Napa Valley Vintage Half

[BryanU]

I raced this past weekend. Left Seattle @ 4:30pm Friday, got home @ 8:30pm Saturday. Flew to Sacramento, picked up a rental van, assembled my bike, picked up groceries, drove to the race site, slept in the van, got up, raced, and went home.

This is about as much of a race report as I'm likely to write for this:

The race was a training day in preparation for IM CdA. Mostly, it went well. Time-trial style start - walk over timing mat, walk to water and start swimming. I Swam well – really cold water – out in 28:42 (24th overall split). Rode well – felt really good to go fast, I should’ve drank more than 100oz, really really hilly bike course, moved up to 3rd place overall – 2:37:43 (2nd overall split). Ran well under the circumstances – dehydrated, water stops were too distant, hot (80+) with no shade, all hills, severely-slanted roadway, painful with no socks – 1:39:57 (12th overall split). 5th overall, 2nd in age group.

I'm very happy with this result. I trained hard in the days before. 2 big lessons learned:
1) Wear socks for a Half or longer
(I usually do - just thought I'd try it out without socks this time)
2) Always make some type of hydration plan for the bike and stick to it
(I didn't make a plan this time and knew I messed up as I left the first aid station where I guzzled half a water bottle and tossed the rest - but realized that I should be drinking the rest)

Fun race - great to have a familiar face on the course and in transition - Mary Frasier - who also did great (I'll let her report her results).

[maureenf]

Cool! Way to go.

[EdBull]

Nice work Bryan! Impressive race and logistics for getting there and home in 28 hours; you do everything fast it seems!

[MikePritch]

Nice work Bryan. Great run on a hot day. Must of been fun mixing it up in the top 5.

Looks like you are getting set for a great day at CDA.

[capnkirk]

Good work Bryan, that's an outstanding performance. I bet the hardest part for you was sleeping in the van!

[benbiggles]

Great work Bryan, very solid performance. All bodes well for CDA.