Vernal is bomb

So I'll admit, I didn't know what a race in Vernal Utah was going to be like but it turned out to be sweet. Vernal is the best race site EVER! Jocelyn and I drove out together and were pumped when we got to the race site. Check it:

I jumped on in the water for a pre-swim. Water was nice, perfect temp without a wetsuit.
Here's more lake pics:


Went Subway and to bed, a bit late 11pm but ahh well.
Race day - Jocelyn and I were sweatin it as a wait for a bus from T2 to T1 (15min drive). Where's the bus! We jump into my car to drive it, make it a block and there's the bus. Got to T1 with 25min to the race but then they decided to delay the start so we were all good.
Race started and I was NOT feeling good. Onto Jocelyn's feet about 1min into the swim anddddd..... I stayed there the entire swim. Tried to move ahead at one point to lead us (she doubts this claim) but I was hurtin. Onto the bike and wasn't feeling it early on, was catching Matt Balzer who was in sight but it wasn't fun. About 20min into the bike I got by him and started feeling better. Hit a long uphill where I felt pathetic - in the small ring and riding at what felt like 6mph. But I was catching guys much faster at this point. Got by super swimmer Adam Truex and into what I think was 5th place. There were 2 guys just ahead and I was working on catching them when....pshhhhhh.....there goes the air in my rear tire. Jump off to fix it with my Vittoria fix a flat device and it was missign the #$%#$ piece that actually attaches to the valve to put the air and sealant in my tire. Balzer goes by me and I'm in a cloud of white sealant as the stuff is spraying everywhere! So that was that, the flat was flat and the race was done. Hitched a ride back to watch the finish.
Naturally I was down but everyone on the team did awesome so I felt better. Rakita - 2nd place, Pete - 3rd place, Matt - 5th place then Jocelyn came in in 2nd. So all that cheered me up and I felt better. Plus we were all having a fun time on the trip and the camping was good so it was fine.
Did some nice training the next day. We could roll out of our tents and straight into the lake for open water swimming. It may be my new favorite open water swim lake. It's large and in charge but there's not too many boats so you're all good as long as you're reasonably near shore.


The lake was high but once you swam through the thicket and trees it was smooth sailing.
That's my trip to Vernal!