Well, that was interesting. Some really good, really frustrating events, but overall a great race and fun time. TriStar Minnesota is a 1st time race in the U.S., it's a pretty popular series over in Europe. 1k swim, 100k bike, 10k run. My goal was to have a good swim, solid but controlled bike, and run fast. 2 out of 3 is ok I guess.
Good swim for me. Got out and onto Maik Twelsik's (very strong athlete, led the bike at Hawaii and has won a few Ironmans) feet. Had to fight a bit, but got out with him, Damon Barnett, and Devon Palmer. Had a little trouble in transition, my zipper on my swimskin got stuck, so I ended up ripping the suit apart to get out of it. Pretty funny, the shoulder is completely ripped off, but hey, I got it off.
On the bike, I rode with Damon and AJ Baucco, and the 3 of us settled into a nice groove. Damon missed a turn, we screamed at him but he was in the zone, so then just me and AJ. at ~92k, a guy in a van got very aggressive with us. The pro rules had a stagger rule in place, which means you cant ride behind the rider in front of you, no matter how far he is. At the meeting before, they specifically said they would make concessions for safety. Well, with the van still in front of us, and a left turn coming up, I just moved all the way to the right, and dropped way back. Right then, 2 minute stand down. Which lasted closer to 3-4 minutes, with the referee taking a long time to get off the bike, pull out his pad, get my #, then start the watch, even though I had unclipped and gotten off my bike.
Unbelievably frustrating, I always try to ride clean, and felt like I was. I lodged a complaint after the race. The official said, yes, it was a tricky area, and I was "absolutely not gaining an unfair advantage", but it was still a "judgement call", and I can't protest a judgment call. Considering they paid top five, and I was 30 sec out of 5th, it was dissapointing.
All that said, I have to take all of the blame for my way sub-par run. I was very mad, and couldn't let the call go, that late in the ride. I just didn't have the focus and I didn't fully concentrate on my form and cadence. That's all me, any issues outside of my control shouldn't affect what I can control. That said, I had a good hard race, finished 6th overall, and have a good kickoff to my Ironman training focus.
The results were pretty messed up, with some people cutting the course (accidentally, it was a little tricky on some spots). it had 5th place as 13th overall, with me at 9th...hopefully corrected soon. With a few frustrating exceptions, this was a great race. The pro purse sponsors, Urban Tri, a new tri shop in Minneapolis, have been awesome. Redistributing money to more men with the small women's field. The race was well put on, great announcing, great post race food, I'm planning on coming back next year, as are a lot of the other pros there.
Bike file...
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