Galena Triathlon : Official Thread (Page 3)

running2far - 2009-05-14 8:42 AM Saturday morning? The race is Sunday JK

Heh. Nice try.  I'm not THAT nervous. 

Looking forward to Saturday and meeting you folks.  Got a nice ride/run in this morning and swimming over lunch today.  I am going to be too tired going into the race to be nervous which is nice I guess.  I need a day off.

Are they gonna have the swim open tomorrow?  Just curious cause I wanted to get a little paddle in to get used to being in the wetsuit again AND being in cooler water.

Worse than the run in Chicago?

Got it.  Thanks.  I'll probably go without.  Suffer through the pain to gain some time. 

Hot digity dog.  Just checked the weather.

Per weather.com, at 9am, the temp will be about 52F and Mostly Sunny.  Unforutnately, our gear will be rained on ALL NIGHT LONG!  HA!  That's ok.  I've got my girl scheduled for a tune up next week anyway. 

i'll just put my shoes in a walmart bag. Cant wait lets have some fun and some PR"s

Good luck everybody. 

We are staying at Danielle's parent's house in Lena which is about 30 minutes from the swim start, hence the reason I am doing this race.  We are leaving in about 10 minutes, so I might see you tonight.

I am number 28.  I am in the first wave going off at 9:00.  Bike course is going to be fun in a butt kicking kind of way.  Pam I will have my eyes peeled for you.

That wind today was crazy.  Looking forward to seeing final results.

Anyone hear about the debacle near the end of the swim?

My wife and mother and her boyfriend told me of two women, in the second to last wave, that was a comedy of errors.  First, they both had their wet suits on backwards.  when told, they both almost fell over laughing at themselves.  So they quickly removed them and turned them around in time for the horn to sound.  They got in the water, and got about 30-40 yards out and then kind of stopped.  One stayed put while the other "swam" on.  I put it in quotes because from the shore, it sounds as if she flipped onto her back and kicked.  No arm movement, just legs. 

Anyway, she started heading straight for the canyon wall!!  So one of the pontoon boats went over, and stopped her.  So she corrected her direction and took off again.  Unfortunately, though, she completely missed the first buoy and started to swim AGAINST traffice coming towards the last turn buoy.  From what my wife said, she got almost to the third buoy when one of the pontoon boats finally got her corrected.  Kind of.  They threw her a life preserver, but she wanted nothing of it.  So they then threw her a life jacket, that she proceeded to put on and turn around, and swim the rest of the way back to the last turn, and then into shore.

Her friend never did do the entire swim, she just met her on the shore.  When they came up, the one woman said "I guess I got a little turned around out there.  But that is ok, we will make it up on the bike!"  They both then proceeded to go through the fence and cross the Bike Out mat.  Where the course officials were I have no idea.  My mother's boyfriend watched this and then swears that he saw them SMOKING in T1, taking their time, changing clothes, taking pictures of each other, etc. 

Well, they finally came back out and then walked their bikes to the top of the first hill, never to be seen again!  The story is hilarious.  I asked my family if they thought they were doing all this on purpose and they all said that no, they just looked woefully unprepared for the entire race.

Weird.

Oh, and the only thing I would complain about was a single bus driver.  It took her almost an hour and a half to get back to Eagle Ridge because she got lost.  And the worst part of it, she was unrepentant.  My family missed me coming in to finish, which I don't mind because this is my 13th race, so if they miss one or two, that is no big deal.  But they said there were some people on the bus whose significant other was doing this race as their first triathlon and that they probably completely missed them.

The driver kept saying "I wasn't supposed to be left alone" and "I didn't know where I was supposed to be going" and even said "This isn't my fault".  Uh-huh.  I feel bad for whomever my wife talks to or writes to because my wife organizes events for her job and she is not going to let them off the hook very easily.  Sounds as if this woman should never have been behind the wheel to begin with.

mr2tony - 2009-05-18 12:01 PM

crowny2 - 2009-05-18 11:58 AM

Anyone hear about the debacle near the end of the swim?

My wife and mother and her boyfriend told me of two women, in the second to last wave, that was a comedy of errors.  First, they both had their wet suits on backwards.  when told, they both almost fell over laughing at themselves.  So they quickly removed them and turned them around in time for the horn to sound.  They got in the water, and got about 30-40 yards out and then kind of stopped.  One stayed put while the other "swam" on.  I put it in quotes because from the shore, it sounds as if she flipped onto her back and kicked.  No arm movement, just legs. 

Anyway, she started heading straight for the canyon wall!!  So one of the pontoon boats went over, and stopped her.  So she corrected her direction and took off again.  Unfortunately, though, she completely missed the first buoy and started to swim AGAINST traffice coming towards the last turn buoy.  From what my wife said, she got almost to the third buoy when one of the pontoon boats finally got her corrected.  Kind of.  They threw her a life preserver, but she wanted nothing of it.  So they then threw her a life jacket, that she proceeded to put on and turn around, and swim the rest of the way back to the last turn, and then into shore.

Her friend never did do the entire swim, she just met her on the shore.  When they came up, the one woman said "I guess I got a little turned around out there.  But that is ok, we will make it up on the bike!"  They both then proceeded to go through the fence and cross the Bike Out mat.  Where the course officials were I have no idea.  My mother's boyfriend watched this and then swears that he saw them SMOKING in T1, taking their time, changing clothes, taking pictures of each other, etc. 

Well, they finally came back out and then walked their bikes to the top of the first hill, never to be seen again!  The story is hilarious.  I asked my family if they thought they were doing all this on purpose and they all said that no, they just looked woefully unprepared for the entire race.

Weird.

OK first, they weren't women, and second me and my friend were TIRED from all the partying the night before.

Snerk!

I was actually on another bus going to the remote lot at Eagle Ridge to get some extra clothes after finishing when that driver radioed in for directions.  She was NO WHERE near where she needed to be.  My father-in-law (who is from the area) and I were just laughing.  We didn't know she actually had people on the bus. 

Fortunately, one  of the passengers used the GPS on his blackberry to get them back.  she literally went into down town Galena. 

I think what most of the passengers were irate about was that she was totally unrepentant.  Not once did she apologize to anyone on the bus.