I'd worn arm warmers and bike gloves as it was cool at the start. That made it a bit warm, even with the arm warmers down on my wrists.

Not much. I figured on a long day & just wanted under an hour to gauge what I'd need to do later

People weren't being that quick so my pace wasn't bad for transition.
Dirt road out of transition and my front brake was dragging slightly. Fiddled with the adjuster while descending on gravel, but it worked out fine.

Not much, maybe take my gel blocks next time.

First main climb is the hardest, far side main climb is more gradual but pretty evil too.

Oh, lose some weight so I don't have to carry as much up the hill.

It felt good to be off the bike. That's a major understatement. The 3rd time up the first major climb, I refused to look at the hill, just pedaled 100 strokes, got out of the saddle for 10 more and repeated until I got to the underpass.

Weights? Hill work? I'm not sure what would have helped too much. It's just a tough bike. But with the weather so fine, I'm glad I didn't drop down to the S/C.

Fell part of the way into 3rd lap and banged up my elbow, first real injury of the year. My fault, thinking that it would be good to finish.
I thought the run would be the hard part of the race, but the bikes the thing. Beyond that you just need some run endurance to finish. Walk the climbs and stay upright and work the carriage paths to gain time.

Not much.

Immediately thanked everyone, ate wonderful food, went to get in traffic for the drive home.


The distance and toughness of the course.


My favorite and hardest race this year. Harder than Bull Run 50m, and Lake Placid. I was elated to finish and getting an age group 1st by 5 minutes over 10.5 hours was a nice bonus. The food afterwards was the best by far I've seen at a race. The volunteers were upbeat. I won a big beer mug and could have filled it if need be. Red Bull on the 2nd run at aid stations probably saved me, or at least got my attitude better. The whole atmosphere and venue were just fine.