My last NYC. I'm so excited. I had enough of the BS. Friday meeting during the day, bike drop off Saturday and race on Sunday.
Friday meeting went well and fasssttt. That was the best part. I was suprised to see that the RD didn't talk about how great and fast was the swim. I'm tired of hearing about how the guys couldn't run fast enough to catch up to Hunter Kemper.
Saturday went to drop the bike off. Turned out to be almost a 3 hour trip. Forgot to take garbage bags with me again. Stopped at Rite Aid and bought some bags. Felt silly overpaying like crazy with the weather being so beautiful.
Woke up Sunday at 2 and got ready. Got in car to go to Tammi and realized there's only about a 1/4 tank of gas. Can't go to city with a 1/4 tank of gas and get stuck in traffic. Picked Tammi up and then got gas. Running about 10 minutes late because of gas detour but still ok. We're on the LIE when a rain drop hits. No big deal. Then another and another and then OMG I can't see anything. I can't even tell if I am in 1 lane or not. Turned out I was in between lanes.
Rain stopped, rain starts, rain stops.
We get to the city and started navigating. Things ok. About 5 blocks from Columbus Circle, the entire sky suddenly lights up. Almost looked like lightening hit Columbus, it was that close. They going to cancel the swim?
We find parking and I'm annoyed at myself for not taking the rain poncho with me before I left. I thought about it and decided it's too beautiful outside. Now I regret it. I have a black garabge bag I could always wear. I'm glad I bought those bags yesterday though.
Transition is wet. Again rain starts and stops etc. Oh crap.
I'm supposed to go in at 7:28 and Tammi is scheduled for 6:14 so I walk her to the start. Get our chips and body marked. Huge line for body marking. They only had them at swim start which was stupid.
Race start is delayed by 20 minutes. Don't know why. I heard they were still cleaning the river. There was some serious stuff floating there like this huge 10 foot long log but at least no Jellies.
I'm trying to spot Tammi but no go. On the other hand, I saw 2 other things. The first was a man who quit the tri about 200 meters in the swim. I don't know what happened but he called the kayak over and they called the jet ski over. The second thing was actually funnier. This other guy, again 200 meters away, stops swimming, pulls out a water proof camera and yells at his family to smile and takes their picture. At least 1 guy yesterday had fun.
The water was 71 degrees and actually felt a little colder but again, no jellies. Current was strong. Took my usual place at the edge. Got crowded so as soon as the gun went off, I went to even deeper water. Goggles got fogged up but at least they didn't leak. Got to the edge of the group before us. At swim finish, it was a little hectic. I saw 4 or 5 different swim cap colors. Got out and ran to T1.
Took my time in T1. I want to be comfortable on the bike. I don't care.
Bike started and I felt good. I was passing people and getting passed but that's ok. Usually, I just get passed. I wasn't paying attention for 2 seconds and ran over a water bottle. Survivied - no fall. Little scary. Oh yeah...I also took a bite of a bar and took a breath and I think I aspirated a piece. Couldn't breathe for a moment - panic but ok. Before I knew it, I was up at the bridge to the Bronx. I was feeling good.
Passed the bridge and on the way to the turn around in the Bronx. Almost there when I suddenly hear a huge noise and then people screaming. About 10 bikes up, there was a crash. At least 2 cyclists went down. Bad place to do it too. Not that they had a choice. Most of the road was a 3 lane thing with the middle lane for emergency vehicles. This place was only 2 lanes. Anyway, the riders went down and I was 10 bikes behind and basically all of us in an attempt to swerve went in the other lane. So the other 1 lane now has riders climbing up while swerving and riders flying down the hill. Scary. As I passed, I saw people trying to help them out of the way. Once I turned, I saw the 2 riders lying on their backs on the grass. Hope they're ok.
On the way back, I saw a guy on a fold up bike. What the hell is this guy thinking? Crazier still, he wasn't last. There was a guy on a road bike who was behind him. Crazy stuff.
Lot of injuries this year...Besides the 2 cyclists down, I saw 1) a guy riding with his entire right butt cheek exposed(bike pants ripped), 2) guy with a black and blue bruise from right underneath butt to behind the knee, 3) guy with bleeding shoulder(all bruised up), guy getting bandaged up at the side of the road by a paramedic from an ambulance.
We hit wind on the way back. Closer to the water, I could see waves. Obviously the tide turned and the wind was blowing. Small white caps on the waves. Glad I wasn't swimming then.
Made the final turnaround and the last 1 mile uphill climb back to t2.
Quick pee and I was out. Ran out to 72nd towards Central Park. On 72nd, I caught up to a Para athlete. Missing 2 legs. As I got to him, the street erupted with screams and ovation for him. Closed my eyes and imagined it was for me. Central park still sucks but doable. At the end, I was running with this guy who was 26 year old. All good. Nice and relaxed. He started taking off at 1 point. I thought, I couldn't catch him but then it was only 1/2 mile to go. Took off and passed him and finished.
I ran faster then I thought. Faster then I expected. All good.
I am glad it's over. I had a good time and it was my best NYC Triathlon over. Going out in style and all. Never again. Good bye.
| Bike Elevation Map |
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I found this link on mapmyride.com. It maps the run portion of the course.
| Run Elevation Map |
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