I was standing chatting with some friends at my running club right after a run one night a couple weeks ago and heard RB talking about a duathlon that was being offered in our area on July 24. For those that don't know a duathlon is a run-bike-run combination, not to be confused with the biathlon, which is the official term for the Olympic sport of skiing and shooting.
In any case RB was interested in doing the running part as a team member of a relay team. No one responded when she asked around if anyone wanted to do the cycling part, so next thing I head was my big mouth saying I would do it, "By the way, how far do I have to cycle...?"
I then learned it was 34 kilometers, yeah 21 miles how bad could that be, right! I mean I just cycled 20 km during my Triathlon the week before...in any case I would be doing it with RB, joy! We quickly formed our strategy, which basically consisted of showing up at the event.
So this past Saturday I picked RB up about an hour and half before the duathlon was to start and we made our way to the next town, Graben where the event was held. Several members of the cycling club are also members of our running club, so we were among friends as we signed in. One of our running friends showed me where to park my CUBE and walked us through the event. Then we chilled out and waited for the briefing that was to be held at 1:30 p.m., a half hour before the start. After the briefing we made last minute checks and got ready to race.
The duathlon consisted of 34 km (21 mi.) of cycling sandwiched between two 4 km (2.5 mi.) runs. RB would start the event with her first 4 km run, which consisted of a 2 km out and back course. The Graben Duathlon is a small event, this year there were 72 individual starters and 14 relay teams. I heard there was more signed up this year, but it had rained the morning of the event, so I guess several decided to stay home.
As RB lined up at the start I stood with other friends from the running club that had arrived to lend their support. We sent RB off with our cheers, than I went to warm-up. The other relay team members were lingering or warming up, the most taking a small loop with their bikes. I warmed up with a short run, than rode around the block with my CUBE just to make sure everything was set.
I had estimated RB would need around 23 minutes, but knew never to underestimate her. Shortly after 22 minutes she rounded the corner and I was ready, she only needed to run over to my bike and tap my shoulder and I could set out. This accomplished, I ran with my CUBE across the small parking lot to the mounting point where I could mount my bike and take off. An official made sure I had my helmet and I was off.
I did my best to pick up the pace, but right away was fighting a headwind that my friend Joseph had warned me about earlier. As I left town I passed an intersection where a roughly 10K loop began, from Graben to Liedolsheim to Russheim, then back to Graben. Cyclists had to complete three of these loops.
This was the second year of the duathlon and friends had mentioned that the road to Liedolsheim was the fastest part of the loop. Unfortunately on this day this was the part with the strongest headwind, rather than making time I grew slower! By the time I completed the roughly 3 km to Liedolsheim I felt like I had just cycled through the hills of the Black Forest, despite the relatively level course. I tried not to think about the fact that I had to repeat this two more times as I entered the town. In Liedolsheim the organizers had closed one lane of the local road to traffic for the event, I was able to weave my way through unbehindered.
I was able to gain speed as I left Leidolsheim and made my way over the 2 km to Russheim. About two minutes out the first wave of cyclist on their second loop flew by, amazing! I tried to pick up the pace a bit, with limited success. Soon I reached the outskirts of Russheim, where we turned right and headed over an approximately 4 km stretch that would complete the loop. Part of this was over open fields and I was again fighting a headwind. Cyclist continued to fly by on occasion as I completed my first loop.
Upon completing the loop I was quite surprised to see that I had only cycled about 6-7 kilometer, I thought the course was longer, but at the pitifall speed that I was cycling I was glad. During my triathlon I average around 27 KPH (kilometer per hour), I was barely managing 17-18.
Discouraged I rounded the corner and tried to push harder as I began my second loop. I pedaled and pedaled, feeling like I was making progress, but couldn't get any faster than 18 KPH. Even on the faster stretch between Liedolsheim and Russheim I could only manage 21!
I fought these demons as I circled, I didn't feel like was going any slower than by my Triathlon. My thoughts were interrupted as I rounded the corner by Russheim and sas a cyclist on the horizon, finally a chance to catch someone! I sprang forward with renewed effort and managed to catch and pass the cyclist after a few minutes, she was breathing hard, easy prey. I fixed my sights on the next and soon forgot about my pitiful speed problem.
As I rounded the curve and started my third loop I was soon upon the next cyclist, but they were giving up ground without a fight, I needed almost 3 kilometers to catch and pass him. I continued to pump my legs through Liedolsheim, hoping to catch another cyclist or two before the finish. As I rounded the loop by Russheim I saw two far ahead of me, it would be rough.
My quads were crying by the time I reached the end of the loop and turned back into Graben, around a kilometer to go. The two cyclist had maintained their lead and I was pumping like crazy to try to give RB a good start on her second 4 km loop.
I wound my way back to the small parking lot and dismounted, tapping RB on her shoulder as she asked me how I was, out of breath I grunted and she was off. I returned my CUBE to the rack and caught my breath, chatting with Joseph for a couple minutes.
I stowed my CUBE in the car and grabbed RB's sweater, thinking she might need it when she's done, somehow my brain didn't register that it was 27°C (80°F) outside. My sanity was again tested when Joseph asked me what my average speed was, I said around 17 KPH. He said that's not possible, I had finished the 34 km in around 1:14:00 (later it would dawn on me my Odometer was set to miles)!
I waited for RB for a bit with Joseph and started wondering if she was suffering on the course, so decided I needed some fresh air and ran out to meet her. After 3-4 minutes I came up on RB and we ran to the finish together, I stopped just before and let her cross the finish line.
We chomped on some watermelon and chatted a bit with Joseph, until he had to leave, then picked up some food. We listened to the awards ceremony as we ate, we were the 13th relay team out of 14, the most were members of triathlon and cycling clubs, we had little chance of keeping up with them. We were pleased that we beat at least one team, and by over 5 minutes! A friend of ours that also did the relay won a 5th place prize, but had already left, so we collected it for him - we could drop it off on the way home.
After the awards ceremony we said our goodbyes to those we knew and I drove RB home. It was a nice change of pace from our normal running, I hope we can do it again next year.
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