2018 Rock Hill Time Trial Tandem (June)

I needed this. I mean, if ever there was a time for someone to call me up and say, you wanna do a race with me tomorrow? This was the time. (So please excuse the fact that it takes longer to read this post than it was for me to actually do the race.)

Last year when I did the CMS Time Trial, I hung out with my buddy Paul. He was piloting a tandem bicycle for this guy named Chester. I got to know Chester that night as we hung out and went to grab a bite to eat after.  Then 2 days later, I ran on a triathlon relay at Tri! Ballantyne. Paul and Chester rode the tandem in the bike leg. Last year was the beginnings of Paul starting the Para-Guide Race Team.

Chester has stargardt's disease. Basically it is degeneration of your straight ahead vision. He does have some peripheral vision. He can use his phone, but has trouble seeing the pressure gauge on his bike pump.  He cannot drive. Chester is on the para-cycling national team and competed in Rio de Janeiro earlier this year. His team is R5 Para Racing.

Chester Getting that Seat Adjusted

So Chester sent me a message, asking me if I would like to be the "driver" for him on the tandem bike sometime. I said that would be cool.  I didn't hear a single thing from him for a month.  Then all of a sudden, the Tuesday afternoon before a Wednesday Rock Hill time trial, I get another message.  Basically, you wanna race tomorrow?

I was feeling pretty sorry for myself after Raleigh 70.3, so I jumped at the chance at another race. I really thought it would be cool to pilot the tandem.  I also knew that I needed practice. I figured we would do a training ride together, but no time for that now.  We did message back and forth regarding stem size and basic fit so the bike wouldn't be completely uncomfortable to me.

I met Chester down at South Pointe High School. He had gotten his mom to drive the van down for him. Wonderfully nice and patient woman.  He brought the road bike and the TT bike. I'm like, let's ride the TT, that's what I'm more comfortable with. I brought my pedals, and Chester adjusted the seat. I rode around the parking lot a few times until we got the seat adjusted correctly. It really didn't feel that different at all - with no one on the back that is.

He has di2 on the shifters on his TT bike. I've never rode di2. I'm like, Hey Chester, not only have I never ridden a tandem before, I've never ridden di2. No worries. We did a short test run around the parking lot. The plan was to ride the entire 10 mile course as a warmup.

We clip in on the right, then we coordinate, 1 - 2 - 3 Go. We push off and clip in on the other side, and we're riding! The bike feels a little heavy.  We get down to the bottom of the parking lot and we need to turn to get out. But we're not turning. We're still going straight. Headed for the curb. I'm like 'Oh $#!T Oh $#!T Oh $#!T Oh $#!T'. I somehow get it to slowly turn. Chester is laughing at me. We miss the curb and make the turn up towards the road.

At this point I really don't think we'll even be able to finish the 10 mile course. Like at all. Luckily there are no cars coming so we can just get out onto the road without stopping.  We do stop at the stop sign before the start and wait for some cars. Lots of communication just for starting and stopping.

We head out onto the course and come to the fist turn. I yell 'turn' and we sloooowly start making a very wide turn going across the center line. And there is a pickup truck heading right for us. 'Oh $#!T Oh $#!T Oh $#!T Oh $#!T'. More laughter. It's probably a good thing Chester is mostly blind. The pickup is nice enough to slow down to almost a stop so we can get back on our side of the road.

Now were rolling. I stay on the horns as I don't feel comfortable enough to get fully into aero position.  We handle the downhill ok, and the railroad tracks that are all torn up.  At first it almost feels like I'm fighting Chester on the pedals, but after 5 miles or so we get into a pretty good groove. I actually feel comfortable on the last couple of turns.

We finish up back at the parking lot. I look at my watch: 24.5 mph for a warmup.  This bike is fast with 2 people pushing watts.  We grab something to drink and then head to the start line.  We line up 2nd from last, and eventually work our way up to the start.

Right before the start, as we are balancing there, John Patterson holding our bike, all 4 feet clipped in, I suddenly get super nervous. Like when they say start, and John lets go, that we are just gonna fall over.  So when that time comes, I just push with all the watts I got. And miraculously we start moving.  Luckily you get up to speed quickly on a tandem.

