The 4th of July weekend brought lower temps, lower humidity, and
beautiful weather for the 2nd annual Tri for Ole Glory on 7/5/14.
As a sprint tri, it was a nice venue at the USSRC, and with it being a
MOUNTAIN bike tri versus the regular road bike, I figured this would be fun.
Let me back up a bit though… I did cyclocross back in the
early 80’s before it even had a name. My
friends had BMX bikes – Torkers, Diamondbacks, Mongooses, and a few custom
bikes. I had a Huffy 10 speed. Yeah, oops. So to
hang out with them, I took my trusty, heavy, and street-tire equipped Huffy
over the hills, logs, and jumps. So this
mountain bike thing sounded like LOTS of fun.
I wasn’t disappointed.
Now back to the 21st century…
Wendy Tyler’s husband, Mike, led several of us around the
Ole Glory bike course a few times in the weeks preceeding the race. Since I didn’t have a mountain bike, I rented
a Specialized Stumpjumper from Trailhead and got some mountain bike lessons
from Grace Ragland, a friend and fellow Bike MS rider to get used to the dual
suspension and riding terrain rougher than Wall Triana highway before riding
with Mike, Wendy, and a few others. I
mean it had been probably 30 years since riding offroad in anything other than
a Jeep. Special kudos to Wendy and Mike
for leading those training rides. They made a huge difference!!!
After doing a trail run with Rick Greif and Eric Charette
(Dirty Dash for Dough) and face planting into a rock, I’ll admit I was very
tentative on the bike during the practice runs.
Then on the 3rd, we did a run-through.
One of my friends out there got a flat so we got the flat changed. Apparently, I got off the trail on that lap
briefly and got a thorn in my tire. As
we were ready to roll again, I found my back tire flatter than the flight deck
of an aircraft carrier. OOPS! Thus ended the training run. LOL and where's the beer?
A spare tire change later on the next day, I got practice
around my neighborhood doing jumps off the sewers. That training day got me a LOT of strange
looks as most adults were used to seeing kids doing what I was doing, but I was
loving it and getting comfortable with the bike – something I never really got
on the practice runs (though I got quite familiar with the route thankfully).
Well now we’re finally at the 4th of July and I managed not
to drink too much alcohol, ate good proteins (grilled chicken, self-ground beef burgers), baked potatoes,
and minimized the bad stuff as much as I could.
Drank water ALL week to ensure I was hydrated just in case it was hot on
race day (I didn’t trust/believe the weather forecast for cooler/less
humidity). I ensured I had the Sports
Legs ready and had a Hammer Gel ready for my run. On race morning, I had a good breakfast of an
egg sandwich with a bit of cheese and some ham.
Heavy enough to sit well and keep my stomach happy but light enough that
I wouldn’t bonk. Loaded up my Infinit in
my water bottle even though the bike had no cage on it, knowing I would use it
before the swim and get drinks out of it during transition.
Set up transition a bit different than usual since I didn’t
have special bike shoes – just regular ol’ shoes and pedals. And added some Deep Woods Off! for the bike
portion… LOTS of ticks on those trails!
This would play a role later…
Downed the Sports Legs 30 Felt strong, relaxed, and happy, something that
doesn’t normally happen before a race for me.
I started in Wave 3 after Waves 1 and 2 each went two minutes apart
before us. Jumped it with a mass start
and went to the outside to avoid traffic.
I guess I went a bit TOO far left.
I couldn’t see the buoy because the sun was DIRECTLY over it, so I added
some time there, but no worries. Swim
isn’t my strong suit unless I have my scuba gear on, and since that isn’t
legal, I just focused on staying relaxed and not stressing about my speed. I usually do about 2min/100m or so, and I
felt I was hitting that pace pretty well throughout. I have no idea how many got out ahead or
behind me, but this was MY battle, and with the wave start, it’s hard to say
where I was at that point. I finished
with a 6:36 I think and over 300m swam.
It was supposed to be about 200m but my Garmin showed .3 miles. After talking with race folks, it was around
300m (give or take). I can live with
that.
minutes before start, headed out
for a warmup swim with Wendy and felt ready to go.-L.jpg){kind=link}
Got into T1 after the nicely carpeted route from the water’s
edge and dried off my arms, legs, face, and feet. Got on my socks/shoes (with some baby powder
in the socks), then the bib, helmet, and gloves. I only used gloves on this one because of the
riding position and demands on the upper body on a mountain bike. Got the Off! going and proceeded to spray my
legs, arms, and my face. OOPS! Kinda
forgot that it stings when getting in the eyes.
