submitted by Ken Frankenberry
Henry & I kicked off our season last weekend with the Xterra Richmond Virginia.
This is a very unique (and brutal!) race, it’s held right in downtown Richmond, and they have a river walk / park area on the edge of the city which they use for the transition area. The swim is across the James River, run across Small Island &then swims back- the bike you cross a bridge, and on the other side of James is a huge park- with some very technical mountain bike trails. The run takes you down the river walk path, across a city bridge, through some neighborhoods, then takes you down some off road hiking trails, do some boulder hoping ( and climbing) along the river bank, and finish last couple miles on mountain bike trails.
We did the full distance race – swim/ about 14 mile bike/ 7 mile run, they had a sprint distance which was about ½ of that- the bad thing was all sprint distance athlete’s started ½ an hour before us, which meant we caught many of the slower riders on the bike, which made for lots of tight trails.
The weather has been hot and little rain, so the river was very low- Sundays temp was close to 100 degrees.
The swim was tough- we were last wave, and you would swim for 200 yards, then hit a section that was only 6 inches deep- you would have to get up and walk, and then suddenly hit a section 6 foot deep where you had to swim- it was a challenge. I did not adapt well, and as I hit the far side of river, was way back (snuck past Henry about then). The way back, I got a much better flow- passed a decent amount of people, and hit the bike fired up. Bike went well for me; the pre- ride helped, and made up a lot of time. Henry was doing well, but ½ way into the bike- the 2 hour ride from Saturday hit him, and he started to slip back.
I had a great transition- and hit the run with the temp already in the upper 80’s. Had a solid, but one person in my class caught me, and couldn’t keep the pace.
I ended up second in my class- but had a improved time from last year, and was happy with results.
Henry has been totally focused on restoring His century home, and has had very little time to train since last fall. So the run was a real challenge for Him, being out there in near 100 degree heat. He gutted it out, finished 4th in His class and I was super impressed he finished such a brutal race with so little training- it was impressive.
Looking forward to upcoming Xterra One in Ravenna in 2 weeks- and will use Monroe Falls as a training race ( will be riding home from race right after we finish, if anyone wants to hit hills in Valley right after race)