Thanks for the update! See you in a couple of weeks. The hills Northwest of the lake WILL hurt at the end of the bike, I usually avoided those when training through there. I assumed the run would be tough also, there is nowhere to go without hills. It'll be a good early season training day!


Mark

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http://www.mctriguy.blogspot.com

The KLM folks said today they have 86 for the TRI- and 17 for the DU-. I figured that lots of folks would be asking to switch since the water will be so fuckin cold, but they said no one has requested that yet. They also are reporting over 100 for the sprint tri.

Any of you chumps wanna go ride the course on Saturday? It doesn't look like there are many places to stop for a beer along the route though. :(

I am teetering on doing the dual. I have to say, if there are only 17 people in it, that's not encouraging me very much. Nothing like being by yourself for the entire race. That's smaller than some of our group rides.... On the other hand...shouldn't be too hard to crack the top 10.

BTW...There is a place in Edgerton to grab a beer

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ADW

If the du & the tri start at the same time, there might be some badasses from the tri who catch you. :)

(I am certainly NOT talking about myself)

I am one of the 86 doing the "half". Haven't been to the course, but have heard from some budidies at Master Swim that it is a tough course. I know of a couple more people that might sign up by this Sunday night. .so we may have around 90 altogether. .That should put me right around 88th place. It is just a training race for me. . not that I could really race it anway, but just a warm up/check for IMCDA.

There are about 5 or 6 of us meeting at that lake/park at 9am tomorrow. Everyone is welcome. Unless you are a fast rider, then you will miss all the beer stops with us.

Only thing of note from yesterday's ride - the bar in Edgerton was closed.

Man, did this thing suck some balls.

OH do tell!

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Fortitudine Vincimus

Well, I wasn't there but I live in the area. It probably has something to do with the ~2" of rain we received this morning along with the thunder and lightning. I think the winds were pretty strong as well. If the race even started I'm guessing the storm came through shortly after the swim began.

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Started pouring just after the bike leg began. Heavy freaking rain. Lots of thunder and lighting and is was CLOSE. They eventually pulled us off the course at about mi 25 or so. Had us huddled in a big barn with no walls for 30-45 minutes. Everyone was freaking freezing since we were soaked and the wind was blowing through. There were only a few people who were not shivering like crazy. So they eventually get us transportation back to the transition area. Many of us left our bikes at the barn due to space constraints.

The parking was a huge mess. I saw at least 8 vehicles had to get winched out by a wrecker, my 4wd crewcab included. So after my $75 winching, I drive back 25 miles to the barn & found my bike no longer there. Someone apparently thought they'd do us a favor by taking the bikes back to the lake. So I turn around and go back to the lake where me & another guy who was in my same situation, found our bikes lying on the side of the road.

From the time I got off my bike until I could leave to go home, it took nearly 3 hours.

I understand mother nature is unpredictable, but that $75 tow pissed me off. Then the wasted 30 minutes each way to retrieve my bike topped it off.

I am pretty sure I will not do any more KLM events.

What was bad was that KLM was more concerned about taking down their tents, picking up cones and tearing down their transition area than they were rescuing the 30+ people who were stranded in the barn. They pulled people off the course because the weather was getting too dangerous...KLM called the race… wouldn’t make sense for a race management company to use all the resources they have available to make sure the athletes returned safely???

I guess they already had our overpriced entry fees...

You can't fault them for the weather... only the way they responded to it.

I am not a bit surprised about KLM's mgmt of this race. They have difficulty putting on a sprint distance and when I saw they were doing a full and a half, there was no way I was signing up. Ultramax half iron later in the year is a very well run race.

They also canceled the sprint distance race before it began. Do those folks get any kind of refund?

It would also be nice of them to offer free entry into another of their races for those of us who were stranded in the barn. I'm not sure if I would take them up on it, but I'd like to see them offer it.

Wow....

I realized Monday morning last week I missed the deadline to register for the dual. I begged the RD and was rejected. It bothered me all week until Sunday morning. The weather was seriously horrible. Huge wind, lightning, very hard rain... I hate missing races that I am mentally and physically prepared for, but I was never so relieved when I saw what weather was coming. I feel bad for all the folks who were there. I don't want to pile on KLM too much 9especially since I wasn't there), but considering where it was and long the course was...I don't know how any management company would have dealt with that. I guess you know what the weather can be like here so you must have a contingency plan.

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ADW

I think when it comes to weather, it's just bad luck. It's not anyone's fault. Every time I sign up for a race I realize that I could be just throwing this money away if bad weather comes. That's the risk of triathlon I guess.

However, how an RD deals with bad weather conditions is important. I don't evny the responsibilty of the RD. It must be stressful.

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Fortitudine Vincimus

aggh, what a mess! I agree, I spent about 45 min in the command center listening to the chatter and when they called the race I immediately volunteered to take my truck down to pick up what I could. I was thanking God I didn't sign up due to injury. When I arrived at the barn---and we weren't even sure exactly where you were---we actually passed the spot initially, I wish I had asked my husband where you guys were when he called. He was pretty hypothermic with purple lips/shaking so once I picked him up and one other guy we weren't able to get back to pick any one else up because I wanted him to get back to the hotel asap to warm up. as far as I know noone was hurt. They called the sprint off before they even started the swim. It was really scary --I was doing a brick run when the clouds opened up and was running fast because of fear!