Battle on and kept going after essentially macing myself on to the bike
leg.
Took off and hit the trails, thankful for Mike and Wendy’s
tutelage on the route and what to expect.
With nobody directly ahead of me, I charged forward with my new-found
confidence in my route knowledge and bike comfort. Came up on some folks who graciously moved
over and I hit the jumps head on and landed them without incident. I came up on Wendy, who had smoked me in the
water, as we pedaled up the power line trail through the grass and rock,
thankful for my tri training and strength to get through that deep rock without
issue. We cruised together for a bit
through the next bit of trail to the field.
The Sports Legs that I took before the race had kicked in, and I felt
good, so I went ahead. I slugged through
the field to continue my ‘recovery’ and then hit the next set of wood
trails. I felt like Rudy the Rabbit
(obscure Meatballs reference) on the trails and just kept going. Passed a few people with numbers from waves 1
and 2, so I felt like I was making good time.
My only issue was that as a road cyclist, I’m used to pushing AND
pulling with clipped in pedals. On this
bike, I’m having to do more pushing so I could feel the legs feeling a bit off,
but not bad at this point. Enough points
that I was able to go into a conservative cadence safely while maintaining
speed to let the legs recover. Lap 1 done
and I get X’d by Rick to show I finished it.
 |
| Landing the jump and making the turn! |
Second lap felt a lot like the first, but I got great air on
the jumps this time. Gregg Gelmis was
there at one of them, but he wasn’t set up for my air time. Asked him, “PLEASE tell me you got me in the
air!” Nope. Drat. Oh well.
More trail to finish… But thanks for being out there to photograph the race, Gregg and We Run Huntsville!
Got into T2 and still felt good, but the legs were bit tired
at this point. Popped a couple more of
the Sports Legs, put the Hammer Gel in my pocket and headed out. NOW I was feeling the effect of all the
pushing on the pedals.
VERY sluggish while I was waiting for the Sports Legs to
kick in, so I decided to down the Hammer Gel (Orange) to help it along. Okay, I forgot you REALLY want water to help
down that stuff. About yacked trying to
get it down, but managed not to convulse too badly and stay on my feet. From behind, it probably looked like a
seizure and it didn’t feel far off.
Hammer Gel down, I settled into a pace I felt I could
maintain and hit the power line trails towards the Davidson Center. The uphill I felt great about riding up
earlier on the bike got me on the run, so I walked a bit. Feeling a bit fatigued and given my history
on trails this year, I played it safe so I wouldn’t fall till I was past the
rocks and started running again.
I took some water for the head and some Powerade at the
station (Thank You Fleet Feet for that!), and kept on my way. My legs started feeling stronger and I
quickened the pace a bit. Being a bit
downhill probably helped a bit too, but either way, I was feeling better. My Garmin showed negative splits for each
mile so it backs up the fact I felt better as I went along (and the course
finished downhill LOL).
According to the paper race results posted at the finish, I
was 4th out of 6 in my age group at 1h:27m and some seconds (don’t remember
exactly).
Very happy with how I felt overall, though I need to work on
bricks some more - varying length and pace a bit. Though I suspect if I
had been clipped in, my legs would have felt different. I feel good doing bricks after a road ride. I just wish others in my age group had been a
tad bit slower.
Many kudos to all the Team Fleet Feet racers and Tri 201
class members that reached the podium on Saturday!
It was a super-fun event!
One note about Mark Hudnall – Sir, you are a beast!!!! To ride
a mountain bike nearly 8 miles over varied terrain while STANDING the whole
time is truly impressive. Granted, if
you sat down, you’d have some serious issues since your seat was GONE, but
still… truly amazing! Kudos to you on
that!
Things I would change about the event… I think the places
where the bike and run courses overlap could use some work. Some confusion on the course had runners and
bikers taking wrong turns where they overlapped. Also, if this event wants to grow, they’ll
need to work out some logistics for parking for both athletes and
spectators. It was a bit crowded in the
limited parking, so perhaps they would work out something with the gardens or
the USSRC for better parking.
I missed last year’s race due to being out of town. I won’t miss next year’s. This was FUN FUN FUN!