Kinetic Half Bike Relay Race Report

On Saturday I did a new to me race, a 56 mile time trial on a wicked fast course at The Kinetic Half as part of a 70.3 relay team. This was the first time that I just raced 56 miles on my bike, all out. It was awesome!.....and I was happy I did NOT have to run 13.1 afterwards :)

I was down in the area for Liz's weekend birthday bash at an AMAZING lake house on Lake Anna with a huge group of friends. The weather all weekend was spectacular with zero humidity and sunshine into the high 70's. Perfect weather!

As for race morning? It was COLD. 41 degrees when we left the house. Luckily I had packed arm warmers, vest, knee warmers, and long fingered gloves for the bike just in case. Turns out I didn't need them (it warmed up quickly!), but they were nice while waiting around in transition.

I was paired up with some CAR runners, Jessica for the swim, and Crystal for the run. Jessica has a swimming background, I have a cycling background, and Crystal is a runner, so we were ready to kick some relay butt!

And our team name?

don't ask how we came up with the name....

Overall there were 38 relay teams, with three of them coming from our group. Our swimmers were all pure swimmers back in the day, so it ended up being a close battle, with all three finishing within a minute of each other in 30-31 mins. These ladies were fast!

EDIT: I  TOOK THE KNEE WARMERS OFF BEFORE RIDING!!!!

Then it was my turn :)

As I was exiting transition, one of the announcer guys was running up and down the rows yelling out bib numbers for the other announcer guy to say who the person was and where they were from. He found us, relayed our number, and I waited for it....

"Number 608, a relay team! Name.......(pause)......Tom (pause) Selleck's MUSTACHE!!!"

Basically, his train of thought was, "Hhhhhmmm, number 608: OMG....do I have to say this? Sigh....."

I BURST out laughing as I was running out of transition. We TOTALLY got the win for MOST creative relay team name!!

Based upon the course profile and my successful 70.3 the weekend before, I was aiming for a 2:30:00 or faster time.

I came in at 2:30:39. Right on the mark!! 22.3 mph average, and by far the fastest average I have ever ridden for that long. The ride hurt the entire time, but that was the point. Hold nothing back!

The ride was also a great confirmation of my bike fitness and really gave me a lot more confidence in it, since I feel like I have constantly been struggling to get faster this season after a few stupid injuries.

HR was high!

The course itself was flat, with just over 1000 feet of climbing in it. I just hammered and hammered and hammered. With only two "climbs" in the entire course, those were the only moments I had to ever get out of aero, other than when cornering at turns. It was a nice course to stay consistent and (almost the fastest) course I have ever ridden, besides down in Galveston, TX.

When I finished and was running through transition, our runner, Crystal, was easy to spot with her not only waving, but wearing a bright red CAR top. We quickly exchanged the timing chip and she was off!

She, by far, had the toughest job of the day. Jessica was done in 30 minutes. I had the longest part of the day, but I was sitting down and it wasn't that hot. But poor Crystal. By the time she started it was getting HOT and there were a ton of exposed areas on a 3 loop course.

She did great though! She ran a 1:52 that put our team into 7th place out of 39th for a finish time of 4:55:xx. It was a GREAT day for our team!

Our "sign" of awesomeness :)

I spent the rest of the afternoon cheering in our other two teams, including Amy who was already running a half marathon less than a week after running a 3:36 marathon!

After the race, it was beer and relaxing time down on the boat dock, staying out of the sun.