Skinnyman Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Big waves (150 people) with only three minutes between them on an out and back swim course means one thing: crowding. Definitely the roughest "washing machine" I've experienced in some time. Lots of elbows, grabbing, getting kicked etc. Made it tough to draft or even get a rhythm going. Every time I got in a groove, I either swam into someone who stopped to sight or I got swam into from the side. After the second turn the group I was in overtook a slower group from the previous wave and it was carnage. Felt bad for those guys.

Not much. Considering I think I've swam once in the last month this was actually pretty good.

OA:41 AG:3 No issues. Love the fact that you get out of the water and are right in transition.

I didn't have it in me for this one. I was passed by so many people. My quads just felt weak with no oomph. Felt like I could have ridden a century, but just a slow one.

The large waves going off frequently factored strongly into the bike. I have never seen so much poor bike etiquette in a Sprint. Blocking and drafting were rampant, I actually had instances of people pulling up on my right with their front wheel intersecting my rear. I wasn't far out to the left, either, I was in a legal, safe position.

One woman yelled at me for moving right after I passed another cyclist and then waited until I had a safe distance between him and myself to move right. Apparently she had been right behind me and also passed him, then immediately cut in. So when I cut in, her front tire was right there. She decided I was in the wrong. Um, no. If she was in a position to pass that guy immediately after me, she was in a position that required she either pass me, or drop back. She did neither. Instead, she put herself and me in a dangerous position and then yelled at me for it.

Also dropped my chain at the bottom of descent that turns sharp left and then uphill. Only took about 15-20 seconds to get it back on.

OA:36 AG:3 A bit of a hard time racking the bike. These were the ones where you put your rear tire in and my bike didn't want to stand up. Otherwise ok.

Ugh. Legs felt really heavy on this run, particularly uphill. Managed to gut it out at the end and get an ok push that got me past a few people.

Saw Dud coming up after the turn around and realized he was pretty close. Got worried.

Got handed a chocolate milk which was excellent (Go Byrne Dairy!) and waited for Dud at the finish. His wave started six minutes after mine and when I finished the clock read around 1:31:04. I kept one eye on the clock and one on the road. Didn't see him at 1:37:04 so I put the day in the "W" column despite the bad bike leg. ;)

Didn't see him for a while after that and started to get worried that he had caught up to me and had finished before I started spectating. He hadn't, guess his calf started giving him problems after I saw him.


Skinnyman is a good race, I really enjoy it. It's not super outstanding in any way, but it doesn't have any real problems either. The town supports it in big way which is great. The venue is right downtown and there's plenty of parking. Skaneateles is a beautiful lake/tourist town so after the race there are all kinds of things to do. I recommend getting the best donuts on the planet at the Skaneateles Bakery.