Bassman Off-Road Triathlon
2009 Race Report #3
April 25th, 2009
Background
With everybody in town for Alex’s confirmation the next day I decided to head over to Bass River near Atlantic City for something entirely different—my first “off-road” triathlon. I’ve raced here 3 times before—all in the International Distance race, which is being held the next day. I’ve always competed well here—3 first place AG results—but that was always a function of the race distances, which really emphasize the bike split. I had no idea how I would do with a mountain bike but I was psyched to try—I expected to have a lot of fun.
The race was advertised as a half-mile swim, a 11.5 mile off-road bike, and a 5k trail run. I should emphasize that these are approximate distances at best and as you will see, in the case of the run, not even close to the actual distance. Race day was calm but quite warm—it would get into the high 80s as we were experiencing record warmth for this time of year. I knew the race was going to be small and in fact only 18 triathletes showed up! By far the smallest race I have ever been in (or heard about for that matter!). The race director’s truck got stuck out on the course as he was trying to mark it and we ended up being delayed 2 hours for the start—we didn’t set off until 12pm which guaranteed a toasty race.
The Swim
With only 18 swimmers this was a pleasant affair. The water was very cold—55 degrees—but that did not have any effect on me this race. I started out to the right to keep my eye on the rest of the pack. I swam well though I vectored even further out right, no doubt unnecessarily adding to my swim length. No excuse, just poor tactical awareness on my part. As the race progressed, I could tell I was right in the middle of the pack. I also felt like I was swimming pretty well and happily cruised along.
The swim is in a beautiful, very clear lake in the Bass River State Park—it is my favorite fresh water place to swim in NJ. It’s a big triangle, which seems to change from year to year, making comparisons difficult. My swim was uneventful and I swam mostly by myself with a small pack about 30-50 yards in front of me.
I hit the shore with a split of 13:27 for what seemed like an honest half-mile. My HR was 154 so really just a moderate effort. This compares favorably to 2008 and 2006 (15:20, 15:31) where the course was similarly shaped. Of-course, this comparison really doesn’t tell you much because the course could easily have been 10-20% different in length from one year to the next. I looked at the times of some of the guys I know who swam the next day and my time looked pretty good in comparison (Syrop-14:31, Maglione-16:17, Spartin-16:42). Although, there is no guarantee they left the course the same for Saturday and Sunday!
Competitively, I was 7th out of the water, but only 1:20 out of first place overall. I was 1st (out of 3 in my AG) and was already 1:56 ahead and well on my way to an easy AG win. I had 5 guys who were all just 10-30 seconds in front of me and as I ran up the long sandy stretch into transition I could see them all.
Transition One
I did a good job in transition, which I completed in 2:42. I out-transitioned two folks and moved up into 5th place with 3 guys not to far ahead of me. I was on my way for my first mountain bike racing experience.
The Bike
I was pumped to do my first off-road bike leg. I was riding my son’s mountain bike for the first time so who knew what was going to happen! As I rode out of transition I kept looking for someone to tell me which way to go but finally I was able to figure it out on my own—maybe this is part of the allure of an off-road!
I had no idea how hard to ride and the first part of the course was fairly straight forward and reasonably hard packed so I was cruising along when one of the fellows I had passed in transition came flying by telling me to get out of the way. I of course moved over and demurely decided he was a lot better than I. NOT! I woke right up and started hanging on his wheel. To do so, my power was up and down all-over the place. Normally I try to avoid power spikes but in one of these it seems that it’s required. We began to go through sections of very loose sand (think the beach above the high tide line) and you had to bring all that you had just to keep going 5 mph—way different than I have ever done before!
