Bridging the Gap

Hope it has been a great start to the year for everybody.

I am a little bit behind with the posting but will post a few to bring everybody up to speed with everything.

First up for the season was the Gatorade series race 1 at St Kilda.

I was not expecting great results going into this. I wanted to ease into the series and get a feel for it in the first race. It was a great day and perfect conditions for the beginning of the series.

To make the day even better it was birthday.

The race started well and I sat nicely in the swim taking it easy. Sitting back off the heels of most and casually going about my business still getting comfortable to ocean swimming.

Coming into transition I felt good and was ready to put in a steady bike leg. 
That was where it started to unravel. A little into the 20 km course the bike began to feel a little unsteady on the handling. I had never previously had issues, even on training rides.
 Before long I was just about going backwards as my back tyre deflated. I pulled over and frantically pumped up the tyre, in the moment a very difficult thing to do. What felt like half hour and hour was probably only a short period of time. When I thought everything was ok I set back off. 
Then around 2 km down the road I was ignorant to the fact I had left the pump attached to the tyre and in one smooth pedal stroke I caught the pump and snapped it clean off at the valve. 
Again pulling over, I assessed. Another flat and a broken pump. A kind spectator ran over to help me but with no working pumps around he could offer no support.
 I decided to push on for a bit more. Being halfway in to the ride I did not want to give up. I had to stop once more to see if I could do anything but i was left to finish the ride with a flat. A very painful ride feeling every bump on the road. Thankfully I made it to T2 and was onto the run.

I could only laugh inside and not get too bothered. Afterall it was my birthday and I was about to finish my first full triathlon, record breaking or not. 

I crossed the line and bathed in the beautiful atmosphere that I have now come to love. To cap off a great day and birthday, I was able to get a snap with Erin Densham and Brendan Sexton.

pathtoironman :)