Sorry for the delay in getting this write up out to ya’ll. Lubbock is in the bag and I’m off to Kona. But it was not as easy as it seemed! The 2 weeks leading up to Lubbock where great and interesting training weeks. I had one 1 week left to build my fitness and really dial in my eating habits on and off the bike. I was able to get back on my road bike and mix it up with a crowd, instead of the long lonely miles on the TT bike. I decided to jump in the downtown Houston Death Ride, which went great. 90% of the time I am fighting to hang on to the back of the group that is getting dropped by the leading pack. But this week I was the one on the front with 3 attacks of my own. The tri training is really paying off. Next I get to join in the A group on the Sugar Cycles Saturday shop ride. It starts off really good, but only for a short while.
We hit mile 10 and everyone is warmed up and ready to start tearing legs off. I find myself in a break away of 5 riders, who are all working very well together. We have made a solid gap and it looks like it is going to stick. For once I am not in over my head trying to hang on for dear life. I am ridding strong and taking equal turns on the front. Then it all changes very fast. Out of the corner of my eye I see a small black flash, dart out toward the rider in front of me. In a split second I know it was a small dog not on a leash. I can either; veer to the right to avoid it or t-bone the dog and try to throw myself on the grass slash sidewalk to my right. O ya, we are moving at 31.8mph, so I have to make this decision VERY fast. I do think of Lubbock and Kona, then, I decide to hit the dog. Very funny how fast your minds work in speeds like that.
I hear a yelp, then, hear my hip hit the curb and then I am sitting on my butt on the side walk trying to catch my breath. I am nervous to move because I would feel a broken bone. I look at my body which is COVERED in grass. By now the rest of the pack is catching up and the other 5 riders in the break away have lowered their heart rates and are picking my bike up out of the middle of the road. I hear from several riders, “are you ok?” I hear the dogs’ owner asking that behind me too, but I don’t reply. Then I hear something about the dog is not breathing. The owner the dog doesn’t know what to do with himself. His wife’s lap dog is dead; he caused a bike wreck with 40 other rider all wearing the same cycling kit as myself. My bodies chemicals start to kick in and I am doing all I can not to turn around and deck the walker. It is not the dogs fault, it is the owners FAULT for not taking responsibility for his pet. And for putting my life and well being in danger. I stand up and try to notice if anything hurts, surprisingly I am fine, outside of some minor road rash, sore hip and a jersey full of grass. And if it wasn’t for the grass, Kona would now just of been a brief dream.
Without going into to much more detail, I got bike on my bike. Which was surprisingly in perfect condition for having been thrown at 30+ mph. Rode off, and immediately attacked the group again, to let out my anger of what just happened. Once the group caught me all went back to normal and even now 3 weeks later customers and riders still come up to me to talk about it. “You’re the guy that killed the dog?” Nice that’s all I need, is to be known as the dog killer.
LUBBOCK 70.3 –
After a light training week leading up to Lubbock, I am feeling ready for the event. My wife Meredith and close friend Stephanie make the 9 hour drive up the Thursday before the race. The college town is empty, except for the locals and Tri-Geeks. It is hot and windy. We go through all of the registration and briefly walk through the demo. The plan is to take it easy before the event with plenty of food and liquids. The Saturday before the race I swim ¼ of the course and feel great. I also do a short 10mile bike out of the park. The hills will be very interesting on race day. Lubbock is extremely flat with no place to hide from the wind and heat. Then all of the sudden you drop down into the canyon with 8 monsters climbs. It makes me totally rethink how I will race on Sunday.
RACE DAY – The 3 of us wake up at 4am, waste no time and head out to the start line. I am one of the early birds which is rare. I breeze through the number marking, transition set-up and prerace business. I find myself almost second guessing myself because it was so easy. Mer and I set up some chairs that over looks the lake and I try to relax before the swim start. All week the promoters have been back and forth on rather or not the swim will be wetsuit legal. The day before they assured us that we will not be wearing our wetsuits, which is rare for Buffalo Springs Lake. But walking up the morning there is a guy on the load speaker telling us that we can wear our wetsuits. I am glad I didn’t leave mine at the hotel. Nerves were not a problem the morning of, I never have direct competition in tris. I am always just racing the clock when I am out there.
I line up on the beach right behind the men pro cat. I am swimming in the men 30-35 age group which is considered the 2nd fastest wave, I already miss road racing! The pros go off at the gun and we move into the water for the 1.5mile swim. It is a pretty short wait till we hear the gun, and we start pushing and punching till all 200 of us start to spread out. I quickly get into a rhythm and am making good time. I could push it a little harder but just try to keep it steady and hold on to that energy as all as I can. The only down side to the swim is that I start to heat up in the wetsuit. But before it really bothers me, I am out of the water. My goal for the swim was 50mins and I turn out a 40min flat with a feeling that I could have gone harder. I knock the transition out in 2 min flat and am very happy with that, but that is about as good as it gets for me.
Right out of transition I start to climb away from the park. Nothing tough but also nothing you want to start with when you are trying to set yourself up for a solid bike time. The first part of the bike is flat farm land and I am gobbling up riders left and right. Stronger riders are passing me and I let them, although it is not in my nature to. As one stronger rider passes, tells me that he likes my pace and has been follow me for some time. If we us each other for pacing we can put in a fast time. Stupid me! By the time I knock out a 3rd of the climbs, I am starting to feel spent and its only mile 30. I normally don’t get out of bed for less than a 50 mile bike ride, so when mile 30 hits and I start to feel bad, I was worried. I downed a gue and sharp stomach pain hits me. Then my brain starts working over time, worrying about every little bump and saddle adjustment. What is happening is I am over heating from going out to hard in the start of the bike. I get the 8 monster climbs behind me and turn for the 12 miles back to the transition. I turn right into a strong hot headwind for the rest of the bike. I roll through the park trying to save the race and see Mer and Stephanie. I give them a limp wave and faint hey. They could tell I was hurting.
I roll into transition and starting thinking of how the hell am I going to run 13.2miles? This transition takes me 5mins, more than double the first one. I pound 2 waters and a sport drinks, and speed walk out the transition on to the course. It doesn’t take long to figure out that I’m in big trouble in little china. I run / jog the first 5 miles, which thinking back I don’t even know how I pushed that out. It is getting very hot out there and again no cover from the Sun. I look down at my kit and it has turned white with salt from sweet. Without any long boring details (to late right?) I “speed” walk the rest of the run course. All I remember is that was one of the hardest things I have even done. The best part was seeing Mer at the finish line, trying to make me laugh and cheering for me.
In short, I learned mountains about myself and how I need to change so many thing about my racing. Road racing will make you very a fast but want make you go all day fast. I’ll be back with more and try not to bore you with the next one.
MY TAKE -
