Here I am coming back from the 56 mile bike leg at the MiamiMan Aquabike race. This race serves as the national championship event and all the best athletes are here. My goal was to take 36 minutes for the 1.2 mile swim, 4 minutes in T1 and 2:40 for the bike. So a 3:20 total time which would put me in the mix for perhaps 3rd place finish.
That actually would have been good enough for second place this year but unfortunately I didn't have the race I wanted. I started the swim way too fast and almost had to stop to keep from hyperventilating. The course is two laps around the lake, my second lap was fine once I calmed down but I finished at almost 43 minutes. Part of that is because the course was set longer than 1.2 miles but I've done that distance way faster in practice.
T1 was fine (3:35), no issues but a bit slow as usual for me.
Started off well on the bike and by 42 miles I was still averaging almost 22 mph, well above my target. I did some legal drafting (3 bike lengths back) but ran afoul of the course marshal on his motorbike when a group of riders made it hard to stay legal. I saw him look at my bike number and get out his little notepad. Shit, I'm busted!
Heading back to the finish the wind really picked up and it was a brutal last 14 miles. A farmer had decided Sunday was a good day to burn his trash pile, the SW Miami roads took out a number of racers with big potholes, and the Sunday morning vehicle traffic made it very dangerous. My bike time was 2:46:19 plus a 4 minute penalty. Grrrr. Still I don't feel too bad about the time as the wind was a factor for everyone to some extent so my 2:40:00 estimate wasn't too far off.
Without the penalty I would have been 6th (3:32:53) but got bumped to 8th out of 24 in my age group. Putting the penalty aside (which I try to do) the guys that finished ahead of me were on the podium last year plus two new guys who had better times. The first place finisher came in at 3:16:46 so I have to find 16 minutes to be #1. Don't think that's possible but I have fun trying.
I'm already planning the changes I need to make for next year...and now it's time to think about skiing!