Ngede it done

The final race in this block was another unique one.  My friend Erik has been dreaming up this race for a few years now, and to finally see it come to fruition was exciting.  It is called the Ngede challenge and is a pretty exciting series of events to make up one spectacular 65km race.  Since it is in it's inaugural year the field was pretty small, and this is probably a good thing since there were still a few bugs to work out in terms of course design and marking.  I showed up Friday night to have supper with some of the racers and volunteers and ended up helping finish up some course marking before heading to my folks to catch a bit of sleep.  The next morning was perfect temps, if a bit muggy.  There were 5 of us doing the whole event solo, and maybe 7-8 relay teams entered as well.  Erik I expected to get away on the 10k run that started the race, but thought I could pull him back on the road bike depending on his mountain bike skills.  There were some very fast looking Orbea TT bikes there with their accompanying triathletes.  These guys would be the unknowns, how much would the bikes and multi sport experience chip into the gaps I could put on them in the runs?  The 10k played out pretty much as expected.  One of the relay runners got a huge gap, Erik slowly edged away and probably had 1:30 on me by the exchange.  I was 3rd in with Than right there with me.  I took the time to throw on my EMVC jersey and shoes and hit the bike trails.  I kept it relaxed for the first couple km then started to work the big hills on the black ski loop.  I caught Erik after turning onto the blue loop and overtook him pretty quickly.  The long green climb I was starting to feel it a bit, and after pushing over the black climb I geared up and tried to relax on the long descent to the exchange zone.  The road bike transition went very quickly, just change bikes, no clothing changes at all, and took off, still with no triathletes in sight.  I hadn't seen the relay team in the lead either though, so I wondered if they were away.  I saw a flash of yellow ahead when I was about 3 miles into the bike though, and just kept my head down and pushed as hard as I could maintain knowing what was yet to come.  I caught the relay team rider about 3 miles later and quickly left him behind.  I knew this was going to be my chance to make a gap, and I kept right on the edge of what my legs could handle.  There was a long stretch on a crushed rock bike path, and I could feel the speed slow down compared to the road, and the effort increase.  It was a rail trail, so there was no break to climb or descend, just effort and the slow feeling of the legs creeping towards fatigue.  I tried to keep my focus on staying low and lean and keeping consistent force on the pedals through the entire rotation.  I took a couple glances back, but didn't see anyone closing on me.  Getting back on the road was a welcome change, and I picked up the tempo for the last 7 or so miles in to the last exchange.  I changed shoes, lost the jersey, and hit the trails.  The legs and abs were angry, they didn't like the change of motion.  I hadn't seen anyone else arrive by the time I left the exchange zone though, so I figured I was at least 1:00 clear and was willing to take my time for the first mile to let the legs adjust.  Then I picked up the pace a bit but kept things in control, just in case.  Much of the run was an out and back, so when I passed mile 2 on the way back I knew I had over a mile lead and was able to relax and just work at a comfortable pace the rest of the way in.  I ended up with a rather large win, at least 15:00 I think, since the fastest of the triathletes got lost on the road bike, and Erik stopped to redo some course markings along the way.  There was a Tanzanian feast afterwards that was simply amazing.  It was great to just eat and hang out with a bunch of friends new and old.  With that race done it was nice to go home and relax before heading to the cities the next morning for the EMVC urban warfare ride.