Greater Cleveland Triathlon (International Distanc - Triathlon

Uneventful with the exception of Mike B. arriving 15 seconds before our wave went out via ranger golf cart, he was at the wrong send off (sprints). My sighting still leaves something to be desired, I tend to go right off course. I also need to do full rotations to the left, as I cut them short. But I was fine, it seemed long but not overly hard. I was out in the open for most of it.

Put my wetsuit on before I hit the beach. I got sand up my legs which sucked until I got going.

At first when I exited the water, I couldn't get my wetsuit unzipped. A girl offered to zip me up before the swim, and I didn't realize she hooked the velcro (which I don't do). So I had a mini panic until I realized what was wrong. Suit came off my wrists/heels fairly easy. I didn't clip my shoes, not completely comfortable to do it in the race yet. But I was out a lot quicker than my last tri.

Clip the shoes.

Wow. Lots of things right and wrong during the race. I had the fiasco with Spin selling me a 650 tire so I had to ride with my semi-dried out one (a few cracks). Then I somehow screwed up the higher gears while in the middle chain ring, so I was bouncing in and out of gear which pissed me off. I drank Spiz for the first time, which gave me a moderate amount of stomach cramping throughout the bike portion. But I felt strong, despite the equipment hiccups. The course was a steady incline until mile 11, then 3 miles of heavy climbing. The one hill had me going 4.8mph for a little of it. But I never dismounted, like a number of riders did in front of me. So I was proud of that. After mile 14, essentially a free fall. I hit 35mph for awhile, and stayed in my aero bars. Felt awesome, really started picking up time. Then the mishap of the day. There was no one to direct a left turn at a street parallel to the highway, and I went right past it. I ended up about 1/2 mile down the road. I'm not proud of myself, but I yelled at the volunteer that said I was supposed to turn, and I said "then tell him to get off his ass, no one can see him." (he evidently was sitting in his truck turning on the radio, as per Mike B who also almost missed the turn). Nice, yelling at volunteers. Karma bit me back because before I got back to the original site, an old lady pulled out of a street and almost hit me. I had to veer off the shoulder to avoid getting clipped. Dropped a JC there, REALLY not proud of that. But I got composed and finished strong.

Fixed my gear. What a pain that was. And I really want a tri bike. And don't yell at volunteers.

One of my better transitions, as I rode on the tops of my shoes and dismounted right. I then ran to my site and got out fairly quick. Caught a nasty cramp in my right quad when I was putting on my sneakers, though. Snuck in a quick stretch and was off. Got the Yanks which were very helpful.

SOCKS. I forgot to put them out, and I was feeling so good that I thought I could get away with them. Not so.

I was slow, but fairly comfortable. The first 4 miles went by quickly. Saw Mike B. on the way out, Jim on the way back in. Did 3 Gu and nothing but water. The lack of socks left me with horrible blisters all over my arches and heels, really not pretty. I was struggling the last 2 miles, especially the last 1/2 mile back into the park. We then hit the 6 mile mark, but it couldn't be right because it took 6 minutes to go .2 miles. Had to be marked wrong. It was the never ending 2/10 of a mile.

Socks.

Sat under a tree with Gary, Mike, Deanna, Ginger and the little Boumans. Drank water, stretched a little. Then went and washed off, changed, and got my gear/bike out of transition. After Jim and Tim finished, we headed to another area of the park for a cookout. Drank 2 beers plus water and diet pepsi, ate and then headed out by 2:30pm for Buffalo. Really tired on the way back, finally came around near Erie.


Being overweight, inexperience with Oly's, road bike that's not properly fitted and had gear problems, stomach cramping on the bike, taking a wrong turn, almost getting hit by a car, running to the point of blisters because no socks, the sun.


Really well run. Mickey did a great job. Gu's everywhere, in transition, at every aid station. Bike aid stations with Gatorade bottles, metals and goodie bag at the finish. Will definitely do this next year, shooting for the HIM.