CaveMan Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

My performance - Swam OK, not great. I'm not used to 25 yard pools so my stroke count was off. Once I almost head butted the wall. About 1 in 3 flip turns were bad. Didn't get a good grip on the wall and just slipped down it. No push at all. Then some of them were great.

My favorite part of the entire swim was the last length. I drafted a guy the last 25. He lumbered over to the ladder and was really taking his time. Not wanting to wait - this is a race after all, I was ticked. Since the pool was only 3 or 4 feet deep, I hoisted myself on the wall and jumped out of the pool, leaving his tail behind. That was fun.

The Race Group That Shall Not Be Named's performance - Terrible. Wasn't shocked that there was no timing mat, but having the starter jotting people's start times down with a notebook? Wow. And uber-accurate. I swam 250 meters in 3:32? Really? 1:17/100? With a dive start and no traffic or lane changes, I might be able to do a 50 at pace, but not 250. So I have no idea what my time actually was.

Updated results have me at 4:19. That's probably about right.

Longer warmup to get used to the length (or lack thereof).

Better turns and pushes off the walls.

Missed my rack by one. Oops.

Then my pedals were not in the position I like them in, so I had to clip in left foot first and had trouble clipping into my right one while moving. Took me a while to get going.

Remember my rack position.

Set up my pedals right.

My performance - Felt awesome on the bike. I pushed right at LT the whole time and got stronger the longer I rode. Hills were nothing, wind wasn't noticeable. Passed a slew of folks and only got passed once.

The Race Group That Shall Not Be Named's performance - Terrible. The first part that sucked was having all the 1st timers out there. They had no concept of drafting, staying to right, riding in a straight line, etc. I expect this on a 2 loop course...on the 2nd loop. Not on the first. That was frustrating. At one point I had to pass in between two of them.

And how about a timing mat to make sure people did both loops? That way the guy who rode 33.8 mph wouldn't have a 1st place trophy. Just plain silly.

Also heard that they were stopping cyclists to allow traffic to go through. Isn't that why we pay over $50 for these events...so that we are able to ride without having to stop for automotive traffic? Luckily I didn't get stopped.

The last mile was a lonely stretch of nothing. No signs, no volunteers. For a little while I thought I had gone off course. Especially when the guy in front of me turned into some kind of parking lot. Odd.



Nothing. I felt great. 15 second gap between what I had and they had, but that's cool by me.

There was no dismount line, just a guy saying stop here. Had to slam on my brakes to keep from hitting him. Nice.

Typical transition except I tried to put on a running shoe without taking off 1 of my bike shoes. Oops.

Pretty obvious isn't it?

My performance - Started out great. I got out on the run right as the overall winner was starting his 2nd loop. I got right on him and held with him the first mile, then he dropped me like a rock. Legs died on me a bit the 2nd mile going uphill into the wind. By mile 3 I was just holding on trying to break 20. Mission accomplished.

The Race Group That Shall Not Be Named's performance - Terrible. Again. My ranking is 14th overall, but that's if you trust the results. Heck, the highest run ranking in the top 20 overall finishers was 8th. The top run was a smoking fast 12:39 5K, then there was a 13:08, some 14s, 15s, and 16s. Timing mats for two loops people! Timing mats!

Not blow up early? Heck, 6 months ago I was trying to break 20 in a standalone 5K. I'll take it.

Light stretching and a change of clothes.


Perform faster? Nothing.

Rank higher? The Race Group That Shall Not Be Named's ineptness with details. My time listed was 1:03:20, but if you add up all the times they have listed for me, it's a minute faster. What the crap?

Updated results have me at 1:04:08. That looks about right.


The Race Group That Shall Not Be Named should be ashamed of this fiasco and should offer everyone who did this race a refund. It's a great venue for a race, but the job they did is deplorable. I thought Disco the last 2 years was the worst it could get, but they proved me WAY wrong.

They should post results with split times so that obvious errors can be spotted before the awards. They should post the results faster and more often, not just once. Lots of people went home having no idea what their times were. And for crying out loud, they should check the results before the awards to make sure they make sense.

Instead, Tom Ryan was lying down getting a massage while the rest of us who did the race got screwed.

Update - Now it's 3 days later. I actually talked to Tom personally and discussed my overall unhappiness with the race. He basically agreed with everything I had to say. Gotta say, as little respect as I have for DA's ability to put on a race, I respect Tom for calling me to talk about it.