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RACE REPORT: Rick at Almanzo 100

2008-05-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

100 miles of gravel should be tough, it should challenge you, but it should also reward. Almanzo 100 didn’t disappoint on any of those counts. While I could ponder and pontificate on the additional training I should have put in, the missed turns I made, or how much the headwind sucked, it is what it is and that’s all part of the race to the finish. As my buddy Squirrel so eloquently has put down in permanent ink- “Suck it up” is the only true option.

I tried to set no expectations for myself other than finishing as strongly as I could. This being my first true race, I just needed to finish. I’m too damn competitive for that so as last week focused my attention on the race I picked a few goals to shoot for. I wanted to finish in less than 9 hours total time out, in the top half of the field, and average better than 12.5 mph moving average. Considering my last gravel grinder put me at 10 hours out with over 8 hours of actual riding time, I thought these were good set points.

Friday afternoon found me picking up Squirrel for a dash north to Rochester. We’d be camping out in the race director’s (Chris Skogen) backyard. We arrived in plenty of time to take a quick spin to the shop that was hosting the start/finish line for the race. A stop for some supplies for the evening meal and we headed back to our host’s house. Calling it an early evening we turned in before 10. I tossed and turned most of the night regretting that I hadn’t brought any type of pad for my sleeping bag.

Saturday morning dawned early, chilly, and slightly overcast as I fought off the shivers and tried to decide the best clothing options for the day. I chose a sleeveless base layer, bibs, my new Rasmussen Death Squad five thousand short sleeve jersey, and arm and leg warmers. A breakfast of a homemade waffle offered up by an awesome host was downed and off to the starting line we went. Roughly an hour before start, we wandered around the host store and met some of the other competitors.

The weapons of choice were as widely varied as the competitors. Being that there were 3 categories- single speed, fixed, and open, the hardware ranged from simple to complex. One of the more interesting combos I ran across was a cross style bike with mono shock setup, running deep section HED rims and cross tires with a mustache type handlebar. I felt a bit outgunned with a hard tail mountain bike and 2.1 tires. The sun started to creep out as we inched closer to the 8 AM start time and I started warming up. Just as the race director was making the announcement to start lining up I made the decision to peel off the leg warmers and stuff them into my hydration pack. If there had been a few more minutes to spare, I’d mostly like have tossed the arm warmers as well.

With a field around 60 strong, we rolled to the start line for a mass rollout. As we had the first few miles rolling through downtown Rochester, I made sure to stay in the top 20 riders to guarantee I wouldn’t be dropped by any errant stoplights. The first little miscue came as the lead pack accidentally turned to cut through a parking lot only to find no outlet. A number circled back, but I chose the path of least resistance by hopping the curb and going across the parking. Score one for the mountain bike! I was in the top 3 for the first, last and only time of the day.

As we warmed up and rolled into the start of the gravel, we hit a couple small rollers to get us ready for the first climb of the day. A 200’ 8-10% grade blew the group into pieces. While I had gears and could easily make my way to the top, I quickly learned that I could only put power down by being seated. I had too much pressure in my tires with pretty small knobs that wouldn’t bite on the hard pack with loose pebbles on top. This would be a pretty common occurrence for the rest of the day which forced me to either climb seated or really work on smoothing my pedal stroke while standing. The main group of riders totaled somewhere in the low teens and were off like a shot from the top of the hill.

I worked into a steady pace trying to keep my heart rate in the lower half of zone 4 and began rolling off the miles. I tailed Squirrel and a few other riders in the first section and witnessed a rider go down. A very brief slow down to make sure he was ok and we picked the pace right back up. The miles now varied between flat and rollers with no major climbs for a time. Mile 25 found us rolling through the town of St Charles and enjoying another short stretch of pavement along with another climb as we headed up to and beyond I-90. This also turned us into our first real foray with the headwinds as we headed back west. After enjoying cross tailwinds strong from the northwest for the first jaunt, the headwinds hit hard.

We now stair stepped our way south and west varying between cross tail and head winds. Outside of the next pass through town of Chatsfield, we found the longest climb of the day. Close two 2 miles long and gaining over 300’ of elevation, we transitioned from tarmac back to a wide packed gravel road. I kept my pace up on the climb and slowly put some time on a couple fellows that had gained on me in the downhill into town. At this point in the race, seeing other competitors started coming mostly in areas where I could see more than a quarter mile in front or behind. For all intents and purposes, I was now riding alone.

Now focused on getting to the checkpoint in good time without making any stops, I made my first miscue of the race. I easily made the un-marked turn noted on the cue sheet, but was befuddled by a road sign that noted a turn to the right while there was also a route going straight. Convinced that the road turning sign signified that the route we were on also turned, I pushed ahead. I noted several riders that were coming up on me at the time, questioning my decision, but ultimately following me. Damn, it was a wrong turn. I paid no attention that all the bike tracks had gone straight being that I was so convinced I was right. After a mile, we all pretty much realized the mistake and doubled back down the road for 2 bonus miles on the route! At least I only drug 3 other souls along with me.

Squirrel and another fixed gear rider had caught back up to me at this point and pulled ahead for a short time. However, the road soon was to my benefit with flats and a few long downhills with very short rollers at the ends. I soon passed them and put time in the bank as well. I pushed along and rolled into the only checkpoint on the route in Spring Valley at the 62 mile marker. I was averaging well over 15 mph at this point and while I was starting to tire, I still felt good. It was time for a brief stop to reload on water (70 oz in the hydration pack and 24 oz on the bike), take some ibuprofen, and reapply the chamois crème. In retrospect, I spent too much
time at the checkpoint as I was stopped near 30 minutes.