For what it's worth, I thought the bike course was fantastic! Very challenging, especially with the wind coming hard from all different directions. The rain was not only coming down in buckets, but it was also coming back up as it hit the pooled water and splashed. I personally had a blast. I made it to the 41 mile mark when a patrol car let me know the race had been cancelled. There wasn't anything to do but ride it in, so I did. The lightning was damn impressive, but I'd rather be on a moving carbon fiber bike with rubber tires than standing on the ground with my metal cleats stuck in the conductive ground. I never got cold until I stopped back in transition, then I turned blue in about 5 minutes picking up my stuff floating in transition.

I was the first cyclist to actually ride back in, and in all fairness to the race director he immediately asked me what I was driving and whether I would be willing to help out and go out to pick up cyclists. He was running around looking for any available car to pick people up. Yes, they were tearing down stuff, and loading them into the bigger trucks, but one of those was some sort of flatbed thing for fencing, and the other was a moving truck full of loose things - not the sort of thing you can put people and bikes into. I found the RD to be genuinely concerned for the people out on the course, and did not witness him doing anything other than scrambling around trying to find ways to get athletes back. FWIW, I drove almost 800 miles to do this race, and I think it could be a fun course next year. The last 5 miles of the bike is downright cruel however.

If anyone has pictures of that parking and transition area, please post them!! There was literally 2 feet of standing water in the parking area. when I got back. I've only seen rain come down like that one other time, and it was during a tropical storm in Hawaii.

VM- 800 miles! Drats! Welcome to KS. :)

Those that did the race already got this, but for those just interested:

Well, Mother Nature won! With our fingers crossed that the lighting, storms and wind were going to hold off Mother Nature unleashed the fury on the Big O. It was a tough day for everyone! Congratulations to all Half Distance Athletes for braving the conditions as long as they could. KLM felt that it was no longer safe to continue with the event due to Lighting, Wind, Hail and Rain. All Sprint Athletes! Wow, what a crazy day for you as well and then no race! The question has been asked if KLM will reschedule the Big O in the near future. The answer is no. Based on the logstics, permitting guidelines from the City of Olathe and Johnson County this is not an option. We will be holding the event in 2008 on the same weekend. The other burning question is will KLM offer a refund to those athletes who did not get the opportunity to compete? The conditions that determined the race to be canceled was not something KLM could control. Therefore refunds will not be offered. Our staff discussed this in great detail and felt we did what was best for the safety of all athletes. We truly apologize that the event was canceled. But, we want to ensure that each athlete makes it home safe! We would also like to thank all volunteers for making this event happen. Please take time to thank our volunteers as they make our events possible.
Timing Chips:
If you accidentally left with your timing chip, please mail them to the following address ASAP.
KLM Marketing Solutions
7400 Beverly
Overland Park, KS 66204
If you do not return your timing chip, you will be chared $30 for the chip by the timing company! Please send them back!
Half Distance Finisher Shirts:
Based on the weather conditions if you started the Half Distance Triathlon or Duathlon you finished it! Mother Nature was not kind to anyone this past Sunday. Each of you can pick-up your "Finisher Shirts" at Bike Source anytime after Monday, May 14th, 2007. If you live outside of the Kansas City Metro Area please contact KLM via e-mail and arrangements will be made.
Thank you for supporting our events and sponsors.

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http://triathletebride.blogspot.com

The drive north was interesting. I29 was closed in several places because it would simply disappear into an ocean of ponded water. I was diverted through one small town in Iowa that was completely under water. I saw a cool used car lot where I could only see the tops of the cars. The sad part were the farmers scrambling through knee-deep water with big equipment trying to unload their silos. What a mess. For some reason though, I thought it was a blast hammering along in that crap.

I think your carbon fiber bike provides a false sense of security. Every cycling safety publication that I have read indicates that neither frame material nor tires will protect you. The only way to be relatively safe is find a lower spot, as in off the bike. Glad you made it. Lightning kills cyclists now and then.

We were standing wet in that tin-roofed barn wondering which was more of a lightning magnet, the barn, or the individual on a bike. If the odds of being killed are the same - it was a lot warmer on the bike.

No doubt there is always a chance of getting hit no matter what you are riding. Guess I was less worried about a direct hit with all the silos and trees, and more concerned with it striking nearby and arcing. Either way, I don't think anyone felt too comfortable! Some of the strikes were nearby and very impressive. Even though the lightning was scary, it was one of those 1:1,000,000 sort of dangers, whereas hypothermia from stopping and waiting was a pretty much sure bet. I was really glad I kept riding.

There were more than just the flat bed trucks. Which it why it ticked me off, there were several pickups


I had a 15 passenger van and the race director was too interested in get me unstuck so I could go pick people up.