster. I'm guessing we swam for 300 yards or so, before rounding a buoy and heading back, still in shallow, clear water. My swim sucked, as it normally does, and after managing to pass a lady (a miracle in itself!) I rounded the buoy, and on the way back we crashed head on into eachother. After getting back into shallow water, you stop swimming and run, in two foot deep water, to the dam, where you climb up a wooden ladder, and dive into the upper, much deeper, part of the river, still crystal clear and refreshing, and swim upstream, round a buoy and head for the dock, climb out and dash up 100 stairs or so, to transition. My stroke is so pathetic, that in the lower river section, I briefly toyed with the technique of grabbing weeds on the riverbed with my hands, and pulling myself along. What a dork. Despite being near the very back of the pack, I'm used to having to make up ground on the bike and run, and thoroughly enjoyed the swim, which was refreshing and exotic. What a beautiful place. swim venue ranking, scale1-10 10 Blanding Hillman 8 XTERRA Deuces Wild 8 XTERRA Buffalo Creek 7 XTERRA Four Corners 9
Start type: Wade Plus:
Water temp: 70F / 21C Current: Low
200M Perf. Below average Remainder: Below average
Breathing: Good Drafting: Bad
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 00:00
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
00:00:00 | 10 miles | 0.00 mile/hr
Age Group: 3/3
Overall: 15/99
Performance: Good
Wind: None
Course: The bike course had turned into a quagmire overnight, with thick, sticky mud, and slick limestone. I love the mountain bike, and normally never, or hardly ever get passed on the bike, and routinely do most of my catching up there, but the conditions were definately a test. In the postrace, 19 people raised their hands when they asked who had broken a derailleur, and I went around many such incidents. From time to time, the mud would pack up on the front fork, and you'd come to a sudden halt, and would need to clean it out in order to progress. I quickly learned to shoulder my bike and keep moving as I cleaned the fork on the walk/stroll/shamble. I was happy to have switched to disc brakes and candy clips this winter, as v-brakes and shimano clips would have been even more of an ordeal. The whole course, bikewise, was definately a test of fortitude and attitude, most racers soldiered on, some laughing at the hilarity of our experience, and I didn't hear much complaining, mountain bikers are like that, tough, resourceful, enduring. I passed, apparently, 47 bikers, as I came in 19th overall, after being 3rd from the back after the swim of 68 eventual finishers. (There were 29 DNFs). Bike venue (imagining a dry course), scale 1-10 8 Blanding Hillman 9 XTERRA Deuces Wild 6 XTERRA Buffalo Creek 9 XTERRA Four Corners 10
Road: Rough Wet Cadence:
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Average Hills: Average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 00:00
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Below average
Running
00:00:00 | 04 miles |  min/mile
Age Group: 0/3
Overall: 0/99
Performance: Average
Course: As awesome as the swim venue is, and it REALLY is, I liked the run course even better. It's virtually all on a trail, parts of which overlook the beautiful Nueces River from on high, and parts of which take you through secluded forested trails, lost in your concentration. Near the end, you have to criss cross the river, I believe, four times, and the first crossing has a four foot hole that is easy to stumble into. I tripped and fell in the river on the fourth crossing, which merely added to my fun, and it was nice cleaning off all the biking mud.The last part of the run, you clamber along beside the river, up and down ledges. Awesome. I stayed behind one guy about 100 feet or so, the whole way, never saw another runner.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 5