Treadster: August 2012

The Peachtree City Sprint Triathlon is in the books. My buddy Carlos and I rode together to Drake Field early on Saturday morning. We arrived around 5:15am just as some of the volunteers were preparing for the day. I was unable to get my race packet on Friday so I hurried to the dark registration tent to check-in while Carlos saw the body marking folks. As one would expect, we were setup in transition shortly after 5:45am giving us plenty of time to meet with other racers. Southern Crescent Cycling (SCC) had seven participants in the race. All of us were seasoned racers with at least one race under our belts.

Carlos

Carlos and I lined up with friends at the swim start about mid-pack. The time trial start is a welcome change from the alternative. I don't know why all triathlons aren't done this way. Carlos and I teamed up and entered the water together. The swim segment went well for me. My inefficient swimming abilities didn't seem to matter much in the short 0.3 mile distance. I was out of the water in 9:30 minutes.

I entered transition quickly running to my bike which was located mid-rack in the transition area. I had decided to race without my Garmin watch and heart rate monitor. I'd also decided to use my Bontrager Aero pack in lieu of water bottles on the wing behind my seat. I also decided to use a rubber band and mount my bike shoes on my pedals. This would make getting out of T-1 much quicker. After putting on socks, I hadn't trained without them, my race belt, and helmet, I ran toward the mounting line with my bike. I reach the mounting line and hopped on my bike. The rubber band popped off, my socks stuck to the velcro on the top of one of my bike shoes and the other bike shoe flopped upside down and scraped across the asphalt. I had stalled! I tried again but my forward movement was impeded by the slight incline of the parking lot and my shoes were still giving me fits. As one might expect, I did the only thing I could do at the time. I let slip a short burst of colorful language. That was followed by a swift apology to the mother on the other side of the barrier fence who had swiftly moved to cover her son's ears. Not my proudest moment! I was finally off on the bike segment of the race dodging the traffic bumps in the parking lot through the no pass zone and onto the 14 mile course.

A few miles into the bike course Carlos pulled up beside me. I guess it was a pass but it didn't last very long. I tucked in a bit tighter and was able to pull ahead of Carlos by a few second before entering T-2. The bike segment was done in 35:10 minutes.

I was in and out of T-2 quickly. I decided to run without a visor or sunglasses so all I needed to do was put on my shoes and head for the exit chute. A volunteer pointed the way out of the transition area onto the 3.1 mile run course.

The run segment of the race went well. It's the segment that I like the best. Racers had spread out on the course so passing wasn't an issue on the narrow cart paths. I was done with the run segment in 21:43 minutes.

I hit the finish line with an overall time of 1:08:39 placing 2nd in the over 50 Grand Master division finishing 39th overall having been "chicked" twice.

2nd Men's Grand Master Award

Before and after the race I took a few pictures. I also created a few charts of the results for the 600 or so male participants. The red dots in the charts below represent the 5 male SCC racers that competed.