Pre-Race:
My race bag is packed so all I have to do is fill up my water bottles and camel back in the morning and load up the van with our stuff. Last week my husband and I drove to the race location (Curt Gowdy State Park, WY) and biked most of the bike course. Might I mention this was my 3rd mountain bike ride ever. The trail starts out pretty easy with packed dirt single track and becomes technical about a mile in. I'm not sure if it's the flashbacks of my spill going 40mph on my tri bike or that first fall on my mountain bike that left a hematoma on my shin that makes me scared of falling off my bike on the trails. I am pretty accident prone...with anything from power tools to plant stands.
I will be in the last swim wave so I can take my time on the bike course- especially the trail called "Mo Roka" with rocks booby trapping the easy way across the trail and (one-foot) sheer drops off rock obstacles.
Race Morning:
I decided to give the bike a shot since I was informed there was a cut-off at mile 9 and I would still be able to do the run UN-officially. We found a small spot on the bike racks and set up our transition. After all my stuff was laid out and I was about to put on my wetsuit a girl on the same rack asked if I could move my stuff to the adjacent rack since that would even out the number of people on each rack. I was a little put off by this since I had already set up my things. I talked back to her a little then grudgingly moved my things.
The Swim:
The water temperature was 60 degrees and literally gave us a brain freeze when we finally mustered up enough courage to dunk our heads under. We stayed wading in the water until our wave went off. I positioned myself in line with the buoys and noticed a guy next to me with a snorkel. WHAT!? This guy was holding a snorkel and appeared to be preparing it for the swim. I immediately looked over to my husband to see if he was seeing this. Since the gun was about to go off and I was a short distance from Matt, I couldn't figure out a way to get the word 'snorkel' across without the guy seeing it. About this time I was thinking of clever remarks such as, "Is that race-legal?" or "Do you have fins on too?" Needless to say I kept my mouth shut.
The gun went off and since I was in a wave of beginners (me being one of them since this was my first off-road), I was swimming alone for most of the course. After the first loop I noticed my feet were frozen but still awake enough to feel the sharp rocks on the short stretch of beach before the second lap. I finished the second loop with no problem and was the first out of the water in my wave.
The Bike:
I was pretty nervous as I set off for the bike but after a few people passed me and I saw others stopping at the same rocks I had to step over it seemed this was the way an off-road triathlon works, at least for the inexperienced like me. I racked myself a few times, or whatever you call it for women, fell a few times...the worst being on top of a cactus, and hit my ankle on the pedals numerous times. I had to stop at one point to tighten my saddle, and luckily I brought the tools along.
I got to the midpoint of the bike, and since I didn't have my watch on I had no idea what time it was but no one was stopping me from continuing, so I kept on biking. The second half of the bike was where I fell on a cactus and I began wishing someone would tell me I didn't reach the cut-off. It was hot and exposed and I was ready to be back in transition to begin the run I was now starting to dread. The single track snaked around a hill and I thought I saw the next aid station, but the trail turned back around away from them. I finally reached the end of the rocky area and found a medic on a bike. He asked me if I was the last person out there...I hoped I wasn't but told him I hadn't seen anyone for a while. I kept going the last 3 miles to transition and was greeted by cheers. I never did see that last aid station.
Back in transition I re-racked my bike and asked if I could still go out on the run. "Are you sure I have enough time?" I put on my shoes, grabbed an extra gel and set off. The run signs were already misplaced- probably taken from the middle of the road to get ready to load back in their truck. I felt pretty strong in the first quarter mile until I came up on the first aid station of the run...already torn down. I stood there for a few minutes with Matt, who had just finished 10 minutes before, debating what I should do. I didn't have any water with me, the aid stations were most likely going to be taken down, and I had a dehydration headache in the making. I decided to throw in the towel. I had already made it further on the bike than I thought I could and wanted to get the cactus pins out of my leg.
I have a new appreciation for Xterra races. Road triathlons are completed and won based on endurance and fitness whereas off-road triathlons are more based on technique of bike handling and trail running. I saw some guys out there that didn't look very fit but were blasting over the rocks. I also saw fit guys walking their bike over the rocks. I will definitely give off road TRIs another chance next year. For our next one I will do the research before signing up for the race. Curt Gowdy was supposedly the toughest and most technical off-road- which I didn't find out until we rode the course and talked to some people.
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