Conditions: Warm (70°F), Light Wind
Lawrence is nowhere near Chicago, just incase you were thinking about driving. Tanya, Kenny and I drove the 11 hours from Chicago to Lawrence the Friday before the race. The Bimmer had Marc, Kenny and my (actually Jeremy Vs) bike on the roof. Three bikes and two wheels on the roof of a BMW 3-series will yield about 20 mpg on a long distance trip.
Kenny, Tanya and I had a great ride to Kansas which included a mandatory Chipotle stop in West Des Moines. We nearly got lost in Kansas City, but then we realized we actually were in Kansas and we shouldn't take directional tips from a metal guy without a brain and furry guy that's always scared. We dropped off Kenny with Marc just outside of Lawrence and Tanya and I proceeded to our 5-star hotel destination (i.e. America's Best Value Inn.) After checking in we
went to dinner with Tanya's family at Ten. My meal was good and Tanya enjoyed the 'ambiance'.
Tanya's sister Tara lives in Lawrence and her
parents came down for the race weekend. On Saturday Tanya hung out with her Mom and Sister while her Dad went golfing. I hit the race course with Kenny and Marc. Marc's Sister and parents were there grabbing photos of us all. Marc's sister took some fantastic shots. Saturday night before the race we had a fun dinner with Tanya's family at Keller's.
Race day I dropped Tanya off with her parents and I went to the site. If I hadn't mentioned it yet, I'm riding this race on my friend Jeremy V's Cervelo P2C with my friend Jerry's HED 3 carbon race wheels. My bike wasn't going to hack it anymore so I bought a new bike, but it's a custom frame and has not yet been delivered. I picked up the P2C the weekend before, and I'd put about 50 miles on it coming into this race. I ditched my beloved Fuji Bordeaux because of chain and gear issues in the previous two races.
Even though I showed up to the race site way early, I only had a few minutes setting up in transition before it closed... It was a two transition zone race and they were about 3/4 mile apart. I didn't start for about 30 minutes after the pro race so I got to see Luke Bell and Chrisse Wellington go thru T1.
I got zipped pre-race
by a fellow WellFitter whom I didn't know. It was
a guy and girl who were training with the Racine training classed. My wave hit the water (and I saw Tanya and Parents at the start line) and we were off. The water temp was mild, it was a full wetsuit race. I had an uneventful swim, it felt a little slow, but it was only my second open water swim of the year. I finished in 35:50, I predicted 35 flat.
T1 went smooth, a little slow but I wasn't in a hurry. 2:23. It was a big transition area by the way.
I got on J's bike and the race was one. My start wave was the last wave before the relay group so when I got on the bike it was like riding through rush hour traffic. I was passing people left and right (literally so don't tell the USAT officials!) The course was a little hillier than expected. But that plays to a light-weight guy like me. I had one close call... I was passing people on a downhill, doing 35 mph+, and the pass went 3 wide. I was on the yellow stripe and there were guys coming up the other side doing the same. I didn't collide but if felt the air go by, it was close. So I knew I was making good time but when I got close to the finish line my time was sub 2:30, way sub 2:30... Unexpected. 2:25:09
T2 went smooth as well. I had a rock star end spot and Tanya plus parents were there watching. They were strangely silent which I later learned was because Tanya didn't want to throw me off. Little did she know I was taking my time! T2 took a whopping 1:24. I forgot my Garmin so I was going blind on the run.
The start of the run I knew I was in for a long day. My quads were locked solid. I had never felt this pain before and it took me awhile to figure out what it was from. It was Jeremy's bike. Turns out, a time-trial bike works the quads while a road bike (similar to what I had been riding for 10 years) works the hamstrings. I probably should have done more than 50 fluff miles on his bike before racing. So I worked out the quad lock after a mile but the legs were very
heavy. This race was over and I knew it. Fortunately...not... the really nice overcast weather had burned off and it was now very sunny. And warm! It was a two lap run with one monster hill. No highlights, it hurt. I was entertained by seeing Luke Bell finish. I was encouraged when I saw how much pain Marc was in and Kenny too. My friend Emily was running a sub 1:30 half so that was discouraging. I struggled to finish, but I did. 1:38:12
4:43:38
135th Place Overall
18th Place AG
A good race from a "lessons learned" standpoint. Don't try something new on race day, like a new bike. Although my bike split was a full minute faster than the phenomenal Chrissie Wellington. Of course I later found out she had a flat that took her four minutes to change. I got to meet her after the race too. Kenny, Tanya and I loaded up the Bimmer and headed back to Chitown the next day (we had to have one more night in the Best Value Inn.) We also got to hit up a kozy little hippie burger joint called Local Burger. I 'highly' recommend this place!
Kenny, Tanya and I did hit the road on Monday for Chicago. It took us a full 11 hours to get back. Kenny was worried about his bike the whole time because it was very windy (and rainy.) Kenny breifly forgot about his bike on the roof of my car while he was getting a job. Congrats Kenny! We're going to miss you. Like Kevin McC says on Facebook, "Kenny come back!"
Love you Tanya :)
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