Water was gross and murky. The first 200 yds being the worse. Sighting was hard due to the fact it had only two bouys for the entire course. I mostly just followed the couple of yellow caps in front of me. I still probably added a 100 yards or so to my swim by straying of course. During a portion, I kept bumping into the same person. I don't know if they were drafting me becuase I was not drafting them. I also don't know if I kept fading left or they kept fading right - probably a combination of the two.

There was a LONG run from the swim to T1 - about 300 yards or so - all up hill. That was fun!

Transition was very good. Second best time in AG and 5th overall. The biggest problem I had was not having the bike in the right gear. I thought it was fine until I saw the big hill out of T1. I couldn't get clipped in so I had to run my bike to the to of the hill (150') and then get it. I was a little disapointed with myself for that brain fart.

Check gearing and the course out of T2

Bike went pretty well. I am getting better. Ranked 16th our of 45. BTW - it IS all about the bike. It seems that wherever I rank in the bike, that is where I will rank overall.

ALSO - the course was NOT 40k. The best I can figure with my bike computer, using Map My Tri, and doubling the short course length (which was 2 laps) the course was 21.2 miles long

Work on the engine more

OK Transition - 3rd best in AG and 11th overall.

BRUTAL!!!! The desert potion had to be 115 degress. It was also too late in the day to start this race. I tried SO hard to stay hydrated. I would pour two cups of water over my head, drink two, and take a bottle of water. I did this at EVERY aid station. By the mid-point - I was sloshing around in my shoes because all the water would run into them.

I felt pretty strained during the run before, but this was the worst. I had to walk up all of the steep hills. The only comforting thing was it looked like a LOT of other people were doing the same thing.

It was an adventure!

Sit in the shade and DRINK, DRINK, DRINK!!!!


Heat and hydration


Overall - I ran a goood race and had fun. I placed well but was disapointed they didn't have a clydesdale division. It just so happens, my AG had the highst number of people in it, so I was 5 out of 8. I would have been top three in just about evey other division.