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 Swim
Comments: Giant WTF! I know I am slow without a wetsuit, but normally not one of the last swimmers! I figured my up river time would be about 20 minutes, but the same time coming back down? Only thing I can figure is the orange buoy at the sprint turn around was moved or drifted off the course. I swam way off shore to get to the outside only to see the white buoys much closer to shore. Oh well. Overall, I felt like I paced it well and was holding my own. What would you do differently?: Wear a wetsuit :) The water was just too warm though. Also have to check with the RD about the buoy.  Transition 1
Comments: ok, now here is where things go from entertaining to the unreal. Got into the tranistion relatively well. Had to do the light foot dance across the street and on the asphalt. Struggled my arse off with getting my bike shirt on while I was wet. This never happens as I always wear it under my wet suit. I will wear it again even at this distance as it was that much of a PITA! Helmet on, check. Glasses on check. Grab bike, stuff flies. DANG IT! my electrolytes were on the seat, and to top it all off, the container opened and went everywhere. Rack bike, pick up tablets. Oh well, going to need them. Grab bike, check. Run to exit, check....where the heck are my cycling shoes!!!! Not in transition. Grab car keys and run with bike out of transition to my car. More than a bunch of strange looks. :) Get to the car, no shoes WTF!! Ok, head back towards transition while mentally retracing my steps. Grabbed shoes from the house and put them on the floor of the van. Unloaded the bike and put the shoes on the aero bars as always to go to transition. Ok, so where are they. Back into transition and have a nice volunteer hold my bike. Check the transition mat, no shoes, check the back pack, no shoes WTF!!!!!!!!! Then it hit me, when I got to the race, I leaned my bike up against a sign. When I grabbed my bike to use to set up the racks, I took the shoes off and put them on my unused wetsuit. AH, now I have them. Finally get on the bike and get moving. While all of this was happening, I debated going 26 miles in sneakers or VFFs on clip less pedals. Not going to happen for safety reasons. So now the first DNF thoughts have gone into my head. What would you do differently?: Do I really need to add anything here?  Bike
Comments: Ok, now we are talking. Time to make up some ground. Plan was to go easy on the first lap, harder on the second and save a lot for the run. Got about a mile out and once again had a cop with her back to traffic about to let a van go through a green light as I am racing by. Kind of used to this by now. Ok, crisis over. At about mile 3, rider down with a flat. "Are you all set?" "No bike pump is broken". A fellow team mate and I both head back to help, and I wave him off. I am having a bad enough race time wise, that I will use the karma points to be built up today. Get off the bike and lay it down to get my pump. DANG! there goes the water in the aero bottle. Oh well, had two mostly full spares just in case, Yippee! Go to help with the combo pump and CO2. CO2 will not work. Ended up pumping by hand most of the way. We both said close enough and got ready to head back out. Neutral support shows and he gets a topping off of air, mission accomplished. Back up to speed...not another person with a flat!! He is all set though, so off I go. Try to get up to speed, and oh yeah, bike computer is still at home, forgot about that. Oh well. Did ok on the first lap, but had some trouble getting comfy. While on the second lap, I see forecasted dark clouds. Start thinking about how long I have been going. 1:45 just to get to the end of the first lap. Figure at least 30 minutes on a fast second, which is just not happening. Do I really want to be running in the rain today? What would you do differently?: Am I really going here either? Transition 2
Comments: Finish second lap and head to the racks. Grabbed my running shoes and go to put them on. My feet are raw and tender. From all the running around into transition and looking for my shoes, my feet hurt a bunch. Plus they were not clean enough when I did put the shoes on. I actually had started to rock my right foot to the outside when riding. I did that before and it took me months to get my foot feeling right again. Finally cleaned off my feet and put on my shoes. My hands were just too close to the trimming chip. Enough is enough. With very poor training, especially run training, this was not to be my day. I was not about to head out for an hour+ of death slogging on such a warm day. Not that I could not have finished, but I had better things to do at home and in the next 24 hours that required me not to go into the absurdly stupid zone. What would you do differently?: not much, this was the right choice, although it hurt to take a DNF. Gave my chip to the timer, who happened to be DK. About right. Oh well.  Run
Post race
Warm down: Gabbed my gear and got it into the car quickly. Did not feel right hanging out after a DNF. Looked for Steve, but could not find him. Probably still on the course. "Took my ball and went home". Still ended up with a headache, but glad I stopped the insanity. Event comments: I guess if I have to have a DNF, it could not have been more fun. Now just need to find the way to make me better. Last updated: 2010-04-17 12:00 AM
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United States
DOUBLECRACING
80F / 27C
Sunny
Overall Rank = DNF/
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 0/
OK, warning, this is going to be quite long. I should have known this would be a different race last weekend. We were dropping my daughter off at camp when reminded my wife I was racing this weekend. She asked "who is watching Ben?" I was not sure what she was talking about. Somehow, when we made plans for my daughter, she went from week long overnight camp to a 2 night overnight with her troop. I had always thought it was only one night. OOPS, time to find a sitter.
