new globe blog - race report from NYC

MY BRAKES MUST BE RUBBING

Well it's been a couple years since I turned in one of "those" races. To sum it up I was looking down at my brakes about halfway through the bike and thinking they must be rubbing on the rim because I can't possibly feel this bad. It's disappointing to come all the way to New York City and DNF a race I've won in the past. But that's racing.

I'm not sure how to write a race report for a DNF, especially without making too many excuses. Athletes need to be accountable for their results and unless I can prove my brakes were rubbing, which they weren't, my off day just happened. I suspect I just never really recovered from last week's effort and that left me with no gas (gas = power) from the very start. I knew something was up right away as I just felt like I was stuck in neutral from the start of the swim. Even the jellyfish stings couldn't kick me into gear!!!! I think I was lucky the current was roaring (and Andy Potts decided to swim along the wall ..... where there is no current). I exited the swim in 4th or 5th but even struggled to keep up on the long run to the bikes (a 300-metre-plus barefoot run). It was immediately apparent that I was going to hurt (capital H!) on the bike and although I was able to ride myself into contact with the leaders (Greg Bennett, Stu Hayes, Paul Tichelaar and Brent McMahon) it was taking way too much effort. Andy Potts came by and established himself at the front as I struggled to maintain contact. What happened next was a little unexplainable as Andy's bottle popped off his frame and the marshal drove up beside him and gave him a 1-minute stand-down penalty ..... to be honest, it was a bizarre penalty. I understand that athletes can't be littering the road with gear but when an athlete's bottle flies off because the road is bumpy and it doesn't impede anyone's progress then maybe we can just keep racing and no penalties need to be given out.

Once Andy was gone Benno hit the turbo and I was outta there (lost contact). Brent rode extremely well to stay in contact as Paul, Colin and I simply had no response and lost a substantial amount of time. Paul eventually dropped me when Jordan Rapp and Andy came past (Andy screaming "did you see that, what the hell?"), I was relegated to riding part time on my brake hoods and fidgeting around trying to find something, anything that would get me going. It wasn't meant to be as I just wound down and started hoping I flatted or got hit by a car..... I made it to transition looking and feeling like a car that just ran out of gas and coasted into the station.

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