I was beginning to think I wouldn't do a triathlon this summer due to circumstances, which would have been a shame given I'm riding better now than ever before. Sure, my running is awful, but I really wanted to test my bike in a race environment. The window of opportunity for Cicero is narrowing if not already shut.
That all changed Tuesday when Arlene came to the pace line ride. I found out she was doing a triathlon today, and it was a race I'd watched last year and wanted to do this year. Thing was, I thought the race had already happened, so I wasn't looking for it. Imagine my happy surprise when I found out the truth.
I tried to get others to go, but I'm no Jimmy; the Bedford roster would be limited to Arlene and myself. Really, as far as triathlons go, this one has its strong points. First is the parking. You park right next to the transition area. Right. Next. To. It. The swim is downriver, with the current. The bike is as flat as you could realistically find. The run course is pretty in places, and quite flat. So, for those of you who passed... sorry!
The bad end of the race is some aspects of the organization. It was a clumsy start to the swim, for instance. The Olympic distance event started across the river in Kentucky, and there was trouble getting the ambulance to the right place(!), and the orange buoys had to be moved over and again before the start. The swim start was time trial fashion, which was fine, but the river was shallow and the buoys were too close to shore. The run had multiple ink markings on the road, and since there weren't humans located in all the critical confusion points, well, confusion occurred.
I made some decisions from the start. First, I was there to bike hard, period. If I did well in the swim or run, that was okay, if I didn't, that was okay too. The bike was the whole race to me. For that reason, I self-seeded myself in the front wave, but started at the back of it. The logic was simple; I would be ahead of most of the plodders behind me, but since I was in the fastest wave, I didn't want anyone swimming up my back. The channel was narrow, so this had a great chance of happening. I passed people all the way and was never passed in the swim. I had a clear line, no difficulties at all. This was a good decision.
I went with socks, because once again, I wanted to bike great. It cost me a little in transition but I feel strongly it was the way to go. I had the misfortune of being in the absolute worst spot of transition, the farthest point away from the exit, due to my late entry. Oh, well. Bike time didn't start until I was out of T1, what did that matter?
The course started in a slight grade down, hard left, then hard right turn, and after that, it was clear air until the turnaround. There were railroad tracks scattered across the course, some rough, and they would have to be crossed again on the return. I hit it hard, and from the start it was obvious I was going to dominate on the bike. I went by people hard, with 2-4 mph advantage on everyone. It reminded me of how Chicago went. We were warned at the beginning by a somewhat overzealous referee about drafting - there was no danger of a penalty here. I did have to pass a car or two that got onto the course, and they slowed me some, but overall I would say the traffic control was better than Cicero. There was a noticeable wind on the course as well, and it took a little off, but it wasn't a serious factor.
The run, the leg I dreaded most, really wasn't bad at all. It was flat, except for the short rise to get on the causeway, and somewhat pretty. It spends a great deal of time in the Falls of the Ohio park. The bad part was the turnaround for the sprint triathlon was marked in three different locations. Imagine the confusion. Since no one was standing out there to direct anyone, it's anyone's guess where people actually turned. I went to the furthest point, I know that. I wound up passing the same people again despite never being passed at any point in the race. It wasn't there fault, so no hard feelings.
The thing that did irk me a bit was the wrong turn I made. This was the result of bad markings and no one there to direct, and it took me a full block off course. It made no difference in the final standings, and since I didn't care about the run anyway, I won't worry about it.
I was 23rd in the swim, no surprise as I didn't push it. I thought I was 5th on the bike. I was 5th in the run. Finally, I was 4th overall.
Now I would be thrilled with those results, especially since I clocked 25.9 mph on the bike, the fastest official race time I've ever been given. But it got even better. Galloway, ever the club statistician, texted me that "25.9 was first on the bike"... I wondered what he meant. I had my printout, I knew what it said. I was driving, so I didn't explore any further. Then I got home. I checked on the computer, searched the results, and out of curiosity, sorted the results by bike (after all, who got #1 on the bike, and how fast were they?). Turns out he was right. There were glitches in the top three riding times, obvious they could not have beaten me. There was no #4 at all. If the results are ranked by bike speed, yours truly was #1. That really made my summer. I've won swim meets, I've won road races, but I've never won a bike race of any kind. Until today.
I met up with Arlene afterward, and we awaited the awards. It took a while, but they finally came. Arlene laid it on the rest of her age group, clubbing them like baby Harp Seals. We both won, making it a sweep for Bedford.
I also found out I was the 2nd Hoosier in the race, behind only the winner (who was just 19 years-old!).
