Hickory Knob Race Report

This was the last race of the South Carolina Tri Series. Peter Kotland and I were virtually tied for 2nd going into this race. He just beat me at the Sc Half 2 weeks ago, so I knew he was in top form and ready to go. We're both training for Iron distance races on 11/1. He's doing IM Florida, while I'm doing Beach2Battleship. I was hoping he had done a 100 mile bike ride the day before, but I had no such luck.



Race plan was simple. Keep up with Peter on the swim. Hammer the bike and try to put as much gap between us as possible. Hold on for the run. I though I could hold him off, if I arrived at T2 with a 2 minute lead. Sounds simple...sh*t.



Swim: I drifted right up to Peter right before the start so I knew where he was. Then the horn sounded, we were off. I quickly got on his feet and caught a good draft (sorry, Peter). Swim was comfortable since Peter was doing all the work. With about 500 meters to go, I got in front of Peter and pulled the rest of the way. Swim was good, not super fast, but good enough. We had 2 guys in front of us out of the water.



Bike: Time to hammer. I quickly grabbed my bike and headed out of T2. This was a very hilly course, which I was fine with. Soon after leaving T2, I caught up to Ryan Alexander, but never saw the swim leader. I later found out that he took a wrong turn on the bike course and dropped. After just a few miles on the bike, I could tell I didn't bring my cycling legs with me. I was struggling to hold a good pace. It didn't help that my rear disc wheel was rubbing my frame, either. Lesson learned...never race without taking the bike for a test ride with the race wheels...stupid! I was rushed the day before to get the bike ready and didn't take it for my susal test ride. I figured I haven't had any trouble all year, it should be fine...anyway. I knew Peter was going to catch me on the bike b/c I just couldn't get in a groove. He caught me around mile 12 and blew right past me. I had nothing. Oh well. At this point I just wanted to have a good run. Finished the bike in second about 1:50 down on Peter.



Run: I felt very good starting out the run. Held a decent pace throughout. I knew I wouldn't catch Kotland, but I figured I would try my best to get a good run split. Mission accomplished. 37:08



Finished 2nd Overall. Peter took over 2nd in the series. Congrats to Dan Moss for winning the series. My teammates Parker Roth took 4th and Cam Dorn took 5th in the sries. Overall a good showing for TYB Racing!!



Here's me with teammates David Duchan (left) and Cam Dorn (right)