pg

After the debacle at the Boston Triathlon last weekend, I was ready to race. Bucky Schaffer was also at Boston, and decided he wanted to do the Pacific Grove Triathlon, so he joined me for the trip. We flew into San Fran on Thursday night to get ready for the race on Saturday. Race-day came, and I was ready. I have had a pretty disappointing season thus far, so I was looking to turn things around. Well, they did turn around!

The swim in PG is crazy. There are thick kelp beds throughout the swim, which make it seem more like an obstacle course than a swim. I had a decent swim, exiting right behind the lead pack in good position. I was a little concerned for the bike, because our pack consisted of some very strong cyclists (it was a draft-legal race), but they were content with sitting in the pack and not breaking away. I just tried to stay out of trouble on the bike and remain fresh. I had a great T2 and exited in 2nd place. I was quickly joined by my travel buddy Bucky and David Thompson. I hung on for a few k's and then they gapped me. I tried to bridge back up, but I was fried. I ended up holding my 4th place to the finish, which was really difficult because there were 7 guys within 15 seconds behind me. It was by far the best professional result I have had to date. By my calculations, the result should move me into 3rd place for the Tri-California Professional Series. Hopefully I can better the result this weekend when I race the ITU Westchester Triathlon. I need world rankings points badly, and another good result wouldn't hurt the old pysche either.

Cheers!