Callie's First Triathlon

Photographer- Matt Miller

Shred.

Photo courtesy of X-Trifecta

Ped.

Photographer-Matt Miller

Tread.

My three favorite outdoor activities merged into the X-Trifecta. To top it all off, it was held at Bear Creek Resort, which is hands down, the best place to mountain bike in PA.  If you’ve never been to Bear Creek, you’re in for a surprise. The climbs are long and technical, the descents are long and technical, and well, you get the idea, the course is technical. Apparently not many people got the memo about how difficult the course is, especially the guy on the road bike.  Or the girl on the beach cruiser. 

Going up the lift to the first stage, I felt as nervous as I do before all competitions. This time felt different though. Maybe it’s because I looked like a kid playing dress up in their mom’s closet.  My outfit consisted of wearing my bike pants with snowboard boots, my large snowboarding jacket, along with my biking helmet and Adidas glasses. Fortunately, everybody looked like a goober that day. 

The snowboard run was about 3 minutes and it led you to the transition area. This was the designated section where all the racers prepared all of their gear necessary for the next 2 segments. At this point, I only had to swap out my boots for my Northwave shoes, ditch the jacket, strap on my camelbak and take off! It felt good to be on the bike and I knew this was the part that I needed to kill in order to do well that day. I quickly passed a lot of people who were struggling with the roughness of the trail. After 2 miles in, I was completely alone and it just became a fun day of riding my favorite course. It also was a reality check in that my technical skills flew south for the winter. Hopefully with time they’ll return. After the final descent, the trail led back into the transition area. I changed my shoes, stripped my jacket, and was off again for the final leg of the race. 

Going into this, I knew the 5k run would be my weakest point, but I attempted to keep a good pace.  At this point,  my legs felt like jelly and hopping through rocks and roots wasn’t making it any easier. The trail followed the same course as the bike, which meant it was all uphill. It was certainly the most grueling part of the race for me, but at least I knew where the course went and how it ended. Always knowing that information makes a race a little bit easier. The last ½ mile of the run made us scuttle down the icy tubing trail and back around the resort. It felt great crossing the finish line especially since my goal was only to finish my first triathlon. 

The results came in shortly after and that’s when I found out I won for the ladies! I was also 13^th overall in a field of over a hundred. It felt great to open up the season with a win, especially at  Bear Creek, a place 2nd only exists for me. Overall, it was an amazing day (over 60 degrees), a nicely run triathlon, and a good win under my belt. 

Photo courtesy of X-Trifecta