Whenever I have a conversation with a non-cyclist/triathlete about the issues of leg shaving, the main reason I quote for doing so is the ability clean up the road rash after an accident.  I always tell people, “it’s not an issue of IF you crash, but WHEN you crash,” because everyone at some point or another will crash, or worse yet get hit by someone or something.  Well, this past Thursday, after 5 years of competing and training for triathlon the inevitable hit…literally.  I was at 4:50 of a 5 hour ride in 95 degree heat after some hard Ironman pace sets, I was exhausted and glad to be almost home.  I was climbing a hill and going straight thru a green light and before I knew what was happen there was a car turning left across my lane…into me!!  Had I not been so tired I may have been able to avoid the car, but I was only able to let out a yell, and before I knew it I was sprawled out across the pavement in the middle of the intersection.  I immediately sat up and had a few choice words for the driver, so I knew I couldn’t have been that badly hurt. 

I had landed on my right side, helmet and hip taking the brunt of the impact with some road rash on my shoulder, elbow and ankle.  Aside from the terrified driver stopping to make sure I was ok and apologizing profusely, there were 2 or 3 other people who stopped as well, all willing to help out in anyway they could, which was very kind of them.  My personal favorite was an older gentleman who ran up to me saying “That was totally her fault, you had a green light, I’ll be your witness if you want to sue!”  I thanked him, but I thought I was ok.  I asked the small crowd if my pupils were the same size, if I was slurring my speech at all and went through several other symptoms of a concussion and after realizing that I was, for the moment, ok I turned my attention to my baby…I mean bike.

Amazingly it seemed in relatively good shape.  It appeared that she had hit me on my left rear wheel skewer and basically just pushed the rear of my bike to the right and out from under me.  I was going slowly enough over the hill and she was turning slowly enough that there was only some cosmetic damage to my trusty Trek, although I still inspected the carbon fiber frame carefully for cracks. 

After taking a few minutes to collect myself, I stood up, brushed off, collected insurance and contact information, and rode home for my transition run.  That evening and even a few days later I am realizing the full extent of the bruising and general soreness that comes with hitting the pavement.  However, with IMLP very near there is no rest for the weary.  So, please be safe out there and no matter how safely you ride, you cannot control others.  Lastly, at the risk of standing on a soap box, always, always, always wear a helmet it most likely saved my life, thanks Rudy Project!  No excuses now go train!

For more info go to www.alexmmtri.com

I had the opportunity this past weekend of racing in the Banff Bike Festival/ Stage race this past weekend.  The stage race consisted of a 21 km time trial, a 45 minute criterium and a 105km bike race.  The category ½ bike race hosted some of the top teams in western Canada.

The time trial went well.  I was hoping for a little longer of race as I seem to do better at the longer time trials.  I finished 11^th out of the 84 Cat ½ riders.  The orange Trek TTX was fast and turned a few heads.

The criterium didn’t go so well.  I was super paranoid about being involved in a crash do to my lack of criterium experience.  Well, I succeeded in my goal of avoiding any crashes, but that was because I was dropped and lapped out of this fast moving race pretty early.

As we moved into Sunday’s hilly road race, my role changed to that of a domestique for my teammate.  At 75km, there was a split in the field.  I spent approximately the next 20k trying to close the gap and pulling our team leader back to the lead pack.  The 84 start list had been reduced to an 11 man break away.  Unfortunately when it came to the last little hump in the race, I was blown and couldn’t go with the leaders, so I finished 40 seconds back but we succeeded in our goal of moving our Speed Theory club teammate Trev Williams up in the overall general classification into 9^th place. 

We were quite pleased after the race as it was both a team effort and the results were better than expected.  It’s been a while since I had done any true bike racing and was intimidated going into the race, but man was this ever fun.  The organization of the Banff Bike Festival was superb.

2008 Ironman Coeur d’Alene Race Report 

10th Professional – 9:26:30 

I thought I should write a race report before I forget more of the details from this last weekend. Each Ironman that I race, I find another piece or two to “the puzzle” of having a great race. This time was no exception. Improvement is ALWAYS good and this race was just that. It was my first top 10 professional finish, it was a PR on a tough course and it is the first time that I have qualified to race in Kona as an elite.

