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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [SayHey Kid] [ In reply to ]
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SayHey Kid wrote:
pots4 wrote:
Okay-whats the deal with the swim?
It was cut short to 750 meters due to the heavy fog

I think the bike is normal.

My bad, I misinterpreted the tracker. Carry on.
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [Northy] [ In reply to ]
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I'm interested to hear about how the race was in terms of organization. It seems as if the Rev3 did a much better job...


If I'm reading this right, Nate still can retain AG bike split bragging rights, despite it now being an IM race. The course was a bit different, but he tore it up tying for first AG with a 2:21:54!

Nice job out there! Made the podium too-3AG. Congrats Nate-solid race despite the lack of a taper...
Last edited by: dtoce: Jun 2, 19 8:48
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [dtoce] [ In reply to ]
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The RD is the same guy, Eric Opdyke, that used to run this for Rev3. He does a great job. I hope people don’t get too pissy here about everything not being perfect. Shuttles worked fine for those that arrived ahead of time at the outer lots. If you thought you could just roll up to the venue itself, I imagine you got delayed.

I hate swim cancellations in general. The fog made a delay reasonable, but if we are going to swim some of the course, Lets just do it all. The sprint style swim made it a lot bunchier than normal.

Otherwise, the race was very good. Yeah, you can complain about the road conditions and slightly short bike course, but we are lucky to have this race in the first place. These municipalities don’t really get much from hosting it.

Great job, Eric! Please keep this thing going.
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [Poon] [ In reply to ]
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I think they did a good job considering how heavy the fog was. No way we could have done the full swim and it would have been a total shit-show if the cancelled the swim and had everyone going out to the bike course randomly (other than AWAs with low bib numbers).
I got in early enough to park by transition and was able to get out around 1, they allowed pickup of bikes and leave the parking lot earlier than athlete guide said (which is great). Can't comment about shuttle, but everything else was very well organized. Tons of volunteers, lots of hydration/nutrition in aid stations.

The only thing I think was handled badly is that hard left turn at the bottom of a really steep decent. It was not well marked and the "slow down" flaggers were way too close to it. Some people had bad accident there and evacuated by ambulance.

Otherwise, you can't fault WTC (although I'm sure it will not stop ST'ers) for the shitty roads (I had a double flat on a huge pot-hole) or the heavy fog.
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [Poon] [ In reply to ]
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This is a common thing @ quassy. They need to give the roads back at a particular time.
So, if the swim is delayed, they cut the swim enough so that the last person out of the swim is still out at the same time of day (which means they can keep bike course and its various cut offs to the same times)
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [ In reply to ]
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I'm very happy with the race, execution-wise. Bike was slower than usual, but it was hilly. Run felt good, 1:32, tried to go under 1:30, I think I lost 2 min on the last hill :)

To my surprise, this good race just gave me 13ths place on AG. By previous non-IM branded events were 3rd, 4th and 1st. But well, that's just shows my current level of fitness with real competitors in the field.

Nate did great. He's apparently not tired at all. Purple patch podcast - fake news!!!
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [dgutstadt] [ In reply to ]
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That spot has ALWAYS had issues. People are never prepared for it. You could have 50 flaggers and I’d bet that you have the same number of incidents.

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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [dgutstadt] [ In reply to ]
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Yeah, I saw a few folks down on sharp turns on downhills. I wonder if folks panic and brake instead of leaning into the turn. I do agree that there should be better sine-age - something like 'SHARP LEFT TURN ON DESCENT AHEAD' instead of just having volunteers waving at bikers. I hope those who did crash are ok.

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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [natethomas] [ In reply to ]
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Nice work out there.

How’d the swim shake out? It looked a bit like a gong show from my view up top.

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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [rrheisler] [ In reply to ]
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rrheisler wrote:
Nice work out there.

How’d the swim shake out? It looked a bit like a gong show from my view up top.

Not quite sure what the plan was for the shortened swim. There were initially a couple larger groups of maybe 40-50, but then they started sending folks off in 2’s every ten seconds for a while and eventually it increased to groups of four, which I eventually started the swim in.

Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [dtoce] [ In reply to ]
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dtoce wrote:
I'm interested to hear about how the race was in terms of organization. It seems as if the Rev3 did a much better job...

This was my first one here, so I'm not sure how it was before. But the following things were a bit annoying:
- slow parking on Saturday due to Amusement park being open
- the idea that sherpas cannot come with athletes, but only after 6:30am
- for people who don't have sherpas there was no bag drop.
- 2000 bikes brought back to parking spots on old school buses (did it really happen this way? or people send their SOs to bring cars?)
- in the morning bike tech people brought 4 pumps with shrader valve connectors and let triathletes have fun for a while. Then they took pity on technically challenged and give us normal pumps :)

Probably most of it has to do with the disadvantages of the place. Too close to NYC/Boston to find a park with a lake and lot of parking that can be rented exclusively for the weekend?

