Cy-Man Triathlon 2004 

It was a dark and foggy morning when Kelley Perry and I set out for Hickory Grove Park near Ames Iowa.  The park is the site of the first Cy-Man Triathlon, hosted by the Iowa State University Triathlon Club.

In past years, the ISU tri club hosted the Cy-Man Duathlon in October.  This year they decided to put on a triathlon.  I couldn’t have been happier about that.  The race is a late season, sprint triathlon consisting of a 400 yard swim, 15.5 mile bike and 3.1 mile run.  As an alumnus of ISU, I felt I should be at the event. 

I dimly remember Hickory Grove Park from my college days, which are a haze of drugs and alcohol.  Yes, I was a partier in college.  I had a map to guide the way.  Unfortunately, there was a thick fog in the morning which made reading the road signs difficult.  How like College! 

Eventually, Kelley and I made it to the park and found a place to park.  I found it very hard to get a sense of the layout of the area due to the thick fog.  Kelley and I parked our bikes where we thought the bike-out/run-out opening was located and went on with other preparations. 

The race was supposed to be capped at 150 athletes.  However, there were over 170 people entered.  The race director allowed a few people in with the stipulation that they would not get the swag items.  Also, a number of people from ISU intramural athletics were allowed in.  This was their first Triathlon race. 

Around 6:45 AM, the fog cleared.  Suddenly, the day was cool, clear and still.  A gaggle of Geese took off from the lake and circled around the park.  Then, I knew it would be a good day. 

Now that it was clear, I rechecked the payout of the transition zone.  The bike out was in another area, so I moved my bike closer to the bike exit.  I told Kelley what I found and he moved, too. 

The time was around 7:15 and the race was scheduled to start at 7:30.  I decided to go to the lake and swim a bit to warm up.  After putting on the wetsuit, I walked down the hill, joining the large group of people already there at the beach.  The water was nice and I was happy without the wetsuit top. 

After swimming a few hundred yards, the race director called the athletes to line up on the beach in numeric order.  I thought, “What, is he joking?”  No, he wasn’t.  The timing computer had a technical problem and the chips were not matched to the people.  We were asked to walk across the timing system mat so the pairings could be corrected. 

I was pretty impressed that the race was chip timed.  But this was a serious problem.  I am not sure what happened, but the solution was for all 170-or-so people to line up on the beach, in numeric order by race number.  The sound of chattering teeth drowned out the sound of the crickets. 

To the credit of the athletes, no one complained and they all handled the situation well.  What else can you do?  And since it was a College town, hardly anyone was out of numeric order. 

By the time the last athlete crossed the timing system (John Meyers VP of the ISU team, who was fixing a flat throughout all of this) it was 7:50 AM.  Since it was so late, the race director decided to make it a mass start.  Originally, there were to be three waves.  My Klingon blood became hot at the thought of a mass start in a small area.  Others in the race were not so keen on the idea.  The race director gave wise advice: “If you are not comfortable with a mass start, stay in the back.” 

Personally, I was fine with the mass start.  The swim is only 400 yards, out and back on a line of buoys.  That doesn’t leave much room for the swimmers to spread out.  It was going to be a chaotic mess.  I decided to go to the front of the line. 

An ISU Triathlete was apologizing in advance to anyone he might kick in the swim.  I thought to myself, “Thanks, but watch yourself because I give no quarter.”  Okay, so I really just smiled back at him politely.  Anyway, we lined up on the beach and the gun went off. 

It was just like an Ironman, except everyone sprinted.  Here was a dense mass of swimmers, shoulder to shoulder, thrashing through the water.  It was only 400 yards after all.  There was no point in holding back.  Everywhere around me was a mass of flaying arms and kicking feet.  I tried to go around a few people.  For the most part, I was successful.  However, that ISU guy was right there by my side. 

It’s unnerving when a swimmer breaths on the left.  I kept looking at him as we swam.  He breathed on his left and his mouth was open.  He was vaguely shark-like with his toothy grimace.  We were ahead of the pack but still shoulder to shoulder.  I am not sure why that happened.  Maybe I swam to the right.  Maybe he swam to the left.  Regardless, we kept pace right next to each other and fought through the water. 

At the three hundred yard mark, I was tired of fighting him.  I sprinted for all I was worth and finished the race, just ahead of him.  I ended up third out of the water and he was fourth.  Unfortunately, he ran me down going into transition.  Fortunately, he was on a team so it didn’t matter. 

