I hitched a ride with my Cadence Cycle teammate Matt West, and we drove down to Secor Metropark, a short ways outside of Toledo, Ohio, early in the morning. After a bit of confusion about the location of the bike mount line, we managed to snag a couple open rack spots on the front rack. Matt brought his Felt rocket ship, but since my aero bike is out being anodized, I raced on my road bike. I decided that the bike legs were short enough (6.5 miles) that it wouldn't be a big detriment to stay with a pure road setup, so I left my aerobars at home and planned on resting my forearms on the handlebar to mimic the aero position for the race. The three 2-mile run legs were held on hard-packed gravel trails with a left turn to a short grassy section ending with a 180-degree U-turn just shy of a mile into the run (which was key for gauging effort relative to the competition). Most of the trails were smooth, and it was heavily wooded with many turns. There were no sections of the trail that allowed more than about 150 meters of visibility. Matt and I changed into our awesome team gear and running shoes, and scoped out about half of the course shortly before the beginning. After a few last accelerations, we were lined up and the starting whistle was blown.
Matt and I had decided on the drive down to keep the pace fairly conservative for the first run leg and avoid blowing too much energy by going out too hard. We speculated that we would be on the front, but we had learned upon arrival that Jim Donaldson (the RD) had brought a pro to the race, so I was expecting to have my work cut out for me behind the pro once we got onto the bike. It was a pleasant surprise to me when Matt and I went through the 1-mile marker not only on the front but with what appeared to be at least a 5-second gap on everyone else, in 5:23. In the second mile, Matt and I enjoyed what would be our last time together during the race, sharing a couple jokes and smiles during what felt like a very easy opening leg. Near the end of the leg, Matt said he was going to slow up just a bit, but I wanted to hold the pace and we parted ways, albeit by a second or two. We entered the first of four transitions just under 11 minutes, in front by about 5 seconds.
I had practiced my mounts and dismounts the day before the race, trying to figure out the fastest way to get in and out of transition. While I still haven't mastered the full flying mount, I managed to modify it enough that I could keep my shoes clipped into the pedals. This meant that the only things I had to mess with in transition were my running shoes and my bike helmet, and as a result, I was through the first transition in lightning speed and out on the bike course with a couple extra seconds' cushion. Since I was on my road bike, riding 32-spoke wheels with no aerobars, I set off at a fast pace, expecting to be passed within the first couple of miles. Even though I could see a chase group starting to make up some time as I went through some of the corners on the course, I stayed in front - even despite the giant white SUV that decided to pull a U-turn on the road right in front of the lead car. Fortunately, the SUV got out of the way before I had to hit the brakes hard, but I had to put in a hard acceleration to get back up to speed. I was certain I would be caught after that incident, but after hitting the next corner, I clicked up a gear and put in a hard two-minute surge that kept me out in front.
Coming into the second transition, I had what looked to be about a ten-second lead (although that's a rough guess, since I wasn't looking very hard). I jumped off the bike with a flying dismount, and after shucking my helmet and slipping my shoes on, I was out onto the run. There were no recorded split times or transition times because of the "low-key" nature of the race, but T-2 couldn't have been more than 30 seconds. I hit the second run leg hard and found my rhythm pretty quickly as my legs settled into the running cadence. At the U-turn, it looked like I had increased my lead to at least 20 seconds, so I floored it a little more going into the second mile. I was all alone going into the third transition, and I hadn't seen anyone emerge from the run course by the time I was running with my bike to the mount line.
Once on the bike (after unclipping one shoe as I tried to slip into it!), I settled back into the aero position and tried to keep my cadence high to maintain speed. This was the hardest part of the race, not only because the wind had picked up a bit and we had to ride for a couple miles into a straight headwind, but I've also only been on the bike outside for five weeks, and hadn't been able to put in any speedwork. Not knowing what was going on behind me, I just put my head down and hammered through the loop. Coming out of the corner that followed the headwind section, I risked a glance back, fearing I might see someone directly behind me. To my surprise, I could barely even see the next rider still fighting the wind, which gave me an adrenaline boost to add to my re-acceleration. As I hammered back into the metropark, I calculated that I might have a minute lead, and I figured if I could get to the turnaround without losing any time, I would have a shot at winning.
My final transition was fast, and it was back out onto the trails. Matt had said "That last run is for all the marbles," and that's what kept echoing through my head as I got into my groove and flowed through the winding course. As I exited the U-turn section, my lead was at least a minute, and the pro, who was in second position, gave me a high-five. At that moment, I knew I didn't have much to worry about, but I kept on the gas just in case he was trying to mess with my head to set himself up for a final charge. I needn't have worried, though - I had the course practically all to myself, and was able to zip up my tri top and enjoy the last little stretch to the line. The pro came in about 80 seconds later, and Matt followed close on his heels. We later learned that the pro would not show up in the race results, giving us a Cadence Cycle 1-2 sweep of the race.
Next up is the Nankin Mills Duathlon - a 5K run/30K bike/5K run - on May 22nd. In the meantime, I've got exams, final papers, moving out of one dorm and into another, and lots of training to keep me busy!