Race 8: 2009 Wildflower

Date: May 2nd, 2009
Distance: .25 Mile Swim, 9.7 Mile Bike, 2 Mile Run

Coming off a very confidant finish in San Rafael earlier in the year, I was really eager to best my time at the Wildflower triathlon festival. I once again elected to run in the mountain bike triathlon, which was a sprint distance event with some off road elements to the bike ride. This was also going to be the first event where I was actively going to make an effort to get involved in the swim. I was nervous about being in the middle of the pack with all the thrashing and kicking, but if I was to improve as a swimmer and triathlete, it was going to have to be something I am going to face sooner or later. I got to the start line, lining up in the middle of the pack, and only 2 racers deep. Before I could change my mind and back out, the start horn blew and my adventure had started. I threw myself into the open water, starting my quarter mile swim.

As it would turn out, when you swim in a large pack, you really have only one direction and speed to go. The guy in front of you never seems to get out of the way, and the guy behind you makes sure you don't fall back. You hope that the guy in the front is sighting properly, keeping you in a straight line, other wise this quarter mile swim could turn into one third by accident. After the turn around buoy, things started to open up a bit. I had to start sighting for the exit ramp myself, and I apparently did a pretty good job. I exited the water in 8 minutes at 15 seconds, almost 2 minutes faster than the previous year, and was stoked at my time. I got on my bike as quick as I could trying to keep my time down.

I remembered the bike ride from last year, recalling that the course wasn't to technical, leaving me with plenty of room to focus on my speed. Just after mile 4, was a long downhill portion on off road terrain. Feeling fairly confidant and still having plenty of energy I bombed down as fast as I could. There were plenty of straights where I could see plenty of the course up ahead, and there were not many, if any, racers around me to endanger my decision to go fast, so I went for it. About half a mile later, the off road terrain merged back with the road, and a long wide u turn lay ahead. I could see the first half of the turn, and judged my speed accordingly, slowing down a little, but still allowing gravity to keep my MPH up. I entered the turn wide, got about half way, where I noticed that my wide, long u turn would end very sharp. I knew that at my current speed, I would never be able to complete this turn. I just needed to slow down a little bit, and I could make it, so I just tapped my rear break. And that is all it took.

With out any time to recover, or even realize what was happening, the rear tire of my bike slid out from under me, and gravity took me to the ground, where momentum dragged me along the asphalt. When me and my bike came to a stop, I sat up, figured out what had happened, and decided the middle of the road while a triathlon was taking place was a bad place to be. A near by spectator picked up my bike for me and walked me a few yards off the course so I could recover and inspect my wounds. The main thought in my head at the time was "who falls off there bike at 25 years old?". A few moments later, another athlete came roaring around the same corner miss judging his speed, and falling in a similar dramatic fashion. Well, at least I'm not the only one.

The same spectator who walked my bike with me, went to his car and let me and the second fallen athlete raid his first aid kit to repair our selves. He was even willing to drive us back to the start line, but both of us would answer "no no, we're OK. We can keep going." After thanking my new medic, I hopped back on my bike and finished the course, however at a much more cautious speed.

Taking the last half of the bike at 3/4 speed left me with some strong legs for the run. And I was going to need them if I was going to make any attempt at besting my time. Luckily I ran 2 quick 7:38 miles for a final time of 1 hour 21 minutes and 54. Almost 6 minutes faster than 2008. The result still made me extremely happy, even with the adrenaline of the race fading allowing me to notice more of the pain in my knee. Luckily the damage wasn't to bad, and I would still be able to train within a few weeks of the race, and race a little more than a month later.

Links:

Wildflower: http://www.tricalifornia.com/index.cfm/WildFlower2013-main.htm
Official Results: http://raceresults.eternaltiming.com/index.cfm/20090502_Wildflower_Triathlons.htm?Fuseaction=Results&Class=Mountain+Bike+Individual~M25-29