This was mine and my riding partners first time in the TDG. We had ridden segments of the course in our normal training. Its a great ride that has challenging topography and beautiful scenery.

We get into the start house and get counted down and away we go. My teammate is slightly ahead of me in terms of bike fitness etc. but not so far as to creat a problem. I think we were a pretty good team. We had determined our switch points prior to the race and followed our plan pretty well.

I must say all the teams did a great job seeding themselves by speed. They were sending out teams every 30 seconds and we didn't catch very many teams until we got to the long climb. We were caught by one team, but we'll get to them in a minute.

We seeded ourselves with an estimated speed of 20.5 mph. In our training rides we were right around that so we were shooting to maintain 21 mph during the race. Everytime we would swap pulls I would update him on the average mph and we did very well at keeping it even.

On the road out things went well, there was a nice downhill out of the start house to pick up speed. But that was replaced by a long low grade climb. Nothing very difficult but also a little more than a false flat. Then we turned onto a road of rollers leading down into the river basin. I took the front at the turn to the first river crossing.

We caught the team in front of us shortly after the first river crossing and continued on. The terrain in the river basin was rolling hills. Nothing too difficult to climb and what speed was lost would be regained on the downhill side. I took over again at the 2nd river crossing and was pushing hard onto the third.

We passed through the third and our average speed was 20.9 so we were right where we wanted to be. Suddenly we get passed by another team. It was a little disheartening until they got around us and then slowed to our pace. The lead man for the team kept pulling away from his team mate and then looking over his shoulder, slowing down, and coming back to him. He did this several times over and my team mate dropped back to me and checked our speed. I assured him that we hadn't sped up any. That our average speed was still the same so we just tucked in behind the second team mate for a little while.

I found it interesting because the lead man for the other team seemed a little angry that we weren't dropping off the back. However, it was my opinion that you passed us, we've maintained our speed, so why don't you just drop us. And the answer to that was that he couldn't. He had burned up his partner on the first half of the ride which would spell disaster for them later.

We finish river road and make a turn toward highway 306. A chip seal road with a nasty little climb on it. I was taking a turn on the front when I see the 2nd team mate in front of us exhibiting all the tell tale signs of a man who has gone out to hard. Shoulders dipping with each pedal stroke, head down, no response to his team mates acceleration. I drop back and talk with my team mate and tell him we'll just tail these guys to the base of the climb, then we'll leave them on the hill.

We go a few more miles and then there rises the hill in front of us. We had no sooner started the climb then I see the 2nd man coming back towards me. We make our way around him and soon pass his team mate as well who at this point is berating this poor guy as he is going up the hill. These two are soon a distant memory and we put a few other teams in our rear view as well.

We finally top out on the climb and begin the last leg back to town and this is where the fun begins. The final leg is again some rollers but all in all it could be considered down hill. So we drop the hammer home and take turns pulling off the front at a more rapid pace.

Turn into the city and almost miss the final turn for the finish line. Pedal on through and enjoy the scene.

We just need more time in the saddle. This is both our first year of triathlon training and bicycling. We were pleased that we'd exceeded our goal but not by so much that we looked like we were sandbagging. We plan on racing again next year. It was really a lot of fun.

Put the bikes away. Milled around Gruene Hall (Texas' oldest continually operating dance hall) and took in the awards ceremony.


Nothing really. Bike fitness. We'll improve and get our speeds up but I was very happy with the performance overall.


Already on my race calendar for next year. Everything I love about triathlons without the fear of drowning or monotony of running....and you can draft.