My legs felt strong and slightly recharged as I pulled out of the checkpoint and into the wind. This leg was to be almost entirely north into a steady 15-20 mph wind from the northwest. I pulled away from some riders on the first section out of the checkpoint only to start the downhill slide to bonksville around mile 75. My heart rate freefell by 30 beats per minute, my legs ached, and although I could tell myself just to stay on the bike, it wasn’t happening. On a small incline, I finally hopped off the bike and walked for roughly 100 yards until I could force myself back on. I felt like hell and knew it was going to be a rough finish with 25 miles of headwind
yet to fight.

I struggled through another 7 miles and finally took a quick break for another gel and more ibuprofen. I stopped completely this time for about 5 minutes and focused on stretching out and getting my head together. I kept expecting riders to start streaming past me, but they didn’t come. I wasn’t the only one suffering the winds! I resigned myself to start back up and gladly found my pace slowly picking up. I was working through it.

Around mile 85 I made my second tactical mistake of the day. Not realizing that we were doing two turns in quick succession, I instead focused on the large figure dotting the center of the road ahead. Setting in the middle of an intersection was an ominous figure of a large farm dog. He was waiting ever so patiently for me to slowly crawl up to his turf. As I took stock of my options, out-sprinting him was quickly dismissed and the water bottle plan was put into action. As I approached, another large dog joined him. With about 20 feet left to go, I realized the main dog was indeed panting, wagging his tail, and friendly as could be. Whew, disaster avoided, or so I thought. I was so engrossed on finding a way to fight off a possibly hostile dog, I missed that fact that he was indeed directly ensconced in the middle of the intersection I needed to turn at. I rode 2 miles down the road before realizing I was indeed off course once again. If you’re keeping track I’m now at 6 bonus miles for the ride, woohoo….

I doubled back to find my mistake and was at least thankful for the tailwind that propelled me back. I couldn’t help but wonder how many people had just passed me while I was out exploring off course. The mistake helped fuel some determination back into my legs and I began riding with intent instead of desperation. I downed another gel and got back to work.

We finally hit pavement with about 8 miles left to go. I kept expecting there to be a turnoff to more gravel somewhere in there, but mercifully we were done. The torture was quite over though as the pavement turned to some short, but wicked rollers as we headed back to Rochester. I succumbed to a single rider in this section and couldn’t keep pace as he slowly pulled off the front. As we hit the city limits, I began to feel that bit of euphoria of knowing that I would make it to the finish. The final mile found me in a whole new world. I was physically and mentally drained, my emotions let go and the evidence starting pooling under my sunglasses. I made the final turn, the cowbell, the cheers, the finish line. I shot through and stayed on
my feet long enough to check in until I could collapse against the building with my head in my hands. I was done.

7:54 was my final time. 14.5 mph moving average. 31st place overall. As the field narrowed to 59 official entrants, I only missed my goal of top half of the field even though I handily exceeded both my average speed and overall time goals. I loved it, I hated it, I want more.

--Rick

RACE REPORT: Jeff in Albert Lea

2008-05-20T08:14:00.000-07:00

Decided to head up to Albert Lea, Minny to give it a go. This race was not on my calendar but after my previous result(chain break) at Race for Sight I needed to get back on the horse and race. The race distance was a weird one, .25 mile swim, 19.8 mile bike, and a 4.2 mile run. Longer than an sprint, but shorter than an Oly.

Originally I was going to head up Sunday morning and run the 2.5 hour trip solo mission. However; Saturday afternoon I asked my wife (Carmen) if she wanted to pack the kids and the car and head out...she said "YUP"-so that is what we did.

As I looked at the weather it was looking like it was gonna be a cool one early in the week, but as the week went by the forecast was saying warmer weather! Sawheet, warm weather! The only problem with that is nobody mentioned this to mother nature, and she left us with early morning temps in the mid-40's.

With a good long warmup of running, stretching, cycling, more stretching, KYBO visit, I finally hiked on the wetsuit and headed towards the water. I stood around long-enough that the pre-race meeting was being called and I had yet to hop in the water. Pre-race meeting was a bit longer than I had anticipated. ..sure wish I hadn't
zipped up the wetsuit quite so early-nuff said.

During the pre-race meeting the race director casually mentions "yeah we could have head and cross-winds upwards of 30 mph, but don't worry the course is layed out that it really shouldn't help anyone." I wasn't real sure what that meant but shortly I would find out.

Pre-race meeting over, brief "warm-up" swim, when I say brief and I say "warm-up" I say "brief" it is literally, when I saw "warm-up"-not so much. Exit Minnesota open water with an 'ice-cream' headache.

I was in wave 2, they sent off wave 1 and 3 minutes later I was off. The water was so cold I really had trouble settling into a breathing pattern, and never felt comfortable in the water. I later learned that I had the 12th fastest swim split on the day, but never felt good in the water. Got out and ran to T1, this was one of the
toughest transitions I have ever had, as I was so cold I could barely get my feet under me.

Grabbed my bike and ran. Once on the bike my only focus was to warm-up and get my HR pumping towards Z3. Small hill out of T1 helped with getting the HR up. It didn't take long to realize that the wind was going to be a major factor today. Winds were coming at us nearly head-on then a turn helped me slow down further as the wind was now a brutal head/cross-wind that was really knocking everyone around. Not sure why but this course suited me well as I started grabbing folks getting pushed around by the wind. Nutrtion, water, and cadence litreally all I thought about on this ride. Of the 19 miles we had the wind at our back for ~4-5 miles. When the wind was behind us I was clipping along at 35+mph!

Back into t-2, with a quick transition(47 secs) and I was running. My legs struggled on the run but I was able to keep a 8:00/mile pace. I never really had the snap on the run I hoping for, but was o.k. with the result, especially as I started cramping in the last .25 miles of the run.

After crossing the finish line a guy comes up to me and asks me my division. I tell him, and he says "yeah that is what I thought, I am pretty sure you just got first, I tried pulling you in the last two miles but could never reel you in, and think that I just got second." I looked around to make sure he was talking to me, and sure enough he was. I went and looked at the results board, and in fact I had one the division.

