I’m headed to Portland tomorrow to race at the Rev3 Triathlon Series against some of the top long course pros in the world. Wild!

I wanted to highlight the EVOC Bike Travel Bag. Like many other triathletes, I’m a little bit OCD when it comes to transporting my bike. Travel bags are really important to triathletes simply because we all want to protect our bikes during travel so that we can make good on the training we’ve put in. Packing up a bike is part of the ritual of preparing for important races (or training blocks).

After doing my research, I decided EVOC were the best bags on the market (can’t beat German engineering) at a good pricepoint. After approaching EVOC, I was fortunate enough to get some sponsorship from them (thanks EVOC!). You can checkout EVOC bags in Victoria at Oak Bay Bikes, in Vancouver at Westpoint Multisport, and in Calgary at SpeedTheory.

I am 6’3 and I ride a large TT bike with long aero bars. As you can see from the photos below, my bike fits into the bag without any problem. There’s tonnes of space for all my other tri gear and travel stuff too. So, if you are smaller than a giant and want to protect you triathlon bike/tt bike, do consider EVOC.

Here’s a quick list of why I like EVOC’s bike travel bags:

• Bags are sturdy but light, so they are easy to transport and handle (there are tonnes of handles and spots to grab/grip the bag)
• Bags aren’t overly bulky, so they can fit in a cab or backseat of a small car
• Bags are designed to stand upright easily, rather than lay flat. I’m convinced that this helps them get handled and packed into places more respectfully (as opposed to hard shell cases are treated as bomb-proof/airport-baggage-ape-proof, and get stuff stacked on top of them)
• Because the bike is secured by straps and velcro strips to the bag, customs agents can easily open up the bags, look inside, and close everything up without disturbing the secure position of your bike. This is much different from when I had a hard-shell case, which exploded open upon inspection and then was none-too-carefully packed back up by some unknown agent (shudder)
• The case looks nice
• I tell myself that the bag is German engineered to protect the whole bike from hasty cabbies, airport baggage apes, curious custom’s agents, and other monsters. This helps decrease my worry when travelling.

I placed second overall at the Subaru Victoria Half-Iron Triathlon. My total time was 4:04:21.

Here’s the break down:

• Swim: 26:54 (7th fastest)
• T1: 1:21 (second fastest)
• Bike: 2:14:51 (fastest bike split in the last few years with an average speed of 39.2km/h)
• T2: 0:53 (17th fastest)
• Run: 1:20:24 (6th fastest)

Full results here.

This race was my second half-ironman race as a pro. Summary: swim was off, bike was hard and I really killed the second loop, run was better than my Shawnigan experience, but still hurting and sorta lame.

I finished 6 minutes back from the winner, Adam O’Meara (sponsor alert: this guy is the real deal). In a race with a deeper field, I would not have placed second. Adam laid down a killer run that was 8min faster than me. Clearly, I’ve got some work to do. Of course, I’ll take the placing and the prize money and milk this experience for all the learning that I can. Since Adam and I have the same coach, I might just have to train with him more frequently to get my run down to a more competitive time.

On the swim, I made some tactical errors in choosing whether to pass or draft some of the swimmer’s infront of me. I opted for the latter, although the pace was slightly dialed down from what I was ready for. Unfortunately, I got blocked in and then a lead group took off before I had time to respond. Also, I missed a few swim sessions over the past weeks, so I’m certain that those skipped sessions didn’t help me along at all.

The bike was a really challenging course for me. Lots of hills, false flats, sketchy pavement, some really tight, fast turns. Couple that with my brakes being too loose, you have the recipe for a good time.

I got a great deal of encouragement at this race. Friends from Vancouver and locally came out for the express purpose of cheering me on. During the run, I crossed paths with Brent McMahon, who not only told me too keep it up, but also gave me some in-race tips on form. His comments helped me to refocus and relax.

