Chicago Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

Off we went, crowded as hell, more than last year, very murky water, constantly hitting others and being hit too. Crazy swim.



Hard to say, probably drink less of that dirty water for sure.

The time includes run to the transition (3:15) and the transition itself. Officially they don't show it like that, but this is for my record, so who cares.
Seems long, but the transition area was huge and it took a while to run/walk through it.
Put another shirt on (on top of the wet top I had under the wetsuit) since it was cold and it was a good idea.

Nothing, it was fine, really.

Up the ramp and we're cruising. Tons of people again. Slow, fast and in between. Lots of drafting too, mostly not intentional. One guy cracked me up, after sitting on my wheel for 10 min, passed me and asked if I want to form a peloton!!! I thought he was kidding at first, but no, he just got to the next guy and asked the same question and started hanging on to him. No marshalls, nada, nobody cared.
Oh, somebody trew a golf ball toward me from a passing car! Great 'support'. Didn't hit me, or anybody else, but it was fun to watch it roll for a loooong time and people trying not to ride into it. Foster Av turnarond was rough as always, why couldn't they pour some concrete or smooth out the kerb, I will never undedrstand.
Downwind was real fun, fast and passing more people than upwind.
(Just did a rough calc on the ave speed both ways and it turned out going North it was 23km/hr and going downwind South it was 37km/hr!!! Bloody hell...)

Finally the last ramp, on the brakes and T2.

Nothing, very happy with the bike.

Again, the transiton are was big, so the time was not bad. Didn't take te bike gloves off (again), this is becoming a tradition here.

Should have taken the second shirt off. It was too hot on the run, but no big deal.

Legs felt fine, but was overall tired and the left knee was hurting still after that fall. The longer I ran the more it hurt...
No stopping at all, not even for a drink, carried my own bottle and stayed in 'the zone'. Lots of people were walking, some fast ones were flying by.

Finally the finish! Thousands of spectators, cowbells etc. Picked up the medal, bananas and that was the end of it.
Of course one would have to be there to appreciate the scene, all those people, great organization, post race party etc.

Called my wife who was there, waited for my brother (for 45min this time - great improvement for him) and walked to pick up the bikes.

I should have taken one shirt off after the bike...

A cold beer.


The left knee hurt and it was the main limiter here, but really, this time I was really close to my limit.


Awesome race, huge and very well run.