06/24/2022
I have a story to tell.
Two weeks ago I raced in the Ironman Eagleman 70.3. Twenty miles into the bike, feeling great and pushing the pace, my front wheel started to wobble. It progressively got worse. That was the moment my personal test started. It was raining and because of the wheel wobbling I had no choice to dramatically reduce my speed for safety. At that point I wonder if I was going to be able to finish the race. I rode my bike for about 15 miles with my front wheel messed up. I later discovered that about five of my spokes on the wheel had come unloose. Around mile 35 I could not ride the bike any further. It was all of those slow miles not knowing what was going to happen that made the race for me. I stood true to what I always preach: race day anything can happen, stay relax no matter what and especially with the things you can’t control, stay positive and look for the light. Staying positive and relax allows you to see the light. The light is something that can turn things around for the better. My light was an event vehicle picking people up that couldn’t finish the race. I flag the truck down and she says, “you want to DNF?” I’m like no!! But can I get a mechanic? She says let me radio in. Luckily the man in this photo was a mile away. He couldn’t fix my wheel but he figured out away to replace with a different wheel. When he finished he looked at me with a smile and puts his fist up 👊🏽 and tells me “go get it.” Ok! That’s all I needed to get me going again. I fist bumped him and went at it like never before!! No front break, raining and with a new hope to be able to finish this portion of the race was everything to me. Now this is racing! I loved that feeling! So for the last 15-16 miles I was just so happy that I stayed relaxed and that it all worked out. Nothing like an endurance race to challenge you in every possible way. Lesson: stay true to who you are in the good times and especially on the bad times!! Shoutout to the Wilpower Tri Division and us coming in 58th place as a Team 🎉 On to the next! Let’s get it!!