Also, before the race, I was chatting with Jasper Blake and he said something like: “Go suffer. This is not about fun.” I reflected on this quote a bit as I rode (and suffered). As my energy would wane, I’d use it to refocus.

The advice and support from friends and athletes alike really helped me have a much more positive race this go around. Thank you all for your support and interest. It means so much to me and it actually helps.

My next race is fast approaching. I’ll be packing my tri bike in my EVOC Bike Bag and heading down to Portland, Oregon for the Rev 3 on July 10th. Laura is joining me for the weekend, as the race date is also her birthday, so I’m intending to enjoy the city with her once the race is completed.

The Rev 3 is going to be a flat, fast course, so I’m looking forward to seeing how I’ll perform at that venue. Adam is also coming down to race, so I’ll have yet another chance to try to best him! If anyone has a disc wheel to sell/lend me, do drop me an email.

My debut as a long distance pro triathlete, at the Subaru Shawnigan Lake Triathlon, encouraged and humbled me.

With a time of 4:08:43, I raced to third place overall and managed to have the fastest bike split of the day (88km in 2:13:40). I suffered greatly on the run portion.

I came out of the cold, 1.9km swim about 40 seconds back from the lead pack. My T1 was lousy, with me dislodging the lenses from my sunglasses and fighting to do up my helmet. Lesson: rushing doesn’t make you faster (in racing, as in life).

By the end of the first lap, I managed to catch the front three guys, but after that, the pros all kept fairly close together (but never drafting!). Because Shawnigan is rolling hills, someone out of sight could be a minute ahead or five minutes ahead. No one wanted to risk giving someone a breakaway, so we responded to surges accordingly.

I felt solid on the bike, although I wasn’t sure if my pace was too conservative or too ambitious for a race of this distance.

Because of the cold swim, my hands stayed fairly frozen for most of the ride, which meant that I had a little trouble opening the boa lacing system on my bike shoes in preparation for T2. Similarly, I struggled to get my run shoes on and had the tongues of my shoes bunched up near the toe of my shoes.

The run was painful and surprisingly warm. While all the pros left transition at roughly the same time, Adam quickly started pulling away with only one other guy able to stick with him. I wore a Garmin for the bike/run portion of the race, so I was able to assess my run cadence and pace during the final portion of the race. The numbers confirmed what I already knew (I went to some dark places in my mind while running that sunny trail): I was hurting. Still, I knew I was in third place and that I needed to keeping plodding along with my lousy run to see if (1) one of the guys ahead might crack or pop (2) maintain a place on the podium.

It felt amazing to finish, bloody feet and all. I’m proud of placing third at my first half-iron race as a pro, especially given that this is also an early season race. I’m eager to work with my coach to incorporate my learnings from this race and improve for the New Balance race, which is coming up in June.

Shawnigan Lake Course description

- Swim: beautiful, clean, chilly. It’s Canada’s first open water triathlon, so the water temp. hovers between 12-13.
- Bike: a looped course of rolling hills with one tougher climb and a few fun downhills. I noticed a couple of the pros used disc wheels, but I wonder if those wheels were all that advantageous on this course.
- Run: more hilly that in 2010 but still a gravel trail with a steady, but gradual, uphill climb from km 10-15.5. The fact that I noticed a bunch of slugs and garter snakes on the trail speaks to my slow pace.

Last year, I ran a disappointing 17:10 at Bazan Bay (read the story of sorrow here), so I was looking for some redemption at this 2011 race while also reminding myself that this was merely a pre-season training race.

Bazan has been on the schedule for awhile and I thought that I registered for it months ago (like I do for most of my races), but on Friday I double-checked the confirmation list and discovered that my memory is poor. I hadn’t registered and the event was sold out. Thankfully, when I contacted (read: begged) the race organizers they graciously allowed me to register. I really appreciate that they let me do so.

