Lake Geneva Triathlon--9/8/07

I just woke up from my nap, the race fresh in my mind. What better time to record it in the archives of history for both of my readers?

Swim *** Geneva Lake is a crystal clear lake and the temperature was very comfortable. I found a dude swimming at about my same pace and I rode in his current the whole way. Overall a very nice swim. So why not five stars? Because either I became the Bionic Woman of Swimming overnight and shaved a full 8 minutes off my 1/2 mile swim time, or the distance was not the advertised half-mile distance. Given my time (8:23), I'd put it at closer to 1/4 mile.

Bike *** The roads were a nice balance of hills and flat along scenic back roads. The route was well-flagged and (mostly) closed off to traffic, but no mile marker signs. Not that this is a testament to the bike course itself, but with plenty of shade the temperature stayed a very cool and comfortable 70ish degrees. I did not care for the bike finish, however, as the course narrowed to one lane so we could be herded back into transition like cattle. I had to slow to a near-stop a good 50 yards before the bike ended just because of the backup.

Run *** The run course advertises "Frank's Killer Hill", and they mean it. At least half the runners were walking up, and I may as well have been for how slow I was moving. I thought I was smart and trained for hills beforehand, but nothing like this one. Of course, the upside is that on the way back you can recover nicely for a strong finish because of the downhill. Sidebar: The water in the aid stations tasted like sewer.

Staff/Volunteers/Spectators *** Nothing much to say here. There were enough staff and volunteers, and they were plenty nice. The problem is that they didn't have a well-organized race to work for/watch. See category below.

Overall Race Organization * There were a lot of flaws in this race.
-In the transition area there were no assigned bike rack spots--it was a free-for-all put-your-bike-anywhere. I ended up getting a great spot that wasn't really a spot leaned up against a garbage can, but I didn't feel too guilty about it because others had already been creative with their racking.
-To get into the transition area in the first place, you must walk through the Bike In/Out area. If you step on the (already activated) chip mat, as I did, you screw up your time.
-The Bike In/Out area and the Run Out area were marked with manilla envelope-sized signs at eye level. Up until racking my bike in T2 and following another athlete out did I find out for certain where Run Out was.
-The layout of the race put the T1/T2 area right up on the beach where Swim In/Out was, which meant athletes were milling around all over the transition area, physically getting in the way of athletes attempting transitions. Thanks to my garbage can bike-racking spot I didn't have too much of a problem with this, but I watched others deal with it.
-In an attempt to increase bike security they said "no spectators allowed in transition" this year. However, when I arrived in T2 after the bike, Ma and Pa Spectator were standing next to my garbage can, watching me transition whilst waiting for their athlete. Not only did it feel like an invasion of privacy, but a breach of security as well. Erika said there were plenty of spectators roaming the beach (in the transition area) after the swims ended.

-To end on good notes, there were plenty of potties, the race started on time, they give out sweatshirts beforehand and medals to finishers, and the sunrise over the lake was beautiful.

If you're ever considering doing a first triathlon, don't make it Lake Geneva.