On this blog I'll be posting my race reports, training, and things triathlon related during my first year on the ONE Multisport Elite team.
This year started off great for me. I was offered a slot on the ONE Elite team, and I was in the best shape of my life. To say I was excited was an understatement. I wanted to try something different this year, so I started racing road bikes in road races, crits, and time trials. My season started off with a lot of cycling racing where I gained some experienced, but not without some difficulties along the way. I had a few crashes, and when I was racing crits I was always out front, typical triathlete feeling the need to TT, and I would always get swarmed when it came time to sprint for the finish. I had a couple of good results, but that first win was still elusive.
This past weekend I traveled with my girlfriend to Duncan, AZ, where the Javelina Chase road race was taking place. Still being relatively new to cycling racing I raced in the Collegiate C wave. Our wave was mixed with the men cat 4/5 riders, which made our start pack a decent size. Although this is the "beginner" wave I knew of a couple of fast people that I would be racing. The course was two 25mi loops with mostly gentle rollers and a steep hill for a couple of miles. Being a heavier guy I like flatter courses like this one. When the race started we went a pretty casual pace until the first climb at mile 12, where my main rival, Conrad, and myself began to push the pace. We shrunk the pack from around 30 people to around 12 riders. The next part of the race we kept a pretty consistent fast pace line going to share the work at the front. Then we hit the hill again. Once there Conrad, a rider from the cat 4/5 wave, and myself kept the pace pretty high up the climb, and we further shrunk the pack to just under ten riders. From there a few attacks happened, but no one was able to breakaway because of the high speeds we were traveling and the headwind. Knowing it would be a sprint finish, I decided to be conservative for the last few miles and cover any attacks that happened. With about a half a mile to go I was mid-pack and we could see the finish line in the distance. The pace accelerated, and when I saw my opportunity to sprint I went for it. I gave it everything I had, and ended up crossing the finish line in first. I also beat the guys in the Cat 4/5 race, which made me very happy.
Conrad finished second and was still out riding his bike when awards happened. I can't wait to do more cycling racing. It's so much fun!!!
I have done a couple of triathlons this year and they have given me mixed results. My first triathlon of the year was in San Diego, where I raced the draft legal sprint race on saturday and the non-draft legal sprint race sunday. On Saturday I got kicked in the face so hard my goggles flew off, and it hurt a lot. After recovering from that I was pretty close to the back coming out of the water. I did my best on the bike, but being one of the last ones out of the water I was with a slow group of riders and couldn't make much time up. Knowing I wouldn't finish well I took the run at tempo pace. I was pretty disappointed, but knowing I was racing the next day I focused my energy on that. The next day I had a much better swim, and my bike and run went very well. I ended up running a 17:26 5k, which I was very pleased with.
My next triathlon was in Lake Havasu, where I competed in the Collegiate Olympic race. By this point in my season I had raced a lot, and was unsure how my body would respond to the work load. Unfortunately on this day I just had no power. My bike time was ok, but once I started the run I knew it wasn't going to go well. I struggled my way through and once I finished, I was pretty disappointed. I knew I was stronger than that so I needed a confidence booster to get me back on form. Luckily the next weekend was the Duncan road race, which I won (see above), and gave me the confidence boost I needed after the disappointing result.
In two weeks I have the Marquee Triathlon, and two weeks after that I'm racing in Collegiate Nationals in Clemson, SC. I'm really looking forward to these races, as I'm feeling very strong at the moment.
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