There’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll just come right out with it: I didn’t finish the race.

Things were going great; my swim was solid and I was near my target time. The swim-to-bike transition was awesome – I don’t have my time yet but once I entered the transition area, I was probably out the other side in 30 seconds. Before I knew it I was on my bike and pedaling out of the park.

My bike.

It’s a great bike – 2004 Trek 1000, bright yellow with blue lettering. I feel like I’m riding in a school bus down the road. Minus the screaming kids.

I’m also a golfer, although I’ve taken most of the summer off because of tri training and working. Golfers sometimes say, “live by the draw, die by the draw.” A draw is when a player purposely curves the ball right to left (the opposite for a left-handed player). You aim right and watch it turn over, a beautiful thing when it works. But when the ball goes straight instead of drawing, you could end up in a bunker, the rough or even a water hazard.

On Sunday, this same adage was true for me in a different sense. Live by the bike, die by the bike.

I got a flat tire 14.5 miles into the 17-mile course.

And instead of landing in a greenside bunker or a pond off the sixth fairway, I ended up in a grassy area a few feet from the road. Sure I tried to change the tire. Heck, I bought all the necessary items in case this was to happen.

Spare tube. Check.

Tools to pry tire off. Check.

Co2 canister. Check.

But the thing is, I’ve never changed a tire. The one time I had a flat, it happened at home and I was able to bring the wounded wheel to my local bike shop. The guy was helpful and “showed” me how to change it, but I probably didn’t pay close enough attention.

“Nah, I’ll be good,” I told myself this week. “I’ll buy this stuff, but it’s like health insurance or bringing an umbrella; when I have it, nothing will happen.”

I thought it was a necessary evil.

I could not have been more wrong.

So after fiddling with the tire for 25-30 minutes – a very frustrating and irritating block of time – a race volunteer in a minivan and an ambulance drove up to me. I told them I was fine but that I had a flat tire. I needed a ride back to the park; my race was over.

My first triathlon was over.

I still won’t call myself a triathlete because I wasn’t able to finish the race, but I could almost be classified as an aquavelo dude. I did the swim (aqua) and most of the bike (velo), so it sorta makes sense.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t mad or disappointed with today’s outcome. To be honest, I was livid. To train as much as I did with one day in mind – Aug. 16 – and then to have it culminate the way it did is an awful feeling.

I am, however, trying to spin this into a positive light. I learned a lot. I felt fantastic and would have finished in my goal time of 1:50, if not under it. My race ended not because of a physical issue, but a mechanical one. It was out of my control.

During the long ride back to the park I decided one of the first things I’d do when I returned home Sunday night would be to find another race. I need to finish what I started in April. And, it looks like I might have found one. More on that soon.

Check back in a day or two for more on this weekend. I have so much to write.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, August 16th, 2009 at 6:43 pm and is filed under jasondevaney. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.