This weekend was the Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs Lake
Triathlon in Lubbock, Texas. It was my third time to Lubbock, which matched my
placing of 3rd in the race.
Kelly and I had a couple great days in Montreal seeing the
sights after the Mont Tremblant race, which probably was not the best recovery,
but seeing the sights in particular the Notre-Dame Basilica was well worth it.
We also celebrated our half-year wedding anniversary, I can’t believe how fast
the year is moving.
Then to top off my great recovery our flight out of Montreal
was delayed 7 hours, we missed our connection in Houston and had to overnight
at a really dodgy hotel, but at 1am in the morning we were not in the mood to
go looking for luxury. Finally on Thursday we made it to Lubbock where we
stayed with one of our favorite homestays, The Holloways. A big thanks the
Shari and Randy for taking such good care of us.
Race day rolled around and while the temperatures were a lot
cooler than past years the pro start list was one of the best the race had ever
seen, but it was going to be a Tasman showdown with Kiwis and Aussies rounding
out the top 6 placing’s.
I woke up race morning with a bit of a crook gut and
struggled to get in the zone the whole day, I ended up making a couple very
amateur mistakes including my front wheel sliding out under me turning around
the 1st U-turn on the bike.
Josh Amberger and James Seear took out the swim hard and had
a minute lead out of the water. Mark Bowstead must have got some inspiration
after the opening stage of the Tour de France and was riding like an uber biker
pushing the pace. Just as we were about to catch the leaders I took my little
spill and struggled to bounce back. I contemplated calling it a day but thought
better of it and tried to get the most out of the race given what I had.
Up the front Greg Bennett had started to pull away while
Amberger was stuck in a penalty tent, Bowstead was paying a little for all the
work at the start of the bike and after having Tim Reed in my sights for the whole
race I finally bridged up to him just before rolling into transition.
Reed set a good tempo immediately and closed the gap to
Bowstead in 4 miles. I was struggling to hang in there and soon found myself
running solo trying to hold onto 3rd place.
Bennett showed his experience and class by putting together
a solid run after a hard bike and taking the victory, Reed chased hard the
whole run but struggled to take much time out of Bennett and I cruised home for
3rd place.
Next stop Portland to do some training with the guys from
bike shop “Athletes Lounge.” I love the training up there, good riding and some
of the best trails in the world. We will spend a couple of weeks here, before
we head down to Sonoma County for the Vineman 70.3 in 2 weeks time.
