While I have done Tri’s for 7 years, this was my first foray into an Off Road tri. Having just learned rudimentary mtn. bike skills, I set off for a long but fun race morning. Myself, my husband (cdnbiker) and 2 friends headed up to Calabogie from the Brockville area, 3 of us competed in the Off Road Tri and one gal did the Off Road Du. (Tri was 750 - 15K - 7.5k) I am pleased to say… I survived! 3:11:06 SWIM - 16:20 - Good for 4th! The swim time includes the ~600M run from the beach to the bikes. Over a golf course, dirt road, paved road, dirt road, grassy field. NOT so much fun! BIKE - 1:55 - Good for 18th! Out of 18. The climb up to get to the trail…~800M up. We had to climb one of the ski slopes (bunny hill) and it was lung busting hard. I biked up half of it and realized I was expending WAY to much energy in the first 5 minutes so I walked, with 10 other people up hill. The single track parts were hellishly hard. Wet, boggy and some of it BRAND SPANKIN’ NEW. The double track though…WHEEEEEEEEEE! I excelled at the Double track spots. I ended up riding the 2 loop course w/ a friend, so it was quite enjoyable. Lots of puddles to dodge and the raspberry bushes did a number on my legs. I did careen off the course at one point, down a hill. I grabbed the tree beside to me slow me down but it was only a baby tree, 1" wide so it did nothing but bend with me. Promptly fell of the bike and was upside down laughing my head off. Picked my self back up, sucked in some dirt+gatorade and off I went to get back onto the course. To get back to the TZone, you had to go DOWN the steep hill - loose rocks/gravel, sand etc. It was fantastic to fly down, as I did. Then you hit a sandy grassy area and came to a dead stop, then had to still bike in to rack your bike. RUN - 52:52 - Good for 17th! Out of 18th. The run was hilly but very pretty. Went past a lake and some swanky cottages. I was chugging along in my own little world. As you can tell by my time, I was in NO hurry! It was a very quiet loop, maybe 8 of us on the course but spread out. I did the run at my hokey little pace and enjoyed every minute of it. As a bonus, I met KENTIGER and ORCAMAN after the race. It was nice to meet some Slowtwitchers. Steve Bradley (sometimes poster) was also there and placed in his AG. I heard rumor that CerveloGuy was there but didn’t see him. Overall, I am really glad I did the Off Road Tri and look forward to doing it next year - after I learn a lot more skills. HSBC put on a great event and all 4 of us enjoyed the day. Couple things they could improve on but nothing that takes away from the race. If you are thinking of doing an Off Road tri next year, this is one to do!
Awesome! There are not enough girls who go offroad! I love them way more than road races. Always great fun memories from every time you get on a mountain bike. I have had so many unmemorable road bike rides, but never off road!
keep it between the trees - even the little ones! 
enjoy the next one!
Cheryl
Way to go! I did an off-road tri last year and it was one of the toughest races I’ve ever done!