Sunday - 18 April 2004
| Hrs. Sleeping: | 4 |
| Weight: | |
| Pulse/Waking: | |
| Rising: | |
| Difference: | |
| Distance Ridden: | 26 |
| Total Time: | 44:05 |
| Time of Day: | 11:00 am |
| Weather: | low 60s |
| Workout Type: | race (TT) - Ridge-to-River relay |
| Breakfast: | biscotti, liquid food |
| Lunch: | bagel, cookie |
| Dinner: | imitation crab meat, Triscuit crackers |
| Ride Food: | water |
| Course: | the run came 4 miles down the Mission Ridge road and bike leg went from there to Monitor - 19 miles |
| Results: | - 3rd Pro Mixed (see below...) - our team's official r2r results - official results for the bicycle leg [note - EVERYONE ahead of me was on a TT-specific bike and wheels and had done this before so I feel pretty good] - official results for the portage leg where we finished 17th OVERALL and that includes all the iron competitors that did not have to carry their boat! |
| Comments: | So, it was quite chilly in the parking lot waiting for our runner and I did not have a trainer so I just hung in the car until about 15 minutes to go and then did some laps up and down the parking lot. Needless to say, it did not help much and I started out very cold. The course loses a lot of elevation right away! I was doing 45+ mph for quite some time. I was spun out in my 53x12 too often. Then it's pretty flat with some rollers all the way to the finish. One uphill is a tad long but no big deal really. I never had to get out of the big ring but once I put it in the 53x23 in order to be able to remain seated. I could feel the effects of not warming up but I think I managed to ride through it some. By the halfway point I felt fine. I guess if we were SERIOUS, I should have warmed up tho. After my leg I rode the 6 miles back onto Wenatchee, that felt good. We were entered in the Rec Mixed division which is basically defined by equipment (you can't use a racing canoe or fancy wheels/aero bars on your bike) and you have to have at least two women on your team. The first cyclist in this division started out 5-10 minutes ahead of me and I was BUMMED. I forgot to see what they were wearing and so I don't know if I passed them but my bike leg was the fastest in our division by at least 5 minutes from what I heard. I handed of to the paddler and rode back into Wenatchee for the 'portage' leg. I recall hearing the number of the team that beat me out of the run/bike transition and so when we saw our paddler coming into the finish and that team just in front of him, we got VERY excited. You have to literally carry the boat for about 1/4 mile and then one person takes the arm band you have been handing off and sprints 100 yards to the actual finish line. We PASSED the other team on the portage leg. TOTALLY hard core. We were running the boat, going around trees and side-swiping bushes to get by them but we did it - awesome! Imagine our disappointment when we found out someone had protested and that our boat fell outside the guidelines for 'Rec'. Damn...! I bet it was the team we beat that protested because as we passed them, I could hear one of them yell, "Hey, those guys are in our division..." Ha! I also heard that this team ALSO got DQ'd as they only had one woman on their team. What we did was not intentional, our paddler used an ocean kayak and I guess the rules stipulate that you need to use a canoe of a minimum width. It was the word 'canoe' that got us. Last year our team's kayak was allowed and probably this year no one read the rules too carefully and we got 'caught'. Too bad really. And it turns out that fast canoes with two people are much faster than any kayak too so we really had no advantage as the team we beat had two in a canoe... Oh well. Our time was MUCH better than last year from what I was told; everyone improved on their leg. And it was SUCH an exciting way to finish - totally tension filled. Will we pass them, will they beat us, must go faster, faster, FASTER! In the end we got moved up to to Pro Rec and still got 3rd. Not too shabby. Thanks everyone, this was a blast. |
| Equipment: | Hyak - maiden voyage! It was great but I could have used a 55-tooth chainring or an 11-tooth cog today. I was spun out too much. |
