My First Triathalon

Many, many thanks to Elden (aka the Fat Cyclist) and everybody else who helped with, and participated in, Saturday's festivities. As far as triathalons go I'm pretty sure this was a good choice for my first event. Unfortunately I ended up with a DNF due to my DNS in the second event, descending the Sliding Rock. Yeah, if you haven't figured it out already, I can be a little tentative on the technical downhills! Having said that, now that I know what to expect I can work with my coach to create a training plan specifically designed for triathalon dominance in 2009. We are doing this again next year aren't we?

While the official results haven't been posted yet, from my perspective - and based on feedback from the other observers - Kris totally owned the Sliding Rock. I mean seriously, what can compete with this?



I fared much better in the other two events, completing the Everything and a Bag of Chips ride and polishing off two brats & bread, a large serving of potato salad, potato chips (salt tastes so good after a long, hard ride in the sun), cookie and Diet Coke with Lime.

The ride was good fun and impressive not only for the great turnout but also the high percentage of riders rolling 1-gears. This was my first time seeing Elden, Kenny, Adam, Rick, Dug and Eric (aka Sleepy) riding their singles and dang, those guys sure make it look easy. Brad was also in attendence and as always seemed to just float up the trail. Speaking of Brad, he was kind enough to fill the free bottles that Bob, acting on behalf of Team Revolution, gave away with CarboRocket. I scored a sweet pink bottle and don't know if I would have survived the heat (the high temperature Saturday was 98!) if not for the CarboRocket.

Hog Hollow was warm, Jacob's Ladder loose, New Ghost Falls rough, Clark's hot and the Chute death defying. What a great 2 hours of riding, made all the more enjoyable by the many other riders with which to share the experience.





And last, but certainly not least, was the final event. I think all rides should end with brats! Tasty, tasty, tasty! Again, I was rather new to this competition and only managed to consume two brats. Weak. However, next year I plan to double my intake and throw down at least four. I'll incorporate brat eating into my weekly training plan to ensure I continue to build on Saturday's effort. The raffle was awesome even if I didn't win anything. Matt had better luck and won a sweet 2007 Fat Cyclist jersey (limited edition pink) that Elden had planned to give to Floyd Landis at last year's Leadville 100. I did not leave empty handed as I scored a sweet boomerang, another Revolution water bottle, some stickers and a cool little Banjo Brothers pocket messenger bag to carry my loot back to the car.