Lake Geneva...Well?

You can't. Period.  Riding abreast is blocking and it's illegal.  Once the person passing is out of the draft zone, it is the person BEING passed's responsibility to back off and get the legal 3 bike lengths behind.  If I recall correctly (it's in the USAT rules, so you can look it up on their website) you have 15 seconds to pass.

Now, that being said, in your situation you guys probably would have done well to do some sling shoting.  Basically it's a constant passing type thing...

Edited by maggyruth 2009-09-15 12:28 PM

Hope you all did well.  I heard it was a GREAT day for a race and fairly organized (unlike previous years).

I bet I know what hill you are talking about: Academy into Lake Shore Dr.  You can REALLY pick up speed there.

Unfortunately I didn't make it to the race on Saturday(I counldn't have been more prepared for my first Oly), but my 1 year old daughter was having respiratory problems, so we spent the weekend at the hospital. 

There's always next year.

Does anyone know of any other Olympic Tri's this year?  I would really like to squeeze one more race in.  I signed up for the Danskin in Pleasant Prairie on the 27th, but that's only a sprint.

That turn from Academy onto SLS is a screamer, but the guy crashed on the actual last turn before going down the hill to the transition area. That was fast too.

Hope you can find another OLY and that your daughter is OK.

It was a great day. My only complaint about the race was that the Oly/Sprint split on the bike was not marked well. I knew that the Sprint course turned left at some point in the course where the Oly went straight, but they should have had signs well in advance of the turn. Instead, there was a volunteer 20 feet from the corner yelling "Sprint go left". Luckily, there weren't many other bikers near me when I turned off for the Sprint, but my wife said that there were almost several crashes when she made the sprint turn because there were Oly and Sprint bikers bunched up some.

You did a Frank Dobbs race, so his was not sanctioned by them (he got his sanctioning pulled last year-for a number of reasons, including his lack of rules enforcement), but I believe he may still base some things loosely on the rules.  ITU is another organization, but most of the ones you'll find around here are USAT rules based (ITU allows drafting, but prohibits aerobars, which are dangerous in a pelton.)

My main reason for pointing that out is to make you aware that there are rules like that, and most races around here go by them.  Many first timers don't know all the rules, and nerves can get the best of you. 

It is difficult when a course is flatter (which I know Lake Geneva wasn't as much) or right at the beginning of the bike course if you are MOP.  There's going to be a clusterF of people. 

Here's a link that will take you to a page where you can download the rules.  Hope it helps!

Edited by maggyruth 2009-09-15 12:58 PM

I'm pretty pleased for this having been my first half - i finished in 6:00:55 (62/128).  I can't say I enjoyed "killer hill" (or the other two climbs on the HIM run), but it wasn't as bad as I had been expecting, based on the way everyone was talking about it pre-race.  I managed to not walk the run course at all - hill training here in Mayville paid off.  The looks I got from the walkers as I ran up that hill were priceless.

Bag pipes?  What bag pipes?

Some things I learned from my first half:
* Trust more in my swim.  It's by far my strongest discipline, but i was freaked out by the size of the starting group so I seeded myself toward the back.  This was a mistake, as I got stuck behind much slower swimmers and had to constantly look for openings to move forward.  I finished the swim 24/128, in a little over 33 minutes.  Had I seeded myself at or toward the front, I could have done it in 30, maybe less.
* Take solid food on the bike.  I trained with Ultra Fuel (maltodextrin-based sport drink), gels, powerbars, and newton-style cookies, but, except for one powerbar that i had thankfully packed in my aerobag, decided to go with just drink and gels on the race day.  By the time I settled into my pace on the run, I was so sick of consuming sugar, and my stomach was so empty and angry, that I was having trouble forcing any more gel down, and my energy level suffered dramatically.  I can do drink and gel for the duration of an Olympic race, and for several hours in training, but had never tried it for six hours straight.
* Train running DOWN hills, too.  I've done lots of uphill training, but had short-sightedly neglected downhill runs.  While I didn't have any trouble maintaining control running down "killer hill", it did do a number on my knees and thighs.

I was shocked by how much I ate afterward - in addition to the two muffins and a banana I had right after the race, we went to Perkins for lunch where I scarfed down onion rings, a 1/3 pound cheeseburger, a side salad, and a short stack of pancakes.  Then we stopped at Starbucks on the way home for a coffee and a cookie.

I very much enjoyed the event and thought it was pretty well run, overall.  We did start almost 10 minutes late and there were a couple other minor things, but it wasn't the horror story I was expecting from some of the stories I'd been hearing.  I felt the bike course was well-marked - but I also drove it the night before and had a turn-by-turn cue sheet attached to the top of my aerobag, so i knew what to look for and when.  A couple times, I found myself swimming into oncoming traffic on the return half of the out-and-back swim - a looped swim would have been nicer.

The volunteers were GREAT, and I was very pleasantly surprised at the friendliness of all the racers I interacted with.   All in all, I'd do this race again (though I'm currently looking at the Great Illini Challenge for a HIM next year).

Did anyone else do the Olympic distance?   My swim time seems a bit fast and I am wondering if the course was short.

All in all I had a great race.  I finished the oly in 2:53:13.  My bike leg was 1:20 - I averaged over 18.5 mph.  I am going to miss that bike. 

There had been a fellow playing the bag pipes at the base of the big hill earlier in the race.  An athlete near me said that it sounded like a funeral march.   The fellow was gone by the time the most of the HIM folk were running.

