Galena Triathlon : Official Thread

when you talk about cold weather, are you saying it will be cold in mid-may, or it has impacted training, or you are worried that the water temps will be low (sucks to suit up for a short swim, I imagine)

The water is always cold, this year, it could be bone chilling.

I was upset I have to work the tri weekend this year.  Now I am not.  The water is going to be rediculously cold if they don't take it away all togeather.  This has been a very cold spring it seems so far.  I can't see the water being much warmer than 55 by race day if you are lucky.  Just not enough warmth yet.

Since 2006, Its been shortened once but I can't recall them cancelling it. So it would have been prior to that...

Good luck to everyone doing the race this weekend. 

So any one have any thoughts on the new course? Here is my two cents:

- The bike course was pretty much the same except for the loop before T2. The steep downhill before that loop was pretty hairy with that sharp left turn at the bottom. I hit over 40 and then had to brake somewhat aggressively to make that turn. Not sure how that was much safer then the previous steep decent that they removed (and we now run down -ugh)

- The run course sucked. Let me repeat that. The run course sucked haha. That first mile straight up hill at about a 12-16% incline was just brutal. The steep decent also sucked as I felt my legs were going to end up in my shoulders when I was done. I have had some slight IT band issues and I was really worried about doing some serious damage on that downhill.

- The spectator crowd was pretty much non-existent. I saw about 10 people on the bike course, there was 1 or 2 people at T2 and then there was a hand full of people at the turn where we entered the neighborhood (the first aid station on the old run course at the end of the trail). Even the finish line was hard to spot because there was nobody out there. My family got stuck at the Apple Canyon Lake parking lot and were not able to head out until I was already half way through the run. So they basically only saw me come out of the water - compared to previous years where they would be waiting for me at T2 and see me come off bike, start the run and see me finish.

I thought I had a pretty good race even though my time was about 3 minutes slower than last year but I really feel they made the course much more difficult with new bike section and the modified run course. Still kind of annoyed with the course change just to make Eagle Ridge Golf Course happy. If they don't want the congestion then maybe they shouldn't host the event. I had heard that there were two wedding planned for that day so that is why they made the change. It definitely wasn't for safety since the new course was just as bad as the previous. Kind of a pain to have to head over to T2 to get all our stuff after 1:30pm seeing as that I finished at 11:00am. Unless they go back to the old course this one is off my list for next year.

Yeah I did this race in 2011 and then again this weekend and let me tell you the run course was HORRIBLE. Running downhill and uphill with basically no flat stretches it was tough to actually get a rhythm. The bike course was tougher I thought too mostly because it was more technical. You had to really know how to turn and corner on those fast downhills otherwise you'd be toast. The logistics were freakin' ridiculous.
But that being said I love this race because of the bike. It's so much fun and I felt so much more comfortable but the run OMG...not good at all. It really just sucked. I hope they change it again.

Well, as I mentioned earlier in this thread this was my first tri. Although I was a bit slower than my goal, I still really enjoyed my first experience and gained a lot of knowledge.

I underestimated the difficulty of the hills, and on top of that made quite the rookie mistake on the first hill out of T1. I managed to get in a bit of congestion coming out and had trouble getting my shoes clipped in. Then, in a very smooth move I knocked my water bottle off of the bike about 1/4 of the way up the hill, stopped and got it, and ended up semi-regretting that as I had to walk up the remainder of that hill.

I did not have anyone with me, but the course was not at all spectator friendly, was difficult and inconvenient to get to T2, and i'm unsure if i'd do this race again just because of those logistics, it took forever to get on the way home.

Edited by AHanrath 2013-05-20 4:51 PM

Yeah talked to a few people at last nights ride that did the race and they didn't really care for the new course. I still want to do the race next year if scheduling is ok for me to do it. I heard the run was ridiculous and the bike was still hilly/challenging but not a whole lot different. Friend of mine got first in her AG in the dualthon and another friend got second in his AG in the tri.

That seems to happen a lot coming out of T1 and like you said with the congestion there are always crashes and people not being able to get clipped in. The first year I fell, the second year I got going but some guy was going to slow and I clipped his rear wheel. The last two years I now just leave my shoes clipped in and ride with my feet on top until I get to the top of the hill then I slip in to them. Much safer and if for some reason I have to stop or fall I can just get going again.

Congrats on your first tri! That was definitely a tough race for your first. They all will seem a little bit easier now haha.