The AtomicMan

The day I was defeated by AtomicMan. To start, the 1.2 mile swim went terrific, probably my best swim of the year with a personal best of about 39 minutes (10 minutes better than I anticipated), I left the water feeling fresh and excited. The bike leg started very well, but at mile #2 I became careless which resulted in me catching the side of the road with my front tire and driving me into the pavement. As far as road bike crashes, this ranks up there. After a few minutes of taking a toll of the damages, I decided to try and continue on. My legs still felt fresh and I could tell that my conditioning was good, but I had a lot of open wounds and my back and ribs were really hurting. After completing the 28 mile loop (I am proud I rode 26 miles on a damaged bike and body), I conceded. I am VERY disappointed at the results - a lot of training hours went into this event and I can't feel anything but frustration at a DNF result. However, it has developed a motivation to conquer the 70.3 mile event next year. I will be back! Stay tuned.