We are rolling down that first hill and I feel pretty comfortable. You hit the first turn, less than a mile in. I yell TURN! Chester echos back 'Right Turn'. We lean, and stay on our side of the road. It's the little victories. Then it's hammer time down the big hill as we reach 47 miles an hour. I start to get more comfortable with the leaning and I am able to stay in aero.

Either this HR graph is not right, or I had a heart attack right in the middle of the race.

We start to catch some people. We slow waaay down at the railroad tracks about 2.5 miles in. But again you pick up the pace pretty well in the tandem.  We get in a groove and hit the next 2 quick turns pretty well.  We come through the 5 mile mark (on my watch) in 10:16, a 29.2 average.

Now we're in the long straight stretch.  My legs are pretty toast from doing a half iron triathlon just 3 days before.  Chester is feeling good luckily.  I feel comfortable enough to stay in aero and even slingshot draft people along that stretch.

We hit the last 2 quick turns and I yell "Hammer!  Hammer!" We're both a little tired and we lose some on the last hill, but very pleased with the overall effort.  We come through on my Garmin with 9.92 miles in 20:47 for a 28.6 average.

We spin around a little bit then head back to the parking lot.  We grab something to drink and put everything up. Eventually we go over to Cheryl announcing the times.  Of course Chester and I were faster than everyone. It's really not fair on a Tandem. BUT we were 13 seconds faster than Chester and his normal pilot, Chad, were just 2 weeks ago.  Yeah boy. I guess Chester ought to be calling me up more often!  Full Results Here. Cheryl took 10 seconds off for the train tracks (as for every TT this year).

Uh, got some segments

I know I can crank some power, and I'm aero and comfortable in TT bars, so I guess it shouldn't be a shock that we rode such a fast time. But I think Chester is really good at adapting to drivers and getting the most out of whoever is upfront.  It felt so awesome to race with him.  I kept thanking Chester for inviting me and he kept thanking me for piloting. (It was a little pathetic).  To Chester, with his vision impairment, any time he can get outside and ride, he feels like it is a gift and he is thankful. It's something I've taken for granted. Lately, it's all felt like a chore.

I think the pure pursuit of winning has drained the fun out of it for me. Most people do a much better job of enjoying the journey.  I was at first, but the last couple of years I have not.  I have fallen from the purer faith.  Maybe it's not about winning. Maybe it's not about making the podium. Maybe it's not even about competing. Maybe it's about doing something for someone else. Maybe it's about helping someone else on their journey.  Maybe that's the true journey. Maybe, just maybe, that is "what it's all about". I honestly don't know, but I intend to find out.

2018 Ironman Raleigh 70.3 Race Report

Friday
I had Ironman Raleigh 70.3 on the schedule this year because it is relatively local to me.  Plus I had friends in Raleigh that we could stay with for free.  With the long Florida racecation, a July vacation, and then of course the South Africa Trip in September, Raleigh was a needed closer, cheaper race.

I had wanted to leave work early enough to check in on Friday, but ended up not leaving until about 3:30pm.  Not that big of a deal, as I just headed straight to the Chilis in north Raleigh to meet up with the BSR gang.  It was good to see BSRs Hugo, Jodi, Courtney, and Tanner. I had not met Tanner before. Courtney was not racing, but is local.  I had my usual, the chicken tex-mex bowl.  May go margherita chicken next time.  With friends and family, we had a crew of about 13 people.

I then drove down to my friends on the south side of Raleigh. I hadn't seen them in a few years, so it was good to catch up a bit. I unpacked everything and put my bike in the garage. I had also brought up a buddy's bike box. He lives in Raleigh and was flying out to Colorado for Ironman Boulder the following weekend.  I brought a rear wheel and my bike bag, as I was going to lend him my Reynolds Element disc after the race as well.

Saturday
I got up and packed up the car to meet my fellow BSRs for a little shakeout workout.  We met at the American Tobacco Trail parking lot off of New Hope Church Road in Cary. 

We went for a little 10 mile ride with Courtney (and her boyfriend), Jodi and Tanner. It was a nice little (very) leisurely ride out and back.

Tanner and Me doing Work!

