Hi Melanie,

Congratulations on your win this past weekend - must be special to take the crown in your home country.

This is my first year racing Xterra and I've raced Temecula, Richmond, and Ogden. My races normally play out with a swim/bike that puts me into the top 1 or 2 in my division, once on the run the good runners track me down in the final miles.

As the year has progressed I've gotten better, but I'm wondering if I'm holding back to much on the bike. My best race was in Richmond where the run was flatter than the others. I've heard that Tahoe has a relatively flat run, and I'm wondering if I should use a strong swim/bike combo to put some more time into my competition as I run better on flatter courses.

I'm also interested to see if you'll be running a different front tire from your back. I live in the SW so I'm always riding in dry loose conditions and I have found that running a higher volume tire on the front gives me much better control downhill and minimizes front wheel washout.

Thanks,

Craig

Hi Craig,

Well the good news is the course in Tahoe will favor a strong swim/biker. Most of the race is on the bike, with times longer than 1h30 for even the strongest men. The run itself is more of a true 10km with times around what you would run for 11km, so not a very long run. You can easily win this race with a strong swim/bike combo as long as you don't give away too much real estate on the last leg.

If your strength is the bike then maximize it. Go all out. I believe everyone is pretty tired going into the run no matter what they have "saved" on the bike so you are going to run the split you are capable of no matter if you saved a percentage or two while you are riding. GEt it done. The most important thing is to ensure you fuel enough on the bike to finish the race. If you do that well you will be capable of putting it all out there on the bike and still finishing strong.

Lots of runs OFF the bike will help your run split. Do those too

I am running Larson UST 2.0 on both the front and the back but I will be running lower pressure on the front tire to make it a bit better in the corners. I find a larger front tire is usually better in loose conditions but since Tahoe is pretty much sand the whole way you need a fat front and rear tire.