Bryan Rhodes - Champion Ironman - MedExpress Mountaineer Triathlon, Morgantown, WV USA

Well most of you would think that I would have my feet up a week after Ironman Coeur d'Alene but I was feeling really good and decided to push my body and signed up for the Half Ironman in Morgantown West Virginia. I wanted to support HFP Racing as they put on amazing events and really take care of the Pros that support them!

I was flying from Spokane to New York to meet with my new agent Jason Goldberg and sponsors R&A Cycles who will be building my Hawaii bike! It must have been the high altitude in the plane but I decided that I could manage this double that I don't think many athletes could!

After doing 1 light swim and a 1hour ride on the Trainer with new gear on my bike an Ergomo power meter and Rotor Rings on the Thursday I was set to go!! We packed the car up on Friday and went on a 6 and a ½ hour Road trip from NYC to Morgantown!

It was great to be back and I knew that I would have to use my strengths and experience if I was to win this race as there was a very good Pro Male field! The bike course had changed so I rode the sections that I hadn't ridden before on Saturday and found that is was pretty flat but there were some good hills as well! At the Pro meeting they said there would be no wetsuits so I was happy about that as I knew I needed to work my strengths to have a big lead for the run, as my legs were very tied from the Ironman last week!

Race day was perfect, a coldish morning with steam rising from the river. We had a dive start that took me back to my swimming years. I went as hard as I could but was lactated up bad so just kept it smooth and strong! I gapped the others and tried to build a good lead but I came out of the water with smaller than hoped lead of around 20 seconds. I had as quick transition and went about smashing myself on the bike as if I was going to win the race I would have to do it on the bike!

I felt great on the first lap and I think I put all my time into the field on the first lap of the ride as the second lap got very hard and also with the lapped and Olympic distance traffic made it tricky going! I came into T2 with a healthy 2.45 on Paul Fritzsche, 3.50 on Brent Lorenzen and 7mins on Andrew Hodges so I was hoping that I could hold on for the win!

The first lap of two was super hard going my quads were killing me and I didn't know if I could make the finish but I took as many Clif Shots as I could and a few salt tablets and my rhythm started to kick in. I lost all but 40 seconds of my lead to Paul and a lot to Andrew but over the last 3 miles I could push it and crossed the line in 1st, 1.52 ahead of Andrew with another 35 seconds back to Paul. I was amazed that my body could go through that and I felt good!

1	Bryan Rhodes	4:07:05
2	Andrew Hodges	4:08:57
3	Paul Fritzsche	4:09:32
4	Brent Lorenzen	4:12:24
5	Chris Bagg	4:14:06

MedExpress Mountaineer Triathlon, Morgantown, WV USA - July 1st 2007

1st - MedExpress Mountaineer Triathlon!!!