A Bike Lesson: How to make a hilly 16 mile bike loop much, much harder

Results

Age Group: 12/15, Overall: 254/266
Swim – 15:25 (Age group: 13/15, overall:  229/266)
T1: 4:08
Bike – 1:25:02 (Age group: 15/15, Overall: 266/266)
T2: 1:32
Run – 27:44 (Age group: 8/15, 171/266)

Red Hills was my third sprint triathlon, so I am definitely still a freshman to the sport. Before I get into what happened on race day, I must set the stage for the race day bike adventure/disaster… or the just plain bike faux pas.

I got a new Trek Domane 4.3 bike for my birthday in January. Up until this time, I was riding a base model Trek Lexa, which was a still quite an investment for me considering I did not know if I would even like road cycling or doing triathlons. So, last summer was the first time I gave up a mountain bike and snowboard for a road bike; it still took months for me to admit I was a road cyclist.

My new Trek Domane 4.3 arrived in a box in February, ready to be put together. Once assembled by a friend and local bike doctor (sounds good, doesn’t it), I was ready to take it for a spin around the neighborhood. I did a 6 mile loop around the neighborhood and then it rained, and then it rained some more, and then my kids were sick, and then I was sick…. Fast forward to two weeks before the triathlon and I started to panic as I still hadn’t put in any quality riding time on the new bike. But, boy did she look pretty sitting in my office. During this time, I logged many hours on the stationary bike at the gym and on my Trek Lexa attached to a trainer in my living room. During February I logged 132 miles of training and 150 miles of training in March.

The weekend before the tri, I carved out a little time to mess around with my new bike at the local high school parking lot. My four year-old scooted alongside me on her LaLa Loopsy bike with training wheels. I now realize I was paying much more attention to her and her safety than to my positioning on my bike.

RACE DAY

My alarm went off at 4:00 a.m. and I hit the snooze button 3 times. I had been battling a nasty sore throat for a few days, and I was hoping the cold that my kids had would hold off for one more day. I woke up a little achy and the sore throat was there with an inkling of head congestion. I was up by 4:15, got myself ready, and filled up a gallon jug with hot water which I planned to rinse off with after my tri, before changing into clean, dry clothes. I loaded up my two gear bags and went back in the house for my pretty new bike. Once I put her on the bike rack, I made sure to secure her tightly to the rack, perhaps a little too tight I would figure out later.   Continue reading →