Parents, going to Chicago for a week. SIL (sister-in-law), going to New Orleans for a weekend. In-laws (ILs)ended up available, but I think this caught them a bit off guard.
Sat. AM went to packet pickup early because I had a group of friends swimming. Fortunately Steve and Paul were able to keep an eye on my son after they were done swimming so I could get a wetsuit less swim in. I had forgotten my suit at home. Just as well. Finished the swim, picked up the race packet and waited for the timing chips to show up.
Then Ben and I went to meet his the IL so we could have him choose a new bike for his birthday present. We built it up all week that he would go to the mall and get to choose his present. Well, this backfired. He had grandeur of Legos and monster trucks in his mind. Long story short, no geared bike for him today. Went home, had lunch and recovered from the morning.
Dropped my son off at 7PM, and left at 8 to go pack. Finished packing at 10. This pack job was kind of done 1/2 hearted. Normally I over pack and check everything 3 times before I go to bed. I even had my race packet, and did not set the stuff up from it.
Now for race day (said it would be long):). Got up at 4:30. Headed towards Dunkies, only to realize I could really use some Gatorade. So I picked up a few things to eat and headed up to the race. This is a race that I help set up before racing each year I race it. Well, this year would be a tale to tell.
Got up to the race and started by bringing some of my gear, including my bike over to help set up. Quickly started by helping set yo some tents quick so check in was ready. Then came transition. I have been helping this RD set up transition at all the races I go to. Not quite sure why it always goes the same. After about 1/2 the racks are set up, we need to move them to a proper spacing. Note to self, 10ft minimum between the racks. I grabbed my bike and racked it to get a spacing started. Had another team member do the same.
Well, after moving all the racks and the fencing to make more space, I got ready to set up my transition up around 7:10. This worked out well as racers were starting to rack bikes as we set up, so I was quite happy to be able to do the same. The race was to start at 8, so I had plenty of time to get set up. Off to the car for more gear.
On my way to the car, a van tries to pull into the area blocked off by cones to keep cars out. I quickly realized it was Team Hoyt. I knew they were coming in, so I stopped to make sure they were OK setting up. Went to try an arrange the help they had asked for. After a few minutes of confusion, I went back to the Hoyts to help myself. So glad I did. This was the highlight of the race for me. Dick was having trouble getting Ricks seat to mount up on their custom bike. Turns out a mounting bracket had rotated and needed to be reset. I was able to grab some Allen wrenches from Dick and reset the seat.
Then we started to workout where they would set the bike and how they would get from the water to the bike. For most this is not an issue, but when carrying your son from the water to a wheel chair, to transition, it can be interesting. I was able to create a gate in the caution tape that left the water to transition so the Hoyts could get to Rick's chair easier. Problem solved. Now it is about 7:40, time to get myself set up.
Off to the car, finally, to grab the rest of my gear. I hastily set up my area, and headed to the water. Grabbed a rice crispy bar and a Gatorade to eat as I head over. Oops, forgot my goggles, back to transition, and back to the water. Oops, forgot my swim cap, back to transition to dig it out and back to the water. Ah nuts, my VFFs are still on! Dang it, can I just stop running around yet? Back I go, this time to loose my footwear. Kind of wish I could just leave them on and do the whole race in them. Oh well, they will not work well on clip less pedals. Back to the water. DAMN IT ALL!! NO TIMING CHIP YET!!!! Back for the last time to get the chip on.
Now it is race time, finally. I am so ready to have good day. All I want is to stay strong enough to not walk on the run.
After all of that, I think I was warm enough :)