XTERRA Race the Rez
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 12:43 pm
People wanted to know what an XTERRA off-road tri is like, so here you go.
Figured that an XTERRA race woudn't be too technical since it involves triathletes (bad assumption). So I picked Race the Rez as my first attempt at an off-road tri. Burlington area is beautiful and not too far. Took the family up and stayed with a friend who lives about 20 minutes from the race. Plus he is a pretty good MTB'er, so we could pre-ride the course together and give me advice.
Got to the race area on Saturday for packet pickup and pre-ride. Figured I would tear around the loop once, take in a swim, and call it a day. It had rained the day before so the trail was a bit wet. Met some guys in the parking lot who said the course was slick. Figured it couldn't be that bad so we headed out. First part of the bike loop is basically a wide path. However, this changed into a somewhat dry creek bed with rather large rocks. No riding up that (at least not for me). This turned into some narrow single track through an overgrown area. But smooth and not much of a problem. Again, its a triathlon. This eventually gave way to some of the most technical, tight and twisty stuff that I have ever ridden on. With the wet rocks and roots, it was nuts. My friend Jerry who does know what he's doing said it would be a challenging mountain bike course, let alone for a triathlon. We walked a lot of stuff because it was so slick and tight. There was one section that Jerry was able to ride down, but I walked. He said it is "totally rideable" (obviously), so I tried it again. Mistake. Front tire slide out on a rock and I went down hard on my left side. Numerous gashes on my arm, contusion on my leg, and cuts on my hand (wasn't wearing gloves), all bleeding. And this was the pre-ride. Limped back into the parking lot, where guys told me that this is one of the most technical XTERRA races around (great). Did a quick swim and got some first aid all banged up.
After limping around all day (and bleeding), decided I would be a race day decision. woke up, could walk, and went to the race.
The Race: very low key with about 70 registrants (even though it is a points race). Very small. No numbers on racks in transition, everyone very chill and friendly. Great vibe.
The Swim: Two loops with a water start. Nothing too remarkable. Water was pretty warm so I wore a speed suit versus wet suit. At the start some dude jumped on my back, but whatever. Quickly strung out and I had clean water. My open wounds were smarting pretty good, especially on my hands since I had some nice cuts on them. I like to think it helped my catch since if it didn't hurt I wasn't engaging my hand properly. Came out of the water around twelfth.
To go to T1 you had to run around 200 years on dirt and rocks, so I brought my mtb shoes down to the water. Got out of the water and tried to get my suit off and my zipper wouldn't go down. Must have had the tag or something because it wouldn't release. Eventually muscled it enough to get it off, but lost a bunch of spots. Frankly didn't care because I was just worried about not dying on the bike. A wide range of abilities on the bike. Some guys went tearing by me on the first lap and I passed some people. Went over the bars once on a descent but landed on my feet. Again being pretty conservative. Got through the first lap without dying and starting to move up some spots. Starting picking better lines and knowing different sections. By the third lap I was lapping other riders and feeling a bit more confident, as the course was totally dry by that point. Heart rate was pegged most of the time and my charlie horse on my leg was hurting pretty good, but otherwise the ride was going okay. As I was approaching T2 on my second lap, noticed that my front tire was just about flat. Perfect timing to ride into T2 on a flat tire. Better transition and out to the run in about 20th.
The Run: really great run but wicked hard. Went straight up a mountain for a long way on rocky and rooty trail. That meant you had to go down a mountain on a rocky and rooty trail. I was all alone for most of the run. As we hit the halfway point (I swore it was already three miles), I caught sight of a cyclonauts guy who passed me on the bike. I was able to pass him easily on the run, which mellowed out onto a nice rail path (up and down). Finally reached the end of the race, where I promptly collapsed on the ground.
Final tally: 19th overall, 1st age group (by some miracle)
Post race festivities were great. Hot dogs, families, everyone just hanging out cheering people on as they came in. During the awards there were some contests for free stuff. I won a Gatorade chugging contest and got a free pair of XTERRA trail shoes. Other awards were pretty non-existent, as people were doing it for the love of doing it. I don't even know if 1st man and woman got money.
Definitely looking forward to doing more XTERRA next year. Reasonably priced (in line with local tris), nice people (meet people who traveled to this race from Colorado and Oregon), and very challenging. You could never lose focus or let your mind wander. Had to go hard the entire time and not much let up. Plus since this is one of the more technical courses, it hopefully can't get any more terrifying.
