So anyway... Part III

So, how did you go?
Well, I finished. It took 6 hours and 6 minutes, but all three of us in the team crossed the line together as one. It was a great sense of achievement.
I've just discovered we actually did beat the other team I mentioned in the previous post, so I'm surprised and happy about that.
How was the course?
Difficult. I think that word sums it up the best. The kayak leg was removed from the course due to the lake being closed and it was replaced with extra run and mountain bike legs. The map above outlines the course. The blue sections are the cross country running and the red sections are the mountain biking sections. Each leg of the race had checkpoints that had to be navigated to and in all there were about 40 checkpoints throughout the race.
It was fun. In fact, there were a couple of times where I had to stop because of the laughter. I totally enjoyed racing with Dave and Judo. We worked well together... despite Judo and I coming close to blows at an early stage at one checkpoint.
Could you have done any better?
Of course. We made a couple of navigation errors. But, those errors were only really obvious in hind-sight. I think now that we have a little more experience in this caliber of event we could improve on our effort. It would involve some serious training though. The good thing to hear after the race was that some seasoned tri-athletes said there was no comparison between this race and a triathlon. This was tougher.
So some highlights then?
For sure.

• For me it felt great to be racing on my mountain bike. I've never been in a mountain bike race before and this was so thrilling. Every corner was important. Your position on the track, who you followed and who followed you all counted. I think I enjoyed this bit the most. I was racing. Woot!
  
• The laughter. I enjoyed the day so much.
• This is a bit of a personal thing for me, but I proved to myself on this race that I could do it. The same as any other adventure-man, and I could be competitive.
• Crossing the finish line as a team was a very good feeling.
• The heat in my leg muscles after the race.
• The hot shower back in the hotel. All the cuts and tiny scratches tingle as the hot water ran over my body. I'm slightly bruised and scratched. Oh, there is nothing more satisfying that that shower after an adventure like this.
  

I'm satisfied.