Wauconda Sprint Tri

I'll be there!

It's gonna be a hot one, glad they start it early.

I'd still like to wear my sleeveless wetsuit as my little security blanket, but I guess it's doubtful they'll be allowed.  What's the temperature cutoff on that?

I've done this one twice before, and didn't find it particularly hilly and/or challenging.  Typical suburban roads, a decent amount of rolling hills, and maybe a couple "climbs" where you've got to push a little, but nothing crazy that I can recall.  I can't imagine where one would train to NOT encounter hills similar to what you'll find on this bike course.  Maybe if you never leave Chicago's lakefront you don't ride any hills, but if you're biking roads anywhere in the suburbs or park districts, etc, you'll be prepared.

Cool......thanks for the feedback.  

Oh, no wetsuit for me.  I just hate taking those things off....lol.

I did this two years ago and regularly ride most parts of the course on various everyday routes.  The hills are just big enough to throw off momentum, but should not be that much of a challenge.  The fastest guys will likely be in the big ring the whole way around.

I'll be there.  Did it last year too.  There were no wetsuits then either but you could still wear one and you just couldn't win an AG award.  Not sure how people wore them though cause it was warm without one.

crowny2 - 2011-07-20 3:11 PM Should be a nice one.  At least it shouldn't get too terribly hot till after most are done. 

And at 400m, and as warm as the water is going to be, I will NOT be wearing my wetsuit. 

Thanks for the info on the bike course.  If you go to mapmyride.com they have the course up there too, with elevation to give you an idea.  It really isn't that bad.

Isn't it more like an 800m swim?  1/2 mile?

Also, got an email yesterday from the park district saying the water was 86 degrees!  I'm sure that'll come down with the rain we're getting today, but I'm also sure wetsuits will not be allowed.

Rode the course Thursday and found it not to be as hilly as I feared but don't let that fool you there are a couple long hills that proved to tax me but then again it could of been the 95 degree heat that day.  I followed the course map off the Park Districts web site which is different from some ones  mapmyride.com outline from last year.  So I'm thinking that they tweeked the ride as I haven't done this sprint yet.   

What route did you get from MapMyRide?  I just looked and there are several for Bangs Lake Triathlon which is a different event happening in a few weeks.  This is the Wauconda Triathlon and it's put on by the town.  Bangs Lake Triathlon is put on by RAM Racing.  The courses largely overlap, but there are a few differences, mostly on the north side of the route.  The route on the site is exactly the same as when I did it two years ago.

And hopefully it was the heat.  Much of the field will need to drop into the small ring for a few spots, but should not be bottoming out in gears.  A few just starting out and are just hoping to make it likely will though.

Yea....this was a bummer big time.  Go figure - it's been hot and sunny for the most part the previous 2 weeks and during the 2 hour time period when a race can be held does the weather decide to go bad.  Argh.  And it only makes it worse that around 11:00 am things started to clear (a little hot though and I'm not saying that a race wouod be delayed that long)

I also left after they officially canceled the swim and wasn't sure if they were going to change it to Du.  As I saw many people leaving when I was driving out of the parking lot my assumption was that the whole thing was KO'd. 

No refund; no reschedule.  Fail. 

Man, that was crazy.  I too did not stick around, although I heard they were going to go run-bike-run, not sure if they did.  That's not something that I trained for, and the bike ride would have been spent just trying to stay upright without crashing, so I wasn't interested.

They were literally 3 minutes from sending the first wave out - what a tease, to get all geared up and ready for a race, only to get the rug pulled out from under you like that.

Can't blame the organizers one bit, in fact the whole thing solidified to me how well I think this race is run and how organized I think it is.  The communication was very good.

Oh well, I think I'm going to sign up for the Oswego Sprint in 2 weeks.  Registration is still open, it's their first time doing it, but it seems like a good replacement for the lost Wauconda race.

I didn't mean any disrespect to the RD since they did what was necessary to keep the participants safe.  It's just that I was really geared up for the swim since I wanted to practice my "relaxation" skills; basically, I wanted to be sure I stayed calm!

Crowny:  Was it you talking about qualifying for the sprint championships in Budapest?  LOl.....small world indeed.

I've got an Oly in Indianapolis in 2 weeks so I've got that to look forward to...