I started a bit harder than usual, which probably allowed me to grab some good feet. I settled in on the draft and barely had to do any navigation at all. After rounding the buoy, a faster swimmer came up on my left and I got on his feet instead. He pulled me in to the finish for my fastest swim ever. I'm no longer the backstroking, struggling Back of the Pack'er that I was back in May. This time I was actually in the top 15 percent!

Nothing.

I still can't seem to run from the water to the transition area. The most I can muster is a slow trot. I spent way too much time putting on socks and gloves - need to figure out how to minimize that.

Saw Molly in transition for the first time ever, so I knew I had a good swim. It turns out she had the 3rd fastest swim overall, just 11 seconds behind the overall winner, Jimmy Archer.

Even with a slow transition, the results show that I passed 9 people in T1. A guy named Dean passed me in T1, and it turns out he was in my age group.

I knew this was a short race, so I went all out on the bike. I could see Molly about a minute and a half ahead of me on the trail. There were a lot of people to pass, even though I had a good swim (for me), due to the entire wave that started 2 minutes before me. Thankfully, everyone was very courteous and most yielded right away when I called out from behind. Many passes involved charging through the tall grass and shrubberies off the trail.

Aside from crossing a dirt road in a couple of spots, the entire course was narrow singletrack averaging 2 feet wide or less. There were not many rocks or roots, but it was constantly twisting back and forth, crossing small bridges, or making a 90-degree or sharper turn. With the surface being fairly loose, it was hard to stay on the trail 100% of the time.

I found myself on the verge of losing control a few times, and can imagine that some people ate dirt in a most unwelcome manner. Once I smacked a hidden rock on the side of the trail so hard that both my feet came unclipped and my chain fell off the rings. I was near maximum speed at the time, so it was interesting flying along at about 25 mph with both feet out of the pedals!

I could tell I was getting closer to the front when the number of racers ahead of me trickled out to just a handful. On the second lap there was a whole new batch of 1st lappers to pass, but most could hear me coming and gave me some room.

It was energizing to go through the transition area on my first lap, as the crowd was cheering like crazy. I heard someone say, "You're in ___ place," but I couldn't catch WHICH place. I knew it had to be close to top 10, though, or they would have lost count.

Just as I neared T2 on my second lap, I caught Dean (the guy who had passed me in T1) and put 9 seconds on him by the end of the bike.

Nothing

A pretty good transition for me, but I spent a little extra time grabbing a Clif Shot off my bike and heading toward the wrong exit. These cost me 5-10 seconds at most.

Dean had cut my lead down to just 4 seconds at the start of the run.

Rehearse the transition in my head as I'm nearing the bike finish.

The run started on a dirt road that climbed slightly. Dean caught me in the first minute. I noticed his age, 35, and told myself I would NOT let him go.

He led me up the singletrack climb. I was hurting, but tried not to let the gap get bigger than 40 yards or so. Dean surged near the top of the climb, and I got a side cramp trying to keep up.

Even with the cramp, I noticed that I was gradually reeling him in on the descent. This meant that I was faster than him on the technical downhill sections. I planned out my move. I would wait a few minutes until I felt better, then I'd pass him and try to open a big gap right away. If I didn't pass him with authority I knew he'd stay with me and most likely beat me on the dirt road to the finish.

My side cramp started to feel better, and before I knew it I had completely closed the gap. "This is the time to hurt," I told myself. I knew it was more important for me to push hard now than it would be even at the finish. The gap I was hoping to put on Dean opened up even better than I had imagined, and before long I couldn't see him behind me through the trees.

On the dirt road I kept up the pace and pushed hard to the finish. Dean came in just 25 seconds behind me. Later I couldn't believe it when I saw I came in top 5 overall. I never imagined this could happen after my first triathlon in May, when I wondered if I could even finish the swim. It felt pretty good. Ok...it felt awesome!

Nothing

Drank a bunch of water and lemonade, then moved on to beer. Cheered on Molly as she came in 1st Overall for the women! She kicked booty!


This is a pretty unique race in the Front Range area - it's nearby, relatively inexpensive, off-road, and shorter than the typical Xterra. A great first time off-road tri or first triathlon in general. Lots of fun in a laid-back atmosphere, and all the New Belgium Brewery suds you can drink!