Union County Colorfest Biathlon: Bob Marshall

Hi ABD'ers;

Here are results for my final season Duathlon (this one was actually a Biathlon)..


Race: Union Colorfest 2006 Biathlon [5k road run / 17.5 mile road bike] Location: Anna, Illinois (south of SIU,Carbondale) Date: Saturday, October 14th

Got up at 6:00am...temperature outside 35 degrees Drove the bike course(very hilly, with 10 hills total over 17.5 miles...most not too bad, 300-400yds or so, only 3 really were tough double-hill climbs)! The middle 10 miles of road was pretty rough, with asphalt patches all over the place, making for a tough time, having to "watch your line" on the fast descents.

Got back over to starting area...put my bike into transition area..and the warmed up (about 10 minutes on Cyclopps...AGAIN, NOT ENOUGH WARMUP,NO RUNNING EITHER....HOW STUPID!!)

Race started 8:30 sharp...still cold ~ 45 degrees at start of 5k run...went thru 5k in about 10th-11th place or so in slowish 19:51...then out bike transition at about 20:50 (about 1 minute...should have been closer to 45 seconds, but ok, very controlled).

The first 4 miles of the bike roads were good (Rt 51), with new pavement, long gradual grades, etc. Then off the main state highway, onto the side roads for next 10 miles. Again, middle section of bike corse had extremely poor pavement, patch work all over the place...first two major climbs had to use smaller 42 chainring...rest of race large 54 chainring...muscled my way, off-seat over the tops, and finally getting fairly aggresive on the quick descents (having to "eagle-eye" the rouch pavement patchwork).

Then, back onto good highway again, for last 3.5 miles to finish.

Total time: 1:11:34 4th place overall (1st 50-54) (10 seconds out of 2nd place..1:11:24)

Approx. 185 competitors which did include some team competition. Final results to be posted in couple days at....

www.geocities.com/southern_illinois_cycling/

P.S. - I beat 3 college kids from Team Mack (2 on a team and 1 solo)!

See ya, at boot camp!

Bob Marshall