My First Triathlon
Gillette Razor City Splash & Dash May 2008
Okay, so only an idiot would consider doing their first full triathlon when it is 30 degrees, snowing with 40 mph winds bringing the windchill down to single digits. Right? I mean what kind of a wack-job would want to get out of the pool after a 1/2 mile swim, sopping wet, to don as much clothing as possible to then go out and bike 15 miles and finish with a 3.1 mile run? I mean, what are they INSANE?
How ’bout if they actually
WIN THE DARN THING?????!!!!!
Ha! Yep! I won! I won!
And have the pictures to prove it!
Here is the pre-swim. The twins were our lap counters. We had to swim 18 laps of this pool. I had a horrible shoulder/back issue going on which made swimming hard.
Also, Mark and I swam in the same lane and everytime he swam by me I got a mouthful of water from his wake. Honestly, out of this whole race, the swim was the worst part. For me anyway.
Thanks to the shoulder I had a hella time getting out of the pool. I almost fell back in.
Then, transition 1 was a good 15 minutes of getting cold weather bike gear on. Over my wet tri-suit. I had on underarmour, leg warmers, an extra pair of bike shorts, two shirts and my windbreaker. In a real race they would never have allowed help in transition, but the twins were right there rolling up our socks. I don’t think anyone cared.
Then into the SNOW!!! SNOW!!!
When we were getting briefed on the race, they gave us the option of shaving off 5 miles from the bike if we wanted. One guy yells out “No way! Run the gauntlet!” The expression on my face in this picture? I so want to kill that gauntlet guy!
And off we go for 15 minutes of pure Hell! Really? Yes really. It was really that bad.
I don’t have anymore pictures because the twins and grandma putzed out and went home. It was too cold even for spectators!
We did our ride and Mark was sweet and waited for me to catch out, thus putting him out of the medals in his age group. After the bike came the run. Let me tell you, the worst part of the run is right when you get off your bike and start running. I don’t ride with clipless pedals because I am always getting stuck in them and I am afraid of crashing. So T2 for me, is just jumping off, racking and running. But this time my feet were frozen solid and my legs just. wouldn’t. work. I had promised Mark that since he waited for me in the bike section I would not run ahead of him, but honestly my legs would only go one speed, no faster or slower. I ended up coming in about 5 minutes ahead of Mark. My time? 1:53 — pretty sorry for a tri under normal conditions, but nobody was hitting a record on this day!
Out of 5 or so women in my age group I came in first. Yay me!
From the Newspaper:
Triathalon: Forget about swim, bike and run; this was cold, snow and ice
David Maynard blurs along Highway 59 north of Gillette during the Razor City Splash and Dash Triathlon on Saturday in Gillette. Despite snow and cold, 46 racers participated in the annual event which included a 1/2-mile swim, a 16-mile bike ride and a 5K run. “I can’t feel my toes. I’m not kidding. Coldest bike ever,” Maynard exclaimed as he transitioned from the bike ride to the run. – News-Record photo by Nathan Payne |
By JENS CARLSON, News-Record Sports Writer jcarlson@gillettenewsrecord.net
Brrrr is the best way to describe Saturday’s Razor City Splash and Dash Triathlon.
Impressive is the best way to depict the 46 athletes who participated, especially the 25 who endured all three events.
The race kicked off at the Gillette Aquatic Center with a 1/2 mile swim. That was easy enough. What came after was anything but.
The 15-mile bike ride over wet and wind-swept streets was — for many of the participants — the most challenging feat of athleticism they had ever attempted.
The closing 5K run was no cakewalk either.
“It is amazing. They all did it,” race organizer Rick Mansur said afterwards. “I am impressed that we only had a few cancellations with the weather like this.”
To simply say it was cold outside wouldn’t do these athletes justice.
The conditions were brutal. Not Mount Everest brutal, mind you, but certainly physically and mentally challenging enough to strain even the heartiest in the field.
Upon completion of 19 laps in the warm pool, participants immediately began to pull on layers of clothing before braving the outside chill. The quick 50-yard dash through snow to their bikes was just a small sample of what they would face on the road.
Still, the drastic switch from warm to cold produced a range of exclamations from “Wow!” and “Oh, shoot!” to more colorful expressions of shock.
But that was nothing.
The bike ride included a grueling stretch along Highway 14/16, heading north toward the airport and into the teeth of a stiff wind that pelted the cyclists, at various times, with snow, sleet and rain. And that was just in the first half of the bike route.
“It is a little snarky out there. I think the word is raw,” said Chuck Mangus from Douglas, the first participant to complete the bike portion of the race. “We were going about 15-16 mph into the wind. We weren’t going that fast.
“That is the fun part, going downhill toward the airport, and the wind took that away from us.”
It sure didn’t look like much fun from a spectator’s perspective.
“Halfway through I couldn’t feel my legs or toes,” said Casper’s Daisy Pacheco, who won the women’s overall title with a time of 1:33.56. “It was the hardest race I have ever run. The hardest part was definitely the bike.
“I was amazed. My bike shoes were covered with ice. I had a hard time taking them off.”
As the athletes pulled into the Aquatic Center parking lot, deposited their bikes and prepared for the final run, their comments spoke volumes.
“I can’t feel my toes!”
“I can’t feel my feet!”
“I can’t feel my legs!”
“I can’t feel anything!”
Even Gillette’s Greg Mentzel, known for his propensity to go shirtless during races in all kinds of weather, was affected by the cold during the cycling portion of the competition.
“I thought about it,” Mentzel said of taking his shirt off. “My feet were so cold (after the bike ride). I was running on ice cubes the first mile, and the next mile my feet were on fire because they were thawing.”
Mentzel, who overcame a large deficit after the swim to claim the men’s overall title with a time of 1:30.07, was more prepared than most. He spent the morning getting his feet ready for the cold by walking barefoot in the snow a couple of times.
Men’s runner-up Dave Maynard of Gillette didn’t hesitate in his description of the race.
“It was horrible and the worst race ever,” Maynard said with a smile afterward.
But there were plenty of strong-willed athletes ranging in age from teens to mid-50s.
“I am surprised (at the number of participants),” Maynard added. “I thought I’d be the only one … me and Greg.”
