My first time

Second sprint triathlon of the year.

It didn’t even begin well. I had a bunch of other stuff going on in my life during the week. But I did manage to get to the race site with a chip, goggles, a bike, and some shoes.

Got all set up and got to the port-o-potty line…

Tick… Tick…Tick…Tick…Tick…Tick…

Time goes by… line does not get much shorter…

I make it to the start about a minute after my wave start. Nothing to do but swim… so I did. Straight as an arrow too.

T1 was uneventful… and I was ready to light up the bike. I had a new wheel. A disk… and I was all set to use my newfound aerodynamics to maximum advantage. Just started passing people. No computer on the bike so nothing to do but put my head down and pedal. Felt strong over the bridge… on the way down my back end started to feel a bit squirrely. I tried to put it down as crosswinds and the disk but… a mile or so later all doubt was gone rear flat.

d@mmit!

Even tho I know that my race is effectively over… I still want to finish. Change the tube and… pfffftttt! Immediate puncture… no more tubes so I give up. I would tell the story about a race official and another tube and how I tried to get going one more time but… there you have it. My first DNF.

So – after I got back into the transition area I packed up my junk… dropped it off at the car and set out on a ride to St Augustine… I had planned to ride after the race anyhow. I decided to add another 10 miles or so on to my ride to make up for not finishing the tri. I also decided to run the “run” course of the triathlon too… it was getting on to early afternoon by the time I finished I was completely baked.