Deca Iron Report

i finally found a minute to report from the double deca and deca iron races being held in Monterrey, MX. The races began on Sunday, Nov. 14th. This year, the format is continuous, all of the swim, then all of the bike, followed by the run. I arrived last Thursday and have been busy ever since. The continuous format places a lot of stress on the equipment, and I have been doing a lot of bike repairs, in addition to providing support for Wayne Kurtz. Wayne is competing in the deca iron triathlon, 24 miles of swimming, 1120 miles of cycling, and 262 miles of running (10 marathons). As of Tuesday morning, he has completed six marathons, only four more to go. These are the toughest though, as everything hurts. The weather has turned hotter, causing us to change strategy, running during the night and sleeping through the hotter part of the day. The course is a 1.2 mile loop, and the back side begins to get shady around 3:30 in the afternoon. We are sleeping a few hours before midnight, and then a few hours at noon, it seems to provide the best results. Although at this point, just moving is a win. As in past years, the main struggle is keeping Wayne eating. It is a constant struggle to keep up with the huge caloric expenditure. Christian, from France was the winner in the deca race, finishing in just under 20 hours, only about eight hours off of the world record. In the double deca, it is close at the top, with four men within a few hours of each other. They are still on the bike portion, with about 250 miles still to go. We are seeing lot of unusual bike problems. Gregor Sundin, from Sweden, had his rear derailluer shifter break, so we fixed the bike in a single gear so that he could continue to ride. Once he stops for a sleep break, I will try to get the shifter repaired. It may not be possible. The folks from Denmark have an entire team of Helpers, and we have borrowed a few things from them. They have a bike mechanic, but he took a few days off, so he is not around to help with repairs. They also posted some video from early in the race, you can see it by going to decatri.dk. It is all in their language, but look for the link on the page that has video in the word. Check out the swim video, with Gregor using only one arm, it had us all laughing.