My Race Season Is Almost Over

All but one triathlon is over.  The final triathlon is Reeds Lake, but that is more to redeem myself after last years god-awful performance.  After that, I’m putting my tri bike away and not looking at it for a long time.  Also, my focus will shift to Iceman where my goal is top 5.

Speaking of mountain bike races, I’ve barely done any.  Some may attribute this to my relationship, or lack of, with MMBA.  I do miss doing those races, but I just didn’t have the motivation to do them.  Maybe that is because of MMBA.  I didn’t make a conscious decision about it, the drive just wasn’t there so I didn’t go out of my way to participate.  I’ve only done two mountain bike races, three if you include Barry Roubaix.  This time last year, I had done five mountain bike races and in 2010 I had competed in nine races.  So it’s a big drop.

Another part could be the cost of doing triathlons.  A mountain bike race my cost $35, where as a triathlon can run well over $80 for local races, with Ironman events exceeding $300 for half and over $600 for full.  Some Ironman race fees exceed $1,000, and they sell out like Iceman.  Add to that the cost of travel and you have one big expensive race.  I use to complain about the drive to Boyne.  The closest sanctioned Ironman 70.3 is the one I did in Benton Harbor.  The closest sanctioned full Ironman is either Wisconsin or Louisville.  I am going to try really really hard to get into Ironman Wisconsin, but the registration process is identical to Iceman.  If you are not on a computer when it opens, you will not get in.  It’s so popular that they offer volunteers priority registration and people drive from all over the country to get in on that.

This year I have two mountain bike races:  Pando and Iceman.  I’m committed to Iceman (registered) but not completely committed to Pando.  We shall see.