July 11, 2004

The Madison Classic, which I competed in as my first triathlon back in 2001, is no more. The last time they held this tri in Madison, the bacteria count in Lake Mendota was too high, so they instead made the athletes RUN, then bike, then run again. I believe this is why the race was moved to Pardeeville, WI (see map)

Pardeeville is about 45 mins. north of Madison. We all piled into a couple of cars early sunday morning and headed north. This was Kathy's first triathlon and I think she did pretty well. Some other friends of ours were also competing, some veterans and others for the first time.

In my opinion, the Pardeeville Tri is a perfect starter, not only for those who've never completed in a triathlon, but also as a warm up for triathletes before the fall season (when the Verona and Devil's Challenge competitions are held)

The swim was cool but not cold. I had my fastest swim so far (9:17). The bike was SOOOO flat, I mean unbelievably flat (see map) for Wisconsin. I averaged 20 miles per hour. And while I felt like a slug on the run, that was also one of my best times.

Times below each photo mark the running clock time at the completion of each segment - final times are shown below the running photos. If you notice, me and my friend are running in at the exact same time - they gave me the 1 second advantage - but we all know this was really due to his poor transition times.

I improved my transitions greatly by wearing biking shorts with a limited amount of padding throughout the entire event. No more umbros and tighty-whities.

Finally, this was the last tri for the white Trek 1100 - a crack in the frame just below the bottom bracket (which I've known about for sometime and was trying to ignore) was becoming too much of a risk factor (several bike mechanics suggested I not ride it any more). I'm replacing the frame, but it won't be ready in time for the Devil's Challenge. My new bike should make its first tri appearance in Pardeeville 2005 (unless they move it, again)

PLACE	BIB	AGE	TIME	SWIM	TRANS1	BIKE	TRANS2	RUN	M30-34
103/237	74	31	1:20:55	9:17	2:29	45:02	1:35	22:35	12/14

see the results for myself and Kathy for all past triathlons

00:09:06

00:09:17

00:14:33

00:15:55

00:56:48

00:57:44

01:10:57

Backwards helmet

01:20:55

01:20:56

01:40:16

01:45:21