Revenge on Hibernia

Well I returned to the scene of "the Incident" from the previous week, determined to get rid of the bad taste in our mouth from our wreck-induced DNF. I came ready, but it was a different team this week--"Last But Not Least" with my newly found partner John Magee--a fellow Nova guy and great teammate.

The morning is “weather-whiplash” from yesterday's perfect sunny day.  Now it's cold, grey and drizzly this morning. First race is always a bit nerve wracking, and the threat of a rain-soaked day ratchets up the butterflies. I felt like an over-packed rookie with my big blue Rubbermaid tub full of gear, but I felt better as John unloads a ton of gear too.

HRC--Expect Anything

Our first High Rock Challenge (HRC) was a “don’t know what to expect” kinda of day. We had been stoked for months about this race, but things looked bad the week before the race. My teammate--Dog-- took a nasty mountain biking fall, followed three days later by an ill-advised playground incident that left him bruised and hobbling two days before the race. Doctor cleared him to go—but we didn’t know what to expect.

Blood on the Trail in Hibernia

Well we’re back for our second run at the Hibernia Duathlon. Better training this year, and a year stronger, so we're feeling good. Bonus—we remembered the inhaler. Dog had been able to conquer all of the climbs on the course during our practice rides, so our goal of shaving a half hour from our time feels very do-able. But we'll soon learn that conditioning doesn't guarantee success.