In attendance were Megan, Big Al, myself and, of course, Candy.

3:30 am yet again. It's an hour and a half up to HorseTooth Res. In Ft. Collins. It was cold out. 61*. 76* in the water. This is the first year so the crowds weren't overwhelming. We swam in the cove into Lory State park. Long and narrow out from the beach. High sandstone cliffs on both sides and across the end. A little mist hung over the terrain. A gorgeous location. !'ve been learning that ! Need to warm up my shoulders before ! Go for a swim so ! Did. ! Was in wave 5 with 5 minute gaps between waves. After wave 4 went off ! Did a couple sprints then swam back to the start area. ! Found a large rock to brace my feet on. Just like starting blocks and rocketed off into the fluid. Recalling Jordan Jones' advice, ! Pushed hard from the get go and found myself being the guy who gets drafted. There were a few caps ahead. Most were behind. ! Kept pushing. ! Caught up to some feet before the turn-around and that guy fell off the pace soon after. ! Kept it going knowing ! Wouldn't need my shoulders after ½ mile. There were few ahead of me. The beach was muddy and slick up to the carpet. ! Ran to T1 the best ! Could and struggled out of the wetsuit. This is a socks-on race (except for Big Al who was living recklessly). A short jog to the bike mount line.

! considered a 'cross mount, but thought better of it and didn't fall at the line. The first bit was slightly uphill to the dirt road. About a mile to the single-track to spread out. My mountain bike handling skills are dependent on my current experience and since my last trail ride was New Year's day my fitness was not a limiter. After a couple water bars and my concern over tires softer than my road bike's ! came to see that the grades were pretty gentle. ! Had someone on my wheel so ! Kept cranking. He would catch up in the tight corners then ! Would lose him on the climbs. ! Felt really good going uphill. Eventually ! Did get passed by a couple dudes. Then they got by a backmarker that stalled me out. That opened a gap and ! Was starting to feel more confident. ! Was after them and starting to feel strong. A few miles later ! Was on their tail. The 2^nd guy was using his GPS navigator without current charts. Some segments of the trail were over ditches or dips that weren't deep enough for a bridge so they just had logs laid down to retain the dirt. As he headed into a right-hander that was more right than his navigator warned him, he took the wrong side of the log. Maybe he was British. ! Was scared for him as he dipped in and rode right through. Mid-way through lap 2 the front guy blew up. We went by and ! Was still hanging on. That's when ! Spotted his front quick release lever not levered in tight enough. He kicked it and failed to faceplant for my amusement. We were really moving now. ! Was thinking ! Could go under 2 hours since ! Saw 16-18 mph ever time ! Looked at my computer. For a 12 mile ride and 4.8 10-minute miles would leave me plenty of time for the 15 minute swim. The final bit of the ride was twisty with a banked turn before a short climb then 100 feet to T2. ! Lofted the front wheel over the top for the photographer.

It had been near drizzle conditions off and on for the ride. ! Opted to leave the shades in transition for the run. That too was uphill. Just a short stretch on the roadway to the single-track climb. ! Walked the aid station just a few steps to drink then continued the run up up up. We switched back and forth up the hill. Near the top ! Could look down onto the bay we had swum in. That was really nice. The top of the hill would have been a great spot for the photographer. They missed it. When ! Got to the top of the hill ! Saw ...more hill. It kept going up. ! Had a strange thought. “! really like trail running” ! Do actually. ! Was still running, just not very fast. Soon enough (! can say that now) it leveled off and mile 2 went by. So far ! Had been unpassed. The little guy went by fast, then another bigger guy. ! Could hear tiny footstrikes behind me. We were descending pretty well now. ! Asked him which side he wanted to pass on and a girl's voice replied. Oh crap. Passed by a girl. She was tiny. Too tiny to be going downhill that fast. She was also a redheaded menace. It's obvious what was happening. She had killed a clydesdale and drank his blood. Probably ate his still beating heart too. ! Apologized and did NOT witness anything. Mile 3 and some old guy passed me. Still downhill. Then another old guy became the 5^th to pass me. This one was Big Al. He'd had chain issues on the ride. When a multiyear 'cross state champion is chasing you down trying to catch the other old guy it's polite to pull over. The trail was too narrow for that so ! Dropped down to do some pushups. That way Big Al could leap over me and ! Could turn this into a real workout. He mistook that move for me tripping and falling. He feigned concern then ran off as ! Dusted my left side off. Not being a neat freak ! Was on his heels watching his line almost down to the aid station onto the road again. It was all downhill from there and ! Was pushing it. Big Al was still in the chute when ! Came in.

Candy was first to notice the blood on my knee. The dust had clotted the blood. Food and drink was ingested and results were posted. My 2:08:52 put me 61^st of 184 and 7^th in my age group out of 19. The next guy in my category came from Windsor were a bunch of the rest of RMTC were doing the road tri. Big Al won his age group. ! Didn't see Megan come in. http://www.myentryfee.com/results/Results.aspx My swim was the best ranked leg. ! Guess there aren't a lot of fast swimmers in the area. ! Did beat Big Al's swim time though so ! Must have done something right.