Bazan Bay is a flat, fast 5km that follows the waterfront at Sidney. It brings out some great runners, including many of Victoria’s fastest triathletes. The weather was perfect: cool, not too windy, slightly overcast but not depressing.

After eating breakfast at 7:00am (fruit smoothie with this and this in it then a coffee) and walking the dogs at Mt. Doug, Emma picked me up to head to the race.

(drive, park, sign-in, chat, warm-up, stash warm-up-clothes-in-backpack, head-to-the-start-line)

Everything went smoothly. I opted to wear a running singlet from Pen Run and mid-thigh tights rather than running shorts as I find they help keep in a bit more body temperature. Some would argue that I just like wearing spandex.

Then, the it was the classic 5-4-3-2-1-go!
Many people went out fast and it was elbow to elbow the first 600m, but kept my pace steady—running a 3:09 pace the first km. It was really cool to watch some of the other experienced racers in action. For example, I noticed (Mr. Quick Haircut) Andrew Russell running at about my pace the first while and then saw him confidently maneuver past bodies and build his pace towards the front guys over the first 2km.

Between km2 and km3, a major gap began to form and a number of the runners around me seemed comfortable with it. Not me. I accelerated a bit, running alongside another guys until he popped after about 500m. I caught a few stragglers, but most of them were folk who’d gone out too fast and were paying the price.

At the 3km mark, I caught the next group of about 6 guys. We headed back to the finish line. Here—between km3 and km4—the wind off the water became noticable, especially when you’re 6’3! I tucked in behind a few runners for a few hundred meters, aware that the leaders were fighting the wind on my behalf.

Nevertheless, I felt that I could push the pace abit more, so I pulled to the front of the group and immediately noticed the added effort required to run against the wind. To compare, my average pace for this race overall was 3:15min/km. During the headwind, my average pace was 3:20.

I knew that the other guys in the group would draft off me, but I also figured we could drop a few people too. So, I surged away with only two young guys (age16-19) sticking right with me. At the finish, would I have what it took to outsprint these guys if they drafted me? It didn’t matter. I didn’t want to run a safe or conservative race. I’d rather take a risk, trust my training and decision making, and let the outcomes be what they will be.

When we turned onto Ocean Ave. one of the guys surged forward. I picked up the pace but he created abit of a gap that took me 50m to close (later, I found out he thought the finishing line was at the end of Ocean Ave). By the time we hit 8th Ave., we were all giving whatever we had left.

I enjoyed this sprint because I discovered about two or three more gears! I need to work on how quickly I can respond to surges (I think this is more mental attention that physical) but during the sprint I felt like I increased my threshold for pain and speed in that final 200m. I don’t know how to explain it, but I found something that surprised me in that final sprint. I’m sure I looked like some crazed giant hauling ass in that last leg of the race. If I find photos, I’ll post them.

Anyway, I managed to hold off the other two guys in the sprint and finish strong. I felt good about my race and humbled by all the athletic talent found on Vancouver Island. This is such a special place for athletics and I’m very fortunate to live here.

Congratulations to triathletes Paula Findlay for setting the new course record for women (16:33) and to Jon Bird who placed 4th overall and was the fastest triathlete at the race. Full results for the 2011 Bazan Bay 5km race can be found here.

My Results

• 16:17 5km
• 20th overall
• 5th in the 30-34 agegroup

After the race, I got some massage from Synergy. Suffice it to say that I need make rolling, stretching, and massage part of my regular routine (which reminds me that I need to get to fundraising asap).

And one more thing . . .
I am extremely grateful to EVOC for their support in protecting my new, 2011, Argon 18 E-114 TT bike as it journeyed from SpeedTheory in Calgary to my humble home in Victoria. I noticed a few ITU athletes using EVOC bags last year, so I started investigating them (EVOC, not the athletes). EVOC’s bike travel bags are very light while offering excellent protection for bikes of all types (road, TT, mountain, downhill) and I am grateful to them for helping me out.

More on the E-114 soon.