Well, the Tinfoilman was a terrific race, as always! This year wasa very different experience for me since I wasn't my usual compulsive self and didn't register early enough to do the whole thing. One of the other TriGirls took pity on me and asked if I wanted to do the bike section of a relay -- I said yes, of course! So one TriGirl did the swimsection and another did the run section. It turned out that they were both kind of sick Sunday morning, but they came through for me and did the race anyway -- and kicked butt, in spite of feeling crappy!

So, I arrived at transition on Sunday morning with my bike and shoes -- weird not to have all my crap! I hung around and bodymarked (always fun to write on all those beautiful bodies) and cheered on the first wave of swimmers and then cheered for my team-mate while she swam. About halfway through her swim, I headed out to get my shoes on and get ready to ride. My team-mate ran out, tagged me and off I went! I got out of transition without crashing (a worry of mine) and made it out on to the street and accelerated. Wow did that hurt! I realized fairly quickly that I should have warmed up for the bike -- my hamstrings and quads were screaming for all three laps -- they didn't like what I was doing to them at all. Too bad -- I couldn't let my team down! I felt very responsible for the team - I had to push hard because it wasn't going to be because I crapped out that we didn't get a good time. I pushed as hard as I could, but did have to slow down a little on one side of the course since I was afraid my teeth were going to start dropping out of my mouth from the jarring they were taking. The potholes were epic.

I made it throughthe three laps and then when I was getting ready to pull into thetransition area, a MOTORCYCLE pulled into the turn lane with me!! Can you believe that?? It was some guy -- not a policeman oranything! I cursed a blue streak (he was really close to me) as I came around the corner and I know the people on the corner there got an earful. I got around the trucks, got off my bike without wrecking, and ran down to tag my other team-mate. I looked at my computer and I did the bike in 39:05!! I was SO THRILLED! Now, this doesn't include transitions, but that is 10 whole minutes faster than my March bike times (which did include transitions). My two transitions together are usually about 3 and ahalf minutes, so my bike time was about 6:30 FASTER!! My Cervelo is the most fabulous bike in the Universe!!

Once I had caught my breath, we went out to the run course and cheered our team-mate and anyone else that passed by, and then went to the finish to cheer the finishers. It was a great experience all around. The only thing was that I felt like I hadn't done enough...I only felt 1/3 done, but I would do a relay anytime again.