More hardware for the Rassy's Tri Squad.

--Jeff

RACE REPORT: Louis at Galena Triathlon

2008-05-20T08:07:00.000-07:00

After a successful spring road running season, I was itching to get the triathlon season going and see what all that off-season training had done. I headed out to Galena with a couple buddies of mine on Friday and then learned what everyone means about this course being tough. The hills are like nothing we have in central Iowa. We got a shake out ride in and put our bikes in T1 on Friday night.

You have to love a leisurely 9am race start. We were up early to prepare T1 and T2. This is a point to point race with separate transition areas. We took the bus out to the swim start. I got a few bike warmup miles but missed the swim warmup messing with my wetsuit. The water was a balmy 59 degrees. I'm in the third wave 9 min back from the first group. I get a great swim start position on the outside, front row of a gate start and really bust out to get some clear water. I swam past the first buoy by a few strokes but got the turn. I tried to find a draft but wasn't able. I got out of the water with a decent swim split for me but 106th swim split overall. It was a tough transition. I was disoriented and off balance. I think it was from the very cold water. Out of transition there is a steep hill right away so I decided to put my shoes on and then clip in. I missed my clip in and had to stop. I guy 3 min behind me fell into me and almost knocked me over. I had to readjust my front brake but then was off.

Coming out of the park on the bike was tough. It was hill after hill with no flats and we were right into the wind. I picked off most of the field in the 4 miles coming out of the park. Being point to point we were into the wind 90% of the way. I passed everyone in my wave by mile 12 on the bike and most of the field. I drank an entire aerobottle of accelerade and forced myself to take a gel about mile 11. That proved costly. I ended with the 5th fastest bike split.

Coming off the bike my legs felt good and I was ready to run them down. The first hill is ridiculous. You don't really run up this hill. Coming up the hill I started to have abdominal cramps and some stomach upset—I'm sure from that GU on the bike. I had to run a slower pace than my legs and breathing could handle because of the stomach cramps. The first 1.5 is uphill which means the last 1.5 miles is downhill and this is a strength for me. I was able to up the pace a bit without increasing the effort and picked off a guy with less than a mile to go. I was hurting but tried to not let him know it and it worked. I ended up with the 4th fastest run split.

I was the 10th one in but only one was in my wave. I ended up 5th overall and handily won my age group. I was about 4 min off the winning time.

--Louis

RACE REPORT: Ben at Wildflower

2008-05-15T14:14:00.000-07:00

Last fall, when the weather started getting colder, when I hadn’t swam in a month, and was in general lacking motivation, I decided I should do the Wildflower ½ Ironman in north central California. My Uncle Matt lives in the area, and we had discussed doing a triathlon together, and it was 7 months away…it seemed like a great idea. After persuading several other Des Moiner’s to join the party, I registered the morning of December 1st (it never filled up so I probably didn’t need to wait by my computer that morning).

So it began. After recovering from a mid-January marathon and enlisting some help (Help = Reed), I started logging some hours in February. It quickly became apparent that putting down my bike for 8 weeks was very good for my running, not so much for my biking. Oh well, live and learn. February brought with it some early morning trainer sessions and the realization that it is possible to wake up before 5am. The highlight of training came the first week in March when I joined the ‘fast guys’ in Phoenix for five days of Man Camp. It was a great escape from the longest winter I can remember and a stark contrast to my three spring trips to Moab (In AZ we did not drink a 6-pack of PBR every night or get kicked out of our hotel). I fondly refer to Phoenix as the hardest vacation of my life.

The last few weeks leading up to Wildflower were not ideal. About three weeks out I got a sinus infection. About 10 days out, I crashed (hard) on the TNWC….beyond the torn bibs/bad taste in my mouth, I got a healthy dose of road rash on my left side. A week out, my dad called to tell me that my mom was having an emergency. I high-tailed it to the hospital for a couple of days and fortunately, saw her recover very quickly (thanks to everyone for thinking of us). I was more than a little shook up. I considered punting on the whole trip, but I’m quite certain mom would have killed me and, since I had done a good job of enlisting people to go out and stay with my uncle, I bucked up and stuck with the program.

JJ Bailey, Matt Zepeda, Krista Bartholomew, Dee Mable, David Primeau and I arrived in San Jose Thursday evening. My Uncle Matt, and my adorable little cousins, met us at the airport before grabbing a pasta dinner. Friday morning we relaxed a bit and eventually found the campsite Primeau had staked out for us. After setting up camp, we walked down the hill to check-in and go for a swim (For those of us who had our USAT information with us, check-in went smoothly. If someone in our group had forgotten that info, it may have taken them a little longer but their friends were happy to wait for him or her.). With goodie bags in hand, we went down to the water and took a dip. This being the first time I’d been in open water for the year, and with Wildflower being my 3rd triathlon (ever), it’s safe to say that I’m a little out of my comfort zone with 100+ people thrashing around me in a lake. It was nice to get that ‘my wetsuit might suffocate me’ feeling out of the way early.

Back at camp we finished assembling bikes. I quickly realized that I did not bring the spacer for my DA 10 rear cassette. Crap. My cassette was sloppily moving around and I had no hopes of keeping a chain on them….back to the expo. A cool dude wrenching at the bike shope gave me a spacer, his last, and said I needed to bring it back with a beer. I was delighted…back to camp. Problem #2 arose when the hub on the 404s I borrowed was spinning freely forward and back. Luckily, Matt had a rear 404 along that I could use (yes, I owe you). After a quick test run, taping power gel to my top tube, filling bottles and packing transition bags, it was dark and I was ready for bed.

I awoke a bit stiff from the a combination of sleeping on a hill, getting very cold and not having a pillow. Regardless, i was up and at 'em in time to get some food in my belly and mill around a bit waiting for the coffee to get hot (after watching my Uncle spend thirty minutes smashing coffee beans with a hammer the night before, I felt obligated). A quick change into race gear and Dee and I took off for transition. After quietly marching up the dirt trail, we jumped on our bikes and coasted down to transition. WIth only ~25 minutes until my wave start, I gave Dee a hug and wished her luck. A few minutes of organizing later, i was in my wetsuit headed towards the water. The butterflies had arrived.

