The guy I started the time trial with started breast stroking - which is fine but steer clear of me - I don't want to get kicked in the ribs!

then I got caught behind a pack of slow moving guys.

start further up in the line

The run from the water up to transition was significant so that could have been better - also got my wetsuit stuck on my timing chip.

The big challenge and the reason I came - the MTB portion.

I started mountain biking when I got out of college 20 some odd years ago - but didn't get any good at it until I started road riding 15 years ago and then doing tris about 6 - and by that time there just wasn't enough time in the week to do it all. It's still my first love and I really want to do more of it. Although my first tri was an off road, the trails were cross country ski trails - fast and smooth. This here was the real New England deal with roots and rocks, short steep ups and fast bumpy downs.

My big fear was getting onto the course and having the faster guys from the long course breathing down my neck trying to pass. And yep, that happened. For the most part they were polite -there was 1 guy who wanted to pass in a very narrow section and I told him he was going to have to wait. He yelled something at me when he finally passed but I couldn't hear him at all. MEH.

After the first mile of being chased, I couldn't breathe anymore so I did pull over to let them pass and catch my breath. Once I did that and hopped back on, I was all alone. This wasn't great either because I no longer had any reason to hurry! So I puttered along until I caught up to my cousin and started signing behind her. We rode together for a few miles but again, probably caused me to go slower than I otherwise would have.

The course was very muddy because they had just gotten rain - so as I was saying, lots of mud, no blood, I'll take that as a win.

my left mtb shoe buckle got stuck. OMG

the course went from single track, to double track, to road, to a legit river crossing back to single track and done. It was all fun (and exhausting) except for the double track. The jeep trail wasn't wide enough for two feet and it was in the sun along the power lines.

The river crossing was fun - but made me realize I need shoes that shed water a little better :)

Very low key - but good atmosphere. We went and sat in the lake to cool down and get the mud off.


first time!


First Xterra race - it was fun and I'm sure I'll be back next year.