All week everyone worried about the water temperature being too cold, but when we arrived at the start line on Sunday morning, it was back up to 59*F…perfect temp to me. The swim started off pretty well considering it was a beach start…I don’t do well with those. I missed the front group of guys that broke away, but ended up in the second pack about 4:45 behind. There was a wicked current that seemed to push us all over the place, so everyone came out a bit slow. I exited the water in 9th and hustled through T1 to make it out onto the bike in 7th.

Onto the bike I felt pretty good. I was really looking forward to the ride, as it is similar to what I have been training in. I let a few guys go, who were HAMMERING the first section, and just stayed steady. Having my Power Tap is a HUGE key to doing this. I stuck to my plan and rode along in 9th or 10th spot for most of the ride. I started to bring back time on a few guys up the road, but at about mile 70 I started to get tired. I just tried to take advantage of the downhills, stay aero where I could and keep on top of my nutrition. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I just stayed positive and in the moment. The last 20mi were back into the wind and this section was pretty tough for me.

I got off the bike in 10th and was soon out on the run with Olly Piggin. We chatted a bit in the first few miles and had similar paces. The effort and pace seemed good, but I didn’t have the rhythm that I wanted. I hoped that I would find my groove and could settle in. I was pulling back time on the guys up the road, but then the wheels started to come off a bit. I knew I was in 9th or 10th, so I just focused on running as strong as I could. I was happy with my ability to not back off mentally when it got tough, this is easy to do. Soon, I was in the last mile (a looooooong downhill that feels awesome on the legs) and before I knew it, I was done.

I want to thank all my family, friends and sponsors who support and believe in me and my future in the sport. Timex, The Trek Store Madison, Blue Seventy, Coffee’s of Hawaii, Twin Six, SaltStick, Berkeley Running Company in Madison and my coach, Kurt Perham, for all his guidance. 

I want to give a huge shout out to the Fortis family for hosting me. You guys are awesome!! I also want to thank Sue Hutter and her family for setting everything up and always making sure that I had everything that I needed. 

One more fun fact: Tom Evans, who won, is 14yrs my senior :) Needless to stay I am just beginning!!! 

Next up is Ironman Wisconsin on Sept 7 and Kona on Oct 11!! 

The family and I drove out to Texarkana, TX for the 4 States Triathlon. They call it the 4 States Triathlon because it is held in the top east corner of the Texas/Arkansas border, and since Oklahoma and Louisiana are close enough ( we drive far in the South) you get our version of the 4 corners!

This race is always well run, they give prize money every year, and it was also the SouthMidWest Triathlon Sprint Championship! I decided to give it a go. With it being a championship race and prize money, you never know who shows up for a race like this, so I was prepared just to go hard and see what happens.

Swim was good and I came out of the water in 3^rd without having to push to hard with my Blueseventy Helix wetsuit. On a side note, I like non wetsuit swims because being a good swimmer I have more of an advantage, but at the same time swimming 1:10 100’s without kicking isn’t to bad either! I caught the 1-2^nd place athletes in transition and was off on the bike.

An athlete and myself cranked up the pace and we established a gap quickly on the flat and smooth course. It always helps having somebody close in a sprint to help in keeping the pace up when it starts to hurt. We got back to transition together and covered the 13 miles in 30.31 on a course that had 2 u-turns! That is about all I had speed wise, and was happy.

I knew the athlete with me is a better runner than I, but right from the start I was able to run with him. That was until he decided to discharge his breakfast a couple of times, and then just took off after about a mile. I was running hard, and with about .5 miles to go, I was being chased down. I tried to sprint, but these old legs don’t go like they used to and got out leaned at the line! I had a good run, but will never match guys running in the 16’s for 3 miles.

My redemption for the day, besides winning $150 bucks, was during awards when I brought my 5 year old to the podium. The 1^st and 2^nd place guys were 21 and 17, closer to my daughter age than mine!

Oh well, at least I represented the 35-39 age range!