But I agree, there was a lot of things done right:
- Enough police presence and volunteers.
- Course markings are clear
- Sings "Caution, rough road ahead" could have been replaced by "Caution, you're in Connecticut", but appreciated anyway
- Letting bikes to be taken before announced 1:30 - nice touch.
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [pots4] [ In reply to ]
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The bike was 53.5 miles. The course was very congested. I believe the cause was the shortened swim mixed with too many racers. They wanted 6 bike lengths between racers, impossible. I'm a middle of the packer, and I always felt I was in a large pack. Going 4 wide sometimes. Ton of potholes!!!!! Never saw so many racers pulled to the side of the road with flats. I did think Syracuse was more challenging.

I will say all the high school volunteers were amazing. Very focused and helpful!!
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [natethomas] [ In reply to ]
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Yeah, I stayed for the first 10 mins or so of the swim and then headed back up toward transition. Given how they initially started I figured I'd be seeing you much sooner up at T1 -- but then I saw how long it took for you and others to get into the water.

For those commenting on road quality -- that's always been a hallmark of this course. A particularly harsh couple of winters has not been kind to some areas. When it's what you train on...you get used to it pretty quickly.

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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [ask77nl] [ In reply to ]
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I’ve done quassy for several years now, but this was my first IM event. I agree with the bad roads, but I couldn’t get past the swim. They ask for self seeding for start and then half of the competitors seem to be sub 1:15/100 swimmers. There needs to be a better way of starting a swim without having people start in the first group and immediately start doing breaststroke!
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [AndrewL] [ In reply to ]
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AndrewL wrote:
I’ve done quassy for several years now, but this was my first IM event. I agree with the bad roads, but I couldn’t get past the swim. They ask for self seeding for start and then half of the competitors seem to be sub 1:15/100 swimmers. There needs to be a better way of starting a swim without having people start in the first group and immediately start doing breaststroke!

Generally agree with this, but don't know what the answer is or how much fault is on IM vs the athletes themselves. Im a decent swimmer (top 10-20 at a race like this usually) but started in that second "wave" because i entered the corral too late to get any closer. I have no problem starting a minute back of 50 people, but all 50 of those people should at least be swimming within a minute of me for a 750. I must have swam over/through a dozen of them though, as early as the first turn buoy. I cannot imagine what possesses somebody who should be in the 40-45 group to line up at the front...

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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [natethomas] [ In reply to ]
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There were initially a couple larger groups of maybe 40-50, but then they started sending folks off in 2’s every ten seconds for a while
---

My buddy was in that first wave of 50 or so. The thing was that the swim people didn't want it to be a big wave. There was a lot of noice and communication was difficult. Their plan was to try and maintain the rolling start procedure but when they lined up the athletes and sent the first small batch, a bunch of athletes who didn't get the memo just went. The swim people tried it again with a little better success. I had lined up in the 28 min swim group and by the time I got to the line, they had us under control and were sending off in groups of 2. Word on the street is that they abandoned the rolling start system by the time the 35+ minuters got in just because it was taking a lot longer than they expected. I suspect that they'll have a better back up plan (or, hope, at the very least) for that event in the future.

FWIW- I was pissed when I heard they shortened the swim. But, I think they made the right decision. Fog conditions on the shore were better than that in the lake. I can't imaging the blowback that they'd receive if someone needed rescuing in the water and the lifeguards couldn't see the athlete because of the conditions. A shortened swim was much better than a canceled swim.

RE: The roads- They seemed average. Yeah, there were some rough patches but most were well marked and painted and I never found a spot that needed to get me out of aero due to control issues. I wonder if these people complaining about the road conditions live in places that don't have winter.






Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [rrheisler] [ In reply to ]
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rrheisler wrote:
That spot has ALWAYS had issues. People are never prepared for it. You could have 50 flaggers and I’d bet that you have the same number of incidents.


Eliminate/minimize crashes with speed limit signs and timing mats and further enforce with time penalties. It's been done in several races that I've been in and no one likes it, but I really, really hate seeing yearly injuries...I know exactly where that 'S' curve is and I have always warned people in the threads about the Rev3 in the years I was doing the race. It is the one really dicey spot on the bike course and the recent year we had the bad rain (?2016), it was much worse.
Last edited by: dtoce: Jun 3, 19 4:24
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [ask77nl] [ In reply to ]
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ask77nl wrote:
dtoce wrote:
I'm interested to hear about how the race was in terms of organization. It seems as if the Rev3 did a much better job...

This was my first one here, so I'm not sure how it was before. But the following things were a bit annoying:
- slow parking on Saturday due to Amusement park being open
- the idea that sherpas cannot come with athletes, but only after 6:30am
- for people who don't have sherpas there was no bag drop.
- 2000 bikes brought back to parking spots on old school buses (did it really happen this way? or people send their SOs to bring cars?)
- in the morning bike tech people brought 4 pumps with shrader valve connectors and let triathletes have fun for a while. Then they took pity on technically challenged and give us normal pumps :)

Probably most of it has to do with the disadvantages of the place. Too close to NYC/Boston to find a park with a lake and lot of parking that can be rented exclusively for the weekend?

