Kensington Triathlon Series #2 1/2 mile swim, 15 mile bike, 4 mile run.
This race was part of a series being sponsored by Cadence Cycle which is my local bike shop and a sponsor of the Ann Arbor Tri Club. Jon Sherman, the owner of Cadence, had lent me his personal set of Pro-Lite race wheels to use for the race since he would not be racing, which I thought was super nice of him to do. The night before the race I mounted the wheels and went for a test ride to make sure everything was adjusted right and also to test the new Spiuk Chronos aero helmet that I got for my birthday. The next morning it started raining just as I arrived at the race. Obviously the rain wouldn't be a factor in the swim and I actually really enjoy running in the rain, but I was a bit worried about the bike leg. As usual I was in the first wave of swimmers to head out, the swim went alright and I was able to find someone to draft again just as I had done at Flag City. I came out of the water at 20:27 (rank 103/179) which I can't complain about as it is 2 minutes faster than I swam at Lake Macatawa. T1 took me 1:18 and then I was out on the bike. The course was mostly rolling hills with a couple of bigger climbs. At mile 1 I had to stop to adjust my rear wheel because apparently the set screws that keep the wheel from rubbing the seat tube had vibrated in which allowed the tire to rub the frame. I would have to stop to pull the wheel back from the frame 2 more times during the course of the race, this probably cost me about 2-3 minutes altogether on the bike. The rain was also an issue as the road seemed a little slick. As I mentioned before I was on borrowed wheels which felt a bit unfamiliar and I could feel the breeze pushing me around a little bit with the rear disk wheel I was using. The wheels were nice and fast though and despite the rain, rubbing rear tire, and wind I was able to finish the bike course in 45:34 (rank 59/179) for an average pace of about 20 mph which is significantly better than the 18.2 mph that I did on the course, in much better conditions, last fall during the Great Pumpkin Duathlon. T2 went well and I was out on the run after only :46. My legs felt great going out for the run and the rain was really refreshing at this point. I managed to pass a number of people while only being passed by one person myself so that felt pretty good. By mile 2 my right Achilles was nagging at me again but with only 2 miles to go I just pushed through and it didn't really slow me down. I completed the run in 28:03 (rank 32/179) for about a 7:01/M pace. It was fun to note that nobody that finished after me ran faster than me, which tells me that I need to speed it up on the swim and bike portions of the race. I was able to get 2nd in my age group, but even more exciting to me was the fact that my time was good enough to have gotten me 3rd in the much larger 25-29 age group...I guess there is hope for me next year after all!
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