My boy Triyoda went 2:25 at Alcatraz netting him 7th in his division. Awesome job Matt ! I know that bike course, and it ain’t easy.
He even beat ABC’s bachelor who was listed as a Pro ; )
Congrats to Emilio DeSoto too ! A very studly 2:22 . Must be true about the water at Xantusia .
Note to Dan…bottle it and sell it 
Rock on Yoda and Emilio!!! REPRESENT!!
Congrats to Emilio. Which one of your wetsuits were you wearing?
Thanks for noticing. As I was chilling out at the finish I hear the announcer say the Bachelor was finishing. I guess that guy is spending too much time chasing the ladies and slacking on the training. Missed the STers at the QR party. I was eating deep dish and drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon at some cool place in the Mission (Little Star) with some local friends.
Thoughts on the race.
Swim. I never even noticed the water being cold. 57 in a fullsuit is cake. I had no cap and didn’t need it. Getting off the boat is rush. They get you into the water fast (think invasion of Normandy). Only swim that ever made me nervous while in the water. Quite a bit of swell and I was very glad to get out of the soup.
Bike is a very demanding course always up steep stuff or down technical descents. Road surface is horrible. My lack of bike training this year showed. It was hard to pace properly with the hills. Basically I rode myself off the AG podium. You had to take a moment here and there to really enjoy the ride and scenery. This is very different than any ride you will ever do.
Run was very tough. Coming back was very hard with two way traffic on twisty single track. Hammered the last 1.2 miles of flat and had a bit more left in the tank than I should have (although I am quite sore today). After looking a the results I should have gone for it on the sand ladder. I kind of took it medium-hard, but I may have had a shot at the prime if I went all out. Again an amazing run, makes the mind wander. I think you would have to have one escape under your belt to really get in the zone for this race in terms of a focused race effort. I have not had a HR monitor since February, so I am old-skooling it. When do you ever race 8 miles?
Despite the huge expense and effort. I would say this is a race you should do once if you have the chance.
Chilling up in Mt. Shasta right now, getting high the natural way. Escape was actually good training for Mt. Washington road race in two weeks.
Matt, big congrats and you must be pretty stoked after the health issues late last year!