XTERRA Lock 4: pre-race

July 17th I boarded a plane for Nashville, TN - my home until June of last year. The 2007 XTERRA Lock 4 triathlon was my first ever XTERRA and I finished 5th in my AG racing on my Gary Fisher Rig singlespeed. I've been dying to race on this course again since I crossed the finish line two years ago.

Friday afternoon I was able to swing by Chandler's house and pick up his Niner MCR steel 29er HT that he was generously letting my borrow for the weekend. At first the small frame tubes had me kind of worried, but this bike was more than up to the challenges of the weekend. I swung by Calypso Cafe for a late lunch and then to my parents' house.

I got the Niner pretty well dialed in (raised the seat, lowered the brake levers, and put on my SPD pedals) and then hung with my folks before going out to dinner only a couple of hours after "lunch". I made a quick phone call to my longtime childhood friend who I had talked into doing this race with me in February and that got me fired up for the next morning.

Morning came pretty early - 5am central time - so 3am Arizona time. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it wasn't ideal. I ate my usual muscle milk shake, oatmeal with raisins, granola bar, and redbull. I had uncharacteristic race morning GI issues which had less to do with the race and more to do with my body's usual reaction to early morning wake-up calls.

I was on the road by 5:30am and arrived at the race site a little after 6:00am for an 8:00 start. I was the third car in the parking lot and had the fourth bike in transition. I picked up my race packet, made a couple more bathroom stops, and spent some time enjoying the cool Tennessee morning (sweatpants and sweatshirt pre-race!). Slowly friends and family arrived including Brooks who was able to grab a sweet transition spot right next to me.

More to come with pictures.....stay tuned