Yeah yeah, I'm not such a wonderful swimmer still. It didn't help that I could never seem to find a clear spot. Certainly the most physical OWS I've ever been a part of. Lots of bodies and arms and feet to keep you on your toes. That said, I felt pretty good with it and came out of the water ready to go!

I possibly should have pushed just a bit harder the last 400-500m, but I knew I wasn't going to be fighting for first out of the water or anything, and didn't want to burn out before I got on the bike.

T1 had a LONG run for me, as my bike was at the very back of the corral, So I unluckily had the farthest to run possible. It didn't help that I got a bit lost as to what my bike looked like ;) Still, everything pretty much went smoothly, the only hiccup was when strapping my shoe on (riding) I came unclipped somehow. Wasn't a problem, just struck me as odd that it happened... need to check how tight my cleats are.

Run faster? I dunno, win the lotto on bike position would have helped a lot!

So... yeah. This is where the day took one of those drastic turns for the worse.

Bike Split 1 - 21mph Average.
Bike Split 2 - 23mph Average.

I hit the turnaround and get pigeonholed to the far side of the road by a passing competitor + a car halfway in our lane. I see the Debri I'm about to headlong into but can't do anything about it but hope. Sadly, the Bonty Aerowing is not made to ride through broken glass and my heart sinks as I hear that terrible "PSSSSSSTTTTTT." Fortunately I'm able to ride it to the side of the road (And contrary to popular belief, latex tube did NOT explode and throw the tire off the rim...)

I quickly pull my patch kit off the back of my bike and get to work. I run my finger through the inside of the tire and don't feel anything (however, I later notice my index finger is cut & bleeding... which means I certainly missed the shard) Tube in and tire back on and I'm back on the road in about 2 minutes. I Hero about 3/4 a mile trying to fight back into my race, when I hear "PSSSSTTTTT!"

F*($#@#@!!!!

And sadly, that's about where our story ends. Two flats, no more tubes or Co2, I sit on the side of the road and wait for the SAG wagon and cheer on the other people. I have to say, I was very thankful and surprised at how great the other competitors were. I had a ton of people ask if I needed anything or if I was OK. While waiting on the sag wagon I did get to help out a couple of fellow athletes. Some Highlights...

- One guy's Crankarm(!) came off while he was pedaling! He stopped and fortunately had a multitool and we were able to get him back on the road.

- A Girl's stem had not been tightened up after her flight, and we had to rig it to hold tight enough so that she could ride it in without her aerobars moving independent of her front wheel. She didn't have a multitool and I felt bad sending her off with a hand tightened stem... but it was her race.

- One guy had actually went off the side of the road on a descent, into the bush. He looked really scratched up, but since his bike was fine he decided to continue on and finish. (he had driven from Canada to TN the day before to Race!) That man HTFU and I hope he finished strong!

That was about it. I was very disappointed as I've been having a LOT of problems on the bike (at least it seems like) lately and I was well on my way to crushing my time from last year... but, that's part of it too.

Nothing. Sometimes it's just not your day.

I do think that I probably took it a bit too easy the first 4-5 miles of the bike, as my power avg. was not all that high... I kept waiting to save some for the climb at mile 8, but it seemed like it was over before it started and I should have spent that energy on some of the flats. Oh well... live and learn.

Got everything situated and found my family (who were worried sick) to let them know I was ok. Went home, fired up Dragon Age 2 on the Xbox and had some crown and coke to celebrate my defeat... felt like I deserved it haha. Nothing like 12 hours of drinking and gaming to relieve some stress.




Glass.


Rev3 is the real deal. If you haven't had the pleasure of doing a Rev3 event yet, I highly recommend it. I assume it's even better if you have children, as there is tons of stuff for them to do.