May 1, 2005 - The Xterra Spring Sprint

I continued to train hoping to finish in the top three in my division at my next race. I started to dream about riding one of those fancy triathlon bikes, instead of my slow mountain bike. I was just sure that if I had one of those bikes I would be fast. On my 45th birthday (April 21, 2005) I bought myself a Cervelo Tri-bike. Now I really was a Triathlete! I was going to be fast!

The problem was that the bike was a little too fast. It felt nothing like my nice stable mountain bike. When I rode it, I felt like the wind was going to blow me over. In short, I was a little afraid of my new bike. I rode it only two times for less than 30 minutes before my race on May 1, 2005.

The Swim
The swim was 400 meters in the bay. I decided to go slow and easy on the swim this time. The swim ended up being very pleasant as a result. My time was a nice slow 9:38.

The Bike
My transition was also slow as I wanted to make sure that I wasn't dizzy from the swim before jumping on my fast bike. (Like I said before I was still a little afraid of this bike.) I knew the bike was going to be SO fast once I got going, so I thought a slow transition wasn't going to make much difference. When I finally got on the bike, it seemed that I really was going fast. I seemed to be passing a lot of people. I knew this was going to be my best race ever.

The Run
The run was hard and I seemed to have a difficult time keeping my initial pace up. My second lap was much slower than my first. My time was 25:49 for 3 miles. It was my slowest run yet in a triathlon.

The Results
I was again very excited to see the results. I thought I could be in the top three this time. Sure my swim and my run weren't that great, but I had a fast bike! Not only that, but I was now 45 and racing in the 45-49 age group. These old women HAD to be a lot slower. Didn't they?

• Swim 8th out of 15
• Bike 8th out of 15
• Run 5th out of 15
• Overall 8th out of 15

Oh well, I guess the bike wasn't the answer. And boy these old women ARE fast.