Very nervous about my first ever Tri - and I'm just the bike part

[Possegal]

I am the bike leg of a relay for the Nation's Tri this weekend. I'm working myself up into quite a nervous lather. :) Not sure why exactly. We have no aspirations of any great time or anything. I know I can bike 25 miles, though in all honesty when I do that, I usually take a little break at some point midway during the ride. But I'm no where near fast and I guess I have this fear I'll be the last bike on the road. Then I have this worry that I'll get penalized for drafting, not because I'm trying to draft, but because someone passes me and I don't realize it and I'm too close to them.

Someone please tell me I'm worrying more than I need to. :)

[jobob]

Ah, relax, it'll be great. (how's that?)

Best of luck and have a wonderful time, PG!



Goodness, this is shaping up to be an epic weekend for many on TE :cool:

[divingbiker]

Relax! Have fun! It's going to be a gorgeous setting, the weather looks like it will be decent, and the passing bikes seem to work themselves out. Once you get on your bike, it will be like any other group ride.

Remember, have fun. And let us know how it goes.

[alpinerabbit]

You are worrying more than I need to. :)

Now that this is out of the way.
So what if you are the last on the road (and you won't be because some other team is going to have a crappy swimmer and send their cyclist off much later than yours).

There was a tip a while ago - to estimate if you are out of your competitor's "draft box":
If you are going at close on 19mph - you need to be able to say "non-drafting rule" in your head before you pass the same spot as the competitor before you (actually it was a 5-syllable word but the tip came in german).
If you're going more like 15mph, you have to be able to say "triathlon".

the race marshals will give you a first warning. usually.

[jobob]

You are worrying more than I need to. :)

:D :D

[HillSlugger]

Yes, you are worrying more than you need to.

7Rider and I just participated in a tri relay together (I swam, she biked) and I know we were both nervous, too, even though we knew we wouldn't really have a problem with our events. When you are part of a team it is natural to want to not let the other members down, even if you're not competing for a podium spot.

It's my understanding that the Nations bike course is pretty flat; between that and the adrenaline I'm sure you'll be good without a rest break. And, if you need a rest, take it! Just have fun!

[tribogota]

The judges can tell the difference between drafting and passing, DO NOT worry about that!

[Wahine]

You'll be great and chances are you won't have to worry about drafting vs passing at all. Drafting is not usually called unless it's blatant, as long as you pass withing 15 sec of entering the draft zone, you're fine. The only tricky part is dropping back out of the draft zone if someone passes you. Even if they slow down, it's the person behind's responsibility to avoid drafting.

Have fun!!

[Possegal]

Thank you all, for the kind words and the laughs. :) And MDHS - you hit the nail on the head, I would not be so worried if this was just me. I don't want to let my team down, even though we've all been very up front about just wanting to finish. :)

Can't wait to come back on Sunday and post about how it all went.

[ny biker]

Good luck!

I will be showing my support of everyone in the race by staying far away from the traffic and the closed roads...

[spindizzy]

Remember to have fun! Have a fantastic ride.

[tctrek]

Can't wait to hear your race report!!

[salsabike]

Possegal, go out there and have fun! :):)

[NbyNW]

Have an awesome time!

[colby]

Good luck and have fun! :D

[HillSlugger]

How did it go?

[Possegal]

Sorry for the delay - there has been much napping today. :)

My alarm went off at 3:30 this morning. UGH. It would be a huge understatement to say I am not a morning person. I picked my niece up at her place at 4:30 and our swimmer at the metro at 5.

LOTS of people down there, for sure! And my nerves were still a mess. I had a few moments when trying to fall asleep the night before of just thinking - what have I done!?

We got down there, got situated, and then did a whole lot of waiting!!! The crowd of relay folks were all very nice though and so time went by quicker than I thought. I did feel for my niece since as the runner, she had the most waiting around to do. We joked that she'd normally be done with a marathon and home before she even got to run today. At one point she laughed noting that there would be people done before she even got to run and I just said to her - to which I will say I'm sorry. :) She just laughed.

Our swimmer (thanks again MDHS) was quite fast so he gave me a nice bit of a head start. I will admit that as he came up towards us at the end of his swim, my stomach did a million flips. It was still flipping around as I ran out of the transition area. But the minute I got on my bike, it felt fine. Much like when I played basketball, softball, track, swam - well, all the sports. I'd be a real mess until the game or meet started, then I was fine.

Now I joke that you can set your garmin by me - I am a very consistent 12 mph rider. No matter the terrain, no matter the distance. So I was figuring that for a 40K, I'd be out for 2 hrs. Hence my teasingly apologizing to my niece/team, frequently.

But I always forget to factor in that I have a rather sensitive competitive gene. :) In the end, I averaged 16 mph. I'm still kind of in shock by that. Luckily they were watching for me rather than figuring they still had another 30 minutes, so all was good. In the end, our team finished in 3 hrs 12 minutes. And it appears I took a lot longer for the transition than I think I should have. But dang my legs did not want to run after pedaling for 25 miles. :)

Looks like no penalties either, so clearly I was worrying more than I needed to. :)

Thank you one and all for the support and here is hoping next year I am able to do a Sprint tri all by myself.

The view from the transition area was quite lovely, even at the butt-crack of dawn.

[salsabike]

Ha! Good for you--sounds like it went great!

[jobob]

Woo hoo! Well done PG :cool:

[NbyNW]

Congrats! Glad to hear you had a positive experience.

[HillSlugger]

Congrats on a great race!

[sfa]

Great job! Congratualations! And you outdid me--I'm also a consistent 12 mph rider and was thrilled to manage 15.8 m.p.h. in the triathlon I did.

That picture is gorgeous! Do you have any more to share?

Sarah

[colby]

Awesome job!! :D I heard from someone else that was a HUGE event. Up at 3:30 :eek: - that's impressive. And a very long day.

[txred9876]

WTG! you did great!

[spindizzy]

Nice work Possegal - it's amazing what a little bit of competition can do to your speed...you now know what you're capable of..and you'll be cranky if you don't do it! ;)

[kacie tri-ing]

Great job! Tris tend to start so early!!

[Alex]

CONGRATULATIONS!

Alex