2009 Tri the Parks - Indian Springs

Written by Todd Kennedy

To be honest, I was pretty nervous headed down to Flovilla Saturday morning, knowing that the field for Indian Springs would be stacked.  Not only did we have 2008 winner Jeremy Sipos racing, however we also had teammates Rich Klepacz, Marc Thompson, Mark The Fighter Maclachlan, and Ken Brown.  Quite a formidable group.

As I was doing a warmup run with my buddies, I noticed Ken Brown had just arrived about 20 mins before race start.  He was busy losing some extra weight in the men’s room, and looked like he was ready to roll.  His guns are huge.

I got off on the swim portion unscathed, and headed to the front of the pack, with The Fighter literally on my heels.  I entered into T1 in good position, only to see Ken Brown flying in behind me, armed with his 17 inch guns and Cervelo P3C in tow!  I was so nervous of the pounding I was about to take, that I inadvertently dropped my chain.  After my mechanical issue, I lost contact/sight of both Mark and Ken.   Once off on my bike, I felt great and came into T2 feeling quite fresh.

 I looked up from my rack, and saw Ken and Mark heading out on the run.  I knew I’d have to make up a good 40 seconds on the run.  Feeling confident, I set out on a good pace, and put 15 secs into both of them within the first mile.  However, the effort proved to be too much, as they pulled away.  I ended up 3^rd in the age group (6^th overall), behind The Fighter who took home the silver, and The Hammer, Ken Brown who brought home the Gold. This was a disappointing finish being I had only loss to Ken Brown once in my life, but a lesson was learned. Know how to get your chain back on inside of 45 seconds. My bike mechanic skills have a lot to be desired and need to improve.