Jaybird

2006 Ironhorse Sprint Triathlon
August 12, 2006, North Platte, NE
Two distances; Super Sprint (200m swim, 8mile bike, 2 mile run) and Sprint (500m swim, 15 mile bike, 5 mile run) and two categories of racers; fitness and competitive.

Last year, Tri-Dummy (Triathica Stupidicus) won his age group and the overall for the Fitness Super Sprint. This year TD decided to take on the Fitness Sprint. I know...I'm talking about myself in the 3rd person. I'll stop.

The swim took place in a 50m pool…I’ll do the math for you, 10 lengths or 5 laps. I swim in a 25-yard pool, so I was bummed not to be able to push off the side as much! I swam in Heat 2 and felt pretty good during the swim. I know I swim slowly and I’m okay with it. I crawled out of the pool at around 10:37. I heard a guy tell his son he was the fourth out of the pool, putting me 5th.

I ran a short distance through a grassy area to my bike. I swam in my singlet and shorts, so I plopped down and threw on my bike shoes. I noticed grass all over my feet I had to clean off! Note to self: Get bucket of water to clean off dirty feet for next triathlon. I saw three other guys in the transition area and one guy pedaling away. I was the next one out and caught the guy before we got out of the park. This wasn’t looking too bad!

The route has a slight upgrade, a couple miniscule hills, and one pretty good hill. There were also two turnarounds in the course. I made it past the first turnaround, which was around 5 or so miles in without anyone catching me. I was able to catch a couple of mountain bikers from Heat 1 along the way. As I was just about to hit the big hill, a guy caught me and passed me. I saw the 4 series number on his leg, so I knew he was in the competitive group and wasn’t a worry to me. Another guy (Darin, the eventual winner) caught and passed me near the peak of the hill, at the point I was gasping and my tongue was dragging on the ground as I was cranking an impressive 9MPH. I continued on to the next turnaround and really wasn’t gaining on these guys. No one else was catching me, so everything was okay. Coming down the hill was fun and I was cranking in my top gear! I drank all of the Acclerade in my aero bottle, which I wanted to do. I made it back to transition, changed shoes, and took off. I was at 57 minutes and some change. Note to self: Find out if there is a medical reason I can’t fart in the aero position. BTW, later I checked my time for the bike: 44:38 (20.1 MPH)

All the liquid in my stomach was sloshing around…other than that the run felt really good. Surprisingly, I caught the competitive guy and passed him. He drafted me a little, which made me feel pretty special. I was catching a couple of people here and there from Heat 1. I’m a ¼ mile or so from the turnaround and I see Darin and he is moving! I hit the turnaround and see Speedy Gonzalez aka: John Marsh hoofing along. Note to self: Talk to doctor friends and get some tri-roids to improve my run time.

I finished second to Darin in the age group and overall fitness. I finished in 1:38:31. My watch said 1:38:28, so no complaints! At the James O’Rourke Tri, Trudy Merritt (Queen of All Race Directors) gave me a hard time about my watch not matching her “official” time. Now we know I was right the last time!!! Note to self: Shut up and don’t tick of the chick that makes triathlon happen in North Platte.

My next race is the Harvest Moon HIM in Aurora, CO on September 17.

Tri-Dummy OUT.

Jstyle

Cool sounds like a good run at it.

As far as getting better just talk to Floyd Landis he can help you out with that

rplong

Too funny.

Sounds like you had a great time. Where in town was this one held in relation to James O'Rourke? I will have to try Ironhorse out next year.

Jaybird

Ryan,
It is a really fun race. Has some hills, so you would do well. It is on the north end of NP. SR 83...the road you take when you exit from I-80...just follow it north to the edge of town. The race is at Cody Park.
You come and race it, but stay out of my age group!!!!
Jay