My wave was to be the fourth of the morning which had me setting sail at 8:15. When the wave in front of mine took off, I jumped in the water and splashed around a bit. I tried to position myself in the top 1/3 of the field, which turned out to work pretty well. Even so, the first 200 yards sucked. They always do. Beyond the 90 degree RH turn, I managed to fall into a comfortable groove for the remainder of the out-and-back course. When I ran out of the water I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was under 32 minutes, much faster than I had expected.

The bike leg starts out with a series of S-curves before climbing ~1 mile out of the valley floor. I made a point to take it easy for the first half of the bike, not knowing what the remainder of the bike and run courses had in store. The bike course was well-supported and my aid station learning curve was steep. At the first aid station I fumbled a water, but by the end of the ride I was grabbing 2 waters, 2 power gel's and 1/2 a powerbar (I'm not really sure why I grabbed that much). The majority of the bike is a series of rollers and gradual descents/inclines with the exception being Nasty Grade, a ~1,000 ft climb that starts at mile 42. While the climb isn't crazy steep, you'll be happy you packed all of your gears. I rolled into transition feeling pretty fresh, but a bit slower than I had hoped (2:55).

I'm new to triathlon butI'm told the bike is where you win and the run is where you lose. A fast bike ride doesn't mean much if you have to walk the last 5 miles. With that in mind, using my watch as a guage, I set off hoping to hold a 7:30 pace. The run is ~60% dirt/gravel trail and 40% hard surface and constantly hilly. I mean really hilly. Miles 1-3 were rolling along Lake San Antonio and were rather scenic if you took the time to look, but miles 3-5ish were brutal. The 7:30 pace I held the first couple of miles skyrocketed up to somewhere around 10 minutes while I trudged (but didn't walk) up the wickedly pitched trail. I vividly remember passing a guy as he vomited on himself who said "I'm fine" as I passed. Good enough.

Beyond mile 5 the course began to resemble something I could survive. College students manned the water stops and provided plenty of water, even for an idiot wearing all black on an 80 degree day. I'll have a special place in my heart for the guy who took a drink of his Natural Light as he gave me a water...classy. At mile 7 I did some sketchy math that told me I was 2 minutes off of my 7:30 pace. By now I had my legs were back under me and I began to pick up the pace.

Most of the last 5 miles of the run go thru campgrounds which provided a good number of spectators to help bring it home. Around mile 9, I felt good. I knew I was rolling the dice, having consumed ~10 power gels while ratcheting up the pace, but I was going for broke. It felt great to let 'er eat. No thinking, no analyzing, just run like mad and hope you can hold on til the end. I probably picked up 100 spots in the last 5 miles and I was loving it. The last few months of training began to flow thru my mind and it was very satifsying to let it all hang out. With about a mile to go, I started the very steep downhill to the finish. I ran as fast as I could without falling down. I ended up crossing the line in ~5:08, beating my unpublished goal time of 5:15.

That night I continued to test my stomach’s limits by eating/drinking recovery food in the form of a burrito, a few Guinness and a tub of ice cream. Ah, back to reality.

Thanks for reading.
--Ben

RACE REPORT: Patrick at Kysilis Biathlon

2008-05-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

Having warmed up with the Drake Relays on the Roads 8K run Saturday morning, at noon I headed north to Nevada, Iowa for the first annual Kyrsilis Biathlon.

Leaving aside the fact that the term "biathlon" usually denotes an event with some element of riflery [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biathlon ], I'd noticed this event on the Fitness Sports race calendar earlier in the week and assumed it involved some mix of biking and running. Thinking it'd be a good smaller event at which a person might knock the winter rust off his TT skills, yet not knowing what to expect in terms of an event, I made the trip.

Arriving at the race site, I was encouraged to see a makeshift transition area. I'd seen course markings and police along the route, too— both good signs. Once registered, I geared up and spent the remaining time talking my legs into racing for a second time that day.

Surveying the 50 or so in the field, it looked like some cyclists and some runners, but I won't b.s. you-- perhaps not many triathletes/duathletes. That it appeared to be more of an event and less a highly competitive race was fine; I'd still treat it as such and make the most of race-atmosphere training. The distances would be a 15-mile bike followed by a 5k run.

As with what our DS5K road team dealt with at the Iowa City road race, the wind in Nevada was nothing short of howling. The bike course was 3 laps of a north/south out-and-back 5-mile loop. The straight-line express was straight out of the west, with virtually no landmark slowing it down. As we all know from Elkhart experience, this is rural Iowa.

After a brief course talk by the race director, we rolled to the start line. (Thankfully Ben Garrett wasn't there to jedi mind-trick me onto the pavement.) I'd asked the race director during the course talk if drafting would be allowed, and she answered that it would be. Given that 100% of my multisport events this year won't be, I decided I'd stick with a non-drafting mindset. The start command was given, and we were off.

Heading out, I rolled to the front. My plan was to ride steady on laps 1 and 3, and go hard on lap 2. Riding Zipp 808s with an aero frame, allow me to say that the gigantic crosswind was making things "interesting." I'm not sure I've encountered handling issues of that magnitude before, but it certainly gave me something to keep my mind off the mileage.

At the first turnaround at mile 2.5, I found myself with a 30-second gap on a pack of five. The benefit of frequent turnarounds (every 2.5 miles), of course, is being able to monitor what's happening behind you. Eventually the chase packs broke into smaller factions, and by the end of the windy 15 miles, I had what I estimated to be five minutes plus on second place.

The 5k run was an out-and-back on the same road as the bike course, and the opening was flat, thankfully, as once out on the run I was reminded of the 8k already in the legs from that morning (though the first mile of running off the bike never feels too swell, regardless). I got into a rhythm and concentrated on keeping the pace high with a quick and light turnover.

