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Philadelphia Triathlon - Aquabike


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Phila., Pennsylvania
United States
Total Time = 00m
Overall Rank = /
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Swim
  • 00m
  • 1500 meters
  • / 100 meters
Transition 1
  • 00m
Bike
  • 00m
  • 24.8 miles
  • 0.00 mile/hr
Post race
Event comments:

Race report for TriRock Philadelphia Triathlon (Olympic Aquabike)
June 28, 2015

by Thomas Dineen, Timex Factory Team

My wife was signed up for the sprint tri on Saturday, and I for the Olympic aquabike on Sunday. Because of torrential rain on Friday night, the Schuylkill River swim site was brown, with many plastic bottles and other debris visible on the surface. A friendly USAT official told me that lots of rain can bring bacteria, sewage, lawn chemical run-off, and other nasty stuff into the river.

It can also create dangerously unpredictable currents. Even in ideal conditions, the Schuylkill has lousy visibility, so my wife and I were happy the swim was cancelled. I asked a TriRock race official when they’d know whether or not the swim would also be cancelled in the Olympic race the next day. She said a decision would be made by 1PM and that participants would be notified soon thereafter by email.

For the sprint, officials elected to hold a duathlon, which played to my wife’s running strength. Unsurprisingly, she had a great race, coming in 3rd out of 50 in her age group, which thrilled her, me, and our young daughter. My daughter then ran swiftly in the well-organized mile-long fun run. We were all impressed by two young guys who finished a close first and second at a 4:55 pace.

My Olympic race on Sunday morning was a different story. I never received the promised email to let me know the day before if the swim would happen, so felt compelled to drag along a wetsuit that I suspected I wouldn’t need. I found out the swim had been cancelled only when I arrived and was told by an irritated racer that he had also not received an email and had heard only through word of mouth that the swim was off. Not very impressive race management by TriRock. So triathletes would bike then run, and aquabikers would bike only.

Far more than the 24.8-mile bike ride, the real endurance test for me was rising at 4AM, having no email about the swim, finding out around 5:30 that the aquabikers would be last to go in a time-trial bike start, then waiting in the rain for hours for my turn to go.

During my three hours of hanging around the muddy bog of a transition area, I did hear the most unintentionally funny words of encouragement from a triathlon announcer in recent memory: “Do we have any first-time triathletes here today?” [Lots of cheers and raised hands.] “Wow, that’s a lot of newbies. Of course, since the swim leg was cancelled because of bad river conditions, I guess you won’t actually finish a complete triathlon today…but it will still be an awesome event!”

The sun eventually came out and the course was not as wet as expected. I left second-to-last out of over 1,000 riders (absolute last was an Amazonian time-trial specialist/elite rower on a pro-level bike who immediately left me in her dust). I saw no officials at all on the course, but there were many friendly, competent volunteers. Unfortunately, there were also scores of recreational cyclists who were oblivious to the bike race going on around them and/or didn’t care if they got in the way of racers.

One especially negligent-looking rider caught my eye about halfway through the course. He was wearing a yellow jersey and on a mountain bike that he rode in a casual, zigzagging pattern, careless about the racers going by on his left. I made sure to give him extra-wide berth as I passed him.

On my second loop, with about three miles to go to the finish and feeling great, I was descending pretty fast near the Art Museum and noticed the same yellow-shirted, oblivious mountain biker pulled over to the right of the road. There was a police officer standing across the road from him; I am not sure if he had been stationed there by race officials to manage traffic or just happened to be around.

Without checking for traffic in any direction, the mountain biker rode slowly into a crosswalk, directly in the path of me and other racers. I saw him coming out, braked hard, and started screaming repeatedly, "On your left!" Too late: I slammed into his side going about 25 MPH, knocking him to the asphalt and falling on top of him.

The poor 60ish guy was knocked out cold for 2-3 minutes and bleeding from under his helmet (likely a bad abrasion). Fortunately, a physician happened to be nearby. He swore like a truck driver to get an ambulance to the scene. The cyclist at last regained consciousness and told the EMTs where he was hurt, then was taken to the ER at a nearby hospital.

Without a helmet, he could easily have died given the force of impact. I broke a finger and bent an aerobar, but my bike and I otherwise had only slight bruises.

I was barely able to finish the race, trying not to knock my busted finger as I maneuvered around my bent aerobar. I told race officials at the finish line about the crash, and they efficiently guided me to the medical tent. Two doctors and several nurses and EMTs tried to figure out how to remove the wedding band from my quickly swelling broken ring finger. They used various non-mechanical methods, then failed with a ring cutter, but finally succeeded using a small wire cutter. A doctor wrapped the finger and I got it X-rayed later that day: it was a spiral fracture that would take about a month to heal.

Lessons from the event:

(1) Flexibility and adaptability are absolutely crucial traits for triathletes who want to avoid frustration;

(2) Never underestimate the foolishness/unpredictability of cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers you encounter during a tri (or anywhere else); and

(3) Don't even think about getting on any bike without a helmet, even for, say, a casual hop to the beach while on vacation. My wife crashed several years ago on a training ride and would likely have died had she not been wearing a helmet.






Last updated: 2015-07-02 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:00:00 | 1500 meters | / 100meters
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance:
Suit:
Course:
Start type: Plus:
Water temp: 0F / 0C Current:
200M Perf. Remainder:
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Rounding:
T1
Time: 00:00
Performance:
Cap removal: Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike:
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed:
Biking
00:00:00 | 24.8 miles | 0.00 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance:
Wind:
Course:
Road:   Cadence:
Turns: Cornering:
Gear changes: Hills:
Race pace: Drinks:
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized?
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5]

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2015-07-02 10:46 AM


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