[slowtriguy]

After I slept in , I got going around 0700. Between Great Falls in Falls Church City and Stafford St in Arlington, I encountered only two slippery spots on the W&OD and Custis: the bridge over the creek just east of Little Falls is snow-covered and icy, and I hit a wet spot just east of the Fairfax connection with the Custis. Otherwise, it was pretty much a normal ride in.

[slowtriguy]

@SteveTheTech 11592 wrote:

I’ve got a few question for the locals who’ve participated/competed in the DC area.

-Be honest…how bad is swimming in the Potomac?

I’ve only raced two triathlons so far — just started in the 2011 season — but I have had a blast with both. This year, I raced the DC Triathlon sprint distance (http://www.dctri.com/), and the Giant Acorn International distance. Both were fun races; the DC Triathlon was a great novice race for me, as it was close, flat, and very well organized.

Swimming in the Potomac wasn’t bad for me personally. The water is very murky – to the point where I literally could not see my hand at the end of my arm when I reached forward in my swimming strokes; it’s that murky. That was a bit freaky at first, but I got used to it quickly. The water was warm for our race, about 77 degrees F, and there was a moderate current. Last year, the swim course was 800 meters long, with the first 200 meters or so being upstream, then a long downstream segment, then the final about 100 meters or so being upstream again.

-Is it even possible to maintain a decent swimming form with many other people flailing around within striking range? (I am brought back to being 5 and swimming in the pool at the Y)

Since my version of “decent swimming form” would make any real swimmer laugh out loud, I’m probably not the best to answer. However, the DC Triathlon swim start last year was a time trial, with only a few swimmers entering the water at any one time. Basically, we walked to the end of a pier floating in the river, jumped in (triggering the timing chip to start recording us), and immediately started swimming. I personally didn’t have any major kicks or punches during the swim start.

I did have eggbeater syndrome in the Giant Acorn race this fall, which used a wave start with about 50 of us in the water at once. But even that wasn’t too bad.

I’m such a slow swimmer that by the time I was 200-300 meters in, the pack had thinned out, and I didn’t have too many interactions with folks. If you’re a faster swimmer and would stay with the more aggressive folks, you might have to deal with folks kicking or punching or swimming overtop of you.

-What is the transition like from swimming to cycling? I can’t help but feel like the stink would linger.

For the DC Tri, we swam into another floating pier right near the first one, then ran up a set of mats toward the transition area. We had the option of going through a set of showers to rinse off, which I did. Some didn’t. Yes, it did give me pause to think we were running through decontamination showers, but it was more something to joke about than anything else.

While running to my bike, I stripped off my swim cap and goggles, unzipped my wetsuit, and pulled it down to my waist. I swam wearing triathlon shorts under my wetsuit, so when I got to the bike, I just had to pull off the wetsuit; pull on my bike jersey, socks, shoes, and helmet; and jog the bike out of transition. You jog the bike up to the line where the nice volunteers tell you to mount up, and off you go.

-What is the last transition like? Usually after a long ride I don’t think the best thing to do is run away from the car…

At the end of the bike course, there’s a line where you dismount; more nice volunteers reminding you there. Then jog the bike into the transition, rerack it, strip off your bike gear, and put on your running gear. Head back out onto the running course.

The hardest part of this transition for me was the first 500 meters of running. My legs were a bit tired from the bike, so I was a bit stiff and wobbly for the start of the run. I had been practicing this transition for a few weeks before the race, which did help, but let’s face it: there’s a reason such back-to-back workouts are called “bricks”.

Once I warmed up, the running went fine, if slow. [Notice a theme — there’s a reason for my forum ID ]

Shoot me a PM if you want more info.

[slowtriguy]

@americancyclo 10974 wrote:

Sounds like it might be the Spoke-lit from Nitize. They have a few solid colors and one ‘Disc-o’ that changes colors.

a few other cool LED options on there too.

I think I ran into the same woman and was inspired to get those spoke lights. I bought two of the red Spoke-lits from Nitize, and I think they have worked well — inexpensive, easy to install, and I think they’ve increased my side visibility. I should note, though, that my only real evidence for that last statement is that the first night I used them, three separate folks said, “Wow, look at those lights” as I rode by — so I assume I was more visible than the norm.

[Author]

Posts