Gods Country Duathlon

My view of the entire bike lap. Quality isnt so great because I cant upload that long of video at high quality.

Gods Country Duathlon from aaron elwell on Vimeo.

So I needed to get in a good intense workout this weekend and the mtb race was cancelled. So Saturday I headed down to the RiverTrail to get in a nice ride. The trails were packed because it was a perfect day and the Specialized Demo Crew was at the trailhead. Every cyclist in Lawrence seemed to be down there doing laps on some pretty nice bikes. I saw Adam Mills finishing up a lap on an SWorks Epic 29er and seemed pretty happy about it.

So Sunday morning I got up early and watched Paris Roubaix online. It was pretty exciting and got me excited to race. The only option was the Duathlon so I got ready and rode down to it. On the way my waterbottle fell out of my backpack, hit the ground, and sprang a leak. Not great for a hot day. I registered, found my spot on the bike rack, and put on my running shoes. I wasnt very excited about the run. I get really sore anytime I do any type of running, which hasnt been since last October. So we all line up and take off. My plan is to jog. I am quickly fading backwards, but jogging is pretty much my max speed so I just hope I can catch back up on the bike. I end the run with my legs throbbing in about 25th and something like 3 minutes out of the lead. So, jump on the bike and start pedaling. The run definitely had some serious effect on my pedaling. I couldnt make myself stand very long and I usually stand almost the entire lap at the River Trail races. A third of the way through the lap my front derailleur twists and starts hitting on my cranks, which is the loud popping you hear in the video. At the half way point of the bike I was into the top 5. I caught the leader pretty close to the end of the lap (he was on a duo team) and put enough gap on him to win the final run sprint to the line, by about 5 feet. Good workout for sure.

Not too excited about running...

Going a little better...