When we got back Jodi said something was wrong with her rear wheel. Tanner and I took a look. It seemed the little positioning bolts in the dropouts were not even. That last line was a pretty technical bike sentence for me. Thanks.

From the Trailhead Parking Lot

I took the wheel off and then Tanner adjusted it. The frame was a bit smudged from it, but otherwise it was fine. She decided she was going to take it to Inside Outs Sports there in Cary to have a look anyways.

The Trail

Then we changed and went for a little run on the trail. They said it was paved north of the road, and packed dirt south. We went north.  There were quite a few people on the trail. It was relatively flat, although a slight downhill on the way out.

After all that, I had just enough time to run into the Convention Center downtown and meet Nathan for lunch.  I parked on the road right next to T2. We just met there in the square at the Jimmy Johns on Fayetteville Street. I guess the street is open normally, but it was shut down for the race, so I just seemed like a big pedestrian square. I thought it was kinda nice. Maybe they should shut that section of the road down permanently.

Parking Spot

Convention Center

After that it was check in time. There was no check in line at all. I was expecting to have to wait some. So either they have figured out how to streamline this check in, or just the sheer fewer number of people made it less crowded.  This race had 2,200 people just 2 years ago. Less than 1,600 this year.

I moved through pretty quickly. The most time was filling out the medical form.  Grabbed the packet and noticed the little (I assumed) water temp card that someone taped on the table.

Man, I used to obsess over that crap. No longer.  People are out of their minds. I then got the t-shirt and backpack and timing chip. You also had to pick a bike dropoff time. She said I could be before or after 3p. I said I hoped 3p, so she gave me a piece of paper to stick in the windshield.

I headed over to the Inside Out Sports booth and talked to Mark a little bit. I perused the rest of the expo and walked a little through the gift shop. I didn't buy anything. There'll be plenty of time for that in South Africa.

T2 Spot

I headed back to the house. It was close to 2p, so I went to work on getting my bike ready to check. I cut and put the stickers on my bike, but that was pretty much it. I loaded up the car and headed out.  It took me 40 minutes to get out to T1.

As you came down Seaforth road, they had a guy asking for your 'time' passes. It was after 3p at this point. I had forgotten the pass, but he said they'll still let me in. I'm like, ok thanks. I mean what else are they gonna do? If I missed my window, I'm out of the race?  Oi.

T1

 I parked right near the entrance to T1. I got my bike out and pumped up the tires. I've been doing that lately. Pumping up my tires just a bit high the day before and then not pumping up at all race morning. I seems to work pretty good.

 I walked Green Lightning in and found my spot. Not too bad. These AWA numbers are pretty handy sometimes. I racked handlebars first, as my seat doesn't allow for a good option there.  I took several pictures, but I quickly headed back to the car. I knew the flow of this transition, so nothing to really look at.

I headed back to the house and got there around 4:30.  I missed my buddy who came to pick up the bike box, but that's ok. My wife and son had finally made it up, they hit a lot of traffic on the way.  I went to work on getting all my gear ready. I felt like I had been running around all day. And I guess I was: House to Cary to Convention Center to House (again) to Vista Pt and finally back to the House. I did about 120 miles with all that. (And we still had to drive 8 miles into Raleigh to eat). It's races like these that really make you appreciate a venue like Chattanooga. I've done that race with putting Zero miles on the car from when I parked the car at the hotel to when I left for home.

We went into Raleigh and ate at Sitti, an authentic Lebanese Restaurant in Raleigh. I had the chicken shish kebab with rice. They had some bread on the table as well. It was all really good, and I got plenty to eat. All I really want before a race is rice and chicken. Tried to hit the pillow around 9pm.

Sunday (Race Day)
Slept great until 2am. Then it was constant dreams about forgetting something. Not being able to find something. And it's after 5am and I still haven't left the house. So at 3:45am, I decide I was up.
I left the house around 4:15am. I looped around a little downtown with the road closures, but eventually parked on Blount Street at Cabarrus.

I walked over to T1, and found my spot. Again pretty good local. I could really figure out the flow of transition but I figured we come in on one side and out the other. Transition is actually a different parking lot from when I did this race 4 years ago. The old T2 was kitty-corner from here, south of Lenoir, and west of Wilmington.