My T1 time was somewhat slow since I had to take off the wetsuit.  And as usual, I dilly-dallied around not hurrying s much as I should.  I was just about to unrack my bike when Kelley appeared.  That made me hurry.  I know how well he can bike and run and I wanted all the lead time I could get.  I still felt the sting of Kelley running by me in the last 100 feet at North Platte! 

Athletes must run across grass to a small road where the mount line was drawn.  I ran as fast as I could and jumped on the bike to ride out of the park.  The bike course consists of three circuits around the park with an out-and-back tacked on each loop.  The out and back made it possible to track everyone’s progress.  On the first loop, I kept up a good pace, but not real hard.  Since I didn’t ride the course, I didn’t know where I was going. 

The biggest hill is on the middle third of each loop.  There, the hill goes up and up, around a corner and up some more.  After that, the road levels out.  All of the corners were police controlled, well monitored and volunteers directed athletes where to turn.  What a great race! 

I was passed on the bike by a few people.  Notably, one person passed me as I was cutting a tight corner.  He had about two feet between me and oblivion; still he made his turn inside mine.  Woosh!  That’s all I heard.  I later talked to him.  His name is Reid and he’s with the Central Iowa Multi-sport Club.  Kudos to him but I made a point to run him down later in the race.  

At the end of the first lap another person passed me.  I saw the “45” age designation on his calf.  Gaa!  He’s in my age group!  I resolved to keep him in sight and try to run him down later.  But I also had to keep an eye out for Kelley, who is quite capable of beating me.  There was nothing left to do but pick up the pace and try to keep this guy in site. 

Lap two was more of the same.  But in Lap three, I really put the hammer down.  The guy in my age group was very slowly making time on me.  But, Kelley wasn’t gaining.  I felt I was in good shape.  I actually passed some people who had passed me earlier in the bike.  Now, at the end of the bike leg, my quarry was in site and I thought I might run him down. 

T2 went pretty well.  I had nothing but a change of shoes to do.  I was out in no time.  Reid, who was right behind me, beat me out of transition as did a few others.  But I felt strong and passed them early in the run.  But there was a lot of work yet to do. 

The run course is two loops on a gravel road through the park.  There are no hills, but there are two sloping inclines.  The run course is roughly a figure 8, with a short portion where you can see who is coming down the road.  The course made it difficult to see where everyone was. 

I knew where my target was.  He was about 100 yards ahead of me.  I could see him.  I could not see where Kelley was due to the nature of the run course. 

On the first loop, I maintained a pace that was just below my lactate threshold.  That’s pretty fast, but not red-lined.  My breathing was not yet labored.  On the first loop, I could not catch the guy in my age group.  In fact, he gained a bit of time.  And, I was concerned because I had no idea where Kelley was. 

At the turnaround point, I decided to push it a little more.  Now, I was a bit over my lactate threshold at a pace that I could not maintain for too long.  Breathing became labored.  Metabolic waste products built up in my muscles.  Still I could not catch the guy ahead of me.  On the other hand, there Kelley wasn’t in sight either. 

The last part of the run takes us around a hair-pin curve and into the finish line.  Now my legs were really complaining.  There is no final sprint into the finish line today, only a fast run, hoping not to get passed. 

One thing I don’t like about the new chip timing systems is that they lack the friendly “Beep, beep” of the Champion Chip systems.  Oh sure, they are less expensive than Champion Chip.  But couldn’t they have added on a beeper to let you know you’re done?  Anyway, I crossed the finish line and the volunteers took off the chip. 

I stopped and chatted with the guy in my age group.  His name is Gary McKibben.  He was happy that the weather was cool or in his words, “I would have melted down.”  So would all of us, Gary.  He had a great run with a 6:15 pace for the 5K.  I thought I could catch him, but I couldn’t.  Congratulations to Gary. 

Congratulations to all of the Nebraska (and Council Bluffs) people who turned out for this first annual Cy-Man Triathlon: 

Suzi Brehmer – Third in age group

Kirk Morrow – Second in age group and TNT member

Steve Shulte – Fifth in age group

Kelley Perry – Third in age group and TNT member

Al Behrens – Second in age group

Greg Suhr – Third in age group

Russell Hopp – First in age group and TNT member