the first race report of the year.

It's a shame that the first race report of the year couldn't be a bit better, but it all works out as the next one will be great. This was my first pan amaericain championships not as a junior. Boy is it a different ball game, not only was I racing against some of the top u 23 athletes there were also some big names in the elite category which we raced against. One including the like of a soon to be olympian, Jarrod Shoemaker, who did not even win the whole thing. It was deffinetley a pretty cool expereince to be in the same bike pack as some of these guys. Before the race even started I was probably the most nervous I have ever been. There were a few things helping with this, one of the biggest factors was probably the fact that I was hoping to get my U23 worlds spot at this race. Which meant I was suppose to be top 10 against all these big names. On top of this I was looking at the waves which had scared me a little the day before. The waves were probably about 7 feet above the water and crashing down hard, and they expected us to swim past these waves and then continue with the swim. I have never in my whole triathlon career been nervouse about a swim. I knew that for me to have any hope at getting my spot I would need to be in the first pack out of the water. I had joked around that I would be first out of the water, which would be a tough feet, but maybe not impossible. As we were marched down by ranking I started looking around at the guys, they are soo much older and more experienced and..no time to syke yourself out, "number 52, Scott Dagnall," Ok so you probably couldnt tell that he was talking about me as it was one of the funniest pronunciations of my last name I have ever heard, Standing on the line as far right as possible I looked to my left and saw over 70 standing beside me getting ready to attack these 7 foot waves. I turned around to spit one last time before we strated. "Takeyourmarksgo" they slured the words together and before I could even turn back around the race was started. I managed to rush the water and get ahead of a lot of people by the time we hit the First wave.Kaaaaboooom!! The first wave came crashing down right on top of me, time to hold my breath until it passes then pop up. Nope that didnt work, I am now about 15 meters closer to the shore then when that wave hit. I had a rough time with a few more huge waves and managed to get past where the waves were breaking. I hit the first boy the furthest back I have ever been before in triathlon swim. O well now it was go time. I had a really solid swim from there out and managed to swim through most of the pack and all the way up to 4th and still making up ime on the leaders. I finished the swim in 4th place right behind the first 3. sprinted up to transition and a quick transition to catch the lead pack. As I jumped on my bike I felt my seatpost slide right down. I looked down to see that I was basically riding on my frame. As I pedalled away I was careful not to hit my elbows with my knees. Not a good situation to be In. I kept pedaling away and managed to stay with the leaders for the first 3 laps. "Hey I might actually be able to stay in this lead pack this whole thing even with my seat like this," I said to myself. Maybe not, As I came out of the u-turn on the 3rd lap I stood up to accelerate and pop up came my back wheel and I came to a holt, I sat back down and did my best to push the pedals, tried standing again and same thing. As I slowly started loosing thepack I noticed my quick release on my back wheel had come undone. My heart sank as I knew I had to stop to fix this. Before the next turn around I stope and tried to tighten it up which seemed to take forever and I tried to adjust the seat. One swift hit to the seat and yank it up. I hoped back on and the seat slid back down. Eff it, I wanted to try and catch back up to this lead pack, but one vs. 10 not going to happen. O well next pack, I could still run fast off the bike and have a decent race. Nope, my quick release came undone 2 more times and I had to stop both times, my back wheel also eventually started rubbing and everything fell apart. I ended up pullingout of the race at lap 6 after doing everything I could to try to get to the run. Positives, Top 4 out of the water even after getting crushed by the waves, Staying in the lead pack even with my seat being messed and having no power. Also lasty I am very fired up for my next race, and I am ready to kill it. For now I am going back home and giving crush (The specialized) a bunch of tlc.

Coming back into shore..

Heading out past the break..