Versailles Indiana Xterra, off road Triathlon – 9-5-2015

Versailles State Park in Eastern Indiana is a beautiful park, but one of my least favorite race venue’s.

The swim is one of longest on circuit, advertised at 1000 meters, but I think closer to 1100 (and the way I went off course close to 1300!!). Lake is shallow and water warm, so no wet suits allowed ( a poor swimmers salvation!), the mountain bike is a tight 13 mile trail, with virtually no places to pass ( much of the trail is cut into steep hillsides), so you often have to follow people , ask them to pull over, which can be frustrating. The run is the best part, a technical, hilly 5 mile run, with several creek/ river crossings.

The weather was brutal, Friday I pre rode mountain bike loop (3 years since I had been there- so felt I needed to be familiar with course), it was 97 degrees and humid, so being out there for 90 minutes was tough the day before a hot race.

Race morning was warm, with another 90 + day forecasts. There had been a late night thunderstorm, so trail was slippery.

My swim was not good. I got behind the main pack, and got off course several times. The only thing worse than swimming slow, is swimming an extra couple hundred meters because you don’t swim straight!!! I was 53rd out of maybe 75 racers. I hit the bike hard, most people were great about moving over (maybe it was me screaming like a ban chi once I got close), and so I passed close to 25 people. As I hit the run, the temp was close to 90, but I felt solid, and started picking off people on the run. I passed over 11 people, each mile feeling stronger and stronger.

I ended up 17th overall, 1st in my age group, and a list of items to work on for 2016!!

Ken