FLCC> The Great Race (long)

[Swancycles at aol.com]

I've been working too hard at work lately to write any good race reports,  so 
I'm writing this almost immediately upon returning from the event on Sunday  
afternoon..... (I know, I need to get lessons from some of you who are 
obviously  so efficient at work that you can find all the good web links and write  
tomes, while still getting all of your work done...
 
The Great Race is a huge event. It started 30 years ago as a run/bike/canoe  
triathlon with 4 person teams. I think the concept really came from one of the 
 canoe companies that was trying to figure how to get more people to buy 
their  high performance boats. After trying one of these fun events and paddling a 
 Grumman bathtub around and being beaten into submission by a couple of  
beer-bellies or 80 lb women in a faster boat, who wouldn't be tempted to drop a  
thousand dollars on a fast canoe to earn bragging rights for the next year ? It 
 worked !  But most of all, it turned out to be one heck of a good time with  
all kinds of athletes from serious hammers to total fun family or work teams, 
 all out there together. The post-race parties didn't hurt the event's 
reputation  either. Now the event has grown to something on the order of 600 teams 
including  a long course, a short course, 4 person teams, two person teams, 
with  canoes and kayaks, with all the sub-categories of age, sex, species and  
horoscopes. It is big fun for lots of people.
 
With hundreds of teams there, it always turns out that there are a small  
handful of teams with top-notch athletes in each of the disciplines. 30 minute  
10K runners, 29mph bikers, and canoeists who could probably pull water 
skiers...  I have been lucky to have a good friend who is a world class paddler, and 
we  have had the good fortune to have some connections and friendships with 
some  pretty fast runners too. If you look through the records of the Great Race  
you'll find Swan and Zaveral as the common names on many winning teams. If 
you  know many athletes in the Ithaca area, you know that Andy Melnychenko is  
legendary for his abilities on the bike, in the canoe, on skis and whatever 
else  he tries. If you look at the results of the Great Race (and other regional 
team  Tris) you'll find Andy's teams have won many events. But in the long 
run, I have  enjoyed the perverse satisfaction of finishing ahead of Andy's teams 
more often  than not when we go head to head. The rivalry is great, since our 
teams are  invariably so evenly matched that it would be hard to predict a 
winner. It's  part of what makes the event one of the high points of my season 
every year. 
 
Andy and Matt Belknap are fast in the boat. Ryan Morris has beaten me more  
often than I care to admit in the last two years. He edged me out on  Thursday 
night at the local TT. Their runner, Scott Weeks is legendary. Look at  the 
records of all the regional races. He's finished at the head  of most of them 
for the last 10 years. We would need to have an inspired  performance to beat 
them. No chance for any team member to have an "off" day.  One bad break and the 
game is over...but Fred, my runner is world class, and my  paddlers, Al 
Shaver and Mike Pac-Man Packer are similarly experienced and  able.
 
Nice temperatures. Sunny skies. Windy. Hmmmmm....my guys are better in  rough 
water. Maybe we'll have an edge in the boat. My paddler who will have to  run 
the wristband the 1/2 mile from the road down to the boats announced that  I 
am going to have to give him at least a 15 second lead since among Andy's  
amazing abilities is his running...If Ryan and I end up together on the bike  
course, there is no way either of us will allow the other to escape, since  
drafting is allowed in this event. No way would I be able to give Al the 15  
seconds he wants over Andy. This could be a problem... There is no way  I might be 
able to keep a strong and inspired rider like Ryan from mowing me  down if our 
runners come in within 30 seconds of each other. Of course if Ryan's  30 
seconds in front of me I'll die before I let him escape, so all signs point  to a 
race that might be too close to call.
 
Boom ! The cannon goes off and the runners are on the course. Time to go  out 
and finish my warm-up. Fred'll be back in about 1/2 hour and we'll see what  
the game is. You can tell that I have been racing for just short of forever,  
since this may be my most important race of the season and there are hundreds 
of  people around, and I'm not the slightest bit nervous. I have a job to do 
and I  know I have the skills to do it, and I will just read the situation and 
do the  best I can no matter how things play out. Maybe we'll win. Maybe we'll 
be  second. Maybe something else will happen and we'll be somewhere else. No 
worries  - just do the best you can. That's actually quite a calming attitude. 
Knowing  that if someone else beats you, it makes their day because they 
measure  themselves against your standard is quite an honor, and after you get 
used to  the fact that lots of people are gunning for you (in some sense) it 
makes  possible failure much less threatening. I'll just do my best and they will 
just  have to beat that if they can...
 
