The water conditions were very good. I tended to stay out of the pack and off to the right. I'm not sure how good of strategy this was because I think it added about 20-50 yards onto my swim. Nevertheless, the swim was good, except there seemed to be a lot of people in the water from the previous wave, and I had to swim over a few poor souls (not like it hasn't happened to me before, but it is an awful feeling when you're new to the sport and get clobbered by someone). Also, the two events (Olympic and Steamboat) merged at the swim finish which meant more bodies in a smaller area. Overall, it was a good swim course.

From the beach to the transition area was about a 100 yards. I was able to get my wetsuit halfway off when I got my rack, however, my suit got caught up on my ankle chip and it seemed like it took a long time for me to get my suit off. Once I was able to slow down, I realized why it was getting caught up and fixed the problem, got it off and was able to get my bike gear and go. I felt like I spent way too much time in the T1. Time is estimated.

Once out of the transition area I got into a good rhythm on my bike. Having previously biked this course there were no surprises on the course and I felt good during the entire ride.

Talk about a disaster. When I got to my rack there was already one bike on the rack. As I went to rack my bike, the entire rack fell down. Now my bike is somewhat old, but the other bike was like really new and expensive, so I couldn't just leave it on the ground. Once again, it seemed like it took forever to get out of the transition area. I got the rack back up and both bikes on it, then went to put my shoes on and stepped in my water bucket causing it to soak my socks (oh well). Finally, I was able to get out, and didn't look back to see if our bikes were still up. Yikes! Time is just an estimate as I haven't figured out how to put forever into mm:ss

I guess prior to racking my bike, I could look and make sure the legs to the bike rack are fully expanded so the rack doesn't fall over when I rack my bike. I was definitely not expecting that to happen, so I need to expect the unexpected to happen...Murphys Law?

Having run this course before I knew what to expect this time. My run was okay, I'd obviously liked to have ran faster, but didn't. I felt pretty good with my run and was at least able to finish with a sprint.

The finish area had lots of volunteers and refreshments, e.g., water, oranges, bananas, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, etc. After walking around and stretching a little, I partook in the sandwiches and fruit.


Once again the organizers and volunteers did an outstanding job. This is a great series of races for those that are just beginning and those who want to do an Olympic distance course. The weather was great, the water was perfect, the food was delicious. The only negative experience were some idiots on horses on the trail during the run course. I don't blame the organizers as much as the people on the horses not paying attention to what is going on and staying off the trails until the event is over. Other than that, I'll be back next year in May of 2008.