The Bike

Working at Sugar Cycles, I truly have the best options of TT bikes on the market today. The; Orbea Ordu(which has won the WC twice), Specialized Transition(which has won the WC once and several top five finishes), BMC Time Machine, Jamis Xenith T2, Stork Aero or a custom Lynskey Ti time trail frame. I am currently ridding a Lynskey R430 road frame that I have converted over to a TT setup. I love the bike and the fit works great. But it is used for short intance TT distance in road stage races.

So picking a new TT bike took a little time, but only a little. Out of all the frames I had to pick from, one always stood out for the Ironman distance. The Specialized transition won out in the end and with good reason. And just to throw it a worthy bone, the Orbea Ordu was a close second. I had the opportunity to be on Hawaii in 2007 when Specialized introduced the newly redesigned Transition. And saw all the research and development that went into designing the bike first hand.

The Transition just feels slippery when you are putting out the power to the cranks. Specialized puts so much focus into their BG fitting on all of their bikes. So I could very easily be fit as comfortable and aggressive as my body and fitness could bare on this frame. Combine with a full carbon FACT 9r frameset and carbon Roval Star wheels for a comfortable and areo ride. This made the most sense for staying fresh for the run, but still putting in a solid bike time. I have left the bike pretty much the way I found it, except for some minor changes. Right out of the box It is extermly hard to beat the S-Work Transition.

Pictured above is a example of the S-Works Transition that I will be ridding. I am currently working on installing my power meter, Quarq Rotor cranks. As well as dialing in the fit. I will be racing on the Zipp 808 clinchers. The Roval carbon Star wheelset is a perfect fix of training and performance. Once it is fully built with all my personal touches I will post the final result and specs.

Common Man

"Aloha and Congratulations William Davenport



You have been selected as a winner in the 2010 Ironman Lottery Program to compete in the Ford Ironman World Championship in beautiful Kailua-Kona, Hawaii on Oct 9, 2010! Crossing the finish line on Alii Drive is sure to provide you with many fond memories."

http://ironman.com/events/ironman/worldchampionship/lottery/congratulations-to-the-lucky-athletes-who-have-qualified-to-race-in-kona-on-october-9-2010

" Thanks to the vision of Ironman founder John Collins, who insisted that a system be maintained to allow the "common man" a chance to compete in this great race, 200 far-from-common age-groupers will join the rest of the 1,800 strong in Kailua Bay on October 9, 2010 for the Ford Ironman World Championship. Once you're done celebrating ... get training!"

About the Race

I received this e-mail on April 15, 2010 while I was driving to lunch with my Wife and sister in-law. I set my phone down and dismissed the notice on the screen. After we parked the car, I took a second look at the e-mail and read it in its entirety. I just handed the phone over to my wife without saying a word. She quickly read the e-mail and handed the phone back to me. "Is this for real?" she asked. I never told her I had signed up for a Lottery spot for the 2010 Ironman World Championship.

About 5 months ago, right after the 2009 WC Ironman came to a close, I signed up for a lottery spot. Of course never thinking I would get a chance at a spot and never know anyone who had ever won a spot when they entered. And I have known a lot of people who have signed up several times. And yes, about every emotion started passing through me when the annoucement settled in. Sorry to my sister-in-law, Julie, because this topic dominated the entire conversation at lunch. And after we dropped her off at work, my wife and I quickly drove home and started planning.

Where I stand - I am a competitive cyclist, who rides every day and races the local Texas Cup events. I lead a very healthy life style with my diet and exercise routine. At the age of 29 going on 30, I have never been in great shape these past few years. Introduce triathlons to my life and that is a different story all together. Swimming and running are not even on my daily radar. I have completed several sprint tri's, but always looked at them as "cross" training. Always relying on my cycling fitness to carry me through the events. A sprint tri and the Kona Ironman are on totally two different planets!

After some back an fourth with my cycling coach, Momenta Training Systems, I decided to seek out a coach that could provide all 3 disciplines at once, swim bike run, and have me ready and confident go into Kona. After talking to a close friend about the mater, who has completed several ironman and Kona twice. She suggested, Multisports, which turned out to be just what I needed. I signed up for Hawaii training program and was on my way.

Now the only thing left to put final touch on my trip to Kona is that I have to complete a Half ironman before the WC in Oct. Which is another distance that I have never competed in! But a distance that at the moment seems a lot more attainable. So, I signed up for Lubbock, TX 70.3 on June, 27. I did so because it was "close", nothing in Texas is close, and it gave me enough time in front of Kona to make adjustments in my fitness. And know I am starting to find out the Lubbock is not as "easy" as I thought it was going to be. So here we go. . .