US Open Triathlon

I know its not a cycling event, but the US Open Triathlon is coming to Dallas on Sunday Oct 5. There's two distances, Olympic and Sprint. Both have a 40K bike leg, but the Olympic has a longer swim and run.

One of the unique things about this race is that the bike is a point-to-point race (usually they're a loop that takes you back to your transition area). The bike portion starts at Joe Pool lake and heads into downtown Dallas, finishing at the American Airlines center. This creates some additional logistical challenges, but should be a great experience flying into downtown!

Many top-level professional triathletes race in this event, since this is the championship event in a series and there's a $300,000 prize to be won. The cool thing about a lot of triathlons (including this one) is that you have pro's and amateurs (like me) racing in the same event.

I had planned to do this event last year, but had to cancel due to an injury. I'm signed up again, so hopefully 2008 will be a good one. I'm probably not fast enough to place in my age-group, but I'll try to set a PR.

If you haven't been to watch a triathlon before, I would encourage you to come see this one. The best place for spectators is going to be near the transition area and finish line at American Airlines Center. You'll be able to see the racers come in off the bike and start and finish the run. Again, this is a national, pro-event, so there's a lot of energy and excitement.

More details here:
http://www.usopentriathlon.com/