I set out all my stuff from the bag, like I would normally do. I noticed some people had left everything in their bag. I didn't think it would rain, so no worries.  I headed over to the bus and hopped aboard.  I sat next to a German who talked, a lot. Not to me, but to the 2 people in the seats in front of us. In German. Luckily halfway through, he petered out and it was quiet. It's a long ride, kinda like from the Commons to Hopkinton.

We arrive at Vista Point, and I headed into transition. I had a a bit of work to do: put my BTA bottle and and fill it, put gels in my bento, flip around my bike (rack mount by seat) and then wedge my shoe under the front wheel so it doesn't fall off. I set my helmet out, and put on my Garmin. I didn't take too long, as I was pretty focused on it.

I headed toward the lake to get out of transition. They were not letting you exit at the middle, only enter. So I walked toward the end and I saw Judd setting up his bike. I walk up and he goes 'Jen was looking for you'. I'm like uh-oh, that's not good.

Evidently she left her bike gels at the hotel. Odd. I thought she had her coach and a sherpa with her this weekend. Anyways, I reach down in my bag and grab my last 2 gels, just as Jen rolls with a goofy grin. Those were the last two she needed, so she felt relieved.

We walk out, hit the port-o-let and go to the 'waiting area' of the parking lot. I went to drop off my bag with the swimsuit in it as the water temp was 80 degrees. I freakin' hate global warming. After I drop off the bag, the BSR crew yells at me, so I walk over and talk with Courtney, Jodi, and Hugo.  After a while my buddy Nathan strolls up.  We hang. I drink my pickle juice. They help me get my swimskin on. Since I'm one of the first waves to go off, I don't wait long.

I queue up and kinda start talking with the guy next to me as we slowly make the crawl to the water, waiting for the waves in front of us. Luckily this is a shallow in water start, so you can really let the pee fly waiting to start.

Swim
Officially 45:30, 74th of 142 Age Group, 509th of 916 Men
Garmin had 45:18 for 2,214 yards, 2:03 min/hundred yards
So the deal with the swim is that I suck at swimming.

After the horn when off I ran for about 10 seconds before diving in.  It wasn't too congested and the water temp felt good. Not wetsuit legal, but definitely not hot. This course is just 3 long stretches, in stark contrast to Florida.  What is there to say, I try to swim. I try to swim straight. I try to remember all the pointers I've gotten from Coach Patty. Every once in a while I would hit some congestion, but not bad.  The first turn buoy wasn't crowded.

Now I'm on the backstretch, which is looooong. I kinda know how far I am in, as I have my Garmin set to vibrate every 500 yards. So I knew basically where I was almost halfway, at the second buzz.  Some of the women from the wave behind start passing me. I try to increase my turnover and breath every other stroke on the same side.  That kinda made me start pulling to one side and I would have to correct. Overall I thought I sighted pretty good.

I feel buzz #3 before I finally make the last turn (which wasn't crowded either). The final stretch. The finish seems so far away. I just turn my mind off. Keep churning. Like I'm going to be doing this for the rest of the day. Buzz #4. Let's bring this thing home, get out the water, and start doing some damage. I swim almost halfway up the ramp until I feel dirt, and then I stand up.

I get my bearings and look on my watch. I see the 45 something and I'm just like, eh, it is what it is. I head up the ramp and hit the garmin lap button at the archway. The worst part about swimming 45 minutes is trying to explain to people afterwards who kept asking me "What happened on the swim?" Well, you see, I suck at swimming.

Was it a sighting problem? No, I just suck at swimming.
Did you get kicked in the face? No, I just suck at swimming.
Did you swallow a bunch of water? No, I just suck at swimming.
Did you get swam over? No, I just suck at swimming.
Was the sun in your eyes? No, I just suck at swimming.
Did you make a wrong turn? No, I just suck at swimming.
Did you get hungry? Yes, I could have used a couple of gels before the swim.
Did you have cramping issues? No, I just suck at swimming.
Have you had reconstructive surgery on both shoulders? No, I just suck at swimming.
Did you swim butterfly the whole time? No, I just suck at swimming.
Did you swim 2 laps? No, I just suck at swimming.
Did you get attacked by an angry swan? No, I just suck at swimming.
Did you get stung by a jellyfish?  No, I just suck at swimming.
An Earthquake? A terrible Flood? LOCUSTS? NOOO, I just REALLY suck at swimming.

