It's not always about the bike

I raced in the Tagaman today, being a road Tri I needed to used a road bike, couldn't bring my carbon steed, airline makes traveling with one bike expansive, you can imagine two, so my TT bike had to stay at the stable.  With the help of Local racer Paul I got my hands on a giant, half aluminum, half carbon.  Add some clip TT bars loaned by Derek and installed by Al, pro Ben Allen and I at the last minute yesterday.  To top it all off I decided to race pro, why not.  I decided to wear my Canadian red kit today,  trying to represent Canada and hoping that my Fiancée former colours as an Olympian would bring me good luck as I was still desapointed about my previous week DNF.  It was another early morning with a 6:15 race start in the water.  After setting my transition I went and swim in the water.  The ocean was at low tide and there were spots where it was quicker to walk than to swim.  The pro field was getting its own start, not that it would make a huge deal for yours truly, swimming is not my forte.  As the gun went off, some swimmer went straight in the water where as other ran on the beach to get in direct line with the first buoy.  I liked that ideas so I went along for the ride.  It was a 3 laps swim, I would book the 2000 m in about 34 min, not a bad time for me.  The bike is usually one of my strong suite but with a borrowed bike and little practice time, I wasn't so sure how it would turn out.  It's a good thing this course didn't have too many major hill, as I found out half way at the big climb, the gear ratio was not too friendly, I could barley go up the hill!  The way back was fast, with a tail wind and a gradual descent, I was able to grab some nice speed.  I'd book the 60 km in about 1:48.  After a quick transition, it was time to head on the running course, a flat 15 km awaited, in the warm weather and over looking the blue ocean.  With a tail wind for the first part, things were going pretty well, sub 8 min. Miles on the first 2.5 miles or so.  After that I settled and finished the run in about 1:15 for. Total of 3:40.  This was a fun race, despite racing on borrowed bike and all.  I hope this race will server as a stepping stone for Xterra Guam next week, I will  be back on the mountain bike and hope to have a good race as it appears that my age group has one of the most participant.  Kudos to Al Moore who finished strong as well as Ben and Jacqui, both winning the pro division.  After all, it's not always about the bike.  Happy Trails!

Carpe Die