Wait! We're at altitude?!

David and I competed at the YFC Seeley Lake Triathlon a couple of weeks ago.  Last year, Trayc and I made plans to go to Yellowstone this August.  When Tracy found out that one of our friends, Bryan Brosious, had done the Seeley Lake Triathlon last year on the same weekend we planned to go to Yellowstone this year, she "suggested" that we reciprocate and race at Bryan's local race on the way.  So, there we were, headed to Yellowstone with a couple of tri-bikes on the roof of the van.
 Unfortunately, we found out that Bryan had decided to call it a year and wouldn't be at the race.  David's comment was, "That's too bad.  But now, I have a chance to win!"  Those words would be somewhat prophetic. 

Just as at Moses Lake, David's Hammer kit was black and mine was lime green, so he asked if I wanted to switch helmets so that we had matching helmet and kit.  Of course I agreed.

We rolled into the Riverpoint Campground at Seeley Lake on race morning.  After picking up our packets and getting everything ready, David and I looked around.  The transition area was pretty empty (and would remain that way.  We found out later that the publicity for the race didn't happen, so the turnout was very low).  We got our instructions and headed to the water's edge. 

The gun went off and I started swimming straight into the sun towards the first buoy.  As I made the first turn, all of a sudden, I felt like I was swimming backwards and was short of breath.  I switched from my usual bilateral breathing to breathing one side, alternating sides.  Apparently, David flew through the swim, and exited the water in 1st place by over a minute.  In fact, he was so fast that he beat everyone out of transition... including the volunteer who was in charge of manning the first turn on the bike.  So... while the course was supposed to be a right turn out of the campground, David went left (I nearly made the same mistake, even though the volunteer was there and yelling at me by the time I got there). 

I got out of the water in 7th and quickly moved up into 3rd place.  I trailed eventual winner Micah Hill to the bike turnaround and then went past him and the first place rider, so I was leading the race.  Since I did not see David, I had the sinking feeling that he had made a wrong turn on the bike.  I led Micah until the turn into the campground, and then he turned inside of me and took the lead.  We exited transition within 50 yards of each other, but I knew that I was in deep trouble, as my legs felt dead. 

As I headed out on the run, Tracy yelled at me: "David took a wrong turn."  I filed that in my brain as I tried to make up ground on first place, but to no avail.  Micah put two minutes on me in 3.3 miles.  Finishing second was somewhat bittersweet; I was happy with how I had done, although a win would have been better, but it was tempered by David's disappointment.  He had pushed so hard during the first few miles of the bike that he lost all of his focus when he realized that he had made a wrong turn.  And seeing Tracy on the run basically sunk it for him.

Struggling to keep it together until the end:

Thanks to Ryan who took over cameraman duties and got these great photos of David and me.  After the race, I thought about it and wondered if Seeley Lake was at altitude.  I looked it up and, yes, indeed, it is over 4,000 feet in elevation.  Needless to say, that helped to explain the fact that I thought I was going backwards on the swim, and had dead legs on the run.