The swim was short at just 300 meters. It was a pool swim, making for 6 laps of 50 meters each. They had the pool laned off. The lanes were wide, but it still made for a mess with passing. They seeded us by estimated swim time. I had guessed my time back in June when I registered. I had put 6:00 as my time. I haven't done much swim training lately, so I thought maybe I had fudged it a little and was afraid I might get in someone's way. Well, apparently everyone else fudged way more than me. I was seeded back in 275th, which I thought was probably right because I am not at all a good swimmer. Wrong. I was back with people that were drowning for 300 meters, not swimming. I was in heavy traffic the entire swim. People were hanging onto the side and walking after 100 meters. I was a little upset that I had been put behind so many people that couldn't swim. I mean come on! It's a short swim and you are already walking after just 100 meters?! Having 5-10 bad swimmers ahead of you is understandable, but I passed 50 people in a swim that took less than 6 minutes! My time was 5:57, right on my estimate so I guess I didn't fudge it at all. In the transition area, I noticed blood going down my hand. I had taken a significant chunk of flesh out of my hand when I clipped the lane divider trying to make a pass. I guess with all the adrenaline I didn't even feel it.
The scene at the pool just before the start
The pool is full of swimmers now
Me putting on my goggles as I step into the water. Almost go time!
Me grabbing some air during the swim
I'm coming up on some traffic here. Got two swimmers to pass.
I'm the swimmer closest to the camera. Finally made the move by squeezing between the divider and the other swimmer. I think this is where I lost the chunk out of my hand.
Getting on the bike is always crazy. I think I'm the only one that knows how to clip in and can ride straight while doing it. You really have to pay attention the first 30 seconds of the bike ride or you will get taken out by a crazy. The swim was a great warm-up and I got right into a fast rhythm on the bike. I did make one mistake today. A mile into the ride I realized I had forgotten my water bottle. So I did the entire race with no water, other than one tiny cup at the halfway point of the run.
A rider heads out on the bike course
Me out of the saddle in the middle of two riders
Transition area
I was blasting by people the entire bike ride. The course had many rolling hills that took 20-30 seconds to climb. I was able to hit them with some speed and stay in the big-ring over the top. I was sprinting by groups of people. The speed difference was even more than it was at the Music City Triathlon. I am not even exaggerating when I say that some people were doing 10 mph where I was doing 22 mph. It was scary to pass people. All it would take is one guy to swerve over and we both would be splattered on the road.
I was not aware that we could only pass on the right in a triathlon. I just stayed left out of common bike courtesy. That's just the way you pass on bikes. I didn't realize it was a USAT rule as well. I did have to pass a guy on the right though, but it wasn't by choice. He pulled out to make a pass on another rider as we were nearing a 90-degree right turn. I waited patiently behind, trying not to draft. They rode side-by-side for a minute, then the guy on the left (that I was following) just slammed on his brakes. We were still a good 150 meters from the turn. I was not expecting it and had to dart right in order to miss his back wheel. Needless to say, with his loss of speed I went right on by and then passed the other rider on the correct side after the turn. I didn't want to do it, but I was avoiding an accident. Remember this moment because it will be significant later.
The road that took us back into the Cedars of Lebanon State Park was a fun little roller-coaster. I loved it! There was even a rough stretch of road near the end that played into my strengths. The road was kind of narrow and I had a battle with a car that kept passing me then slowing down. I passed him back twice and yet he insisted on driving next to me and just in front of me. I was so worried that I would get a penalty for drafting the car or that they would think he was with me. My bike time was good, 4th best overall. And again, like at Music City, I was fastest up the hills and did not lose a single position while on the bike. I ended the 16.4-mile bike section in 43:36 with a 22.6 mph avg speed. I got yelled at entering the transition area. The officials tend to freak out when you come in at 20+ mph and dismount cyclocross-style. They don't see that sort of thing at these events. I made sure I dismounted before the line and then set my sight on the run.
Transitioning to the run. It's always a good feeling when there are no other bikes around you. That's when you know you had a good ride time.
And I'm off for the 5K run
I was feeling good and knew that my swim and bike times were fast. I knew that if I had a good run I might could get a podium in the 25-29 class. I ran hard and lost just one spot while running (and that came in the first 2 minutes of the run). I completed the 3-mile run in 22:18, almost 2 minutes faster than my goal of 24:00. That made for a 7:23 avg mile.
Me catching two runners just after the turnaround on the run course
Almost done with the run
I was very pleased with my effort, but didn't think that would be good enough to podium. We were about to leave, but Jeff Yeager talked me into waiting for results. And it was a good thing that I stayed because my time of 1:14:45 was good enough for 7th overall and 1st in the 25-29 class! Finally a win in a road triathlon! I had beaten 2nd place by 3:21. I was so excited to be getting on the podium. I thought it was weird that they announced my time as 1:16:45 when I got called up, but I figured it was just a mistake.
Men's Overall Podium. Congrats to Jeff Yeager on his 2nd place overall!
Men's and Women's Overall podium
Finally getting to stand on the #1 box at a road triathlon!
Men's 25-29 podium
I get home and check out the results the following day and see that there is a 2 minute time penalty listed next to my name. That's weird. Nothing was listed at the race. I was instantly upset because I thought that they had penalized me for coming into transition area too fast on my bike. I knew I had dismounted before the line and there is no rule on how fast you can come into the transition. It seemed logical with all the yelling I had heard when I did it. So I shot an email to the official and he gave me a full explanation. They had penalized me for passing that guy on the right. An official on a moto was about 200 yards behind us and saw me pass to the right. I was less upset about this penalty, but still not happy about it because I felt I had to do it to avoid crashing. The official was so far behind that he couldn't see the near crash, just me cutting right. He went on to say that the oncoming lane was clear and I should have passed there. What?!!! That blows my mind. Never before have I been told to cross the yellow line and make a pass. He had a full write-up of the scene which is what bothered me. It was not correct. He said the guy that brake-checked me completed his pass of the other rider before the turn and I did not allow adequate time for him to pass before I passed. That's not possible because we went through the turn single-file and I didn't pass the guy that he supposedly passed until after the corner, so I know he didn't make the pass before the corner. I didn't argue it because the official saw what he saw and unless he was up there with us, he couldn't have seen what really happened. Still, I am not happy about it (as you can probably tell) because it looks bad on me. I've already heard a few things said about how I'm having to break the rules to do well in triathlons. That's fine, talk some trash. It's going to take more than a stupid penalty to take my win away. Even with the 2 minute penalty I still won by 1:21. Just more motivation to give it 110% in every event I compete in.
I want to thank my sponsors Maxxis and First Endurance. The new Maxxis Cormet tires were super fast and First Endurance supplied me with the nutrition I needed to stay strong the entire event. I used their EFS Liquid Shot during the race and a bottle of Ultragen afterwards to aid in recovery. And of course, I'm using the awesome Optygen HP daily to help me recover from all this training I've been doing. In addition to my sponsors, I have to thank my wonderful wife, Shannon, for making this married man ride faster than he ever has before!
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