There were a couple decent rollers in miles 2 and 3 to make it a true workout, and I felt better as the run went on. A quarter mile from the finish, the second place finisher was heading out on the 5k. Because the Death Squad is a squad with a human heart, I high-fived him and offered wholesome words of encouragement. I rolled to the finish line and notched a win for the Rassy's triathlon team.

--Patrick

PS A member of the Rassy's mountain bike team was out there tearing it up, as well, though I can't recall his name. Good to see the orange cammo mixing it up in a multisport setting.

PPS Word to the wise: keep an eye on tri team member Louis DeWild, who is setting PRs left and right, including a scorching 1:17:07 (5:56 pace) half marathon at the Drake Half on Saturday. And after he dragged me around for two hours on TT bikes yesterday, I can confirm that this dude has wheels-a-plenty.

RACE REPORT: Jeff in Columbia, MO

2008-05-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

Drive 9.0 hours roundrip to Columbia Missouri-$140
Hotel in Columbia, Missouri-$100
Breaking your chain 3.7 miles into bike leg of triathlon-Priceless

End of "race report".

--Jeff

p.s.-I did carve off 17 seconds from my swim time over my race two
weeks ago.

RACE REPORT: Lou in Iowa City

2008-05-06T09:43:00.000-07:00

What would Iowa City be without crazy wind? Today it came from the west at 25mph making for a nasty section between turns 4 and 1. The race is 5 laps - 65 miles which is just perfect and the course is set on beautiful rolling hills in Ahmesh country. In fact, Iowa city and Altoona are very similar.

Today's field was stacked with large teams from Grand Performance, ISCorp, Trek Midwest, All Nine Yards, Mercy Specialized, Bike 2 You, and a few other miscellaneous "onezy, twozy's", including 3 very attractive rockstars wearing all black (Cam Kirkpatrick, Tony Nichols and Yours Truly). I'd guess around 60-80 in all. A nice P12 field.

From the starting whistle the peleton blasted, and I mean blasted into the crosswind section. We were railing it while tipped at a 45 degree angle just to stay upright. Just that first effort gapped the field. The we turned east and let the tailwind push us at 46 mph for 5 miles. That's pretty much how every lap went. So it was important while heading west toward the start/finish line to maintain contact with the main group but save enough to redline it as you turn the corned into the crosswinds section.

On lap #2 Brian Stolte and Lee Venteicher got way with a guy from IS Corp and Mercy. That left only GP and us to do the work to pull them back.

Cam and Tony were both feeling fresh and eager to move to the front. We decided to hold off for a lap hoping that someone else would to the work. Plus, with the Iowa Cup in mind it was better to have a breakaway containing non-Iowa folks (excluding Lee and the Mercy guy who are not in the top 5 on points).

On lap 3 one of the WI teams went to the front and started setting tempo so Cam and Tony joined in and did a perfect job in bringing the breakaway back in.

On lap 4, in the wind section, a small gap of 4 guys formed up the road, and then another of 4 including me. As my group rounded the corner into the tailwind section I put the hammer down. The other guys in tow, we rolled at 45-46 until we caught the lead group. Now there were 8 of us and I thought we were the winning break for sure. But after only a few half-hearted rotations, the main peleton caught us and we were all together again. Cam rode at the front with me, but Tony was absent. It was only after the race that we discovery that he had crossed wheels with someone on the hill just as our breakaway had gotten caught, and went down. He said that he got up immediately but could not reattach with the group into the 25 mph winds. He is taking home a big ol' strawberry on his arss as a souvenir. Not a scratch on the bike though. Nice work today Tony! I could tell you were having a blast and riding strong!

Immediately Trek and IS Corp attacked and were gone again. The peleton let them go. Cam and I decided to sit in and hope for help from the larger teams (recurring theme, I know).

On lap 5 the tempo began to be set. First we caught ISCorp then finally Trek. With 4 miles to go on the final approach, were all together and it was up to me to seal the deal.

With the finishing line just over the hill, my strategy was to roll up the inside. Not usually the best line but with the winds pushing the peleton toward the centerline which was being strictly enforced, I hoped that a lane would open up on the inside. With 500 to go I was sitting perfect - 2 trek guys ahead and then clear blue skies. I stood up and shifted down with 300 to go. All of a sudden both of them sat up! WTF? Their boy was off the front. I grabbed a big handful of brakes as I hit wheels with Stolte. I unclip my left foot and slid along to stay upright. Crap! I clipped back in and crossed the line on the back of the main field - 15th or so. I am not sure of the final results but I think I heard that Trek won. Although the rest of us felt like we were in the hunt, those boys in red, even without Steve Tilford, were in control all day long. Sad but true.

BIG bummer. It is so disappointing to work all day, have such good legs, and have my teammates pour our their guts out only to have something unexpected happen. I can't really fault anyone but myself. In the end, my strategy was probably poor. I should have attacked early and hoped to hold it.

But keeping things in perspective: a bad cycling result, while frustrating, is still better then a great day at the office.

I talked to Cam, who had a great time. Tony was walking gingerly from the crash, but I think he had a chance to remember how much fun bike racing is. I thought about Nate Bartels a couple of times today (the 4th member of the Rasmussen's P12 squad) who was traveling on business. I can't wait to get all 4 of us together in a few races this year.

Finally, my traveling partners; Pete Basso, Brent Mitchell and Kris Kunze - all cat 3's. Their report was all good. Despite drawing the short straw when the peleton spit on lap 3 (in the crosswind section of course), they all worked well and finished together.

Loren Storts finished 4th in his first race ever.

As of now I have not gotten a report from the masters.