I'm glad it's over, but I'm also glad I went. If I don't get to race again this summer, it's okay; I had one great one, and that's enough.
That all changed Tuesday when Arlene came to the pace line ride. I found out she was doing a triathlon today, and it was a race I'd watched last year and wanted to do this year. Thing was, I thought the race had already happened, so I wasn't looking for it. Imagine my happy surprise when I found out the truth.
I tried to get others to go, but I'm no Jimmy; the Bedford roster would be limited to Arlene and myself. Really, as far as triathlons go, this one has its strong points. First is the parking. You park right next to the transition area. Right. Next. To. It. The swim is downriver, with the current. The bike is as flat as you could realistically find. The run course is pretty in places, and quite flat. So, for those of you who passed... sorry!
The bad end of the race is some aspects of the organization. It was a clumsy start to the swim, for instance. The Olympic distance event started across the river in Kentucky, and there was trouble getting the ambulance to the right place(!), and the orange buoys had to be moved over and again before the start. The swim start was time trial fashion, which was fine, but the river was shallow and the buoys were too close to shore. The run had multiple ink markings on the road, and since there weren't humans located in all the critical confusion points, well, confusion occurred.
I made some decisions from the start. First, I was there to bike hard, period. If I did well in the swim or run, that was okay, if I didn't, that was okay too. The bike was the whole race to me. For that reason, I self-seeded myself in the front wave, but started at the back of it. The logic was simple; I would be ahead of most of the plodders behind me, but since I was in the fastest wave, I didn't want anyone swimming up my back. The channel was narrow, so this had a great chance of happening. I passed people all the way and was never passed in the swim. I had a clear line, no difficulties at all. This was a good decision.
I went with socks, because once again, I wanted to bike great. It cost me a little in transition but I feel strongly it was the way to go. I had the misfortune of being in the absolute worst spot of transition, the farthest point away from the exit, due to my late entry. Oh, well. Bike time didn't start until I was out of T1, what did that matter?
The course started in a slight grade down, hard left, then hard right turn, and after that, it was clear air until the turnaround. There were railroad tracks scattered across the course, some rough, and they would have to be crossed again on the return. I hit it hard, and from the start it was obvious I was going to dominate on the bike. I went by people hard, with 2-4 mph advantage on everyone. It reminded me of how Chicago went. We were warned at the beginning by a somewhat overzealous referee about drafting - there was no danger of a penalty here. I did have to pass a car or two that got onto the course, and they slowed me some, but overall I would say the traffic control was better than Cicero. There was a noticeable wind on the course as well, and it took a little off, but it wasn't a serious factor.
The run, the leg I dreaded most, really wasn't bad at all. It was flat, except for the short rise to get on the causeway, and somewhat pretty. It spends a great deal of time in the Falls of the Ohio park. The bad part was the turnaround for the sprint triathlon was marked in three different locations. Imagine the confusion. Since no one was standing out there to direct anyone, it's anyone's guess where people actually turned. I went to the furthest point, I know that. I wound up passing the same people again despite never being passed at any point in the race. It wasn't there fault, so no hard feelings.
The thing that did irk me a bit was the wrong turn I made. This was the result of bad markings and no one there to direct, and it took me a full block off course. It made no difference in the final standings, and since I didn't care about the run anyway, I won't worry about it.
I was 23rd in the swim, no surprise as I didn't push it. I thought I was 5th on the bike. I was 5th in the run. Finally, I was 4th overall.
Now I would be thrilled with those results, especially since I clocked 25.9 mph on the bike, the fastest official race time I've ever been given. But it got even better. Galloway, ever the club statistician, texted me that "25.9 was first on the bike"... I wondered what he meant. I had my printout, I knew what it said. I was driving, so I didn't explore any further. Then I got home. I checked on the computer, searched the results, and out of curiosity, sorted the results by bike (after all, who got #1 on the bike, and how fast were they?). Turns out he was right. There were glitches in the top three riding times, obvious they could not have beaten me. There was no #4 at all. If the results are ranked by bike speed, yours truly was #1. That really made my summer. I've won swim meets, I've won road races, but I've never won a bike race of any kind. Until today.
I met up with Arlene afterward, and we awaited the awards. It took a while, but they finally came. Arlene laid it on the rest of her age group, clubbing them like baby Harp Seals. We both won, making it a sweep for Bedford.
I also found out I was the 2nd Hoosier in the race, behind only the winner (who was just 19 years-old!).
I'm glad it's over, but I'm also glad I went. If I don't get to race again this summer, it's okay; I had one great one, and that's enough.
congrats!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
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