First off: I'm a crap swimmer. Bad form. No speed. This time beat my expectations by roughly 23 minutes! I actually thrilled with my time. I felt relaxed throughout the swim leg even though it was the most crowded one I've done. It was hard to fine any open water but I finally found it on the outside, both going upstream and downstream. The current was barely noticeable. The shallow water was a bit of a drag, as it really interrupted my concentration. A lot of people walked around the turnaround but I did my best to keep swimming. It finally became too shallow at one point and I had to walk maybe 25' to find a deep enough area to allow full arm movement.
I used an excellent wetsuit stripper at the finish!

Long transition due to changing into real bike shorts. Tri shorts just don't cut it with me on rides over 75 miles. Leaving transition was tough due to a long line of people walking their bikes out onto the course. Immediately outside of T1 was hill with very, very little room to mount the bike. I did so anyway. Got up the hill no problem, waved to my wife and out onto the bike course.

Get a tougher butt to avoid changing clothes!

The road surfaces were crap. Broken up with lots of pot holes and long cracks. The road surface was really a distraction for me 80% of the ride. The endless vineyards and river views were gorgeous. Truly a saving grace.
It was foggy for the first couple of hours of the ride and the air temperature must've been in the middle 50s all that time. As an Oregonian, I felt right at home without arm warmers. The sun eventually broke out but never got too hot. The rollers never seemed to end and I had a hard time finding a good rythym. I kept well fed and hydrated with the help of the 4 or 5 aid stations on course. Gu, Shot blocks, water, and Gatorade were the theme of the ride.
The nasty headwind the last 35 miles just gutted me. My average speed plummeted and I was glad to get back into Windsor High School after 112 miles.

More rides in adverse conditions would help.

Longest. Transition. Ever.
Didn't really care about my time here. Talked to my wife for awhile and then moved into T2. Changed into proper running shorts and singlet and went for another loo break as I didn't go while on the bike course.
Talked to my wife a bit more and headed out for the "run" portion.

Take T2 more seriously. This was my first Iron length race in 23 years and I was treating it as a bit of an experiment. Lessons learned.

Ha! What a disaster, plain and simple. My legs were dead from the word go. I ran a very little and walked a whole lot. Still, I gutted it out and got to the finish ahead of my pre-race goal.

I've got to run a hell of a lot more and incorporate lots of blocks. I as bad a runner as I am swimmer! I promise to get better.

Ate some of the chicken breasts and veggies provided at the finish area but my stomach was a bit wonky at the end of the day. More water the rest of the night helped out.


Crap training. My running prep was woefully inadequate and it cost me. I should've been able to finish a full 60-75 minutes faster. I'm glad the weather remained so reasonable or my day would've gone longer. I plan on utilizing the services of a local tri club for future races.


First off, the volunteers were outstanding. They were very helpful and enthusiastic and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.
The organizational aspect wasn't as good as I thought it would be. From the prerace meeting to packet pickup to weigh-in and getting things into T2 took nearly 3 hours! After the meeting there was a massive line to get into packet pickup which wasn't even open yet. Packet pickup was a cramped madhouse. It really seemed to take forever, with vast amounts of the pre-race meeting agenda repeated to you by the volunteers. Don't get me wrong, the volunteers were friendly and helpful, but they should've been instructed a little differently.
Hopefully in the future the packet pickup will a bit more streamlined, and open immediately upon the conclusion of the noon meeting.
I still plan on coming back next year. It's a damn good race, warts and all!