I was frustrated at myself not pushing hard enough during 70.3 St. George two weeks ago so came here to 5150 Kansas city with the simple plan off putting my head down, going all in, and taking whatever came of it. The strategy worked and I came away with a win and successfully defended last year’s win.
The race was scheduled for a 7:30am start but thunderstorms started rolling in an hour beforehand. Once lightning started coming down around the lake, a change to the race seemed certain. Ultramax Sports puts on this race and many other events such as 70.3 Kansas so they have experience with these kinds of things. They read the radar and announced that the race would be a bike/run with riders starting every few seconds. Helpfully for me, pros would be leave in descending bib order so with bib 2 I would be leaving second to last. This worked in my favor as I’d have guys to continually pull me forward on the bike.
I immediately pushed hard on the bike, my legs felt strong on loose, and so I kept pouring it on. It was a fairly hilly course which I liked as I pushed hard on the ups and spun the crank as hard as possible on the downhills. I steadily moved through the field and at the turnaround there were around 5 guys still ahead of me with 15 or so behind me. Jon Bird, who was second at this race last year lay ahead and he was riding well. I managed to catch him and kept pushing, now only one guy, Michael Poole from New Zealand remained up the road. I kept at it all the way through the end of the bike, it’s amazing how you can feel like your pushing so hard early on but in an olympic you’ve got to trust that it’s going to hurt the whole way but that it can be maintained. Even though it hurts early you can still push the same watts at the end. That’s indicative of the intensity level on an olympic distance bike of 25 miles.
Starting the run, Poole had 1:15 on me. However he was number 18 so had started well ahead of me, making me the effective leader. I felt good on the run and was confident that I could extend my lead a bit. I caught Michael around mile 4 and ran hard to the end. In the end Jon finished in 2nd with Michael in 3rd. I came away with the fastest bike. Henry Hagenbuch and I posted identical run times for the fastest run.
It meant a good bit for me to win this race, especially after a downer of a race two weeks ago. Like other aspects of life, I feel that strong athletes come off bad performances with great ones and I tried to live up to that ideal.
Afterwards, I found a Gates BBQ on the way to the airport to get some of the great Kansas City BBQ that the city is known for. Slow smoked with some thick sauce to celebrate the win.
Pictorial:
My buddy Mark Hillers and I went to this park the day before the race looking for a place to run.
We lucked out with the winding path cut through the grass making a beautiful 5k cross country course.
Race gear ready to go.
Post race with women's winner Lauren Goss and Sara McLarty.
The bike, post ride.
Gates BBQ Burnt Ends sandwich. Look it up.
Departing town on bridge over KC River.
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