Ixtapa and Dallas

It's time for another update. Two weeks ago I travelled to Ixtapa to race the 30th anniversary ITU Ixtapa PATCO cup. The goal of the trip was to get ITU points and travel home with a world ranking. To do this I needed to come top 20 within 5% of the winners time. Ixtapa is known for some good surf and a fast 700m run to transition to hop on your bike. I assumed that Von Berg (ITA) was going to be a favorite for the win so i shadowed him out of the water and we quickly became part of the big lead group. With rough roads and a couple of crashes i was happy to enter T2 with the lead group. Sorry to Antoine my Canadian team mate who lead the swim and was taken down in a crash. With a good hard and hot run off the bike i crossed the line in a decent position roughly 1minute from the finisher and in Top 12. I didn't know my position because it was fairly tight.
After cooling down in recovery i headed over to see what place I was in and I was notified that I was DSQ or disqualified. I was super confused because I knew I didn't make any errors with my cap and goggles or racking my bike. When heading out on the bike you have to run across a line before hopping on your bike. I stepped right on the line and was given a 10second penalty.  While I was on the run course I was aware of the penalty tent but I didn't remember seeing a board with numbers stating which athlete's had penalties, and ultimately my number was on that board.

Results found here-:
http://www.triathlon.org/results/result/2014_ixtapa_itu_triathlon_pan_american_cup/264763

This was super frustrating but at the same time it was my fault for not being aware I had received a penalty. Well it was a good race regardless and I was sent home with 0 ITU points that I needed.

To make this trip worse when I finally arrived in DFW my bike bag looked like it was dragged down the runway. The case was destroyed and so was my bike.

With 5 days till PanAmerican Championships in Dallas I had no bike and i hadn't really slept well from getting home from Mexico. I hadn't planned on racing Pan American champs in Dallas but on Tuesday I found out i was into the race. 

I was lucky enough to borrow a bike from a local shop but it was a bit big. I didn't realize it as I was doing pretty light training between the two races. 

With the Championships in Dallas I was happy to be in but at the same time I was nervous racing on a different bike and I knew deep down I hadn't really recovered/slept well since Ixtapa.  After a rough swim I was eventually dropped from a long pack and swam with 5 others.  I am still not sure what went wrong but I failed to stay in touch and in an ITU race that pretty much ends your day. I still had a chance to ride with 5 or so guys but after trying to really push out of T1 I realized that something was off. I had ridden my bike on some easy spins but i was not used to the position to ride at a very high power. I ended up riding on my own for 6 laps of the 8 before I pulled off.  This race was a tough one to handle a week after Mexico's DSQ and the stress of trying to get my bike all sorted.
It would have been nice to race well at home but this leaves me hungry for more.

A Few Pictures from Dallas:

 Can tell what country was nice and early for a swim warm up?

You can see my flying right leg. The right side felt like it was 7 feet off the water.

Super nice loaner bike, just too big. You can tell how impressed I am....

Swim Start at Ixtapa. I am on the far left. That one went well.

Next weekend I will headed back to MX for a World Cup. Yesterday, I picked up my new bike (one that fits), and it's dirty fast. Now it's time to prove I can race.

BP