I survived my first duathlon team relay. I had some jitters as I hadn't rode the course before, only watched a video of it. The transition area was similar to a triathlon (so I am told, don't know first hand), so once Rich passed the cone, I took off. I had to run my bike up to a spot, mount up, and cross the time check. I came out and tried to managed my adrenaline and rode a pretty good pace, took the corners safely and headed towards the one uphill section. Damn. This was about a mile long incline with a short steep section for about the last quarter mile. I stood up early and often, and just turned the cranks over. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't fast, but I made it over (48/16 is definitely NOT a hill climb gear!).
I settled in a bit for the 2nd lap and took the same approach for the hill. I managed to recover pretty well, and had solid energy at the end. I had some fun with another rider as we approached the last mile. I was sitting on his wheel a bit, and attempted to get around, then he would speed up. We took a right hand turn on the last longer stretch on a busier road (it wasn't a totally closed course). There were cones setup about 3 feet out, plus a little berm giving us some room to ride, however we were dealing with lapped riders at this point as well. I was right on his wheel, going in and out of the cones depending on where other riders were, we approached the final turn and coming out of that turn I took him at that point, crossing the line 5-10 sec faster.
My time was 31.19.40. My goal was 30 min, but considering the hill was a bit bigger than I expected, I'll take it. The fastest time on the course was 27 something. That time, plus some good runs from Rich, got us a 2nd place finish in the male team realy! Ha!
I might even do it again.
I settled in a bit for the 2nd lap and took the same approach for the hill. I managed to recover pretty well, and had solid energy at the end. I had some fun with another rider as we approached the last mile. I was sitting on his wheel a bit, and attempted to get around, then he would speed up. We took a right hand turn on the last longer stretch on a busier road (it wasn't a totally closed course). There were cones setup about 3 feet out, plus a little berm giving us some room to ride, however we were dealing with lapped riders at this point as well. I was right on his wheel, going in and out of the cones depending on where other riders were, we approached the final turn and coming out of that turn I took him at that point, crossing the line 5-10 sec faster.
My time was 31.19.40. My goal was 30 min, but considering the hill was a bit bigger than I expected, I'll take it. The fastest time on the course was 27 something. That time, plus some good runs from Rich, got us a 2nd place finish in the male team realy! Ha!
I might even do it again.
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