I'm not over it yet, but I will be tomorrow...

I heard back from the ref at the Spirit of Racine on my penalties. This is what she had to say:

Your penalties were both on the bike. One for position and one for drafting.

The violation reports are as follows

A male rider #744 with a black/grey top on a black cannondale was within a half bike length (of the rider in front of him) in a static position without a pass

Male #744 with a black/grey top on a black cannondale was left side riding for 40 seconds without passing anyone.

Note that these violations were on different occasions on the bike course.


I think I know when I got the drafting penalty. I got swallowed up by a group and the ref was right there. My problem is that the bike is my strength, and I can't stand getting passed. Especially by groups. I don't think I dropped back quick enough, and that's how I got nailed for drafting. I can assure you if I was going to draft intentionally, I would be sneakier than sitting a half a bike length behind someone.

The other penalty is the frustrating one. I'm not going to deny it. I ride on the left more than I should, but I'm usually passing people and don't typically get passed much on the bike so I'm not blocking people. And when the road is clear, I ride on the right. Those 40 seconds cost me 8 minutes.

Crap.

Lesson learned. I need to pay more attention to my position on the road and not be so stubborn on the bike. If people are faster than me - even if they are drafting - I need to slow up and let them go even if it costs me a little time.

Now that I think about it, I have a better solution. I need to get faster. If I can improve enough to start in the elite wave, I could get out there on the bike early enough I won't have to deal with the groups.

But I'm not going to dwell on it anymore. So it goes.

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I decided not to be an idiot - for once - and I'm not going to do a half ironman this weekend. There's a 5K and sprint tri not far away this weekend so I'll do one of those instead. I'm giving myself two weeks to recover from Racine, more mentally than physically. I feel really good right now, but I've been training hard this year and I still have two hard training months coming up before the Great Floridian and I want to be mentally and physically ready for those.

After Florida, I'm giving myself two months to rest, relax and have some fun. I'll still train, but only as I feel like it. Then, in January, training resumes.

This time, it's for IMWI 2010. All or nothing. Kona or bust.

That's right. I want to go to Kona. I have little confidence I can pull it off, but when I think about IMWI 2010 and what I want to accomplish the only thing that gets me excited is Kona. It makes me nervous. It makes me want to swim 5 days a week, do 100 mile tempo rides, run in sub-zero temps....It makes me want to push myself to my limits, see what I'm capable of.

I have no choice. I have to go for it.

*******

Cycling is a dangerous sport....

Jens Voigt went down hard during the Tour today. He's hurt, but it seems he's going to be okay.

*******

That probably doesn't make you want to ride, so here are a few pictures that should. They make me want to ride.









All of these pictures were taken in New England.

Rapha Continental