The beginning of this course was a 1.4 mile climb out of Butcher Jones beach area. The course then followed Bush Highway along lots of rolling hills then onto Usery Pass Road which is a brutal 4 mile climb. The course then followed McDowell Road along a residential area then back on Power Road to Bush Highway to the Water Users parking lot which was the turnaround point for the 1/2 IM course then repeat. At the first part of the ride I felt strong and was passing some riders up the first climb out of Butcher Jones. By the time I made it to Usery Pass, i lost the strength in my legs and lumbered up the hill. It felt like my back tire was going flat and I asked one of the riders that passed me if my tire was low and she said it looked fine. She was a very nice TNTer and gave me moral support as I must have looked like I was struggling up the hill. She passed me and I continued on. ONce I reached the top of Usery Pass I felt good and began the fast descent back to Bush Highway and the turn around for the second loop. It was getting hot and I grabbed a water bottle at the aid station and poured water all over me. I started thinking about that brutal climb I had to repeat and got psyched for it. Well, I got about 1/2 way up and stopped to down a gel and some more water. My nose was full of yukky stuff and I had to clear my nose to be able to breathe and get oxygen. I felt much better after stopping and my legs felt stronger again, so I started the climb again. I kept hearing a squeaky noise behind me and thought it was coming from a rider behind me. I finally made it to the top after stopping again, and began the descent back to T2. I was going to make it back in 3:40 which was much better than I had expected. I thought it would take me 4 hours. I stopped again to check my tire because by now it felt really bumpy. The tire was bulging all over, it looked like a snake was living inside myh tire. This must have been the squeaky noise I heard earlier, it sounded like air trying to escape from the tube. I made the decision to keep riding and hope that the tire would hold out. After all, I had already completed one loop with the tire like this. I started back out, and on the fastest descent, I hit 30 mph and was feeling great. ALl of a sudden my back tire blew and I couldn't stop the bike. I knew I was going to crash. I kept pumping my brakes to stop. I finally was able to stop. I had a hole in my tire and started to change the tube. I thought I better try and put something inside the tire to support the tube so it wouldn't bulge out of the tire and put a clifblok wrapper in there. By this time a couple of riders stopped and helped me. One of the guys said the wrapper wouldn't be strong enough so he found a piece of roof shingle on the side of the road and put that in there. I thought it would be too rough and rub the tube, but he said it was better than the wrapper. SO we got the new tube in and I started out again. I tried to stay around 15mph in case I had another blow out. Well, I got about 50 yards and it blew again. I was out of tubes and CO2 now. I thought I was one of the last riders, but riders were passing me like crazy. DARN, I was doing really good until this happened. I asked one of the riders to ask for sag support for me when he got to the next aid station. Well, as it turned out, his parents were about 100 yards up the road and he told them. They were a really nice family here from Salt Lake City to watch their son and they loaded up my bike and gave me a ride the last 10 miles to T2. I was so thankful to them, (they were my angels). I only saw the sag support vehicle once and that was at the very beginning of the race. I never saw it again. I crossed T2 with the bike on my shoulder and that was the end of the relay team. I was so disappointed to let my relay team down. THe runner decided she would run the short course anyway just to get a good run in. This was a VERY challenging course and I think I was over my head in trying the 1/2 IM.

I would have checked my tire when I first suspected something was wrong. Next time I will go with my gut feeling and we should have changed our entry from the 1/2 IM to the International course.

I waited at the finish line to cheer for the finishers. Had a sandwich and some fruit at the finish line. Drank lots of gatorade and water. I had to hike about 1/2 mile out of the finish area to the parking lot with my bike on my shoulder. It was not easy climbing out of the there with my biking shoes on.


FLATSSSSS...


They needed more sag support on the bike course. The vehicle wasn't anywhere to be seen except at the very beginning.