joereed
09-26-2008, 10:47 AM
Sunday, September 7th, 2008: Escape from the Gorge Sprint Tri (1/4m swim, 9m bike, 2m run)
(1-2 Boise, ID finish!!!)
Escape from the Gorge is a fun triathlon with a great race organizer (Bo). The novelty of this race was the fact that all the swimmers get taken out into the Columbia by ferryboat and dropped off at their respective distances - meaning it's an all downstream swim - Hooray! The bike and the run go through the town of Cascade Locks (that's for the sprint version - I believe the Olympic bike has some good hill climbs to it). I highly recommend this triathlon for the volunteers, course and uniqueness.
It was an early Sunday morning as Antonio and I spent the night in The Dalles where we had done the Aluminum Man the day before. This meant we had to get up, pack our stuff and drive 40 miles down the road to Cascade Locks to be there by 6 AM, as the ferry boat took off at 7 AM to drop us off in the river. It was a rough pre-race - I was putting on my wetsuit and got a 6 inch tear in the left side of the suit above my waist. That was a major bummer, and I am sure being in a hurry didn’t help my stress. Oh well, I'd have to ignore the giant tear during my swim (and in retrospect, I didn't even notice it) We boarded the ferry and it took us out to our take-off spot. A chip sensor was in the door of the ferry boat, so once you jumped out, your time started. We jumped in the water and were off! The water was chilly, and I started having the same feeling of cold as I had the day before. But I was able to calm myself and keep a good pace. As I approached shore I noticed only a couple people near me. I remember thinking it was odd there weren’t more people. Coming out of the water, there was over a quarter-mile run to the transition area from the beach, so I took off jogging and passed two people. As I entered transition I heard the announcer say “You’re the third one in!” I thought she must be mistaken. I peeled off my wetsuit, threw on my helmet and took off. Swim time for 400 meters, including the ½ mile run to transition: little over 10 minutes.
In the first mile of the bike I passed a guy at a pretty good rate, which gave me confidence. I kept looking ahead to see if there were other groups I could try and reel in, but saw no one. The bike was mostly an out and back course, so as I was going along, I saw Antonio go by the opposite way. I thought “awesome! He’s in the lead!” Then all of the sudden the turnaround was there, and I realized there was no one between Antonio and I….I was in 2nd. (Obviously the competition must have been fierce!) As I was headed back after making the turn, I could see I had a good quarter-mile on third place. I was really motivated so I laid a lot down on the last four miles of the bike. It helped, as I didn’t see third place while I was in T2. My bike time was 19:07 for what we guessed to be more like 7 miles (as opposed to the advertised 9 miles).
JR: The run was a little odd. I took off up the hill to get out of the park and headed down the sidewalk. But very quickly I felt like I was off course, as there were no arrows, no volunteers, Antonio was ahead of me far enough to where I couldn’t see him, and third was far enough behind me that I couldn’t see them, I actually stopped for a little while and thought I was off course! Finally I asked a street vendor if they had seen another runner. He said “yep, he’s about ¼ mile ahead of you.” So I figured I would take off that way. What a relief to see Antonio running back on the out and back course. I hit the turnaround and saw that due to my stop, third through fifth place were only about 300 yards behind me. I booked it the rest of the way. It was a very cool feeling to run in and have them announce you as second place overall! Antonio was there at the finish and we had a totally awesome sweaty/speedo/akward man-hug moment (which I hear Dr. James was extremely jealous of). It was glorious. LESSON LEARNED: review the run (and swim and bike) courses well before the race so you don’t get or feel lost!
Again, I highly recommend this race - good organization, good people working, and a fun start to the swim.
(1-2 Boise, ID finish!!!)
Escape from the Gorge is a fun triathlon with a great race organizer (Bo). The novelty of this race was the fact that all the swimmers get taken out into the Columbia by ferryboat and dropped off at their respective distances - meaning it's an all downstream swim - Hooray! The bike and the run go through the town of Cascade Locks (that's for the sprint version - I believe the Olympic bike has some good hill climbs to it). I highly recommend this triathlon for the volunteers, course and uniqueness.
It was an early Sunday morning as Antonio and I spent the night in The Dalles where we had done the Aluminum Man the day before. This meant we had to get up, pack our stuff and drive 40 miles down the road to Cascade Locks to be there by 6 AM, as the ferry boat took off at 7 AM to drop us off in the river. It was a rough pre-race - I was putting on my wetsuit and got a 6 inch tear in the left side of the suit above my waist. That was a major bummer, and I am sure being in a hurry didn’t help my stress. Oh well, I'd have to ignore the giant tear during my swim (and in retrospect, I didn't even notice it) We boarded the ferry and it took us out to our take-off spot. A chip sensor was in the door of the ferry boat, so once you jumped out, your time started. We jumped in the water and were off! The water was chilly, and I started having the same feeling of cold as I had the day before. But I was able to calm myself and keep a good pace. As I approached shore I noticed only a couple people near me. I remember thinking it was odd there weren’t more people. Coming out of the water, there was over a quarter-mile run to the transition area from the beach, so I took off jogging and passed two people. As I entered transition I heard the announcer say “You’re the third one in!” I thought she must be mistaken. I peeled off my wetsuit, threw on my helmet and took off. Swim time for 400 meters, including the ½ mile run to transition: little over 10 minutes.
In the first mile of the bike I passed a guy at a pretty good rate, which gave me confidence. I kept looking ahead to see if there were other groups I could try and reel in, but saw no one. The bike was mostly an out and back course, so as I was going along, I saw Antonio go by the opposite way. I thought “awesome! He’s in the lead!” Then all of the sudden the turnaround was there, and I realized there was no one between Antonio and I….I was in 2nd. (Obviously the competition must have been fierce!) As I was headed back after making the turn, I could see I had a good quarter-mile on third place. I was really motivated so I laid a lot down on the last four miles of the bike. It helped, as I didn’t see third place while I was in T2. My bike time was 19:07 for what we guessed to be more like 7 miles (as opposed to the advertised 9 miles).
JR: The run was a little odd. I took off up the hill to get out of the park and headed down the sidewalk. But very quickly I felt like I was off course, as there were no arrows, no volunteers, Antonio was ahead of me far enough to where I couldn’t see him, and third was far enough behind me that I couldn’t see them, I actually stopped for a little while and thought I was off course! Finally I asked a street vendor if they had seen another runner. He said “yep, he’s about ¼ mile ahead of you.” So I figured I would take off that way. What a relief to see Antonio running back on the out and back course. I hit the turnaround and saw that due to my stop, third through fifth place were only about 300 yards behind me. I booked it the rest of the way. It was a very cool feeling to run in and have them announce you as second place overall! Antonio was there at the finish and we had a totally awesome sweaty/speedo/akward man-hug moment (which I hear Dr. James was extremely jealous of). It was glorious. LESSON LEARNED: review the run (and swim and bike) courses well before the race so you don’t get or feel lost!
Again, I highly recommend this race - good organization, good people working, and a fun start to the swim.