The Bike: Went out pretty conservative in around 15th place or so. Again didn't want to c
Figured that an XTERRA race woudn't be too technical since it involves triathletes (bad assumption). So I picked Race the Rez as my first attempt at an off-road tri. Burlington area is beautiful and not too far. Took the family up and stayed with a friend who lives about 20 minutes from the race. Plus he is a pretty good MTB'er, so we could pre-ride the course together and give me advice.
Got to the race area on Saturday for packet pickup and pre-ride. Figured I would tear around the loop once, take in a swim, and call it a day. It had rained the day before so the trail was a bit wet. Met some guys in the parking lot who said the course was slick. Figured it couldn't be that bad so we headed out. First part of the bike loop is basically a wide path. However, this changed into a somewhat dry creek bed with rather large rocks. No riding up that (at least not for me). This turned into some narrow single track through an overgrown area. But smooth and not much of a problem. Again, its a triathlon. This eventually gave way to some of the most technical, tight and twisty stuff that I have ever ridden on. With the wet rocks and roots, it was nuts. My friend Jerry who does know what he's doing said it would be a challenging mountain bike course, let alone for a triathlon. We walked a lot of stuff because it was so slick and tight. There was one section that Jerry was able to ride down, but I walked. He said it is "totally rideable" (obviously), so I tried it again. Mistake. Front tire slide out on a rock and I went down hard on my left side. Numerous gashes on my arm, contusion on my leg, and cuts on my hand (wasn't wearing gloves), all bleeding. And this was the pre-ride. Limped back into the parking lot, where guys told me that this is one of the most technical XTERRA races around (great). Did a quick swim and got some first aid all banged up.
After limping around all day (and bleeding), decided I would be a race day decision. woke up, could walk, and went to the race.
The Race: very low key with about 70 registrants (even though it is a points race). Very small. No numbers on racks in transition, everyone very chill and friendly. Great vibe.
The Swim: Two loops with a water start. Nothing too remarkable. Water was pretty warm so I wore a speed suit versus wet suit. At the start some dude jumped on my back, but whatever. Quickly strung out and I had clean water. My open wounds were smarting pretty good, especially on my hands since I had some nice cuts on them. I like to think it helped my catch since if it didn't hurt I wasn't engaging my hand properly. Came out of the water around twelfth.
To go to T1 you had to run around 200 years on dirt and rocks, so I brought my mtb shoes down to the water. Got out of the water and tried to get my suit off and my zipper wouldn't go down. Must have had the tag or something because it wouldn't release. Eventually muscled it enough to get it off, but lost a bunch of spots. Frankly didn't care because I was just worried about not dying on the bike. A wide range of abilities on the bike. Some guys went tearing by me on the first lap and I passed some people. Went over the bars once on a descent but landed on my feet. Again being pretty conservative. Got through the first lap without dying and starting to move up some spots. Starting picking better lines and knowing different sections. By the third lap I was lapping other riders and feeling a bit more confident, as the course was totally dry by that point. Heart rate was pegged most of the time and my charlie horse on my leg was hurting pretty good, but otherwise the ride was going okay. As I was approaching T2 on my second lap, noticed that my front tire was just about flat. Perfect timing to ride into T2 on a flat tire. Better transition and out to the run in about 20th.
The Run: really great run but wicked hard. Went straight up a mountain for a long way on rocky and rooty trail. That meant you had to go down a mountain on a rocky and rooty trail. I was all alone for most of the run. As we hit the halfway point (I swore it was already three miles), I caught sight of a cyclonauts guy who passed me on the bike. I was able to pass him easily on the run, which mellowed out onto a nice rail path (up and down). Finally reached the end of the race, where I promptly collapsed on the ground.
Final tally: 19th overall, 1st age group (by some miracle)
Post race festivities were great. Hot dogs, families, everyone just hanging out cheering people on as they came in. During the awards there were some contests for free stuff. I won a Gatorade chugging contest and got a free pair of XTERRA trail shoes. Other awards were pretty non-existent, as people were doing it for the love of doing it. I don't even know if 1st man and woman got money.
Definitely looking forward to doing more XTERRA next year. Reasonably priced (in line with local tris), nice people (meet people who traveled to this race from Colorado and Oregon), and very challenging. You could never lose focus or let your mind wander. Had to go hard the entire time and not much let up. Plus since this is one of the more technical courses, it hopefully can't get any more terrifying.
The Bike: Went out pretty conservative in around 15th place or so. Again didn't want to c