This past weekend was supposed to be my big A race for the year. The kids had a cub scout field trip to Battleship Cove in Massachusetts for a sleepover on the ship which I decided to forego in order to race. On Wednesday, the CT Stage race was cancelled and instead of deciding to go to Mass with the kids I decided to jump into the Rev3 1/2 Iron and do the Aquabike (for those who don't know, an aquabike is a triathlon minus the run designed for those of us who can't run any more.) I had trained hard for this weekend and tapered well as evidenced by Wednesday night's race in Bethel. I wanted to race.
Due to the bubble collapse at the Cheshire pool this winter, my swimming was severely lacking. I have only been in the water 6 or 7 times since December. That being said, my form felt good and I just lacked endurance. Since I have been focusing on the bike this year, I figured that my bike split would make up for any deficiencies in the swim. I was hoping to come in under 3:20 which would put me on the podium based on last years times. This meant a sub 35 minute swim and a 2:45 bike split.
I had not done a tri in over a year so getting ready for the race the night before I went through everything twice to make sure I was ready. I got to Quassy a little before 6AM since the bikes were racked last night there was no need to arrive early and get a good spot.
I get everything set up in transition and realize I do not have my timing chip in my race bag. I know I had one yesterday when I registered. When I was getting ready Saturday night, I completely forgot about the need for a chip and had not bothered to put it in my bag. Big oops!!! Luckily the race coordinators were prepared for morons like me and I got a new chip with no issues.
Now that I had everything back on track I headed down to the water. The aquabike went off with the women's swim wave. This meant that there would be much less pushing and shoving than in a male swim wave. My plan was to start out easy so that I would not start hyperventilating and could control my breathing(this sucks just ask Ryan) I started on the far right so I had a clean line to the buoy and would be away from the crowd. I was feeling good, swimming straight and had no issues during the swim. I tried a few times to jump into someone's wake to draft. The first two attempts failed because the swimmers were kicking too much and making too many bubbles. I finally found a swimmer dragging their legs and got into a groove behind them. We did not hit any traffic until the second red buoy at which point, I decided I had saved enough energy and was ready to jump ahead of the person I was drafting behind. I upped the tempo and knew I was doing OK because I was passing many swimmers from previous waves.
Exiting the water and running into transition, I checked my swim split. 33:55 Ok I was right on track. No issues in transition so I was out on the bike course. I had previewed only the first 5 miles and last 5 miles of the course so I was not sure where to push it and where to hold back. My legs felt strong and I was keeping my HR between 150 and 160 which I knew I could maintain for about 3 hours. I was consistently passing riders and only had 2 people pass me during the first half of the ride. I rode over something about halfway through the ride which sounded odd, but I did not know what it was. I immediately looked down at my front wheel to make sure things were OK. The wheel was still rolling true and the tire was inflated so I figured I had dodged a bullet. As I am about 5 miles into a 7 mile climb I hear a loud hiss and then fell "thump, thump, thump..." Obviously, I had not dodged that bullet. No big deal, I was averaging about 21mph and knew I could afford a quick flat fix. I take the wheel off and get the old tube out quickly. I unfold the new tube and get ready to put the valve extender on the new tube. WTF, the michelin tube does not have a removable core. What to do now???? The valve stem is not long enough for my 66mm rims. At this point I am still telling myself that someone will stop and help out with an extra tube. Five minutes go by and I am convincing myself that I can still make up the time. Finally a friend from the Shoreline Sharks stops and offers to help. He has a different valve extender, but it doesn't fit either. He only has one extra tube and can't afford to offer it up.
I felt like one of those dudes hanging out in the parking lot at a Grateful Dead show with their index finger out. I need a miracle!!!!!
I have to say that the triathlon community is much nicer in general than the road racing community. Dozens of people asked if I was OK or needed help, but when said I needed a tube with a long valve stem no one had an extra. The woman whose front yard I was sitting on even came out and asked if I needed anything. She did not have a tube either.
I decided to just start cheering people up the hill since I had nothing better to do. There were supposed to be a mechanic's car somewhere along the course. Ever car that went by brought my hopes up, and then deflated them as they drove by me.
After fifty minutes(Yes!! 50 minutes!!) Another rider stops and asks if I need help. I look up and it is my friend Catherine. Score!! She has an extra tube with a long stem.
Finally I m back on the bike, but have no chance at finishing well. My bike computer still had my ride time on it so I decided to see how I could do for a net time. It was turing into a hard training day.
Have you ever ridden hard for over an hour then stopped for about an hour without stretching and just sit down, then hop back on the bike and ride hard again? I do not recommend it. It took me a while to get my legs back.
The rest of the race was uneventful and I finished with a clock time of over 4 hours but a net bike split of 2:43 which I was happy with.
Maybe I should have taken a hint when the CT Stage race was cancelled. I think someone was telling me that I should have been in MA with the kids.
The race is very well run and the bike course is extremely challenging. I am already pencilling it in for 2012 so I can get some vengeance.(Note to self - Do not schedule any kids events for the first weekend of June 2012)
No comments:
Post a Comment