T1
Officially 2:22, 19th AG
Garmin had 2:33 for 0.18 miles
Ran up the hill trying to remember how to get this swimskin off. It's zips up and has a short string.  I finally got it halfway through transition.  I almost ran past my spot and stopped abruptly when I went too far.

Then I heard Courtney yell, Right There. And sure enough I stopped exactly where I should have. I stripped off the rest of the skin, and got my shoes on. Grabbed the helmet and I was off.

Bike
Officially 2:22:51, 3rd AG, 35th Male
Garmin had 2:22:55 for for 56.08 miles on 209W (215 NP), 23.5 MPH, 83 cadence, 158 HR
The mount line was way past the arch, which threw me for a bit.  But I got out to the road and hopped on and immediately started blowing by people.  It's fun when you feel strong.  So then we had to do this little out and back section before we got out onto the main highway.  It's a slight uphill on the way out.

It actually reminded me a lot of the out and back on Kuakini Highway in Kona. Everyone is blasting because they just started.  Not a lot of room, basically everyone is drafting on the way down, because of all the people and it's hard to pass.

Eventually we get out onto the main road after 400 feet of climbing over the first 6 miles. Then I just thought, tuck it in, stay aero and smooth, and slingshot around everyone. Pretty much what I did especially on that 2nd 5 mile split averaging 26.8 mph on 215 watts. The traffic wasn't too bad.  The temp felt good. No incidents to report, basically cruised to mile 30, with a 24.2 mph avg.  I took a gel and salt pill every 10 miles. I hit my malto mix often.

Through 35 miles I was right at 216w avg power (218NP).  As the hills started coming, my average power dropped as I did do some coasting down some of the bigger ones.  My NP didn't drop off too much (209 W) over the next 20 miles with all the watts putting in going up the hill.  I did see a motobike a couple of times.  I had mostly had pretty clear roads.

Aero is as Aero does

As I came up on my friends neighborhood around the 48 mile mark, I started waving. I saw my friends and wife and son on the side of the road up ahead and tried to get their attention.  They all waved and cheered and I gave the hang loose sign.  Then it was time to finish.  At the big downhill around mile 53, I went wee-wee. And I felt pretty good about it.

As we came down the final stretch on South Street, I just kinda coasted it in.  I had trouble getting my left foot out of my shoe, and actually had to come to a stop to dismount.  You can't win them all.

T2
Officially 2:23, 5th AG
Garmin had 2:17 for 0.17 miles
You dismount on the west end of transition, but you don't go in there. You run with your bike all the way to the other side of transition to go in.  It was a long run with the bike, in bare feet. It wasn't hot, though, thankfully.

I found my spot easily enough. I sat down and made a the quickest change I could.  I grabbed my race belt, and again stuffed all my gels into the back pocket of my tri suit. That actually works pretty well for me now.  Then I was off.

Run
Officially 1:37:39, 4th AG, 55th Male
Garmin had 1:37:45 for 12.93 miles, 7:34/mile avg, 162 cadence, 175 HR avg
I felt OK heading out. I tried to relax the first mile and came through in 6:50. I knew it wasn't going to be a fast run, but I was hoping to hold onto low 7's.  The first time up the highway ramp wasn't too bad, but it is a kind of a long winding hill.

Overall it didn't feel too hot, but it's one of those days where you just can't get the feet turning over. It reminded me of the Eagleman run for it's slowing heat.  Before you hit the 2 mile mark you get onto the Rocky Branch Trail. Running on that paved trail was nice. You got some shade there.  Unfortunately you're on this big 'T' where you run the middle twice.  It's uphill on the way out, then you coast down. So you run it 4 times, since you do the whole course twice.

Right about my 4 mile mark, Pro Heather Jackson passed me.  She had 3 miles to go in the race.  It looked like she was pretty solidly in 2nd, a ways from 1st and 3rd.  So for the next 2 miles she ran a bit a head of me.  But not much, I mean she only put about 10 seconds on me. At that point I knew everyone was running slow.