Runners from the short course are streaming in. Bikes and bikers of all  
sorts are taking to the road. There is a level of chaos in the changeover zone  
that provides a very real sense of risk and danger. As much as I would like to  
impress everyone with a lightning start, I know I need to navigate the 
runners,  bikers, pedestrians and ropes and cones safely before I can really get to 
what I  know how to do best. Fred is the first runner back. He hesitates after 
crossing  the finish line, as I am one of a long line of cyclists yelling for 
the  hand-off. After a long few seconds he realizes I am another 50m down the 
line  and we make the exchange. My focus is purely on the wristband and then 
getting  my bike on the road. I have no idea where Scott Weeks (Andy's runner) 
is, or  whether there are any other runners arriving at the same time. I hit 
the open  road and I am ripping by riders on the short course like they are 
pieces of  furniture. I check my heart rate to be sure I don't blow myself up on 
the first  hill only a mile out. I glance rearward, but there are so many 
short-course  cyclists on the road that I can't tell if there's anyone hot on my 
tail. Halfway  around the course there is a tough 3-step climb. It's easy to 
blow there, so for  the first half of the race I am constantly monitoring my 
effort to be  sure I will be solid for the whole climb. The worst possible 
mistake would  be to go too hard on the way out and then crack on the climb and be 
caught  because it would then be quite possible for the other rider to drop me 
and ride  away before I could recover. Remember how I said I have the skills 
and I know  how to use them..... well I'm not going to make that mistake. By 
the midpoint of  the route, the short-course riders have turned off. Now I can 
look back and see  if there's anybody chasing me. The road is clear as far as I 
can see. I begin to  wonder if Ryan has had a flat or been taken out in a 
crash. I wonder if Fred was  packing "heat" and shot all of his rivals on some 
secluded part of the  course...I remind myself that I need to give my paddlers 
at least 1/2 minute and  ride firmly over the steps of the hill. 37mph down the 
grade to the final  short wall, and still I can't see anybody behind me. I 
don't have to ride too  hard and I certainly don't want to take any chances as I 
get to the final few  miles. I have the luxury of taking it easy (95% instead 
of cross-eyed 100%) for  the final rollers and run-in to the park. The game's 
not over yet as I now  have to ride into the chaos to hand off to my paddler 
without running him or  anyone else down, amidst a sea of volunteers who are 
always yelling for you to  "slow down".  Doh ! This is a race..... I look at my 
watch and wait about a  minute before I see Ryan come raging in. We compare 
notes. It seems that Fred  smoked the field in the running and gave me a head 
start of something  approaching 1 1/2 minutes !  That's unheard of !  No wonder 
I never  saw anyone behind me. Ryan was "smoking fast", taking time out of me 
just to get  close enough to see me in the distance. The next biker was 
pretty far behind  him. This was going to come down to the boats, and the water was 
rough, so  anything could happen.
 
The canoes are out of sight most of the time, so I'll have to leave it to  
Andy to fill in the gory details, but the end result was that neither boat  
tipped over or swamped from the big water, but they were paddling more  to avoid 
disaster than all-out racing. Pac-Man described going over waves where  the 
front end of the canoe was so high that he couldn't reach the water with his  
paddle !  When it became clear that Andy and Matt weren't going to catch Al  and 
Pac-Man, they turned their attention to simply securing second place. The  
only way the lead was likely to change hands was if my guys went swimming. I  
waded out into the lake to be near the finish chute when my guys came in.  
Short-course Grummans and other craft were zig-zagging as they tried to make it  
into the narrow chute, with many ramming one another and the occasional boat  
rolling over like a mini-Nascar race finish. Finally I see the smooth,  
disciplined arrow-straight path of my guys.  This is our race !!!!   With about 50 
meters to go, an errant Grumman is going perpendicular to the path  to the 
finish...Oh no......but the collision is narrowly averted and the race is  indeed 
ours. After a few minutes Andy and Matt cross the line and the stories  
begin...(there's another thing that Andy is famous for...) and this is where the  party 
begins. Food, drink and picnic supplies. Another memorable race. And Andy  
again will have to wait until next year....  :-)



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