I went looking for my race review from last year, only to find out
that I didn't do one. Bummer. It's a good race, and it's run by an
amazing company,
Redemption Race Productions. I follow their race schedule to do as many of their races as I can.
A little bit about last year:
2011
was an interesting year. In April I'd completed the Galvestion Half
Ironman, and had been convinced to do the Austin Half Ironman as well.
So a friend and I went out in search of a sprint and an olympic/quarter
to do before the Half Iron in October. Bastrop was that sprint. We'd
gone out looking for a simple sprint, one that would be too difficult.
The pre-race briefing started with
"Welcome to the toughest little tri in Texas!"
My friend and I looked at each other. What had we gotten ourselves into?
It
turned out to be a snake style pool swim, a VERY hilly road course, and
an equally hilly run course. The thing about this course is that the
hills aren't rolling hills. The grades are much more extreme than many
are used to.
 |
| Megan and Me |
This year, the
course didn't change one bit. I loved it. I convinced a couple of
friends to go do the race with me, and found out later that a few others
were going out too. Small world!
The swim - 200
meters snake style in a 33 meter pool with a time trials start. This
year's swim was great. I was seeded pretty well (last year I was behind
two teen/preteens that were slower than I and made the swim/passing
difficult). The person behind me passed me after I accidentally kicked
him, but we talked after the race and I got to apologize. One thing
about this swim - the chop from the other swimmers makes this a lot like
an open water swim!
Transition was fast! I got hung
up a little bit on my race belt, but sorted it out and got moving. I'd
rolled my socks up so I could just roll them onto wet feet. It worked
out really well.
The bike. Getting out of transition I
had some trouble getting my left foot clipped in, and wasted a few
seconds trying to get moving. Not a big loss, but one that pissed me
off all the same. Not sure if I had mud or debris from the previous
night's rain in the cleat, but it took some doing. Once I got on the
bike, things were smooth. Well, as smooth as it could be. The course
is considered to be a pretty technical course. I know of at least two
broken chains and many flats, mostly due to steep uphill climbs and road
debris. The course is an out and back with a net downhill going out,
and a net gain on the return. The roads were damp and winding so
getting up to speed was quickly followed by a climb or a quick slowdown
for a turn. I held back a bit on the way out because I remembered from
the course from the year before and really hammered it on the way back.
Getting close to the turnaround I started counting how many women were
in ahead and started chasing the one in front of me. It seemed I was a
better climber, but she had better speed on the downhills. Two new
things for this race - a disc wheel cover from
Wheelbuilder and an aerohelmet from
Rudy Project.
Not a huge difference for a 16 mile, very hilly course, but good
practice for the half iron distance race next month. I'll blog about
the wheel cover and helmet soon. I did use some of my
Infinit Nutrition cycling mix in the
FLEXR Sports
remote kit to get calories in. It's debatable for that distance that
one would use any, but I was going to need water anyway, so I added the
calories. It was nice to have. I was a little nervous using the
Duro Tire slicksters on the wet roads, but they stayed fast and grippy the whole race - no skidding or sliding out of control.
Transition was good. F A S T. And onto the run!
The
run was tough. Hilly, humid. But not hot because of the rain the
previous evening. I was still chasing the same woman from the bike, and
still she had the speed on the downhill, but I would catch up on the
uphill. Most of the run I didn't see a single other person until I
joined up with the cycling course in the last mile and a half of the
course. The downhills were rough. Then it was mostly uphill and to the
finish. The finish is a bit confusing, and I went the wrong way at
some point, but was quickly directed back to the correct path by the
volunteers. I finished strong and smiling and happy with this year's
Bastrop Lost Pines Sprint.
Volunteers - these guys and
gals can make or break the race. They really made it for me.
Supportive and all about the athletes. Thanks, guys!
 |
| Hover Rachel |
The race is well organized and fun, and they have
lots of food available for the finishers and spectators. The proceeds
support a donation for the park, which suffered a devastating wildfire
last year, seven days after last year's race.
My one
complaint about the race has to do with my rack neighbor in transition.
At some point when he came into transition on the bike, rather than
rack his bike (he couldn't get his seat under the rack) he just leaned
his bike up against mine. WOW. I was appalled. It's one thing to have
your bike fall or cause another's to fall by accident, but to save time
in transition by leaning your bike against someone else's is just
wrong. I checked his results later - the time he saved by leaning his bike on mine didn't help him at all.
So - since no race report would be complete without finishing times and places:
2012
2011
200 m swim with swim exit
2:14
2:24
T1
1:17
1:56
16 mile bike
52:45
56:18
T2
0:36
1:05
3.4 mile run (measured 3.5)
26:29
28:29
Overall Time
1:25:22
1:32:20
Age Group Finisher
1
1
Gender Finisher
2
4
Overall Finisher
16
17
We
were told that race registration increased from just under 150 to 210.
Add this race to your calendar and let's make next year an even bigger
event!
