Race Coverage

Ted's Season - Part III - Staying Out of the Camara Shot...

Friday, 10 November 2023 00:10

By Ted Treise

Clash Miami and Oceanside 70.3 - Clash Miami is the first race of the year taking place the second week of March. It takes place on the infield of the Miami Speedway. A giant tar oval with banks you can barely ride up they’re so steep and grandstands all around the facility. You drive under the track in a tunnel to the infield and park inside the pits NASCAR uses. The whole thign has a real race-y vibe. With the racing atmosphere comes one thing for sure and that’s HEAT. Track temps can get to 130+ degrees easy and it’s a true test to see how the winter training has gone.

Racing details aside of how I felt on the swim, holding xyz watts on the bike – I was super bummed with how this race went. In the leadup to the race, I’d swim with Sam Long just fine in Tucson but at the race, I got dropped by him and Lionel after the first turn then just found myself in no-mans land then struggled with being there for most the day. The lead group would come by on the 5 minute lap circuit and I needed to get out of the racing line, then slot back in. Again, frustrating when you want to BE THAT LEAD GROUP and they’re telling you to GTFO of the lead groups way.

At the post race party, the media team was there. While I was ordering a drink, one of them was next to me and said “hey are you ted?” me: “ah, yea..!” “you did a great job staying out of the camera shot!”… “Great.. thanks.” I said. Annnd that wraps up how Miami went....

 After Miami, I had the worst travel day in history. Unlike sucking in Miami, this was planned for and self inflicted so I can’t complain much!

With only 2 weeks in-between Miami and our next race in Oceanside, I needed to drive all our stuff back from Tucson to Miami without losing a training weekend or taking more PTO. SO, Dani and I took a 7AM flight out of Miami on Saturday after the race, landed in Tucson at about 9:30AM, got back to the house, packed up all our stuff into her folks mini van and I was on the road home solo by 1PM. Dani made plans to fly back the next weekend so just me and some windshield time. Its about a 25hr drive home, we’ve done it about 6 times and.. idk I kind of like it.. Don’t get me wrong. This was terrible going through west Kansas at 4AM, sleeping in the van at a Loves truck stop then hitting a snow storm in north iowa at 4PM and getting home at 8PM. But, yeah, a trip I’ll never forget and thankfully the Dodge Cara-Viper made it. The weekend dani flew home, the alternator went out at the airport while I was picking her up in the terminal line. Dani got an Uber home and I stayed with my ship for 2 hours waiting for a tow. Don’t worry Dani about waiting with me at the van or driving home from Tucson.. All good on this end..!

Oceanside came 2 weeks later as I said and this went a lot better. Good swim group, found myself working through some packs on the bike, settled in and put in a decent run. At this point in the season, April, I just wanted a good result to build from and that’s exactly what David and I achieved. Not to mention Oceanside is one of the best venues on the circuit and always a blast to go to, especially when my mom comes!