The water is calm so it is easy to swim. The buoys were difficult to see which made it difficult to navigate. One of the buoys was on top of a concrete structure in the water and several of us almost ran into it and had to go around. Other than that it was a good swim for me never really found anyone to draft.

Go faster and not run into a concrete structure.

Normal transition for me except I forgot to wash my feet off and started running out of transition, I decided to turn back and wash them off as they were covered in sand. I attempted to mount my bike with the shoes attached which did not go as well as it does in training. I believe it was mostly because of the steep hill exiting transition. I ended up walking my bike 20 yards up the hill.

Hurry up, do not forget to wash my feet off and maybe rubber band my shoes up on the bike.

Bonelli is not an easy bike course and I spent most of the first lap managing my heart rate. The next two laps went well and my overall average speed was 3.2 Mph more than the last time I raced this course. Coming into transition was the defining moment of my race as I crashed yards from the dismount. I was getting out of my shoes and did not notice how much speed I gained going down the short steep hill. When I realized and braked the fabulous carbon wheel stopping ability bit me. The wheels locked up and I was in a two wheel skid hit the curb and rolled into the dirt, pine needles and pine cones. I got up bleeding on my back, legs, feet,arms and hands collected my bike and limped into transition.

Not crash coming into transition. More practice mounting my bike with the shoes clipped in and maybe rubber band them. Get out of my shoes before going down the steep hill into transition.

I was disoriented from the crash and trying to access the damage. The big problem was my ankle and knee were banged up. I had a brief argument in my head and convinced myself to not DNF and HTFU and go run. I put on my running shoes and race belt and left my bike helmet on and started running out of transition and had to go back and drop my helmet off.

Not crash on the bike.

The first mile really hurt, but I kept running and everything started to feel better. Several competitors and volunteers commented on the blood all over my right leg. My pace was definitely slowed, but I was able to run the entire way.

Not crash on the bike.

Have I mentioned crashing on the bike? I need more practice with transitions.


I used this race as a final tune up for VineMan Ironman 70.3. I did not taper and treated it as a high intensity training day. I need to work on transitions and getting in and out of my shoes.