The Life and Times of Sam Luna

Photo by Aaron Palaian As usual Ben Proko puts on a really great race event at Magnolia Hill Ranch. This is my 3rd year to do a race here, and my second year to do the triathlon. This years course had a few changes from later year. A bit longer swim at around 500m, a 9 mile "gravel" bike course and then around a 3 mile run. I didn't have the chance to check out the course prior to race morning so I was sure to get there earlier and pre ride a few of the new sections. Transition was setup "open rack". You get to pick your spot, so I grabbed and end spot to make it easy in and out. First I headed out on the bike and noticed the sandy course, I got just comfortable enough to feel mentally prepped. Then I pre-rode the new 1st mile of the run course and was immediately bogged down with sticky sand that was DEEP. I turned around and headed over to the lake to give the bike a bath and clear off the caked on sand. Back in transition I double checked my set up, grabbed m

Great Off Road race down here in Texas, a short drive to Navasota from Houston. 400yd Lake Swim, 8 Mile MTB on Jeep Trails and 2 mile run around the lake. Same location for Xterra Magnolia Hill. This is a great  race  put on by Race Director Ben Proko. 2 days of racing including an adventure race, Sprint Tri, Du and Relays all included. For me this was my welcome back to racing in 2020, so I was excited about getting to come back in 2021. in 2020 I did the Du and this year I opted for the Tri. Swim morning the water temp was reported 73 degrees, so I opted to wear my wetsuit that I had thrown in. I figured it would take me about 10-20 secs extra to take it off, but I would save that per 100yards. So about a minute gained for a poor swimmer was a bonus. The bike   course   was the same as last year, so I was happy to be about 3 mins faster this year. They had laid down some fresh sand through out the course. This caused a few people including myself to slide around a bit on a few of the