Back To Winning Ways!

*Courtesy Image Arts

Sunrise at the lake:

Two Cool Dudes:

*My cousin Bill

Setting up:

*Transition filling up

*Transition filled

The race was well protected by Bonney Lake's Finest:



The swim started, as usual, with bodies bumping, arms hitting, and legs churning the water. I felt fairly strong the first hundred meters. By the time the lead group of five or so made it to the turnaround, my arms were starting to tie up a little. After making the near 180-degree turn around the buoy a big wave from one of the rescue boats crashed into my face as I tried to sight. When the wave hit I lost my sense of direction and started swimming crooked. It took me a good 10 seconds or so to get my sea legs back and locate the swim exit buoys. After righting my course I rejoined the lead group of swimmers. The group stuck and when I hit the swim exit I was in third.

I had a great T1 and passed the 2nd place swimmer. I would have passed the leader had it not been for my bike getting trapped in the bike rack. With the weight of a full bike rack, my seat was too tall to slide it under the sagging rack. I struggled with the rack; I resorted to manhandling the bike rack as I pulled my bike through. I left in second place in chase of a guy riding a really sweet Specialized Tri bike.

Once on the bike, the fight was on. I passed the leader as he put his shoes on. A minute later he passed me as I put my shoes on. With our feet in our shoes we went to full race mode. I swerved left for the pass. As I passed I said, “Nice swim bro,” and continued by. I kept the pace high. The bike course is very hilly, which was good because the most amount of time damage can be inflicted on the hills.

After the first hill I looked back to see if a gap had developed. I saw what looked to be about 15 to 20 yards. I saw 3rd another 50 yards back. “Let’s do it,” I told myself as we came to the bottom of the 2nd hill. I took a drink of water and let a good spit go as I went on the attack. Riding out of the saddle I torqued the Murder Machine back and forth as my legs began to fill with pain.

I made the top of the hill and focused on accelerating over the top. I dove back into the aero bars and readied for a wild decent down the other side. I rode hard over the next two hills; at the top of the second hill I made a check of the gaps. The attacks had worked; the bike gap was busted wide open.

I stayed focused on the last half of the bike course making sure to keep a high cadence up and over the top of the last few hills. I came into T2 to some great cheers. I gave back a second or two as I coasted down slowly before dismounting my bike, no wrecks this time. I heard my cousin, Bill, and the transition monitor, Shila, cheer my name as I carried my bike over the sidewalk and entered T2.

I had a great transition and left T2. I felt great from the first step of the run. I estimated my gap on 2nd place to be about minute. The run course was by far the hilliest 5k I have ever run, well not counting the same course in 2010. The 5k is an alternating steep up and steep down. The steep up bursts your lungs, the steep downs bust your quads and muscles. I was not to be deterred, at the bottom of each hill, I put my head down and started ascending it one step at a time. The first hill is the most diabolical as it ascends and twists up out of sight from the bottom. I am sure a few people lost it mentally when looking at this thing. I kept on the pace, one hill, one meter, one step at a time.

After the 4th hill I was at about mile 2.5. I made a quick look over my shoulder,, I saw no one. I ran the last half-mile down hill to the finish. Last year at this time I had to run the last mile shoulder to shoulder and out sprint a guy for 2nd place. This year, the last half-mile was all mine to enjoy. I had done a lot of hard work on the bike, but the work that won me the race was done during the last month of training. It was mine to enjoy.

I made it into the finishing area sporting a BIG smile. The cheers were awesome! I am not a machine and I am thankful for every win that I am able to achieve. Deanna, the race director of the triathlon I crashed at, was at the finish line cheering me on. I am very thankful to have everyone at the race telling me good job and cheering me on. It was great to share a fun day with my family, I could hear my cousin Bill cheering me on the whole race.

I am happy that instead of my bike riding me into transition, I was able to stay on and ride it. Keep the rubber side down.

*No need for service from this!

Seeley Lake Triathlon

*Seeley Triathlon Race Crew

*This happens everyday in Montana

I have competed in sports my whole life. One common thing to every sport is the frustration that I felt when I didn’t do as well as I thought I could or should do. Over the years (not now of course) I had some very interesting actions in dealing with these frustrations. I threw baseball helmets, waterbottles, shoes, wrestling headgear, and have broken more ping-pong paddles than I can count on both hands. I always get a great big smile on my face when I think of these things, they are hilarious.

Well I have learned a lot over the years about winning and losing like a champion. If any of you have ever heard of Randy Couture (American wrestler and UFC Champion) you’ll know what a class act he is. In recent years I have tried to model myself after him.

The Seeley Lake Triathlon was a perfect time to exhibit my life lessons.  I was not recovered from my bike crash and got worked over pretty good by some fast people.  One of the things I learned over the years is to not make excuses after the race.  Every time I have a bad race I go up to the people who beat me, I look them in their eyes, shake their hand, and tell them, “good job.”  No one likes to hear excuses so I try to be happy for them and their success.

*Happy for Tim and Russ

I don’t have much to say about my race, I was first after the swim and the bike, but took a whoopin’ on the run. I finished 5th overall and 3rd in my modified age category of 26-35 years old.

