Rose N. and I loaded up the car and headed out to the Blue Water Casino in Parker, AZ early on Saturday. After a long drive (5 hours), we made it there and picked up our packets. I had high hopes for this race – I had done it last year, and since another year of cycling was now under my belt, I hoped to do better than last year’s time. This race is a little strange in that it is a 1000 yard swim, a 33 mile bike, and a 5 mile run. Last year, they messed up the timing and had me at a 13 minute swim (I wish!!), so I knew I wasn’t going to be better than that. I did a 2:36 last year on the bike, and I really wanted to go just a little faster than that. The run section? Whatever it is, it is, as long as I survive.

Race morning, we got up and went down to transition. It was a huge plus to be staying at the hotel 50 yards from transition, especially when we discovered that there were no porta potties again. We got set up on the very first rack from the water and then hung around waiting for the sun to come up and for it to warm up a little. Liane and her husband showed up and so we all hung around talking about the cold and the clouds. It was finally time to walk down to the beach and go. I was having big time cold feet at this point – and not just because I had to walk barefoot down to the water. Why was I doing this? Why did I sign up for this torture? These thoughts reached a crescendo when I was up to my hips in the Colorado River. It was at this point that I realized that I was wearing my blue goggles instead of the clear goggles I had in my bucket – and it was cloudy and dark. Too late now! We headed off to the first buoy and things went ok; made the turn around the first buoy and headed to the second; made the turn around the second buoy, and bumped into Liane. Then we headed into shore – but it seemed like this section of the course was loooooong. Last year, when swimming to transition, we were staring directly into the sun and it was terrible. This year, we headed in with no sun and it was still bad. I staggered up the boat ramp (and didn’t fall! Which was nice since I fell 4 times last year), and into transition, followed closely by Liane.

I changed into my bike shoes, pulled off the shirt I had worn during the swim (the better to hide my fish belly white stomach), and pulled on my brand new Fat Cyclist jersey (see www.twinsix.com – it is a great jersey!), and headed out of transition. Liane and I hopped on our bikes at exactly the same time and pedaled up the big hill. Rose was long gone – she had been wheeling her bike out when I staggered out of the water. I got out of the parking lot, told Liane to show all those people how TriGirls got it done, and started pedaling. This section was going well until I made the turn on to the California side of the course. Obviously, that state doesn’t believe in repaving when necessary. On the brighter side, I passed 5 people! I never pass people! I hoped I wouldn’t see them again. At this point, I noticed a little breeze. It wasn’t too bad, and I felt like I was going at a good pace, so I didn’t pay much attention to it. By the time I got to the dam where we crossed back over into Arizona however, it was a little more than a breeze. It was a pretty substantial crosswind. But I still felt pretty good and felt like I was moving along (I couldn’t tell because my bike computer has died), and so I went across the dam. Crossing the dam wasn’t good. The wind picked up and I was wobbling a little bit. I pulled off the dam and slammed into a total headwind and practically started moving backwards. It was horrible. When I looked up the weather in Parker when I got home, the report said winds of 25-35mph, with gusts up to 50mph. Let me tell you – it was BAD.

It was at this point that I gave up my ambitions to kick ass on the bike section and reverted to sheer survival.

We had 16 miles to go in this headwind and it was hard – you were pedaling really hard and it felt as if you were going nowhere. To make matters worse, every once in awhile the wind would shift and try to kill you by tossing you into the traffic on your left (which consisted of RVs – all towing stuff). I stayed as far right as I could and when the really big gusts came, I would put my head way down by the handlebars – it didn’t seem to make any difference. I saw some guy throwing up by the side of the road and asked him if he needed any help and he said no, so I kept going. He was very determined that I wasn’t going to beat him and he passed me a couple of miles later. I caught up to him and we pedaled side by side until he came out of his misery and noticed that I was there (I just couldn’t get by him, much to my disappointment), and he pulled some determination up from his toes and passed me again. He was about 50 yards ahead for several miles and I would catch up, and then drift back, and catch up and drift back. Finally, we were about a half mile from the casino – we could see the sign. I passed him and made it into transition first. He was a tough cookie, and I don’t think he made it out on the run course. I was very grateful to make it back.

I looked at my watch – 2:40 for the bike. This is 4 minutes longer than last year. Bummer. As I trotted through transition, I saw all these people with their finishing medals on – how the heck had they finished the race already?? I changed into my running shoes thinking about quitting the whole time, but headed out. It was the same course as last year, complete with memorial. I slogged along and ran into Liane and Rose at about the two mile marker – they were at the one mile left, I was at the 3 miles left… the joys of an out and back course is that you get to commiserate with your fellow TriGirls about that unbelievable and brutal wind! I made it through the run and got to the finish where Liane and Rose were waiting for me and cheering – what terrific girls! They had broken down my transition and packed everything up for me – they are GREAT. It depresses me that the last two races I have done, other people have done this for me, but at the same time, it is very nice of them.

We managed to convince the hotel that we needed a later checkout than we had gotten before – they are really nasty about that stuff at the Blue Water Casino. They acted as if every single room was booked and we were really really pushy for asking for a late checkout. Talk about attitude! I was as nice as I could possibly be and finally wrangled an extra half hour out of them. Now, when I apologized to the cleaners, they were much much nicer and told me that it wasn’t a problem. Rose and I left them a big tip for not giving us a ration of crap. Rose and her brother and sister in law had loaded up the car while I negotiated with the desk people, so once we were showered, we were out of there. The ride home was uneventful, but kind of strange as we drove through huge clouds of dust. There was so much dust that you could look directly at the sun with no problem. I dropped Rose off and got home about 8:15pm. What a day.

I don't think I will ever do this race again. It was far away, the hotel staff is surly at best, and there are no porta potties at the race at all, or even any aid stations on the bike. If you need something on the bike, you carry it with you.

I am sore this morning -- but I can still move! The guys are off from school today and tomorrow and then they get off at 11:15 on Wednesday. Bet you can guess how I feel about that.