The Showdown

Round #13????

So, in 2006, Dave Kuendig and I were racing head-to-head for the first time since we were both considered "fast." at the Tri for Sight here in Lexington. We had raced before but it was my first Olympic distance race ever and it was at the beginning of 2005. Anyways, our friends really hyped up this head to head race and couldn't decide who would win. Dave was obviously the better swimmer (and still is) and everyone told me I was stronger on the bike and a better runner. I was convinced that I could run him down if I made up most of the deficit on the bike. Well, needless to say, he was a MUCH better swimmer than I on that day. I only made up about 30 seconds of that 1:40 that I lost on the swim. So he won our first "showdown" by about a minute.

Over the next couple of years, we have raced in many different races with both of us coming out on top on different occasions. But the only real "showdown" is always at Tri for Sight since it is a time trial start and we always start very close to the front. In 2007, neither of us raced and Eric Bell came up from Knoxville to take home the big W. Last year, was another head-to-head battle between the two of us. All of our friends made a big deal about it again, but not as big of a deal as they made it out to be in 2006. I had improved my swim a lot since 2006, and Dave only managed to put about 30 seconds on my last year in the water. I managed to catch him close to the half way point on the bike and then lead the way into the second transition. Unfortunately, he was cut off by a car about 200 yards from the transition area and he had a little spill. He was forced to run his bike into transition and he lost a significant amount of time due to the accident. Once he got onto the run, he felt that he did not have a chance of catching me, so he kind of ran at a tempo pace. So last year's race was a tainted victory for me. But I did manage to break Dave's course record by about 15 seconds.

Tomorrow, September 13th of 2009, is the SHOWDOWN at the Susan Bradley-Cox Tri for Sight. But nobody has really talked about it this year, so I just thought this would make a funny blog.

And Congrats to Susan Bradley-Cox who won her AG at the World Championships in Australia.

T-Bird