Friday night, I get the following e-mail:
Greetings! PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING - SWIM PORTION CANCELLED Good evening everyone, It is with great sadness that I have to send out this e-mail notice about the swim portion of our 1st Annual Triathlon at Bear Mountain having to be cancelled. As per USAT sanctioning regulations we are required to test the body of water we are to conduct the swim in within one week of the event. We received our sample report back today and the Fecal Coliform count is way too high to allow us to conduct the swim. The acceptable NYS Health Department level is 1000 and the count of Lake Hessian is currently at 1700. After being on the phone with the Rockland County of Health Department, USA Triathlon and the NYS Parks Department at Bear Mountain we have made the decision to cancel the swim. What does this mean for the event? The event will be changed to a Duathlon with a Run, then the bike and than a second run. As per my discussions with USA Triathlon, the event will still be scored as a Triathlon, so USA Triathlon points will be awarded for everyone competing. We will be conducting the first Run Segment in a Wave format with 40 people per wave and 4 waves. Please see the Registration Table for your Wave assignment.
Man.....This sucks. I usually make up a lot of time on the swim that I know I will lose on the bike. Still, life goes on.
I wake up sunday morning at 2am and leave the house at 4:10. Transition is open from 5:00 to 6:30 and I am doing a same day packet pickup so I can't be late. Mapquest estimated it at an hour and ten minute drive. I leave the house and it is pitch black outside. Trucks screaming by on the Cross Bronx Expressway. I hit the Palisades Parkway and OMG it is pitch black. There are NO lights whatsoever. Who makes a highway like this? I drive with my high beams on. I see a racoon who decides (thank God) not to cross the highway and die. I see a car in front of me and it disappears. Where? I don't know. I get to "the traffic circle" and can't find transition. What I do find is another car coming back the other way lost as well. But hey, we find the place and I meet Shyana. We are 2nd and 3rd and still even though its 5:20, it's pitch black outside with beautiful stars above us. Oh, by the way, it's freezing.
The race became a mass start of 1.55 mile run (1 loop around the lake) followed by the bike and then a 3.1 mile run (2 loops around the lake).
The run was a loop around the lake. First half of the loop was flat or downhill followed by mostly up.
The bike was 2 miles up a mountain to Perkins, then a 1/4 mile hard drop to the turnaround. You then go up the hard 1/4 mile up followed by 2 miles of going down the mountain. You do this whole experience twice.
During the first run, right at the start a guy fell down. Later when I was climbing the mountain for the 2nd time, I saw him ride down singing at the top of his voice. He later took a medal for his age group.
The bike was hard and I tried to draft whenever possible. When we got to Perkins it was beautiful. The bike computer said 38 MPH. Man what a thrill and of course what a bitch going back up. Going down the mountain was awesome. Beautiful scenery. Toward the end there was a sign that said 15 MPH. I thought it was funny as I was going 26.4 MPH till I saw the ugly turn which was about 2 seconds later. I actually stood up a little to be less aerodynamic and tapped my breaks gently.
As I started the second run, I heard them announce that the 4th overall male had just come in. WOW! I commented to this woman that I overtook and she told me that she could not believe that a guy was on a mountain bike. This is funny because the woman who was 20 feet in front of us looked back and said "that's my husband on the mountain bike". What are the odds? I left them talking and continued my run. The water stops had lemon gatorade and yellow disgusting water. This guy and I joked about that it must be lake water. Later when I finished the race, I spoke to a volunteer who told me that it was lake water. Don't know if he was BSing but blch.
These are a few images of Shyana with an orange in her mouth. Image1 Image2 Image3
