North Country Tri Matt's Race Report

The day started early. Up at 3 out the door by 3:30 team Blood Sweat and Beers were on their way too HITS North Country Tri.  I cleaned my bike and had a much needed tune up at The Bike Works on Friday, so it was only right to take our bikes for a spin before going into transition.

 Into transition I found myself right next to @Scott Simone excited to see a familiar face and everything set the way I like it was time to wait and watch the sprint swim. After 30 min of waiting I needed to walk away from our group to collect my nerves.

Wet suit on we enter the water for a warm up swim and the race meeting is called. After the meeting we got about 5 min of warm up swim and we were off. The swim was two loops which was great practice for Ironman Lake Placid. I found going from swim to run, back to swim so quickly made my stomach not very happy. The next 200 meters I swam calmly trying not to puke. Out of the water and on to the bike with an overall great swim. On the bike I heard a rattling. I thought my bottle cage was loose (boy was I wrong) 1/4 mile into I had a front flat tire. Fortunately I have had much practice changing tires this season. As @Jared Hammond  and many others passed he asked if everything was okay. It took me 4min and 10 seconds to change the tire. Adrenaline pumping I raced up the 6 mile hill that was ahead of me. I hammered it to make up lost time on the bike but knew the return home was just as hilly as the ride out as I ripped down the other side at 45mph. After the decent I started counting bikers to figure out where I was 1.2.3.4.10.20.30…….48 bikers ahead of me. I knew I had a lot of work to do to get back into this race.  As I climbed back towards the now 6 mile downhill I saw about 15 bikers within reach. I keep saying to myself was "you will catch them on the run! They are mine! “I slowly climbed the last hill, descended 6 miles and rode to transition.

 Off on the run about  ¼ mile in I said out loud “ah shit” I had forgotten my @gu energy labs Roctaine gel and drink. Game plan time……. Rock out 7:30’s until the turnaround then pick it up on the way back. Hill after hill I hit 7:30 our under.  Turn around I said slow up the hills don’t go into OD(thanks @Coach Mat) 8:00 mile. I look ahead and see 3 more people. Time to see what I have left. 2 more miles 7:16, 7:02. Result 2:45:08 from the bike turn around I dropped 14 people in 6 miles of running. Lesson learned check my bike one last time just before transition closes!!! 5^th in my age group with a 4min loss which looks like I would have been 3^rd AG but that’s part of the game….  on to Boliermaker & Lake Placid!!

Results