Fun!!!!
Did my first ever off road tri at the element Racing “Mine over matter” triathlon.
Basically went to support my buddy doing his first tri. I have been intrigued by the Xterra race series for a while, but never participated in one. It had been a while since I raced on a Mountain bike so I didn’t know what too expect.
The race was held at Kelso conservation area. When I heard this I imediately thought of the ski hill that I knew they would include in the race. Coming down not an issue, going up, ugh….
The race was a 1000m swim in the quarry lake, and a 20km bike through the trails at kelso and a 8.5km run through the trails and around the quarry.
When we arrived I was suprised to see how small the race was. I was expecting to see larger crouds as there aren’t many offroad tri’s in ontario. My expectations on a final result went up! :>
Got everything set up and scouted the swim a bit. Nice water!!
At the start I dolphin dived and my goggles leaked. Had to clear them quickly so I lost the feet of the leader. Turns out that it didn’t matter too much as it was Connor Hammond and he would have smoked me anyways!! Fell in with the second group of two other swimmers. One was Emily Allen doing the relay with her fiance. Basically me and this other swimmer fought for her feet most of the second lap, and let her pull us around! Thanks Emily!
Out of the water as the third solo triathlete. 15:49
Onto the bike. The ski hill climb had me scared. We were going to have to do it 2 times so I started out conservatively. My mountain biking experience told me to just try and ride really smooth and pick good lines and I would not give up too much time to those who are hammering! I really didn’t know how well I could run off the mountain bike on trails.
I stuck too my plan and just cruised the course until the hill. It sucked. Worse than I remember. All loose gravel and steep and looong. Got it done though. Pushed a little harder on the second lap as my legs were starting to feel good. It was much easier up the hill the second time. Got off the bike in 53:21. Only lost 2 places on the bike.
Started the run feeling really good! I decided to push it pretty hard right off the start to see what I could do. It is a long gradual climb out of the quarry and I killed that hill. Hit the single track still in 5th. Feeling strong. I held my position on the single track section until about 3.5km in when two speedsters blew passed me. Just after they passed me I retook a position from another runner. Coming back into the quarry I was still feeling good and was thinking that I was almost done and decided to really push the last km into transition. I thought something was wrong as it seemed like too short of a run, but we were almost back, and there was only one way out of the quarry so the finish must be there. Well, turns out I should have studied the course better. Just as we hit the transition area they sent us around the quarry which was a good 1500m further (despite the kind volunteer saying we only had a km to go!) I had about 200m on a group of three when that happened. I was kicking for the finish and then had to run 1500m more! The run around the quarry was painful. I couldn’t ease off becasue of the group not too far behind me. Somehow I managed to hold my lead over them too the finish. Not pretty, but done! 6th overall was a great result for me. 32:XX run which I was happy with.
This was a great race! Had a blast, and most definetely will think about doing it next year. Great vibe, and fun!