So I basically slowly started to fade. The 9 u-turns on this course don't exactly help you maintain a rhythm. I saw Triathlon Joe on the first lap and I basically waited for him to catch me.  With all these little out and back sections you tended to see people a lot. Each one was about a 1/3 of a mile.  Through mile 7 I was at a 7:14 pace. Which would have been fine if I could have held that the last 10K.

The second lap was rough. I took my 4 gels and even grabbed another one at an aid station. I took my salt pill every 2 miles, and grabbed water at every aid station.

I started seeing a lot of people I knew on the second lap, and I just tried to maintain. I really felt fatigued about mile 11-12, and just wanted to finish. Once I finally got off that ramp and was heading back into the city I tried to push.  There was a good hill there and it just was hurting me.  But I knew I was close to the finish. I saw some fellow Fort Mill people near the turn around and gave the kids a high-five.

Making my way around transition with a mile to go, it was hard to get the legs churning. The stretch up Wilmington Street seemed like forever.  One fast guy even remarked as he passed me, How far up the damn road to we have to go? I kept churning. I came up on a guy that was in my age group, and that injected me with some energy.  I thought maybe that was the pass that would put me on the podium.

As I made that last turn onto Fayetteville Street, I checked to see that I had put some distance on him, and then I just lengthened my stride for home. I was hurting pretty good there and was happy to see the red carpet come up.  I crossed exhausted, but not totally dead.

Finish
Officially 4:50:42, 6th AG of 142, 63rd Male of 916 (1,238 total finishers)
Garmin had 4:50:48 for 70.62 miles
As I crossed I saw my family. I couldn't really get to them until I walked down further.  I grabbed a bottle of water and downed. I then grabbed another and walked over to see them. They all remarked about how hot it was.  I sat down for a minute and that felt great.  It took a few minutes, but then I gathered myself and we started walking toward the food.

As we walked my wife told me I had finished 6th. Out of the money.  I told her 'I'm just done'. I went in the food tent and grabbed a coke. I drank that, grabbed another and then I started walking toward the car.  The women and the kids walked the other way. We were going to meet and eat at the Oak City Meatball Shop.

Finish Area (Before the Crowds)

I had made up a bag to change, so I had everything ready.  I made a quick change and walked up to the restaurant just about the same time the girls got there.  We went in and I wasn't really hungry.  I did have a beer and tasted really good.  We had a good lunch, and I grabbed some of the leftovers for later.  We all said our good-byes and went our separate ways.

I headed back over to the finish to see if there was anyone still there I knew.  I did run into a former Big Sexy and we talked for a bit.  But I didn't see anyone else, so I headed out.  No need to stay for awards this time. My parking sport made it super easy to get out of town. Just go straight and I hit the interstate.

I grabbed some gas once I got out of town. I ate a couple of meatballs in the car.  They were awesome, I will admit.  Then I stopped at the Red Oak Brewery on exit 138 on I-40 in Whitsett, NC. If you ever driven on I40/85 between Greensboro and the Triangle, then you've seen it.  They just opened up a brand new bier hall/tap room/gift shop/outdoor area. It was really nice.  They call it the Lager Haus and Biergarten.  The beer was quite good as well. So I made it home early, before 6pm and was able to unpack everything and get ready for work the next day (yipee).  That part was nice, not getting home late, and taking a week to unpack.

Ironman Raleigh 70.3 was my 20th Half Iron Triathlon. It was my 12th Ironman brand 70.3 race, including the two 70.3 World Championship races I've done. I made the age group podium in every one of those other 9 non-championship races.  Raleigh was the first time I failed to make the podium.  All good things must come to an end.  That 45 minute swim really zapped the energy out of me. One of the guys that swims at the same pool I do (I won't say swims 'with' me) also raced. He swam 26 minutes. He was literally a Full Minute faster than me for EACH 100 meters. Next time you think that you swim slow, let that stat bounce around in your noggin.

At Least I made one podium

In South Africa, I will not have to worry about podiums and such. I'm just going to try and have a good time and not embarrass myself.  And attempt to sample every type of beer they have south of the equator. #goals

As Chris McDonald says "FAF!"