Crystal Lake Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Awesome swim! Started in the front and stayed very straight to the first turn. After that turn I was able to get behind two sets of feet that were swimming shoulder to shoulder. As we neared the 2nd turn, I took a look to the left and saw no one on the home stretch, so we were the lead pack for the first wave! Came out of the water right behind them in great position.

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This was great. You come out of the water and are immediately in transition, so not a lot of time to get the wetsuit off before you are at your spot. Had no issues with it sticking anywhere, and made quick time.

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Well I guess if you do enough races, something like this is bound to happen. After going up the short, steep hill out of transition, I was ready to get up to speed and went to shift into my big ring. SNAP! Uh oh. I knew what happened immediately, but I kept playing with it anyway, trying to will the chain up to the big ring. But I had snapped my front derailleur and now faced riding the entire 18 miles in the small ring. I decided to pull over to see if there was anything I could do. Obviously I was not fixing the broken cable, but I tried to force the derailleur into the big ring (better to have that the whole way, right?). No luck. Realizing it was futile and time was ticking away, I got back on the bike after about 2 minutes. Going uphill was obviously fine, going flat was okay, if a bit loud with the chain completely crossing over. But going downhill, even a little, was where it really hurt me. I was spinning out around 28-30mph, and couldn't be aggressive like I usually am in those spots. Even so, by the turn around I had fought back up to 2nd place, and was about 2 minutes off the leader. But he was moving fast, so my goal was to just be smart and keep doing the best with what I had. I was able to push in spots, and it turned out to not be the worst time ever.

Not snap my cable? I knew the bike was due for an overhaul, but given how little I've been riding this year, I decided to put it off. Oops.

First time clipping my hat to my race belt, I really liked it. Fastest T2 in the whole race!

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Pretty solid run here. On the long straightaway I couldn't even see the leader, so I knew I just had to hold on to 2nd. I had about a minute or so on the guy behind me at the 1 mile mark, but with other waves coming behind us, I knew I wasn't out of the woods. Quads hinted at locking up, but never crossed that line. Was able to hold a solid pace and had enough for a little kick at the end. Having Dylan sprint to the finish and snap a picture was really cool!

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Walked back up to the road to watch Steve and Leigh come in (they killed it!). Went in the water for a bit and stretched a little.


Obviously snapping the derailleur cable and pulling over was a blow to my overall time. No chance I was beating the winner, but it may have cost me an overall podium spot. After it happened though I'm really proud with how I handled myself and fought for a great race!


I really love this race, always one of my favorites. Tons of volunteers out of the course to help, great support from the towns and the crowd. A little disappointed with the food this year (nothing at all with any protein), but a small complaint for an otherwise great event!