Fort Yargo Xtera. Well I know the bike trails well enough so what the heck. I tried to splash a bit at the pool the few days before. I figured I was exactly 37 days from a swimming breakthrough and 71 days from ready to Tri. Last weeks duathalon kind of crushed me. My buddies are faster on the bike and on the run. Ouch.
I forgot to ask for a wet suit. My friend Cole is off playing with guns in S.C. in preparation for a year tour of paper pushing in Afganistan. Hopefully the only action he sees is paper cuts. But he was outshooting the expert marksman in his classes. Anyhow I got his suit from Jane last night. No time to try it on.
Got to the race with thunder in my belly. I was hoping I did not have the intestinal virus that seems to be going around. The thunder in the clouds was threatening to cancel the swim leg. That cleared up so the swim was on. I rolled into the suit with no great drama. Off to the start lane. No rush to get in the water as I know I will be slow. I failed to put together 5 strokes in a row of freestyle. Lots of dog paddle and backstroke. About 5-10 minutes into the swim I hear a call for help. Some guy with no wetsuit said he was so cold he could not catch his breath. Well seeing how I cannot swim he was on his own. I think rule number one is always toss a floaty at a person. Even a strong swimmer can be drowned by a person in a panic. Some others called out to him and a kayak went over to help. I continued with my dogpaddle/backstroke swimming amazing straight on the first leg. I have been known to swim circles on my back. I made the first turn, off to the second turn. I had to clear my fogged up goggles. I tried to touch bottom as the lake was 5-10 feet low but no luck. I was floating like a buoy with all that neoprene. On my back again and it started raining. I heard some sort of yelling but with my head in the water I had no clue. Until I flipped back over and saw I was off course. Wah. Guy in kayak said I was doing great. Well there were at least a few souls behind me. ½ hour to get out of the water. Plenty slow for a ½ mile I guess but sort of what I was guessing. All the fast folks will do 15-20 minutes so it was sort of lonely in transition.
Off and pedaling. The rain made for a bit of mud but not too bad. I started to reel people in. Got a stick stuck in back. I had to stop and use a multi-tool to dig out a part that got stuck between the spokes and the gears. Bike was totally a non-event. Some of the whip de dos were kind of slow. I saw one of my racing buddies heading back with no front tire. I thought I did not touch his bike, I did not advise tire pressure, I did not see his bike. It was not my fault he flatted. Later I heard he ran over an old lady and she started crying “You broke my bike.” Feeling guilty he gave her his ending his race. My middle chain ring was chain sucking so either big ring or small. Mainly big ring. I remembered one of my To Do things. Change brake pads on bike. Since I did not fill out a work order my mechanic forgot to change out the pads. During the ride the front started making a noise. Sounded like the return spring rubbing on the rotor. That means no more pad. Back was already making noises. Finished ride with no more new odd noises or complaints. In case you did not know I am my mechanic.
Off to trot 4.5 miles I was guessing as slow as I am it would be another hour. I was able to run upright in a few short minutes. Last week at the duathalon it took me a while to uncurl from the bike. That is weird as the mountain bike I am fairly upright. I need to actually do yoga more than once every few months. No one passed me. That is weird as I am used to short fat people passing me at tri events. As I am trotting I started doing math. 2/3s of a lifetime ago I could run 2 miles in 1.5 minutes more than it takes me to do 1 mile today. About the last mile I saw someone to catch. I started talking to myself out loud. “Long strides, you are 6 foot 2.” “You can do it” “Keep it up.” Well most of that was working but I am only 5’10” I did finally catch up to him. The fellow claimed he did 4 bonus miles on the bike. In any event I kept up my pace and actually finishing looking like I was running not trotting.
I was sore again and quite dirty. A shower with no hot water got me fairly clean. The rains washed half the bike clean. When I got home I finished rinsing the bike, rinsed the wetsuit, rinsed off muddy shoes and clothes, washed the car in the rain. Bugs come off better if they have been soaking for a few hours. Blew the bike dry and took it down to oil the chain. I failed again to fill out a work order for the brakes. But I sanded the rotors and changed the pads. I pushed the sticky pistons back so no more brake drag. Of course unbedded pads mean the brakes stink but that will be fine after a few miles of racing tomorrow. Changed the chain ring. I will clean the chain properly tomorrow but with all the mud there was no point in getting fussy today.
Big knots in my calves. Good day I guess as I did not drown.
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