Serene Lakes is a small race (about 50) held at a small lake behind Soda Springs ski resort and next to Royal Gorge summit station. It's about 7000ft. Last year I was 3rd overall and 1st in my division. I was using this race as training but I also wanted to win it this year if possible. 3 of us went up there Saturday morning and I was psyched to go all out. But it was raining & blowing & cold and getting worse every minute. However, that was nothing compared to the water.... 2wks ago the lake still had ice on it. There was water running into the lake from snow banks on every side. We waded into it and our feet and hands ached almost instantly because of the 45° water! Trudi was trying to put on 2 wetsuits! Well, to be short, we were all scared (although too proud to admit it) and finally "turned-tail", left the water, and the race director declared, "OK, then we'll run instead, you have 2 minutes". We transitioned into our running gear (by now everything is soaked from the rain, transition stuff is floating away) and lined up for the start of the Serene Lakes "Duathlon" instead (5kR-20kB-5kR). I moved up to 3rd after the 1st run, put on my helmet which poured water on my head (funny), moved to 1st place after the 3rd lap of the bike, went all out but 2nd place kept gaining and finally passed me w/ .5mi to go!! Still got 1st in my division.