Notes
Transitioned faster than last year but was still surprised how slow I was compared to the other top guys. The bike didn't start off as well as I had hoped. I couldn't really hit the speeds I was trying for and was stuck between 22-23 mph. Still I was catching everyone, including a guy with a USA speedsuit that I finally caught with 4 miles to go. He came back up on me a few times but I was able to hold him off until the end. The second half of the bike ride went way better than the first so I assume we had a slight headwind to start. I was clipping along at 25-30 most of the second half of the ride and pretty excited about what my time would be. At the turnaround I realized not too many people were still in front of me and was not used to getting that far to the front that quickly. I still had enough people to pass all the way, but it was getting pretty thin. I think I was about the 5th person off the bike and I started the swim in wave 3. It turns out the USA guy I caught on the bike was in the wave behind me and just out swam and transitioned me by enough to be ahead of me. I ended up having the second fastest bike split of the day behind the winner (professional triathlete Jeff Paul) and biked 1 minute faster than last year. Pretty solid for my 5th bike ride of the year.