Hey all. I just wrote up my race report and posted it on the website I’ve been working on. I’d appreciate if you head over there to read it (mobile friendly):
https://deal-tri-travel.com/...ls-70-3-race-report/
While this is certainly my best race to date, I don’t think I’ve scratched the surface of what I can do and am beyond excited to get to race with the best next year.
(If any bike reps see this and feel like I might look better on something other than my old p3c, I’m all ears)
Great report, I think the cervelo looks fine for you! Killer result and crazy to see that top 3 amateurs in general came from your AG and all sub-4:10. Glad I’m older! Good luck in the pro world
your bike is one size too small…
(If any bike reps see this and feel like I might look better on something other than my old p3c, I’m all ears)
That’s interesting considering not only is it pretty much completely slammed, its also a size 61 already haha.
Ya how tall are you?!
Solid race report. The van is pretty sick btw haha
It seems like living out of a van is more important to becoming a pro than actually qualifying to do so.
You are huge!
Ha. Only 6’3", 35" inseam. That isn’t that crazy.
Too bad Cactus Man is on the 5th this year and not the week before, you could race Kienle then!
This year Sebi did Cactus Man as a warmup, kind of sucks though that it moved to the same weekend since a lot of locals do St George.
Maybe a P5 with a high-V or an SC with a high far
.
Is the stem short? It does look sort of cramped on you
Awesome race, great race report! You seem to have the perfect mix of humility and faith in your abilities…I wish you a great pro Career!
That’s interesting considering not only is it pretty much completely slammed, its also a size 61 already haha.
…then the bike isn’t big enough.
solid race. you beat the 8% re-qualification rule by ~30 seconds!
Is the stem short? It does look sort of cramped on you
That is one thing I would change a bit position wise. The semi-integrated stem is only 90mm. Wouldn’t mind another 20-30mm of reach but I like the look and interface of the built in Vision one.
Do you think I have too much drop with my current set up? Its comfortable enough for 70.3 and honestly it seems like my head could get a little lower still. And I would absolutely love a p5, Tactical, Speedmax, or any other superbike that fits me but budget doesn’t exactly allow for it at the moment.
How are you diggin’ the shoe setup? I’m about to get rid of my Bonts and switch over to a set of the Giros w/ the flat laces for tris.
I wish you all the best, but here is my own experience. I finished 4th at Indian Wells and have been racing pro for the last 2 years. It is quite hard to approach sponsors banking on a young age and promising future. I’m 22 and have some solid pro finishes and struggle to pick up sponsors. I live with 2 other pros in Boulder and they have a hard time as well (one is Rudy von Berg Wildflower, European, and South American 70.3 Champion and one is Nicholas Granet 5th at Ironman Arizona). Most sponsors I talk to want to know how big my social media following is (should be at least 5k on instagram) and if I coach/influence people who would buy their products. 250 followers isn’t bringing very many eyes to your suit/bike/other products.
Some training advice for the next 5 months leading into St George would be to practice surges on the bike. Your swim is solid and will likely land you in a pack whether you want to be there or not. During Indian Wells I came out of the swim :43 down from Gambles who I knew was going to be important to ride with/pace off of. I averaged 342w for the first 10 minutes of the bike until I caught him. We then road pretty steady until Lionel and Kennett caught us. Once it was 4 of us it was not very steady at all. Especially when Lionel would go to the front there would be multiple 5+ minute surges over 320w. I would focus on the swim/bike as much as possible to put yourself in the best position. In Indian Wells the 6th place guy off the bike could have ran a 1:10 and still wouldn’t have made the podium.
I definitely respect the decision to take your elite license. You won’t regret it, I know I haven’t. No point in cleaning up in age group.
Anyway, feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
I like them a lot! Honestly the actual fit of the shoe might not be perfect for me (which is of course important but not currently concerned with it). I also haven’t yanked the tongue yet because I needed the extra warmth for Indian Wells but will at some point. I mostly just love the clean look and I have to assume they’re more aero than my LG Tri-lites with the massive velcro straps.
Great blog and story! Great splits and just curious as we’re around the same height, what do you weigh (looking at w/kg)? Im also shooting for 70.3’s as a 20y/o in Europe but it will probably take some time to get the hang of it. You say your nutrition is on point, isn’t it a lot of fluids your taking in? And I thought that peeing wasn’t necessary on a 70.3, isn’t that fairly hard to do while biking? I’ve got a road racing background but peeing in a race has always been a pain… Good luck for the future!
I wish you all the best, but here is my own experience. I finished 4th at Indian Wells and have been racing pro for the last 2 years. It is quite hard to approach sponsors banking on a young age and promising future. I’m 22 and have some solid pro finishes and struggle to pick up sponsors. I live with 2 other pros in Boulder and they have a hard time as well (one is Rudy von Berg Wildflower, European, and South American 70.3 Champion and one is Nicholas Granet 5th at Ironman Arizona). Most sponsors I talk to want to know how big my social media following is (should be at least 5k on instagram) and if I coach/influence people who would buy their products. 250 followers isn’t bringing very many eyes to your suit/bike/other products.
Some training advice for the next 5 months leading into St George would be to practice surges on the bike. Your swim is solid and will likely land you in a pack whether you want to be there or not. During Indian Wells I came out of the swim :43 down from Gambles who I knew was going to be important to ride with/pace off of. I averaged 342w for the first 10 minutes of the bike until I caught him. We then road pretty steady until Lionel and Kennett caught us. Once it was 4 of us it was not very steady at all. Especially when Lionel would go to the front there would be multiple 5+ minute surges over 320w. I would focus on the swim/bike as much as possible to put yourself in the best position. In Indian Wells the 6th place guy off the bike could have ran a 1:10 and still wouldn’t have made the podium.
I definitely respect the decision to take your elite license. You won’t regret it, I know I haven’t. No point in cleaning up in age group.
Anyway, feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
interesting you post this. i wish other pros would read what you wrote here. it’s mid-december and we haven’t yet posted our annual article on what the top-15 men and women in kona are using for the bike and run. why? because it’s like pulling teeth to get these pros to actually respond to us and tell us. i hope the irony is obvious. (and it’s not what you think; the highest placing pros are typically the first to respond.)
pros, or aspiring pros, can make life hard for themselves, or easy for themselves. or easier. more so, you guys are in your early 20s. when i was your age i was training for the first ironman contested in kona. what i didn’t appreciate then is that there would be some day when i would need to earn money in a way that would last until i was 70, rather than a way that wouldn’t survive past 40. happily, the very skills and behaviors that make you more marketable now make you more marketable later.
the very act of posting here - you may have guessed already - increases the likelihood of your getting a better deal. (you guys would be shocked if you knew how much this was the case.)
if you want good bike (in particular) related deals, the formula is: ride the hell out of the bike when you’re in a race; expose yourself and your bike to everyone who may want to know about you and your bike; make sure you know, technically, about your bike.