Sweet - Sugar Bottom XTERRA

Jared and I with our Sugar Bottom Nut bling...They fit on the XTERRA B.O.L.T -award Bolt... Kind of a fun concept to link the two races together...and also create a little rivalry with the Iowa folks.

Jared Carlson - Chief promoter of the B.O.L.T. XTERRA - and I, along with my daughter made our way over to Iowa City, IA...well closer to Solon, Iowa for the Sugar Bottom XTERRA. We were not disappointed. Pasha the race coordinator found an excellent course to present to the XTERRA race crowd.



The Swim, a 1 mile swim in Coralville Lake, was an out and back...1/2 mile out...yep...pretty hard to even see the end buoy for us hard of sight individuals...made it a little hard for me to tack a straight line on the swim....probably swam a few extra meters as I weaved my course. They did 5 waves at the start to spread people out on the MTB course. It worked well, although I was really worried that it would make for a long day on the single track on the bike course trying to get around people, especially since I was in the last wave, 20 minutes down from the first starters. My worries never came to fruition as the wave start spread people out nicely and people were more than polite letting my by on the bike. Very Nice lake...never did hear water temps, but was much too warm for a wet suit...but not too hot...pleasant. My Swim time was a little better than mid pack, believe it or not I'm getting a little bit faster. 32:50. Those pool intervals are slowly paying off - Maybe?



The MTB section was Sugary sweet single track. For those in the know, kind of like Platte river without the tightness and steepness found there. Nice loamy soil and a big canopy overhead helped keep the temps down on an already warm and humid day. The course is pretty flowy with a lots of tree roots to keep you on your toes along with some rocks here and there. Ran too much air in my tires - 30 LBs in the 29er tires, but maybe saved me from a pinch flat. The bike section ended up close to 16 miles. Fifth fastest bike time.



THE RUN - Ouch...Good rolling hills, you had to climb out of the transition zone for maybe a 1/2 mile before dropping into the running loop single track. We did two loops on the run, of which about 1.75 miles of the loop were in the single track canopy with a road section that connected the single track each time. The road section was Brutal...out in the open sun and fairly big rolling hills where the climbs started to melt your brain cells...OK maybe not that bad...but you had to let the legs go on the down hills and try to find your groove on the ups. The finish sent you back down with nice descent with tired legs for just under 5.5 miles total. 6th fastest run...ending 7th overall. 1st age group. The winner was blazing fast, Chris Scott from Morrison Il. taking 18 min out of me.



My partner in crime, Jared, who is training for an Ironman this year, settled in for a great result too, 11th overall and 1st age group. Pretty successful trip for the Nebraska contingent.




Up next - Thunder Run this Saturday, never done it before. Takes place out on the airstrip in Lincoln. Pretty flat...Hopefully my legs can recover by then...real sore today still.

Get signed up for B.O.L.T. !