Hidden Springs Duathlon

After Gat & I'd discussed going out to Glenn's Ferry for a road race out there today, we decided instead earlier this week to enter the Hidden Springs Duathlon as a team. That suited me just fine - I didn't have to run. :) Our friend Steve's lips are faster than his legs. In the Land of Talking he does mighty fine, but we had to go show him how things are in the Land of Doing. There's a beer riding on this so stay tuned.

Gatlin's a machine. Having not done any running in months, he still managed to get through the first of his TWO 5Ks in ~21 minutes and put me on the bike course first of all the teams (that I noticed anyway). I was riding with the elite riders. I fell in behind a guy on a TT bike right after the start and hung with him a few lengths behind him all the way up to the pass and down Seaman's Gulch, then I took the turn onto Hill Rd FAR better than he did and passed him after exiting. But he made me look foolish on the flats (Hill Rd) with his aero bars (I chose my Look rather than the TT bike because of the climbing, descending, & a couple tight turns), and he was soon a good distance ahead of me. Two or three more riders passed me after that as well but I didn't pay much attention - I was holding what I felt was a good pace. In hindsight, maybe I coulda pushed a bit more. Maybe it's time for a heart rate monitor. Anyway I got back into the transition area, gave the timing chip back to Gatlin, and he was off again for the finishing leg. Got that done in fine fashion as well, perhaps even faster than his first.

Anyway one of the people that passed me must have been a team rider because no one passed Gatlin and we ended up taking second for male road teams and 11th overall for the road course. The results are here (look for "CREAGER, Gatlin" near the bottom of page 2), but no splits are reported yet, so it has yet to be determined (no later than Monday according to the website) who's buying whom a beer in the near future. The picture shows Gatlin taking off after transition 2 to make up the time I lost. :) The best part about that picture, though, is the tan line on his leg indicating how much biking he's done this season.

OH! And Rusty will be happy to know that we beat the team that included a guy wearing a Harvard jersey. I even talked a little smack to him for you - thought about busting out "Bulldog! Bulldog! Bow wow wow!" on my way out of the transition as he was still standing there but decided against it. :)

Mileage Record

First, check out the movie that McT made using a pirated picture of me to commemorate the Bogus Basin Hill Climb. :)

This week had a few firsts: for instance Monday was my first time up Pump Rd (steep!) and yesterday I had three tire punctures in one commute. Also, I passed 4000 miles on the year this week - first time for that. Last year didn't even see 3K. And with yesterday's ride on the dump loop and commutes, I've got a little over 4070. And there's an STP ride a little later this morning that'll put me tantalizingly close to, if not over, 4100. So what's all this mean? Not a whole lot unless you're me. And I'm me so I'm gonna make a big deal out of it.

I've been eyeing the 5K mile mark for some time now but haven't quite felt confident enough in my ability to reach it so didn't really say much. But now, after actually taking the time to do some math, I'm going for it. 900 more miles before the year's end is very doable so long as the weather cooperates. Five thousandth mile, here I come. In fact, 5300 miles - still achievable - would double last year's mileage. Okay I gotsta start preparing for STP . . .