Now that the sand & dust has settled, I can recap this years Xterra First Coast triathlon. My wife Kira and I drove down to Jacksonville on Friday before the race. With close to 500 miles separating Jacksonville from Birmingham, I’m glad we made the trip more than a day in advance. Since this was my first time at Xterra Jacksonville, I was lucky to have Xterra veteran Cahaba teamate Casey Fannin for the Saturday preride. This course is the mountain bike equivalent of the Dragons Tail , without the hills. Although it provides more grins than a rollercoaster ride, it is extremely difficult to master all of the lines in one weekend.
As the only Xterra on the US circuit with an ocean swim, and reports of a shark attack the day before, I was a little more tense than normal at the start of the swim. Fortunately, I overcame the tension (and the Jellyfish kiss to my shoulder) to put over a minute gap on the rest of the field coming out of the water.
I mounted my bike and put in a strong 1st of three laps. Still in the lead going into the second lap, I started to catch the tail end of the 200 competitor field. Although I managed to maneuveur through the traffic without much incident, I must have yelled “ON YOUR LEFT” close to a hundred times. Local mountain biker Sean Crichton caught and passed me on the second lap. As I came into the bike to run transition after lap three, I got a look at Sean still in transition. I decided to forgo my socks, threw on my shoes and blazed out of transition like an escaped convict. Although I managed to regain the lead, pro mountain biker Drew Edsall, managed to come from third and pass me in the final mile for the win. Casey dominated his age group, as usual, and finished a couple spots back in 4th overall.
Although one of my goals was to win, you never know who is going to show up on race day. In the end, it was a well run race and I had a great time. One other note: I won a small battle in my seemingly endless fight with cramping! I finally narrowed down the right combination of prerace and race nutrition to get through without serious cramping issues. Stay tuned for more details…
As the only Xterra on the US circuit with an ocean swim, and reports of a shark attack the day before, I was a little more tense than normal at the start of the swim. Fortunately, I overcame the tension (and the Jellyfish kiss to my shoulder) to put over a minute gap on the rest of the field coming out of the water.
I mounted my bike and put in a strong 1st of three laps. Still in the lead going into the second lap, I started to catch the tail end of the 200 competitor field. Although I managed to maneuveur through the traffic without much incident, I must have yelled “ON YOUR LEFT” close to a hundred times. Local mountain biker Sean Crichton caught and passed me on the second lap. As I came into the bike to run transition after lap three, I got a look at Sean still in transition. I decided to forgo my socks, threw on my shoes and blazed out of transition like an escaped convict. Although I managed to regain the lead, pro mountain biker Drew Edsall, managed to come from third and pass me in the final mile for the win. Casey dominated his age group, as usual, and finished a couple spots back in 4th overall.
Although one of my goals was to win, you never know who is going to show up on race day. In the end, it was a well run race and I had a great time. One other note: I won a small battle in my seemingly endless fight with cramping! I finally narrowed down the right combination of prerace and race nutrition to get through without serious cramping issues. Stay tuned for more details…
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