I began to get a feel for it and about 15 minutes in I made my play and hammered past the dude. I felt great and the pure surge that comes from racing—come and get me if you can because it’s on! I kept at this for quite a while and then we moved into a section of the woods where there were these 20-foot radius water holes that spanned the whole trail (this was where the RD got stranded I’m guessing). The first two I avoided by going way to the edge and in one case dismounting (which I must report I’m not very good at). The next one I decided to go for it and plowed straight through at a pretty good clip. I was soon very surprised to find that the puddles were deep—how deep? Well over my seat deep. As I reached the mid-point of the puddle I ran out of kinetic energy and as I began to list to starboard I had a brief flash of terror where I imagined myself drowning. How ironic—he was a triathlete. He loved his sport. He drowned doing it. On the bike! Fortunately, just as I went under, I was able to unclip. I actually had my head go under water. If felt good (beside the momentary terror thing) and soon I was on my way.
I kept looking back for the dude I passed but I never saw him again. I also kept looking forward for guys I hopped to pass but this never happened. I guess being a reasonably talented but out of shape road TT specialist does not readily translate into MTB dominance—who woulda’ thought?
Anyways, I kept doing my thing, most of the time having no idea if I was cycling straight towards Vermont or still on the course. This was very hard work that really kicked my ass. I was constantly spiking my power. I can’t believe that I think I can do a 24-hour MTB race latter this summer—may have to reassess as the days grow warmer.
Eventually I rode into a sleepy transition area with a bike split of 53:33 and an average HR of 165. I have no idea if this is good or bad. Competitively, I stayed in 5th place overall and relative to the 2nd guy in my AG I picked up 7:40. Two things for certain: 1. I had fun; and 2. I was glad I didn’t become the first triathlete in history to drown on the bike leg.
Transition Two
I came into T2 in my usual frenzied state. I had no idea how far behind or ahead I was of the competition. In fact, I was 6 minutes behind the guy in front of me and 11 minutes ahead of the guy behind me. I could have called home and had a nice chat if I so choose. I didn’t however and I sprinted out intent on running a real solid run despite the heat and being dehydrated (no bottle cage on my son’s bike!).
The Run
I went out hammering the run. I had decided to really go after a fast 5k split after the debacle of last week. The run was along these trails, which just kept endlessly switching back and fro through the woods. I never had any idea where I was throughout the run. I thought I was running pretty well and I kept pushing the pace. I thought if I could keep out of sight of my pursuers then I might be able to hold onto whatever place I was in.
The RD had said that the first water stop was about a mile into the run. I was very dehydrated so around 7 minutes in I began looking forward to seeing the water stop. At 10 minutes I began to get concerned that I was on the wrong trail and at 14 minutes I began to panic a little. Finally I reached the water stop and woke up the guy sleeping there who told me I was either in first or second. Which if you think about it has to be an impossible statement. In fact I was about 6 or 7 minutes out of 4th!
So I kept running. I was really pushing it—trying to sell out on this run. My HR was consistently pegged at 178-180 and for a guy that in theory has a max HR of 181, that’s bringing it. Of course the heat and my dehydration had a lot to do with my elevated HR but this reporter is telling you I was really bringing it!
But after about 22 minutes I was all alone by myself in the woods and clearly a long way from home. What was going on? Finally around 26 minutes I see a course volunteer and ask how much further and he says not much more—maybe a mile or 2! WTF! I suppress the urge to kill him and plod on for another minute or so. I look down at my HR monitor and see 181! I decide to stop and turn around to see if there is anyone gaining on me. The good news is that at this point in the race, which I guess is at mile 4 of 5k race there is very long straight section. Since I’m in another zip code than my nearest pursuer is I don’t see anyone. I start laughing out loud and decide to just jog it in—I’m literally feeling dizzy now. And so I do. Eventually I finish my “5k” run in 37:09 with an average HR of 175. Of course the winner of the whole race only manages a 31+ run so it’s clear we were looking at something like 4.5 miles+.
In any event, I finish 5th OA and win my AG for the 3rd straight time this year and the 7th straight time in a short course race. I managed to beat the second place dude by over 25 minutes, which is my biggest AG victory to date. LOL! I had fun, which should be all that matters any time you do one of these—and certainly so for me this year!
Onward and upward!
No comments:
Post a Comment