With this triathlon bug I have come down with I signed up myself and my business partner Dave to do the Xterra Mountain Sport in Ogden. Holy hard is all I can say, what a day! Xterra is the off-rode triathlon. It’s a run, bike and a swim with a twist. Instead of: swim in the lake, bike usually a long flat road and then a run on the same road, the Xterra is a swim in the lake, mountain bike up, up, up a one lane mountain trail over rocks, branches (and other people) and run up yet another mountain. I would have to say this was probably one of the most challenging things physically and mentally I have ever done.

The weekend started out pretty frustrating from the start. I had to rent a mountain bike because mine is horrible. I was never able to find a good rental so I had to settle on a Diamondback full suspension rental that probably had the cheapest component set on the market. The drive up to Ogden/Snowbasin took 2 times as long as it should have because of the traffic and to top it off I forgot my wetsuit and clip in pedals. The pedals are what really got me nervous. The rental pedals were worn down plastic clunkers with no clips or straps. I kept imagining myself slipping off the pedals continuously during the race. The funny this is the exact opposite it what happened.

On Friday night before the race we went to the athlete check-in. The race venue was awesome. Tons of sponsors booths, a live band, fun stuff for the kids, food, the Xterra University tent with the top pros. One of a kind. We also got the cool stamp on numbers you see in the Ironman races instead of the usual Sharpied numbers. We had a fun time, Broc was able to climb the rock wall and rappel down, Bailey played on the playground for a while and me and Dave learned a bunch from the best Xterra athletes in the world at the “University tent”. We then went to a local Italian restaurant on the historic 25th street and had a good meal to prepare for the race ahead of us.

Saturday morning it was 7:00am and I was flustered even before the race had started. I am usually in a calm, focused mood before a triathlon but I couldn’t stop thinking of the plastic pedals I had to race with. We went the night before after dinner to Wal-mart to find some cheap cage pedals but with no luck. Dave sang some songs to me and turned on some upbeat music to get me into a better mood and it helped. I finally decided to ask one of the sponsors, Bikers Edge from Kaysville, and lo and behold they had the clip-ins I needed. What a relief they were, I can’t thank them enough. Go check them out if you need any cycling stuff http://www.bebikes.com/. I was feeling pretty good after finding the pedals, I had brought my clip in shoes so I was now ready for the race. We had to set up our bike and swim gear at the first transition and then drive up the mountain to set up our run gear at transition two. Dave and I got kind of nervous after driving up the mountain and realizing we would have to bike up that same rout with over 3,000 feet of rugged off-rode trails. We took a bus back down to T1 where the full-distance was just about to start. Some people on the bus were doing the full-distance and were stressed because they almost missed the start but congrats to whoever the lady behind me was for actually making it and finishing 2nd overall in her age group. We had about 20 minutes to wait for the sport distance to start and I started getting nervous again. It was getting pretty cold out and I forgot my wetsuit so I wasn’t looking forward to jumping in the water.

After testing the water in Pineview reservoir I was pleasantly surprised that the water felt perfect. The race was seconds from starting and I was ready to go. With the canon sounding I was off and the human blender started. More than any other race, this swim was crazy! I was getting kicked and grabbed and punched and it was nuts. I was still able to pull out a good swim, it wasn’t as fast as I wanted but what could I expect without my wetsuit. I exited the water at around 15 minutes. T1 went good and fast ( The timers didn’t actually get my time so it seems they made one up) and I was off on my bike.

The first 1/2 mile was great.This was the short part between T1 and the start of the actual trail we were riding. I thought hey, this might be fun after all but that thought was short lived. After the trail started it would be 6 miles until we got a break from going uphill. This was really the first time I had ever gone mountain biking on a trail before so I didn’t know what to expect. Pretty much it was rugged uphill biking, always trying to stay on the bike instead of falling or even worse getting off to walk.

The first 6 miles I had my fair share of spills. The first came at about mile 4 when a lady tried to pass me and 2 others on a skinny section. She wasn’t going fast enough on the uphill and I caught her back tire. I fell and the other lady behind me almost went over. This was the first of many to come. Most of the falls were because of poor traction. The rental bike had almost no traction left which made it really tough. The clip in pedals that I so thankfully borrowed turned out to hurt me. Mostly I couldn’t click out in time when falling and because of that I wasn’t able to brace my falls with anything but my forearms. 3/4 of the falls weren’t bad because I would fall into the grass or into a tree but about 3 or 4 really caused some pain. All of the bridges over the streams were really slippery so I tried to take it easy over them. For the first half of the bike I rode over them without to many problems but after falling on one and almost going over the side I decided to click out and walk over the rest.It was really depressing getting to mile 6, I had thought I was somewhere around mile 10 when I saw the marker. But shortly thereafter it was downhill for 2 miles.

The 2 mile downhill portion was awesome. My hands were burning from the vibrations but it was a nice break from the continuous uphill battle but once at the bottom the realization set in that we once again had to bike up yet another 4 miles just to get to the run portion of the race. It started to rain a couple minutes later which is when things started getting really bad for me. Any time there were rocks on the trail I would spin out and fall over. This started happening every couple of minutes. At one point I biffed it hard into a pretty large rock on my right leg and knee. I sat there on the side a the trail for a couple of minutes grimacing in pain physically and emotionally defeated. I sucked it up and got back on the bike to only fall more and more on the trails. I decided to click off at any site of rocks on the trail but because of all the mud now in my shoes and on the pedals that was a challenge in itself. The last 4 miles I probably walked half the way. I kept thinking that I still had the run to do. I physically wanted to get to T2 and give up but I knew I would never forgive myself for it. The sad thing is it comforted me to see other people were having the same problems I was having. A lot of the bikers around me were having a tough time staying upright on their bikes. At one point around mile 11 I didn’t see anyone for a while and I had thought that I was actually the last person left on the course. Thankfully that wasn’t the case. I finally made it into T2 (transition 2) and got to see Tammy and the kids. I was so dang happy to be done with that evil bike course.

The transition went really well and I was off for the last leg of the race. The run started pretty tough with a steep incline up one of the skiing runs at Snowbasin. No one was running up that hill so I took it as time to walk and recover a bit. I was starting to feel a little loopy so I took another gu shot(nasty energy goowy stuff) and started running the course. Mile 1 was a blur. Not to many people around me on the course. I did have the oldest guy participating around me. He was 68 and I barely beat him by about 30 seconds. Pretty big stud that guy is. He motivated me all throughout the run. Mile 2 I was able to enjoy the scenery and walk a little bit more. I caught up to a girl that had passed me on the bike an hour beforehand. Mile 3 was all downhill. My knee was killing from the rock incident so the the expected relief of the downhill run just wasn’t there. I could finally see the finish line and about 100 meters away and I felt like crying. I was able to hold it in and finish the race with a smile.

Wow! I was actually able to finish the race. What a roller coaster ride physically and emotionally. So many times on the bike I felt like giving up. That was truly one of the hardest things I have ever done. I felt like I had got in a major brawl and got beat up pretty badly. I am so thankful that Tammy, the kids and my Mom and Dave were there. Dave ended up coming in 40 minutes before me. He tore up the bike course. Dave was already talking about doing the race next year but I was just happy to have it over with. Tammy is such an awesome wife. Her being at my races really helps me a ton. She is due with the baby in two weeks but was still there running around with the kids cheering me on. I really appreciate her love and support. I can’t wait to have her participating with me in these races!