This was the inaugural running of the Lake Nighthorse Triathlon in Durango. I decided to enter because I thought maybe it would motivate me. To do what, I don't know. I did work on my swimming more than I probably would have. And did some running off the bike.
I'm not big into road biking so I didn't really practice that beyond making sure my 30 year old road bike worked. Which it only sort of does. The rear shifter has a problem of sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It's had this problem for at least 2 decades but I rarely ride the bike so I forget about it until I try to ride it and oh yeah, stupid rear shifter doesn't work. I took it to the shop many lifetimes ago to have it repaired and the guy in the shop said it's an endemic problem with those types of shifters, the only thing you can do is shoot degreaser into a little hole in the shifter and voila, it works. And as long as I remember to do this, it works. Except this time I couldn't find the little hole to shoot the degreaser in and I figured I had just imagined said hole and instead shot the degreaser into the shifter as best I could. And this worked but intermittently. The day before the race I couldn't get it to work until suddenly I could. I stayed overnight with some friends in Durango the night before the race and by the time I got to my friends' place an hour away it wasn't working anymore. My friend came out to help and when I explained the situation he laughed and said he'd had the exact same shifters and the exact same problem and used the exact same trick. I didn't even think to ask him about the location of the little hole because I still thought I was imagining it. I got it to work anyway and hoped for the best. But of course on race morning it didn't work. And didn't work and didn't work and didn't work. For the first time in the past 2-3 weeks I couldn't get it to work at all. Finally after an hour or so of fiddling and swearing it was nearly time to head down to the water for the race start when I finally spotted the little hole. It was for real after all, you have to squeeze the brake lever just so and look in at just the right angle and it's totally obvious. I squirted the degreaser in the hole and voila.
Nothing like a last minute panic about whether or not your bike will work. But not a bad place to spend the morning.
Otherwise the race went off without a hitch. The water was beautiful, maybe 68-69 degrees, sunny blue skies, not too warm or cold. I ended up drafting off a guy early on. He was sighting perfectly, way better than I was doing on my own so I let him tow me in nearly the whole way. In the final few hundred yard it felt like he was slowing down or I wanted to go faster and I tried to pass but ended up going more or less his speed so I fell back again and let him bring me in.
When I got out of the water I was disappointed to see my time was 20:30 minutes. I'd done a few time trials at the pool and had come in just under 18 minutes. At worst I was expecting 19 minutes or so because swimming in open water can be slower than the pool depending on conditions. I was mad at myself for drafting and not trying to go faster but also figured I'd saved a bit of energy for the rest of the course. What I didn't notice is that the course was way long. It was supposed to be 750 meter or 820 yards but it came in at 950 yards according to my Garmin. Checking on Strava, other folks had come in at 936 yards, 974 yards, so the course was definitely long. If I go by my Garmin my pace ended up being 2:10/100 yard which is faster than the 2:12/100 yd pace I'd pulled off in the pool. So yay for drafting, slightly faster pace at much less effort.
But I didn't realize all this until after I got home and uploaded my Garmin. During the race I was irritated with myself and then I couldn't get out of the arms of my wetsuit, a problem I never have. Because usually I use Body Glide to help the wetsuit slide on and off more easily. I'd put a bunch on my legs but skipped my arms because the Body Glide can also clog your pores and make sweating more difficult. I was more concerned with overheating than I was with the wetsuit so I didn't put any on my arms. I knew I'd take my wetsuit off at the water because it was a long, steep run up to the transition area from the lake. I figured the suit would come right off since I was right out of the water. And I was wrong. If I'd taken it off in the water it probably would have been fine. In hindsight I should have gone with Body Glide and just run in the suit since I could pull the arms off while I was running. How many years have I been doing this?
The bike was 12.5 miles with some very steep hills. I managed much better on my touring road bike than I had on Jonny's bike during the pre-ride. It was still hard but manageable. In fact I seemed to be keeping up with a pack for most of the climbing. But as soon as the grade evened out and then went downhill they were gone. I'm just not used to road riding on the flat or on downhills. I did reach 39.5 mph at one point so I was trying.
The course was open to traffic but the traffic was not nearly as bad as it had been at noon on a Wednesday. And the stretch of road that I thought had no shoulder/bike lane did actually have a decent shoulder, there was just a section of about 1/3 of a mile that didn't have shoulder. If I'd gone just a wee bit farther on my pre-ride I would have realized this. It's still a dangerous situation with cars swerving to avoid cyclists on both sides of the road. Thankfully it was only an issue with one car for me and that car managed it with no problem.
At the end of the bike I misunderstood where the dismount line was and started getting off too early. I realized my mistake, got back on and rode to the correct place but this allowed someone to pass me right at the last second heading into transition, which was already kind of obnoxious but then the guy dropped his bike on the ground right in front of me to take his chip off and give it to his relay partner. I yelled at him, 'Dude, you can't just drop your bike on the ground' but he was oblivious or didn't care and I had to maneuver around him and his bike. I had spent a bit of time practicing transitions too. So funny that I thought that that was where I'd make up some time.
The run actually went pretty well. The course was gorgeous, the aqua blue lake to one side, mountains to the other and the bright yellow rabbit brush going crazy everywhere. The course was on a gravel road closed to traffic, not as good as dirt but better than concrete.
Photos from the Durango Triathlon Club, credit to photographer
I used the old ice cubes in the panty hose bags trick to stay cool. I had one in my hat and stuffed the other in my sports bra.The temps. weren't too bad, maybe mid to high 70's by the run, but I build up heat during races, especially during the run and this worked great. No dizziness or nausea. The run was just a 5k but very hilly.
All in all a fun day. I'd had a lot of ambivalence about going. I wasn't super well trained for it but certainly in decent enough shape to muddle through. Road biking isn't my best thing but this was actually kind of fun for a one off. The road bike went back in the grain shed when I got home. Hopefully if I ever try this foolishness again I'll remember where the stupid shifter hole is.
I do have some shenanigans planned for this weekend, more on that later.
Final Results. I was actually 47/56 overall, not sure why this says 19/61. Everything else looks reasonable.
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