From a results standpoint, no bragging rights were earned today, yet we all rode respectably. We executed well and collectively had good fitness. As a team, we are young, strong and very positive. In the end, we showed courtesy, perseverance and indomitable spirit. Nobody quit, nobody was seriously injured. Sometimes finishing results aren't the only measure of success. We will keep executing and the results will follow.

--Lou

RACE REPORT: Jeff in Indiana

2008-05-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

I was in Indiana for a family wedding, and was lucky enough to find a race that was open on Sunday morning-and got permission on the home front.

This was a very short race as it was a 400 meter swim, 10 mile bike, and a 3.1 mile swim. Talked with Loran Storts(coach) and he said "let's just see how the training has gone so far this winter- brother let the clutch out." With that input I was off to race.

Sunday morning up at 5:10 grab a quick bite to eat in the hotel lobby and leave for the race a 5:40.

Get to race, I really wasn't sure what to expect from this event. I was amazed to find that this was really starting to look like a real talented pool of triathletes. I came to find out that there was some $$$ and a great set of wheels available for winners-so the big guns come out seeking the goody.

After a nice warm-up in the rain I made my way inside to the pre-race meeting. Normal meeting, but I was a amazed that it looked like there were 300-450 people there(official total I later learned was 492)

The swim was in the Carmel aquatic center's 50 meter pool. It was a staggered(self-seeded) 400 meter "snake" swim. Where you go down one lane then go under the lane line and return in the next lane. I seeded myself in the 1:20-1:35 group and went off with a group of folks setting in the 1:30 range.

Swim starts and I find that I should have seeded myself a bit faster, or the folks ahead of me should have seeded themselves a bit slower. I immediatley close the 4-5 people ahead of me and just basically set in their wake as they were swimming in a pack and didn't want to waste a bunch of juice until they really slowed. Finally passed on flip turn from lap 2-lap 3. Swim felt real solid and I swam right at 1:20(per the race clock) but I think that my Polar was more accurate in saying 1:30.

Transition to bike was a bit slow. But head out on the bike. Lots of comfort on the bike except the two speed bumps that were on the downhill out of T1. Bike was really solid(for me) and pulled a 21.2 mph split and knocked out the bike in 28:34.

Transition to run(my weakest sport it is important to note that in all of my previous races I have never gotten below a 9:00/mile run-in any race.) Out of T2 decide to trust my training this winter and open up the HR into the Z3 range.

Mile 1-7:59 First thought-they must have missed the mile marker placement. Let's see what mile 2 looks like-Nobody passed me in the first mile-weird.

Mile 2-7:54 No kidding? Well this is amazing, let's see what happens here on mile 3. Couple of dudes pass me.

Mile 3+.1-7:42 Wow. Kick into finish line was ok. Crossed finish line and realized that I had just gone 1:01'ish.

Great day for me. Huge PR. Finished in 4th place in my division just outside the "money". Irritated with myself about that as I later learned that 18 secs between me and 3rd-I know now to dig deeper. Overall finished in the top 20% and know that I have a bit more speed in my legs than I ever realized.

Several folks asked me about my Rassy's kit-got to share the story. This was a great race! As I mentioned earlier the race was FAST. First place was a 45 minute total for the entire race-amazing!

I look forward to Race for Sight in two weeks.

Thanks Loran!

--Jeff

RACE REPORT: Brent at Finchford Roubaix

2008-05-06T09:24:00.000-07:00

At the start of the race, it was sunshine and 38 degrees with 20 mph winds. Bikes 2 You was represented by Bryan Moritz and Will Greenwood. Melon City had three guys, including Chad Bishop, who recently upgraded, making this his first race as a Cat 3. The Rasmussen Death Squad was represented by Pete Basso and myself. Representing A9Y’s was The Robinson Bros and Matt Gumm. They were delayed to the race a little when Gumm’s bike became detached from his roof rack, flipped over and shattered the back window of Scott’s car. I am sure they thought it was the Rasmussen Death Squad shooting at them. Gumm ended up riding Steve’s wife’s bike for the race. He raced one of his better races this week, so maybe Gummi will bring Steve’s wife’s bike the Tuesday Night World Championships??

On lap one of the ten lap, (50 mile race), Will Greenwood (Bikes2you) took a daring attempt (into the high winds) and goes on a solo break. It stuck for over a lap but was eventually reeled back in.

After Will came back to the group, there were a couple more attempts to roll off the front. Scott Robinson takes a solo break as well, however they all proved to be futile. Each one came back Scott was riding very strong today and held the break for over a lap and a half before coming back to the group.

After controlling the front of the peloton most of the race, Basso faded off the back only to spend a half lap chasing back on. With two laps to go cramps had set in pretty hard causing him fall off the peloton for a final time. Matt Gumm (A9Y) and Chad Bishop (Melon City) went off the front. With those two off the front, and Basso off the back, there was little cooperation from the others to chase this break down since there were only two of us (Dominic and myself) that did not have a teammate in the break. So Chad and Matt, were able to put some distance on the field. Gummi began to show signs of fatigue and faded back to the peloton, Chad stayed strong off the front remaining solo in the break.

With Chad off the front, we were not going to be able to catch him. So it was clearly coming down to a field sprint for 2nd place. On the last 1/3 of the last lap there was some cat and mouse going on to get positioned for the sprint. Nobody wanted to stick their nose out in the wind for the sprint too early. In the last ½ mile, Scott Robinson went to the front. With a little less than 200 yards to go, Dominic comes around Scott for the sprint followed by Steve Robinson, and myself. Steve came around Dominic and with about 50 yards to go, and I was able to come around Steve and clip him at the line by about a foot to take the field sprint for 2nd place.

Hats off to Chad Bishop for being able to stay off the front, and also to Scott Robinson for riding a very strong race. Great racing with Steve Robinson and Matt Gumm.

