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Race Result

Racer: Mike Tine
Race: Luray Sprint Triathlon
Date: Sunday, August 19, 2012
Location: Luray, VA
Race Type: Triathlon - Sprint
Age Group: Male 40 - 44
Time: 1:41:07
Overall Place: 89 / 556
Age Group Place: 20 / 83
Comment: Darn flat tires!



Race Report:



Swim: 13:23 (35/556, 5/83)
T1: 1:54 (65/556, 15/83)
Bike: 1:01:21 (203/556, 40/83)
T2: 1:18 (148/556, 26/83)
Run: 23:13 (66/556, 15/83)

Coming off a disappointing Luray International the day before, I was hoping to make up for things with a strong race in the Sprint. Most of it went well, but the flat tire on the bike did not help matters!

Wake up, get ready to go, rolling the bike out to the car - darn, the tire flatted overnight! What happened? Oh well, hop in to get Karen to the race and I'll change it in the parking lot.

Uneventful drive to the race, easily get in the "good" lot, send Karen on her way to transition, and change the rear disk tube quickly. I checked the tire and all seemed well - no explanation for the tube blowing at the stem.

Easy chip check-in then set up in transition. Despite it being wetsuit legal again, I decide to go sans wetsuit today. The time spent taking it off will offset any time gained, and the extremely warm water was not fun the day before!

I head down to the lake and hop in for a quick warm up.

The waves are a bit bigger today (40+ men, yesterday was 40-49 only), likely due to the Sprint nature and needing to clear the ramp area prior to the first arrivals to T1. Same strategy of 5 breaths gradually down to 3/2 alternating, but this time I'm not pulling ahead as quickly as the day before. Once I hit the first buoy, I seem to be pulling away from the pack, though. Uneventful swim other than having to swim over a very erratic swimmer coming off the last buoy (tried swimming around him for ~10 seconds, but he kept turning until he was 90-degrees off course). Didn't get out first like the day before, but 5th isn't bad :-)

Quick T1 and off I go. Make it over the first hill out of transition and down the other side to the turn. Shortly thereafter, though, I hear the dreaded WHOOSH of another blown rear tube! Several profanities left my mouth, I debated changing the tube and just heading back, but then decided to at least finish in order to earn the "double" glassware. Relatively quick change, although could have gone much faster if I didn't spend a minute trying to figure out the CO2 cartridge and have to stop quickly to tighten the valve that I'd forgotten to tighten initially. Off I go, hoping this one doesn't blow as I don't have any more spares. I take it somewhat easy (35mph) down the big hill to avoid a catastrophic crash if the rear blows again, but then ride a normal Oly speed for the remainder of the race. I'm not in contention for an AG award due to the blown tire, but want to finish reasonably respectably.

Quick T2 and off to the run. No quad issues today, so I just try to push it where I can. I'm still tired from the day before, though, and I don't have any motivation (i.e. AG award) to go crazy, but I still push it a little. Then I spot PJ up ahead! Alright, a rabbit. I catch him shortly before the turnaround and try to hold him off the rest of the way. Thanks PJ for the push - it definitely made me have a faster run than I otherwise would have.

Respectable finish, but not the AG award for which I'd hoped. Figure out the tire issue before Reston!