Kennett Peterson spent the first ten years of his professional athletic careeer as a road cyclist, including two top ten results at USA Cycling's Elite National Championships. But when injuries and health complications prematurely ended his cycling career, he turned to triathlon and earned his pro license, qualifying at IRONMAN 70.3 St. George in his first and only race as an amateur.
Peterson has progressing steadily since his first pro season in 2015 and often rides the fastest bike splits of the race aboard his A2 Speed Phreak.
The A2 Speed Phreak is known for being an insanely affordable tri bike offering and came to market when founder AJ Alley became increasingly frustrated with how much tri bikes cost.
Peterson lives in Boulder so it is fitting his two podium finishes this year were his 2nd place at IRONMAN Boulder and 3rd place at IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder.
While an A2 Speed Phreak's base price point is $1900 for a complete bike, Peterson's set up is their upgraded package which includes Ceramic Speed Oversized Pulley and UFO Chain.
An XLAB Gorilla carbon cage is zip tied to secure a bottle behind his fi'zi:k Mistica saddle.
TriRig's Omega X front brake afixed to the front end of Peterson's bike.
Another XLAB Gorilla cage secured underneath Vision aerobars.
Two of the adaptions Peterson made to his bike from his pro cycling time-trial setup included extending his aero extensions to the max and moved his arm rests wider.
Yes, that's right, he did say he moved his triathlon arm rests wider!
Vision Metron 81mm tubular wheels will be rolling Peterson through the Kona lava fields this weekend. He'll be clipped in to Shimano Ultegra pedals.
When asked why he prefers tubulars versus a clincher set up, Peterson offered this up, " Old habits die hard. They're tubulars. I know they aren't as fast as clinchers, but I like the extra flat protection that they provide. They're also much better in the corners. I heard the bike course at Kona has, what, one or is it two of those!"
Stacked up against his pro peers, many of whom will be riding on superbike setups, we are looking forward to seeing how Peterson stacks up on his A2 Speed Phreak.
Photos of Kennett Peterson were provided by Andrijan Smaic and Kenny Withrow.
