I really didn't feel all that great on the bike. It took a few miles for the legs to warm up and even then, I never did feel like I settled into a good rhythm. I started in the last wave and 3 of the other 6 people in my wave looked pretty damn quick. One guy on a black Felt B2 and some Zipp wheels was out of site after the first 2 miles. Exchanged places with a guy on a black and yellow Giant several times before he rode away. Kept him in sight the whole ride and pased another guy from my wave in a yellow jersey at the turnaround. The three of us rode separated by about 50 meters all the way to the transition.

Warm up. Had my legs been loose, I think I would have been well ahead of both of the other 2 guys. As far as execution goes, I rode my race at my pace and pushed up the hills where I thought I should. My legs were whipped at the end of the ride but not so much that they were empty for the run.

Had a fast transition. Passed the guy that was riding the black and yellow Giant here but it was short lived.

Almost forgot to take off my helmet but other than that, this was a near perfect transition. Swapped shoes in a flash, shed my jacket and off I went.

1/4 mile out of transition, the guy who rode the black/yellow giant ran by me and my legs weren't ready to pick up the pace yet. 1st 3/4 of a mile was all paved and a little up hill. We then hopped onto a snow packed trail for about a mile. About 1/2 way in I heard foot steps behind me and suspected it was the tall dude in the yellow jersey. I didn't look back, just picked up the pace enough to hold him off. Once back on pavement, I picked up the pace a bit more. After a couple minutes, I thought I was gonna pop, but I decided to just push through it. I found a rhythm and the footsteps behind disappeared. Never did catch the other guy. Hell, I didn't even see him on the course at that point. Finished strong and caught a couple other folks from previous waves.

Maybe run a little faster on the snowpack