Results:

1) Chad Bishop (Melon City)

2) Brent Mitchell (Rasmussen Death Squad 5,000)

3) Steve Robinson (All9Yards)

4) Dominic Moraniec (Atlas)

5) Scott Robinson (All9Yards)

6) Matt Gumm (All9Yards)

7) Pete Basso (Rasmussen Death Squad 5,000)

DNF Chris Reed (HBA) DNF Ian Robinson (HBA)

DNF Bryan Moritz (Bikes 2 You)

DNF Will Green Wood (Bikes 2 you)

Also congrats to:

1) Lou Waugaman for a clear win in the field sprint in the Pro 1!2 to take 4th Place.
2) In other Rassy Team news, Reed Rinderknect and Loren Storts were participating in the Iron Man in Tempe on Sunday. With top ten finishes these two could qualify for a spot in the Kona Ironman this fall.
3) PRC Girls - Kellie Mente and Jane Riessen ventured over to Lincoln to participate in their racing this weekend. The woman’s racing was fierce with a couple of Cat 1 racers showing up from out of state. They were not strong enough to break to the deadly combination of the PRC team. On Day 1 Kellie and Jane take 1st and 2nd respectively. This is Kellie's first win in the open category. Nicely done! Day 2: Jane Riessen out lasted the peloton for a 1st place finish with Kelli Mente driving home a 3rd place finish. Great job ladies, keep up the incredible work.

--Brent

RACE REPORT: Reed at IM Arizona

2008-05-06T09:19:00.000-07:00

As I watched the 10 day forecast, I was laughing at severe warming trend that looked to be peaking the day of Ironman Arizona. Turns out it was the hottest day of the year in Tempe, so far. When Loran Storts and I signed up for the race, I prayed for 2 things: 1. That we would have a decent winter, so I could ride outside some. 2. That it would not be a brutally hot and windy day. Obviously God had another plan as we had the worst winter in recent history and the temps topped out at 96 degrees and 15-20 mph winds on the bike course.

I will start with the thank-you’s. First of all, my wife, Kristin, kids, Josh and Kassy, for their unconditional support and love, it just wouldn’t be possible without them on board 110%. My best pal and training partner, Loran Storts, who is my soul-brother and who pedaled and ran virtually every step with me. My folks and my mother-in-law, brothers, sisters, friends, Foster Group co-workers, all were dream makers. The Rassy Tri Team men and women that wrote me notes and provided feedback and support. Greg Rasmussen, Sterly, DQ, Terry, Jeff….you guys are rockstar…more on this later. Jenny, JJ, Matt from Zoom Performance, friends and partners in this journey. Nicole and Tim DeBoom, 2-time Hawaii Ironman World Champion, friend, and coach this year…..This guy knows what it takes….as does Nicole, Wisconsin IM champ and President of Skirtsports. www.skirtsports.com

My training leading up to the race went as close to perfect as I could ever hope. Despite having to be inside on the Compu-Trainer for many EARLY hours per week, I never went totally mental. Breaking this up with several movies and friends that came over to ride was the key. I was very blessed to make several trips to Arizona (my folks winter down there) and get a lot of riding in while vacationing and working. The 3rd thing that I prayed for was to arrive on race day healthy and injury free. This was in God’s plan.

I was complaining to Coach Tim about the heat and a few other things and his response was simple. “You better just ready to suck it up! Start worrying about things that are in your control, not the things that are out of your control.” O.k, I thought, he should know. So, I quit checking the weather and focused on my preparations. Flew down to Phoenix on Wednesday with the kids, got in late, but made it safely. Put the bike together that night and got some sleep.

Thursday, Kristin, the kids, and I went up to Tempe and Ironman Village….the energy was already building. Wanted to get in a short swim, but they only had open swim times from 8-10 am in Tempe Town Lake. We got there at 10:01am. Went and got registered and stopped by the merchandise tent. My weight was a concern and focus this year. I have been racing at 193-195 and although around 10-11% body fat, I knew losing a few pounds would help my running a ton. Weight at check-in….183…perfect.

Took an easy spin Thursday with Dad for 45 minutes and relaxed. Got up Friday and Kristin and I went back up to Tempe for a swim in the Lake….(more like a drainage ditch) water temp was a cool 65 degrees, but felt great after a few minutes. Tried out the new 2008 Blue Seventy Helix long sleeve wetsuit. It was absolutely the best fit I’ve ever had.

Saturday, I did my normal pre-race. 10 minute swim, 20 minute bike, 10 minute run. All week, I was feeling just o.k. Not until race day did I really feel good. I told DeBoom about this and his advice was this: “by the way, you are very ready for this. it doesn't matter one bit how you feel this week. good, bad, great...nothing matter till race day. it will be there. don't do anything stupid this week to derail yourself.” Again, very wise advice from a pro….i trusted him and my fitness and said, o.k., let’s do it.

Stortsy and I were able to go together to Transition and get all of our stuff done…special needs bags, swim to bike and bike to run bags. Pump the tires, fill the water bottles, final checks, etc…that makes it very relaxed when you have a pal alongside. We got a few pictures and then I headed to the Porta-John for one last break.

TJ and the Pros went off at 6:45. I entered the water immediately afterwards. Got a very short warm up in, should have done more, but wanted to get my spot in front of the starting line. Was able to get 2/3 to the right and front row. Canon went off and we were stroking. I swam in pretty clear water and after 200-300 yards, looked for a draft. The water was so dirty, you couldn’t see straight and we were swimming into the sun. I felt just o.k., and swam off to the right about 15 times and worked to get back into the draft. Started to finally settle in at the turnaround and then got very concerned. Both calves started to cramp up. Had to stop several times and grab my toes to relieve the cramp. Not sure of the reasoning, but I decided to just do what I could to make it to the end….even if I had to slow down and give up a few minutes.

