Hurt in the Dirt Duathlon - 5th overall (individual category) After looking around the mountain bike racing circuit, this race jumped out at me as a must-do. I have been wanting to do a mountain bike race to see the dividends of biking nearly every day this summer. I thought this would be a fun mix of mountain biking and running. And it was. The race is held in Ogden at Fort Buenaventura. It is pretty much a random mix of grass, dirt, mud, logs, rocks and sand. The run course even had river crossings and tree jumping. The bike course had sections of sand bogs, tree and stump jumps, rock gardens, tons of short climbs, and more sand bogs. The format was 2 laps of running (approx 2 miles a lap - but probably closer to 1.5) - 2 laps of biking (approx 5 miles a lap) - 2 more laps running - 2 more laps biking. It didn't look too hard on paper. Boy was I wrong. The race started out calmly enough, but within the first 20 seconds we had our first tree to climb through. I managed to get through it without get mauled by the masses. I hit the first quarter mile in 5:20 pace and I was still in 10th place and getting passed. There were teams of relay guys and gals together with us so it was impossible to see who was a relay guy and who wasn't. I did know there was at least 1 pro triathlete there (the guy who won- Nick Fisher) and I let the lead pack leave me in their dust. I knew I couldn't hammer a 5:20 pace race effort for 2.5 hours. I still hit the first lap pretty hot and was amazed by the pace they hit though this bushwhack of a course. Over the course of the running, I would drench myself at the stream crossings (this race was at 4pm on a 90+ degree day) to cool off. It was a nice run course as it was mostly shady, but the bike course was exposed and very hot. I wore a camelback during the bike legs and guzzled about 60 oz of water till it ran out 10 mins before the finish. Needless to say, I was hot. I am used to running in 50 degree weather and am a big baby in heat. Whine Whine. Highlights of the race: Passing and lapping lots of people! Battling it out the whole race with a teenager (although he ended up beating me...more on that later). Speed hiking the steep stair section of the course faster than the guys "running" up it. Strong last lap on the bike to pass 5th place guy and nearly catch 4th pace (teenager guy).
Low-lights of the race: Nearly getting lapped by the winner (nearly). Getting a flat and wasting 6 mins doing a tube change. I was doing quite well (IMO) and just finished my last running section. I had passed Sam Weil (the teen) during the run and had put a bit of time on him as was working on the next guy when I hopped on the bike and took off out of the transition only to find my front tire had gone flat during the last 20 mins. Probably a thorn from the miles of weeds I had ridden through. That explains all the other guys out there pushing their bikes. Lots of flats. Lucky for me, I was next to a booth set up by a local bike shop to help fix bikes on the course. I ran the bike over there and the guy tossed me a tube and I went to work ripping off the old tube and putting on a new one. 6 mins later (I am not very fast at that, I guess) I was back out on the course. I noticed at least 2 guys pass me (probably more), including Sam. It was impossible to tell who was being lapped and who was my competition. I was bummed but still pushed hard the last 2 laps on the bike to try and make up lost positions. I finally caught one of the guys with only a mile to go and was within a min or so of Sam. Can I get him? No. Turns out that I can't and didn't. Darn flat! Overall, it was a very fun and challenging course. Very technical and with a proper full suspension bike, it would have been even faster. But I had a blast. I never noticed my leg injury and it isn't sore now (a day later). I am glad I did a bike race as payoff for the hours I have spent on it this summer. Now back to running!
Rough splits by my watch
Lap 1: (run) 11:00
Lap 2: (run) 11:30 Lap 3: (Bike) 25:36 Lap 4: (Bike) 25:42 Lap 5: (run) 12:39 Lap 6: (run) 12:16 Lap 7: (Bike) 31:51 (flat tire) Lap 8: (Bike) 26:37 T- 2:37:15 (watch) 1500' vert MAP of the course (red is run course, blue is bike) 
Preliminary Results from my phone 
| 