I won’t make excuses, the facts are I wasn’t ready to compete, that’s where it ends. I shook everyone’s hand, looked them in their eyes, and told them “good job.” I am happy that they had great races even if it meant beating me. I will get them next time; it’s all part of racing. While I may not have been a champion after the race, I can hold my head high.

 

*Wobbly Legs :)

*Dang...

The highlight of the weekend was being able to share the race with Kayla, Scott, Uriah, Corrie, Jess, and my parents.  We all had a fantastic family day on the boat after the race.

*My sister!

*King of Cool made his return to triathlon

 

*Medal!

*In the end, I am still smiling

Bike Crash B-Ryan

I was having one of the best races of my life.  I was first out of the water, had a smooth and fast transition, and held off the familiar charge of my triathlon idol, Drew Magill, for most of the bike.

Coming into transition two I received the reality check. As I went half prone onto the ground my eyes were seeing earth…and then sky…then earth…and sky. Crashes happen in an instant but my mind slowed everything down. As I slid across the rough chipseal two toenails were ripped apart, my foot was punctured, and my skin was scraped off my body. My mind was thinking, “this sort of thing doesn’t happen to me.”

As the Murder Machine hit pavement I continued to backslide my way onto the shoulder of the path. I stayed down for probably half a second before 20-something years of my Dad telling me to “walk it off” got me up and moving. In a matter of 3 seconds the crowd went from cheering to a deafening silence. I could feel everyone’s eyes and sympathetic hearts being directed towards me as we all stood quiet.

If you ride bicycles, you will crash. A crash is a very emotional event; crashed cyclists react in a variety of ways, personally I usually get up really ticked off and ready to spit fire. I get mad at the reason for the crash, objects, person, carelessness, loss of focus etc, but also at the outcome, torn kits, road rash, and my P3 (a bike I put auto detailer spray on) tumbling across the pavement being damaged. I came up extra mad this time because 1) it happened in front of so many people, many of them I know, and 2) because I was having a phenomenal race.

As I stood hunched over, a lady brought me the Murder Machine, a gentleman then placed one of my bike shoes on the aero bars. I frustratingly quite asked, “Which way do I go?” A few fans pointed me in the right direction. As I slowly walked to T2 my shoe fell of my aerobars, I didn’t go back. As I continued to walk a guy yelled at me, “Dude go back, you dropped your shoe.” Abandonment of equipment is a variable time penalty under USA Triathlon rules, but I wasn’t having any of it. He yelled again, I still wasn’t having any of it as I kept a blank slate and continued. I overheard a woman say, “Greg, never mind, leave him alone, it’s fine.”
 

I continued to walk slowly, I was confused at the time, but the fans seemed even more confused. They didn’t know if they should help me, cheer for me, or just sit back and wait for implosion. I saw Kevin and my entourage: Anne, Trina, and Rob. I asked Anne, “Did you see me crash?” I don’t remember exactly what she said but she had seen it. I felt so embarrassed. I continued to extend my slowest transition in history as I walked bleeding from every extremity.

I racked the P3, and took off my helmet. Somehow I managed to get my gushing feet into my Nikes despite two destroyed toenails and a few gouges. It was decision time. Do I call it a day here, or try to go on. I have seen triathletes do both, neither of which they should be ashamed of.

Quitting briefly entered my mind, but then it was gone. I had Anne, Trina, and Rob there watching me and I had just bitten the bust in front of a bunch of people. On top of that, after taking a post-crash break and giving back a few minutes I was still in 2nd place overall. I like to think (my opinion only) that when it comes to triathlon, they don’t come any tougher than me. I left T2 with a slow run walk limp.

The whole run was pain, my feet were hurting, my body was burning with road rash, and I was still ticked. I completed the run with a 6:29 pace and held off two charging racers to hold second place. After making it one step past the finish line I shouted, “I need the medic!”

*Tough :)

*Medic!

*I bled out pretty good on the run

Kevin’s dad, Rob, was waiting for me at the line finish line.  Under Rob’s and Deanna’s (race director) watchful eyes the EMTs evaluated and cleaned my wounds.  I am very thankful for the care I received, Rob, Trina, Anne, Kevin, Deanna, and the EMTs took excellent care of me.  I was in excellent hands under their care.  I am going to spare the gory details of getting the injuries cleaned, it hurt badly.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

At the awards ceremony the race directors called me up to showcase my wounds and give me my 2nd place award. Rory, told everyone how I crashed but still toughed it out to finish. Everyone gave me a big round of applause; my early embarrassment had been erased by my toughness. Lots of people came up to me after the race, which was nice.

I am very thankful for the care I received from Kevin’s family, the EMTs, and the race crowd.  Kevin’s family took extra great care of me by making a hospital supply run, preparing great meals, and lodging me in a great Tri-Suite.  Kevin finished 3^rd in a very stacked age division, and we had an excellent BBQ to seal our successful weekend. 

The Aftermath:

*The medical supplies

*Best pain killer ever