Toyota U.S. Open Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Swim felt very good - dove in headfirst, goggles stayed on (strapped them under my swim cap for the first time), and was instantly passing people. Stayed relaxed, breathing and navigating were good. Didn't have a chance to draft because I kept blowing past everyone!! Began to feel pretty good about the swim about 1/2 way through, and kept cruising.

Nothing - potentially my best swim yet.

Wasn't too light-heaeded, got my suit unzipped fine and off my arms. Got to my spot and decided to sit down to take my suit off - a little slow on the heels, but better than most of my previous efforts. Got into my bike shoes and ran down the mount line, where I did an ok jump on the bike.l

Need to practice the wetsuit taking off - pretty sure I could get smoother and faster with it. Practice my mounts a little more - getting better at it, but its not exactly smooth yet.

I got on the bike, up the first hill out of transition and then began mowing down the competition. I messed up my start/stop on my Garmin, so didn't have any times or speed, but I felt like I was flying and leaving everyone in the dust. Got the feeling when I got back to T1 that I was doing well because I didn't notice any other bikes missing in my area - fiancee later told me she thinks I was the 2nd sprint colored cap out of the water - and began to feel even better about it as nobody passed me on the bike and I passed a ton of people - almost got out of breath from saying "on your left"!! Hit the sprint turn around and I was by myself - just a few cyclists visible far ahead. A small group of those I think pulled away (or I lost sight of them on the right turns), but I caught one and passed him. Right after passing him, I suddenly noticed a grey Ford Taurus in the other lane coming towards me begin to turn in to my path. I was at the point of no return at that point - she was too close (and wasn't stopping despite a bike and rider being lined up between her hood ornaments) and I could neither brake, swerve nor accelerate to avoid her. Suddenly I'm looking at the sky, vaguely aware of my body twisting in the air, then coming to the concrete and rolling (I think with my right shoulder) to my hands and knees, bike separated from me. The guy I had just passed was also on the concrete just behind me - she had turned into his path and he also couldn't stop or swerve, and he crashed into her rear fender. The driver, an old lady in a hurry to get to church (we were driving past a church parking lot that she was turning in to), got out, paramedics and police came. My front rim was toasted, I had a big defect in the bottom tube carbon and my handle bars were at a right angle to my fork. Race over. Neither I nor the other racer were seriously hurt (besides my bike), so we declined a ride to the hospital and waited for a sag wagon to pick us up. See below for additional comments...

Umm, not get hit by a car?

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See bike comments above :-)

Waited over half an hour for bike support to pick us up. Sat in traffic for about another 30 minutes because police wouldn't let our driver take us back by a shorter route. Finally made it back to transition and called my fiancee on the cell phone - she had expected me to finish about 45 minutes prior and had been worried. Race organizers/officials never contacted her (she was my emergency contact) to let her know. No official race staff was around to meet us or looking for us when we got back. I packed up my transition area, and went hunting for somebody in charge - at this point I was a bit miffed that two racers had been hit by a car and no one seemed to car. Most of the event staff I encountered were not helpful in pointing me in the right direction. I eventually found someone who brought me to the race officials - all of whom were surprised to hear about the incident.


Getting hit by a car. The main reason I signed up for this race was because based on previous years, I thought I had a chance to place in my age group in the sprint division, and decided to give it a go. To the best of my knowledge, I was at least leading my age group and probably the entire sprint race when I was struck by the car. Based on the finish times, I'm pretty sure I would have won the overall :-(


My rating is based on the apparent lack of attention/caring from the race organizers and officials. In addition to no one officially associated with the race making sure I was ok, they also never addressed the safety issue at the section where I was hit - in front of the First United Methodist Church of Rockwall. As we sat there waiting for transport back, the turn in to the church became busier - drivers were having trouble turning in and were even driving in the coned off bike lane. Most race directors stress safety first, and I feel either due to some lack of communication or concern from the race staff that safety was not addressed. Also, I have attempted to contact the RD via e-mail and have received no response. I will update this if I get more info.