# 203 Riverfront Triathlon in Cocoa

Today was my longest triathlon (#203) of the year, The Riverfront Tri in Cocoa (Florida). An International/Olympic distance race with a .5-mile saltwater swim in the Indian River, 26-mile bike along the river road, followed by a 6.2-mile run. I’ve done this race in 2019, 2021, and 2022 and it’s a great finisher for the season (plus I won all three). Cocoa is an hour away from our home in Orlando, necessitating getting up at 3:00 AM to be there for the 5:30 registration. With a 6:45 start, just after sunrise, there wasn’t the usual waiting time before the race. Water temp was 72’f so I bowed to the inevitable and put on my wetsuit. At this race, you jump off the dock in pairs and begin your swim. Sounds odd but goes very quickly. The water was an initial shock but with the early morning air temp of 61’ it felt fine. My swim time was 18:21, a bit faster than last year. I was in second on the swim but moving to the bike, Jerry Mandello caught me at mile 2 and it was evident that he was pulling away. I settled down to enjoy the race and fight the headwind on the first northerly loop. The river road is amazingly hilly with over 700’ of climbing in the two loops. Rounding the first point, the tailwind pushed my average speed to 16.4 mph. Starting on the second 6.5-mile loop, the headwind had increased but I had warmed to the effort and was powering through it. Hitting the last turn was great as my average jumped to 16.7 with a stiff tailwind resulting in a max of 25.3. Rolling into transition, my stomach was acting up, so I hit the bathroom, losing 3 minutes. Beginning my run, I was stopped by a hamstring cramp and spent two minutes working it out. After a big swallow of Hammer Heed, the pain faded and didn’t bother me again for the next 5.5 miles. I crossed the line at 3:03.28, my run being about 10 minutes off. Bobby Dickerson won with an astonishing 2:32:13 (28th OA) in his first race in two years. I was Third behind Jerry but quite happy to have overcome the few setbacks.