A small obstacle.

 Four days after my last triathlon (9/9), I went out for an early morning training ride and in the process of seeking a safer course, I found a slicker one and went down hard, breaking my left collarbone.  I was only 2 miles from home so Sandy came and took me to the Advent Health Altamonte ER.  That culminated in surgery with Dr. Cody Hillen to pin the bones back together six days later on September 15th.  The next scheduled race for me is The Great Floridian Triathlon (1/3 distance) on October 24; we'll see how I am by then.  Just a small obstacle in the process we call life.

Waiting for Sandy

Unfinished ride

Day after surgery

New helmet to replace the damaged one; saved my head!

# 173 Crystal River Sprint Triathlon

Saturday was the Crystal River Triathlon, my 173rd and third tri of the year. Two hour drive to get there but it was worth it. Big crowd but the race director had a lot of safety protocols in place; I could get used to 4 bikes per rack. An offshore thunderstorm proved entertainment during the dawn on the salt marshes. Longtime rival James Mayer showed up and put in his usual performance for a solid win. My swim was good but my bike ride over the flat, straight, 15 mile course was fast with an average speed of 18.8 mph. Three mile run was all sun and very hot and found me chasing down a guy I spotted at the turnaround. When I finally caught him with a mile to go, I discovered he was in the lower age group, 60-64. My overall finish time was 1:27:03 for a 4th place out of 7. Great to see JP Russo there doing bike repair after recovering from his accident. When I got home, Sandy Finucan made me a delicious pizza!

4 bike transition

Jack and James Mayer

Moon and thunderstorm

Sunrise over the marshes

Magic sky

JP Russo is back.

Moulton ready

Great photo!

Enjoying the bike ride

James Mayer hammering!

Very hot run!

Great finish

It was a great race!