I was relieved to exit in 59 minutes…a bit slower than I expected, but tried not to be too concerned, I knew it was a long day and 2-3 minutes would be easily gained or lost on the run. A quick transition and I was on the 2008 Rassy Orbea Ordu. If you haven’t seen this thing, it is super stealthy with matching Zipp 999’s (black/silver) DQ did a great job getting me the bike and getting me fit. Greg, Sterly, jeff, and Terry spent 4 hours getting a cable thing taken care of 2 days earlier. Thanks guys! It proved to be worth the time and effort. Bike was 5:04:57, I had the 9th fastest amateur bike split…less than a minute from 5th, I believe. The fastest amateur was only 5 minutes in front of me and the only guy that outsplit me in my age group blew up and ran a 4:46 marathon.

The bike was 3 loops. 18.5 miles into the wind and then back with the wind. The first loop everyone was excited, as usual, and many pushed the pace. I settled in and watched for people to self-destruct. Relax, stay aero, hydrate, food, stretch, enjoy the moment. As we hit the turn-around, it was like Christmas. I was 53-11 almost the whole way back to town. The wubba, wubba, wubba of the Zipp disk was saweet. My plan was to really relax on the second loop, as it was getting HOT, and conserving energy would pay huge dividends. I had to pee and couldn’t get it rolling on the bike, so I decided to hold it until mile 62 went I stopped to get the Special Needs Bag. Got my refills of Clif Bars, and Carbo-Pro (frozen the night before and put in my special needs bag) ahh, a nice cold shot of Carbo pro mixed with Crystal light…, took a 2 minute pee and hopped back on. A great stretch break and although I gave up 1 ½ to 2 minutes…I enjoyed every second and felt refreshed on the bike. My plan was to make my serious move on the 3rd loop into the wind and then relax and cruise the last 20 miles of the bike with the wind and get hydrated and fed. It worked perfectly. Being a 3 loop ride, the bike course was a mine field of people that had blown up and others that were in process. I tried to springboard past everyone, but quite honestly, most were not going fast enough to get any kind of boost as you go by. One rider almost took me out as I came up to pass, note to self, don’t get too close to inexperienced riders.

I don’t remember ever feeling a lot more joy than hitting that final turnaround and heading for T2. As I jumped off the bike, I looked at the bike transition area. Other than pros, I could only see 5-6 bikes in the whole field. I had a quick T2, ice in the hat, sponge on the back, gel in the fuel belt. I ran out onto the run course and immediately get passed by TJ Tollakson who was starting his 2nd loop…cool! The next person I see was Ashley Tousely, TJ’s girlfriend. She yelled, great job, Reed, you’re in 7th! I’m thinking, cool…7th place in my age group, 10-11 spots for Kona…I can give up a net 3 and still be in the running. I didn’t find out later that she mean’t 7th OVERALL, 2nd in my age group! A Good thing, because about mile 4, 2 guys in my age group go clipping by me at warp speed, they ran 3:15 marathons…mile 6, another 38 year old who ran 3:16.

My plan was to run the first loop easy, pick it up slightly on the second loop and lay it out there on the third and see what happens. I think I was too excited to see TJ, because I kept him in sight the first 3 miles…ran 7:20 and 7:35, then forced myself to slow down to 8…the rest of the day, I stayed mellow and ran 8:15- 8:30 minute miles with a 20-30 second walk through each water stop to keep hydrated and cool. Ice in the hat, down the shorts, cold sponge on the back/neck. Refill every mile. I switched to Coca-Cola at mile 9. this was somewhat of a gamble this early, but I thought I could make it work. Despite a 90 second stop to pee about mile 16, I still kept on pace. As I passed my family at the end of the second loop, I yelled “One more!” my wife, Kristin, who said she only cried 3 or 4 times during the day, yelled to me, “Nicole DeBoom said run with ice in your hands to keep cool!” I must have looked worse than I felt, because I didn’t think I was deaf, just tired! I was laughing because she yelled it loud enough that it wasn’t a secret any longer. I was calculating my time and was on track to finish around 10 hours, which I thought would be enough on a day that topped out at 96 degrees. The last 5.7 miles I was able to pick it up and run 8’s + 30 seconds for water stops. My last 2 miles were 7:45 and 7:15. Arizona is awesome because I could see my family and friends about 10-12 times during the day. This is critical when racing an Ironman….you look forward to seeing them each time. Kristin, Josh, Kassidy, Mom, Dad, Tom Hamilton, Marc Gillotti, Jenny Weber, Michelle Ennis, Jan Mohs, Amy Hanrahan, Jenny Storts, Julie V, Ashley Tousley. The more the better, for sure.

Turning the corner to the finish line, I spied my son, Josh, age 9, crouched like he was ready to receive the baton. He grabbed my hand and we sprinted to the finish line. 9:58:08. A 53 minute improvement on my time from IM Wisconsin 18 months earlier. The finish line is the best….hugs, tears, high 5’s, laughing, crying, yelling…it is surreal. I just thanked God for getting me across the line. I felt fine for about 10 minutes, but then things went south and I was wheeled over to medical for the next 3 hours….3 IV bags later I went home and to bed. I woke up at 3:00am and ate some Cheerios and had a glass of Chocolate Milk. I couldn’t get back to sleep because I was worried that I would sleep past 9:00 am which was the Hawaii sign up deadline. At 9:01 they give your slot to someone else.

At the Ironman Hawaii sign up, I was expecting a dozen Hawaiian girls to be dancing in their skirts as they called out your name and requested your presence to register..all the while the hula girls would be rubbing your shoulders and waving palm branches….HA! some dude asked you your name and then says, “O.k. that will be $500.”

As I sat down to register, TJ came up and grabbed me with a big hug and congrats. We got to register for Kona together. A nice end to a great journey.

--Reed

Official Bike Shop of Hy-Vee Triathlon

2006-01-19T22:06:00.000-08:00

We are stoked to announce that Rasmussen Bike Shop will be the official bike shop of the 2008 Hy-Vee Triathlon! On June 22nd, 2008 athletes from all over the world will gather in Des Moines to compete for the largest purse in triathlon history: $700,000.00! Register today for history in the making.