DOUBLE WHAMMY WEEKEND July 7-8

As a test of endurance, I entered two triathlons in one weekend. The Wet Dog Sprint Triathlon in Decatur Alabama came first. I treated this race as a warm-up race to the Lock 4 Blast Xterra the following day. I came out of the 400 yard swim feeling strong going into the bike. Until this race, I hadn’t ridden a road bike in over 10 years, so I was naturally a little nervous. Without a road bike of my own, I borrowed a friend’s steel frame road bike for this race. Despite my lack of road riding experience, the strength developed from mountain biking was enough for me to hold position. I completed the 5k run, achieving my goals of keeping a controlled pace and keeping my heart rate out of the red zone in respect for the next day. My efforts were rewarded with an age group win and second place overall finish. Next up was the Lock 4 Blast in Gallatin Tennessee. Gaining more experience with each race, I started the swim focusing more on staying in a straight line between the buoys. It’s much easier to make up time by swimming a shorter distance than swimming further and faster. The bike course consisted of two laps of the best marked single-track that I have ever ridden. During the first of 2 loops on the bike, a slight inattention allowed my handlebar to catch on a tree and catapult me over the handlebars. Luckily, the tree didn’t inflict any damage to me or my bike and I was back up and rolling in less than 30 seconds. I completed the two loop run without incident and went on to an age group win and 6th place overall finish. Not bad for rookie season two races weekend.