Fun stuff. Lance Armstrong (well if you don't know who Lance is...) was in Kona. Chris Lieto (Pro Triathlete, 2nd @ Ironman World Championships 2009) was in Kona. The two happened to ride by each other on the Queen K yesterday. Lance has become somewhat famous for using social media (Twitter and Facebook) to gather people together for bike rides when he is traveling the globe. This time, he tweeted to all, including Lieto, that the two of them (he and Lieto) should race a TT tomorrow (today)...and whomever else could make it should come as well. Lieto's reply? Classic triathlete response..."Lance, make it 9:30am, I need to get in my swim at the pier first." Game on!
They picked what many believe is the most challenging portion of the Ironman course (mile 85 to 100) for a quick, tailwind friendly, 14 mile race against the clock. Lance went first, Lieto 60 seconds after, and the public that showed up to ride as well went off in 60 second intervals behind. Lieto is the premier cyclist on the Ironman circuit. In fact, he blew the field away at Kona on the bike and wasn't caught in the marathon until mile 23. Ok, I'm blabbing. Who won? I posted the video below. They say the time difference was 15 seconds...but later the post was 9 seconds. Lance also talks/jokes some more about his desire to race Kona. Anyways, just thought it was super cool. And I should say...I'm a HUGE Lance fan, but I was cheering for my man Chris. Hard to determine if he actually swam first...at the end Lance does say that Chris put in a 3 mile ocean swim prior to the race...would not surprise me at all! Enjoy.
-T
That's pretty cool!
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