Mountain Madness 70.3 Triathlon Race Report

     May 5, 2012 I participated in a triathlon consisting of a 1.2 miles swim in pristine Carter's lake, followed by a 56 mile bike ride that ascends Fort Mountain, a 3300 ft climb over 4 miles long at the halfway point & then a very hilly 13.1 mile run. Appropriately named, the Mountain Madness 70.3 Triathlon posed quite a challenge for a few hundred athletes. Basically you don't sign up for a race like this & just "wing" it. Everyone here was well trained, ready to conquer this race.

      Athletes were required to leave their bikes in transition overnight before the race. When I got into transition race morning, everything appeared to be in order. I pumped the tires, applied the body glide, Garmin & sunscreen & prepared to battle it out. 

 SWIM

      The swim was a good one. I quickly got into someone's draft & found my rhythm, sighting the large buoys through the fog. The rising sun made it hard to see as we turned the final buoy towards shore, I had to just sight off the person in front of me. Not having a strong swimming background (taught myself to swim @ age 26), I was pleased to come out of the water & into T-1 in 6th place. Transition must have gone pretty well because I exited T-1 in 3rd place, ready to tackle the challenging bike course.

     BIKE

      56 miles of hills. Tough course. This is where the race gets interesting. A steep hill immediately outside T-1 shot my heart rate way up, but before I was out of the park I had overtaken one of the 2 girls ahead of me; my friend Jenny (who had the fastest swim time overall). Not only was this a hilly course, the road conditions were less than perfect. Because of the rough ride, I lost my Hammer gel flask (all my nutrition) within the first 10 minutes. It fell right out of my jersey pocket! Ugh! I tried to stay calm & pedal on. But by mile 10, while crossing a one lane country bridge, I lost one of my water bottles. Fell right out of the cage! So, now as I turn onto the climb, someone yells that I am in 1st place. Awesome! I think. But, without my Hammer gel, I know my time is limited. 

     The climb up Fort Mountain is breathtaking. Literally, especially at race pace. My goal for the climb, was not to win the coveted QOM jersey, but to keep my HR down with a steady controlled effort. And,  about 1 mile from the top, I was passed by not 1, but 2 women. Strong women! Head down & focused, I kept up my effort until the turnaround.

     As I eased into my aero position & began to shift down for speed, is when my right shifter fell apart in my hand. Going >30 mph, down a 4 mile descent. Not good. Again, trying not to panic, I held the shifters together with my right hand & maintained control of the bike, attempting a safe descent off the mountain. It was nerve wracking.

Shifters hanging by a thread do do much good

     Once safely at the bottom of the mountain I stopped to regroup. At this point, I had 2 options; quit & try to find a ride back to transition, or continue on the bike course best I could & see what happens. I chose to keep going, without gears. The ride back was difficult, I managed to actually pass one of the ladies who had climbed passed me with my steady big gear effort. The climbs back into T-2 were HUGE teeth gritting, out of the saddle grinds. But I made it. & I was thrilled to hear I was in 2nd place! Really inconceivable! :) But this motivated me to stay in the game & so through T-2 I ran, onto the insanely hilly run course, to run a half marathon.

 RUN

    This run is really unbelievable. Heres the 2 lap course Crazy Run. I had grabbed some gels in T-2 & was trying to regain my fuel level for the run & drinking H20 at each aid station. The weather was unforgiving, hot (90's), sunny & humid. But when it was all said & done, I managed to hold off all but 1 competitor, the same chick who passed me on the climb,whom I later passed, ran by me on the 2nd loop. This placed me 3rd woman overall. Once over the finish line, I kept right on running straight into the lake to cool down.

    The race was very well run & it was it's inaugural year. There was plenty of support & volunteers. The massage tent & post race BBQ were icing on the cake to complete the experience. I would definitely recommend this race to anyone wanting an extra level of challenge. It was quite easily the hardest 70.3 in America, because of the elevation gained & conditions.

Mountain Hardware

 After further investigation, it was determined that the reason for the mechanical was that the bike had been knocked while in transition, prior to the race. Unintentionally I am sure, but still a lesson was learned to always check ALL pieces of equipment race morning. I don't know if I would have picked up on it or not, either way, it sucks. But thats the way it goes sometimes.