Race Coverage

"A Few Things I would Have Done Differently...

Wednesday, 06 May 2015 00:10

OOPS! A "Payne-Ful Day in St. Paul" linked to the wrong story. Here's the correct LINK

Photo - Guess who was first out of the water?

By Heather Lendway (heatherlendway.com)

Wednesday night after a quick spin Patrick and I worked on taking my bike apart for the trip. This was only the second time I’d be flying with a bike and a first with my new tri bike. The bike packing went fairly smooth although I did have to phone a friend (Jared) at Gear West Bike & Tri to make sure I was taking the bike apart in the most efficient way. I also wanted to validate that those scary creaking noises that sound like the carbon is cracking were normal, which they are.

I arrived in Florida Thursday evening with Patrick and bike in tow. We grabbed some dinner right away at my favorite: Sweet Tomatoes never ending salad bar, after which we headed to Treasure Island on the gulf where we had rented a condo with my parents for the long weekend. We unpacked, built up my bike and got to bed....

Friday Patrick and I went over to check out the race course. I did an easy spin on my bike with a few intervals. It was REALLY windy out, to the point where I was scared to be in aero a lot because it was that hard to control the bike. Also the “bike lane” was about a foot wide and it wasn’t too safe to ride in, uneven ground, glass shards, large puddles possibly hiding potholes etc. I did a lot of riding upright just to be safe and hoped that the wind would die down by Sunday. After my spin we drove the bike course: it was super flat but technical in many areas so it definitely would not serve my strengths. Saturday was low-key; I did a short swim, bike and run warm-up at the race site then hung out for the pro meeting.   We went out for an early dinner and I was in bed by 7.  READ MORE