Silver in the City of Gold

City of Gold Triathlon Race Report
2006 marks the fourth year of the City of Gold Triathlon, a sprint distance event held at Lake Oroville in Oroville, CA. I have competed each year the race has been held and have watched it grow both in competitive spirit and quality. The race still retains its low key, beginner friendly atmosphere that makes it so special. I have returned year after year to support race directors Nikki Hertl and Julie Healy offering services and products from Hypercat Racing for the race award ceremony raffle. It is because of people like Nikki and Julie that people get into the triathlon lifestyle.

This year, as in others, I race the City of Gold tri as a training workout to gauge fitness and simply for the fun of it. Being a three time overall female champion garnered one single perk, that of having a target the size of the lake on my back. A terrific thing, since competition brings out the best in us!

The day before the race, I made an appearance at “Swim, Bike, Run and Then Some” a multisport specialty store located in downtown Oroville. Along with Coach Phil Casanta, I answered questions and talked shop about triathlon with athletes as they picked up their race packets. One of the highlights of the race weekend was meeting, Jayne Williams. Jayne is a triathlete living in Silicon Valley who describes herself as a “Slow Fat Triathlete.” Jayne just authored an inspiring book of that same title. (I bought her book well over a year ago! Pick up a copy.) Jayne is the type of person you want to hang out with and you can bet I will in the future! I had a lot of fun talking with Jayne and talking about a possible partnership on various projects in the future. With the store appearance concluded and my packet and registration materials picked up it was time to get everything ready for race day.

For this event and other sprint races like it, I keep things very simple. However, I still go through the same routine and entrust the same equipment, clothing and nutrition that I do for the more significant events. For race day I planned to ride my Blue RC4 equipped with Profile aerobars, Jagwire cables & housing and Cane Creek Aros wheels.I also had my trusty and lucky Oomph! power tri top and shorts ready for racing.Race morning I put on my race clothes and carefully applied my temporary tattoos. Today, Jagwire would once again adorn my ankles, Pro Tech skin care on my shoulders and Powerbar would be prominently displayed on my gear. As I set up my transition, I felt pretty good, loose and relaxed. In checking out the swim venue, it seemed that the course was a bit longer than a half mile, but I figured I’d get my money’s worth!

There were two separate waves for the women, with my wave being the first of the two. Along with other women under 35, we started 5 minutes after the previous wave of men. The gun went off and I quickly found myself in the churning waters of Lake Oroville.I’m still working on turning up the intensity while racing in the water and I felt like I was working hard and getting in decent position. This was my second race in the new Blue Seventy Helix wetsuit. Man, is that suit sweet! I felt good, strong and like I was slipping through the water. While drafting is illegal on the bike, it is fair game in the swim. I tried to get on some fast feet, but the group just in front of me wasn’t swimming a very good line, so I opted to swim solo and stick closer to the course line. I exited the water in 6th place according to yells from my coach.

The bike course, 12 miles in length, is incredibly short compared to what I am used to. A fairly demand route, the bike starts with a series of rollers and a climb up from the reservoir. I caught 4 girls in the first mile of the ride, thanks to the uphill route. From there I road as hard as I could muster. After some time I thought I must be in the lead as I was catching men from the previous two waves. I was wrong! There is a turnaround point and before I reached it, I spied a blond ponytail in the wind flying past me in the opposite direction. Yikes. I knew I was riding a course PR, so I knew that the leader must be an ace swimmer. I rode as hard as my legs would pump and little by little I closed down the 3:28 gap that the leader had on me out of the swim. Be the time we hit transition, I could see the leader…a top ranked triathlete and former UC Berkeley stand out swimmer. Awesome!

I started the run a little hesitant and even a little scared wondering if I could chase this gal down. The entire run was on winding trails in the woods. I used the men on course as ‘marks’ and reeled each one in one by one. At one point, I passed a guy who said between breaths, “man, there is a really tanned, hard body chic just up ahead, go get her.”I tried. As we approach the final leg of the run, the trail breaks out onto a ridge and I could see that I was closing the gap bit by bit. In the end I ran out of real estate. I crossed the finish line :17 back from the winner and placed 2nd.

Naturally I was going for a 4th win at this fun race, but I had a terrific effort and learned some good lessons during the race. As it turns out, I had the fastest bike split for the woman and outsplit the winner on the run, too. Her swim spanked mine and thus she earned her win, leading from start to finish.
So, it was a 2nd place finish at City of Gold and my best time in the past few years.Now its on to the next race, the Uvas South Bay Triathlon, another training event before we hit the Escape from Alcatraz and Caliman Half Ironman. Race Day is Sunday, May 21, 2006. A race report will follow!
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Thanks for the support!
-Rachel