As I ran by the bag pipe guy I said to the runner beside me, "I sure wouldn't have thought that would be motivational music". He looked back at me and said, "I agree...but it's working!"

Here, have a race report:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp...

Although riding side by side is a violation of the USAT rules, I'm not sure that it is technically illegal at non-sanctioned races like this one.

Whether it's illegal or not, it's courteous to make sure people who want to pass can do so safely and without too much inconvenience. If there's really no one around for a long way, then I don't see a problem with riding side by side for a while. But you have to be aware if someone comes up from behind.

Makes perfect sense...thanks!

I had heard horror stories about the organization so rode and ran the the course multiple times.  In the end, the signage was decent and the volunteers were great.  I didn't hit my goal, but given this was my first HIM, I'm not sweating it.  Good learning for next season. 

The thing that really did irritate me is the blatant drafting by a lot of faster racers.  As I was heading up to the extra loop, a group of 12-15 guys had just finished it and were riding side by side and in a long pace line.  Also saw several people short the HIM run course choosing not to do the extra loop since there was no timing mat.  In fact, the #3 45-49 Ag'er finished 1 second behind me.  Why?  Because she shorted the course.  I guess these people all have to live with themselves.

Unfortunately it seems like a lot of people can live with themselves after cheating.

That absolutely SUCKS that there were racers shorting the run course!

Okay, i'm finished stating the obvious.

BTW- I was one of 'those' guys who had a shoe fly off while mounting my bike...how embarrassing. I had a nightmare about that and it came true. I even practiced a few extra times after the dream. So even thought the results show a 1:31 T1, I know it was truely longer bc of my mess up just past the bike exit. Oh well, I can't expect everything to go perfect my first time.

I did the sprint but had several friends who did the Oly and they all thought it was a little short (since they all PR'ed it).

Dag gone Skavoovie... I just read your report and must say, "YOU DA MAN!"

Hey d-nort

I like the avatar way better than the old one!

Ok...here is my race report...

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=179770


I wanted to re-stress to everybody on the BT forums a big "Thanks" from this lurker for all the help.  Your tips and advice made race much more enjoyable and fun. 

Dang everyone is getting new avatars. I'm gonna have to find something new too!

Oh yeah, the photos are up today! brightroom.com

Edited by skavoovie 2009-09-16 8:26 AM

For as many bad things as I had heard about this race I thought it went fairly smoothly. I had no troubles navigating the bike portion and was pleasantly surprised to see marshalls directing bikers and stopping traffic at every single turn. I had driven down to Lake Geneva a few times this summer to bike through the course so I already had a small idea of how the course rode out. Unfortunately I did not do the same for the run portion and was not exposed to it until Friday night. This proved to be the biggest mistake I had made since I started to training as I was limited to walking up some of the hills. I originally wanted to do the run in 1:45 and ended up doing it in 2:20. But overall I was pleased with this race.

As for the bagpipes, I never saw or heard them on Saturday. I did see and hear them on Sunday at IMWI on Timber Lane during the bike portion.

I was about 30 minutes slower then my projected time for Saturday as I finished at 6:5:58 but I'll take what I got since I completed my first tri and overall I executed it well. I won't be doing this race next year but if anyone is doing IMWI I'll see you there.

it didn't last long...fish lips is back! 

I thought this race was very enjoyable also, great introduction to the sport.  I did the Olympic, having decided this would be a good way to get in shape for the Birkebeiner.  

I thought it was pretty well organized, but low key - nice beginner race, in a beautiful setting.   

Swimming into the rising sun..

The water was nice, and, thanks to some reading here or somewhere, I kept way clear of everybody - getting run over is not my cup of tea.  I found it extremely difficult to keep a good course, that's something that takes some practice I guess - no swim lanes marked on the lake floor.

For the Olympic, the bike course went straight, where the Halfers took a hard right.  That was the trickiest part of the course, I didn't see a sign, and the chalk on the road was hard to read as you're flying along.  At least one person I know doing the half missed the turn - but to their credit they went on and finished the entire race.  

The rest of it was well marked, and they had volunteers the whole way.  If you didn't bring water you were out of luck, that was a bit surprising compared to the Birkie which has water every 7km or so.

I definitely agree that the rules (in the 2 pages or so) were rather few and far between, and if there were any, not much oversight.  Take a look at the 70-page manual for the Ironman Wisconsin for a thorough set of rules.  I didn't see any drafting (in the Olympic), but maybe that's because people were all across the road, 2-3 abreast (sometimes).  

I think the disadvantage here is it could make for some bad habits.

There was one rough spot, I think a rail track, where my water bottle flew out of the cage.  I went back to get it, and saw about 10 other bottles in the same place.  Wow, litterbugs.  Wait a minute, theirs flew out too!

The running was .. well, the killer hill is right.  I saw many walking.  But nice day, not too hot.
 
I had reviewed all the courses previously, but would definitely recommend attending the course overview the night before.  There's one at 6 am, but what with the noise, the crowd and lack of a map, it was difficult to understand.  I did catch something about "Zenda" and "2 white buoys". 

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this race, especially to the beginner/intermediate.  Yes, course could be better marked, more rules, rules enforced, but on the other hand, it's a relatively small race, casual, relaxed (as can be), beautiful location, fantastic lake for swimming.  

Have fun!