The first mile came quicker than I expected, and I decided to slow a little. Kept my HR between 166 - 173. The other two miles were relatively comfortable at about 7:00/mile. I was really excited to see that my 1st 5K was at 21:07, since one of my long term goals is to run a sub 21 minute 5K.

Nothing

Faster transition than last year, no complaints

nothing

I cruised up the first hill, and passed about 4 people. I was crusing down the hill at about 33 mph, I shifted into my 12 tooth cog, and my chain froze solid. I tried to pedal, and was stunned, I was not able to. I looked down to figure out what the hell went wrong, and saw that my chain was locked between my 12 tooth cog, and my frame. So, at the bottom of the hill, I came to a stop and tried to figer out what the hell to do. I tried to pull it out and pry it out, but to no avail.

I remember thinking about 2 things, Norman Stadler in Kona in 2005 when he cut two tires and was freaking out. And the other thought that ran through my head was from a video I watched 2 nights prior of the 2006 Spirit of Racine, when David Thompson's wet suit zipper was stuck, so after a little bit of struggling, he ended up ripping, yes ripping, himslef out of it (he did go on to set the US HIM record for 2006 @ 3:51), after those two thoughts ran through my head, I realized that I needed to relieve pressure from the rear of my bike. I decided to unscrew my Quick Release a little until I was able to free the chain.

After seeing (and hearing) many people fly past me on the downhill, I was able to get going. At that point, the only thing that I could think of was HAMMER TIME!! I rode hard, probably a little too hard, looking at my second run, but just went to town and started picking people off.

The only problem was that all of the 25-29 AG'ers were no where to be seen. It seemed everyone that I was passing was in the 30 - 39 groups. I was happy I was passing them, but would have been much happier if they would have been in my AG.

The wind for the last 8 miles was super strong. For the first part of it, I did a great job of keeping the speed and cadance high, the last 3-4 miles, my legs were crying uncle and there was not much I could do but reluctantly give in.

With about 4 miles remaining I noticed a group of about 6 riders who appeared to be drafting big time, about 3/4 mile ahead. I was solely focused on catching them, and passing before T2. With about .5 miles left to go, I was able to catch the first of the 6 who had dropped of the pace line. As I was getting ready to turn the corner, I started to get out of my shoes, and was able to pick off one more. With less then a block left to go coming into T2, I caught the last 4 of the peleton, just as we were all coming into transition, I dismounted and beat them all into transition.

Not shift into my 12 tooth gear until I figure out why it happened. I think it has to do something with having a disc and the hubs being a little different, but I need to figure this out before my next race in 6 days.

My time was faster than last year when I did not have clipless pedals and bike shoes, plus I had a top 10 T2 time...I would say this was a victory

Nothing

Same as the first 5K, the lasrg hill was my killer last year, and I ended up walking up it. I was determined to keep running the entire time, even though it hurt, and finish off this race with a huge time gain over last year.

Managed to almost make the first of my time goals for the year of 7:30/mile, but I guess that pace will have to wait until the next race in a week

I crossed the finish line 10 minutes faster than my time last year, making significant gains in all 3 legs, so I can't be too dissappointed. I was really hoping to break 1:42, wich would have been possible if my chain would not have locked up.

All in all, I had a great race, and should be very happy with my improvement, but somthing inside of me just can't be happy knowing that it could have turned out a lot better...Yes, I know, I am a little tough on myself

Walked around, said hi to a few friends, talked to a few people, and ate some food


The damn chain!


This is a great race, even though I am not a fan of DU's, becasue they hurt and becasue I can't run 5:00/miles like the rest of the gazelles.