Well, I didn't come in DFL, but I once again proved that this event is where I have the most room for improvement. This was another good practice for Steelhead since there were quite a few people starting at the same time (probably 60-80). I got caught up in the middle of the pack, ran into several people, but didn't get kicked. Wasn't till I rounded the farthest buoy that I got into some clear water. I passed a few pink caps from the wave that started ahead of me, which made me feel good, but still a slow time overall.

Swim faster!

Came out of the shoot and lost track of where my bike was - spotted it and slipped in the wet grass - went down bending one of my fingers - ouch!

I normally ride with socks, but the ground was so wet that I decided to just put the shoes on and go sockless. I never run without socks and usually figure whether I take a few seconds to do it here or in T2 really makes no difference, but because it was so wet I thought I'd save it.

Loooong run from the transition area to the pavement. They had the mount line in the grass about 20 yds out of transition, but there was no way I was going to try to mount there. Between the rain, the soggy ground, and my luck, I figured I'd miss the clip and fall on my arse, so I opted to run up to the pavement. I wasn't the only one who did that - everyone that was around me was doing the same.

Do a better job of remembering where the heck my bike is.

My fastest time yet at ILRA - I was very pleased with this ride even though I did almost take out to mountain bikers who popped out onto the road by the railroad tracks as I was cruising down the hill at high speed. Morons didn't look and continued to just slowly ride and weave all over the road. I ended up threading the needle in between them.

I was really geeked when this guy with a disc passed me just flying - figured he'd kill that course, but then I caught him on the hill near Spring Mill Pond, passed him and never saw him again.

The one thing that really torqued me though was that the strap on both of my shoes came up (it clipped the crank to initially undo it) and I could not get them to stay down. My right one kept slapping the top of the gear and the left one kept slapping the crank - was really annoying but I tried not to let it bug me. I initially kept pushing them down, but they wouldn't stay, so I said the hell with it and decided to live with it.

Not sure I'd do anything differently. I felt that I handled the pace just right, not burning myself out and leaving energy for the few hills.

I never pull my feet out of the shoes - I don't think I'd gain a whole lot by doing this, however, in this case if I had then I wouldn't have had someone take off with my shoes at the end cuz they would have still been clipped in.

Had a little trouble getting the bike racked smoothly - got caught up on my gear and the bike next to mine.

Well, for me this was a good run - just ended up being a lot of really fast people out there. Was only passed by 3 others, so I was happy with that.

Nothing

Grabbed a water and had a turkey pita that was really good. Met up with Trish and Ranger and just hung out.


Rain didn't seem to play much of a factor - the only thing that might have made me faster (besides the swim) would be if there wasn't the 100yd dash to the pavement with the bike out of T1.


I enjoyed the race, especially having trained at ILRA so much, I knew the bike course inside and out. I was a bit disappointed by not having the times posted there - this is the first event I've been at where they didn't do that. All they had available were the swim times.

When I got back to the transition area to pack up my bike shoes were missing. I'll give whoever took them the benefit of the doubt that it was a mistake - lots of stuff was strewn around, so I guess it'd be easy to do. I wasn't too upset though, since I had so many problems with the straps - gave me a good reason to go out to Bike Sport the next day and pick up a new pair that strap in the other direction. Yes, I know this is contrary to popular belief, but I've never been one to go with the flow. Besides, I don't try to do the flying leap off the bike leaving my shoes clipped anyway, so makes no difference.

Overall it was a good race and I enjoyed it. A HUGE thanks to Trish and Ranger for showing up to cheer us on despite the bad weather.