I was in the porta-potty when the gun went off :) but the race was chip-timed so I wasn't too worried about that. I always start at the back anyway so I had time to do my business and then cross the starting mat. We started in the middle of the bridge, down to the Illinois side, back up and over to Missouri and then down to Laclede's Landing for transition. I was hoping to keep around a 12m/m pace but ended up a little faster. Hoped that wouldn't hurt me later on.

Last year transition was a straight shot in one end and out the other. This year because of the change we had to run all the way around transition and come in the back side (counted in T-time) so my time is longer than last year but I'm happy with it. Grabbed my helmet and my bike and I was off.

Leave transition, couple of rough side streets, then up to Broadway for 2 loops of an out and back. Once on Broadway I was able to pick up my pace a little and passed several people. Also had people who were already on their second loop passing me. Road was closed though and fairly wide so no real problems - lots of room for passing. On the way out the wind must have been behind me because I felt like I was flying (and I'm not a fast cyclist by any means). Paid for it on the return trip though - the wind was in my face and my pace slowed down. Got down to the turnaround and started my second loop. I knew from doing the race last year that the second loop would seem to go faster so I passed people as I could, not too many passing me anymore since the faster people had already left the bike course. Finished my second loop and headed back to transition.
The only issue I had with the bike was the U-turns. I have terrible bike handling skills and U-turns scare me. I slowed down quite a bit for these and some of the other turns heading from and to transition.

I need to ride outside more and get more comfortable handling my bike especially on turns and rough roads.

Again, time was a little longer than last year due to having to go all the way around transition to get to the exit.

It took about half this run before my legs finally felt something close to normal. It didn't help that the first part of the run was mostly uphill back up to the bridge. My pace was definitely slower on this second run but still a little faster than I expected.

The one mile walk back down to transition.


I really enjoy this race. It's a nice start to the season and very beginner friendly since it's short and mostly flat on the bike course. My DH even made a comment about how there was every type of bike being used, from comfort bikes to mountain bikes, road bikes and tri bikes. I'll be back again next year.