But I agree, there was a lot of things done right:
- Enough police presence and volunteers.
- Course markings are clear
- Sings "Caution, rough road ahead" could have been replaced by "Caution, you're in Connecticut", but appreciated anyway
- Letting bikes to be taken before announced 1:30 - nice touch.


- “the idea that sherpas cannot come with athletes, but only after 6:30am”- NO- it was posted and stated that Sherpas” could be on shuttles at 5:30 not 6:30

- “...bag drop...” Why would you need a bag drop? There was only 1 transition.

In regard to shortening of swim, it had far more to do with safety than road timing. The lifeguards have to be able to see everyone, and if they are spread over a 1.2 mile course that would not be possible. They had to bring the course closer to shore, where it was less foggy, and make it shorter so the lifeguards could be closer together. They basically formed a corridor of kayaks and boards, making it impossible for anyone to swim off course. Shortening the swim was absolutely the right decision, and they did it quickly and in a very organized manner.

I thought the volunteers were great, well spaced at bike aid stations, very friendly and helpful.

The bike course is technical, based on the course and the often bad roads, but the biggest issue on the bike course was the horribly bad riders- why do so many triathletes not put any time into basic riding skills? Yes, it was crowded, but it looked like the keystone cops out there!

The only thing I blame the WTC for is eliminating a vegetarian option for post race food. At first I thought this was the Quassy Park, but when I asked they told me the had always had vegetarian options in the past (Rev 3) but the WTC declined doing this to save money!
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [IntenseOne] [ In reply to ]
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The only thing I blame the WTC for is eliminating a vegetarian option for post race food.
---

If I were a vegetarian (not vegan), I'd have thought that there was adequate sustenance. Chips. Cookies. Potato salad. Cole slaw. Abundance of lettuce, tomato, onions. And I'm pretty sure that the hot dogs contained no real meat.






Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [Tri-Banter] [ In reply to ]
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Tri-Banter wrote:
The only thing I blame the WTC for is eliminating a vegetarian option for post race food.
---

If I were a vegetarian (not vegan), I'd have thought that there was adequate sustenance. Chips. Cookies. Potato salad. Cole slaw. Abundance of lettuce, tomato, onions. And I'm pretty sure that the hot dogs contained no real meat.

Pink?

Strava
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [gmh39] [ In reply to ]
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Pink?
---

No, I think the hotdogs were more of an ugly brown color.






Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [IntenseOne] [ In reply to ]
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IntenseOne wrote:
- “...bag drop...” Why would you need a bag drop? There was only 1 transition.

So you wont twist an ankle stepping on my pump that I have to leave in this 1 transition because I brought it from the car and have nowhere else to put it :)
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [IntenseOne] [ In reply to ]
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IntenseOne wrote:
The bike course is technical, based on the course and the often bad roads, but the biggest issue on the bike course was the horribly bad riders- why do so many triathletes not put any time into basic riding skills?

^this.
People were constantly riding on the left side of the road, sometimes 3 or 4 abreast.
And most annoying is the stupid idiots that charge up the hills then totally die at the top and cruise down the other side. It totally blows up any attempt for other people to keep consistent power and low VI. This is a triathlon not a fucking strava KOM group ride!
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [dtoce] [ In reply to ]
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I fundamentally disagree with any sort of mandatory speed limit/forced slow down area. I did the race yesterday and I absolutely loved the bike course (I actually registered over 4200 ft of elevation gain). We are adults, if you can't handle your bike properly/don't know how to negotiate turns, you have brakes, use them. If you crash (and I have gone down at 35mph in previous events) that's your fault, don't penalize the rest of us for it. I will echo what some others have said in that it seems like so many triathletes put zero effort into bike handling (or climbing) skills. I overheard several people talking about how they had not ridden outside of on the trainer in their basement, others that they didn't do any hill work. Why on earth would you pick this 70.3 if that's how you were going to train? Why not take a flat fast course? I was on a road bike, every uphill I would fly by people, then the stronger athletes on tri bikes would catch me on the descent (I maxed out at 46.5mph), we would make jokes and laugh about it. I'll add that I saw more flat tires, mechanical issues, dropped bottles, dropped sunglasses, dropped bike pieces, than any other event I've done. The roads were definitely rough, but they told us that.

The swim being shortened was disappointing, especially this being my first 70.3. The fog was pretty bad, I get why they did it, and better than no swim. As far as in the water....it was mortal kombat. By the time they got to me, they were just letting everyone run in and chaos ensued. I found a little bit of room to get into a rhythm after the first turn bouey, but when we hit the turn back, it funneled everyone in so much that it was just a mass of bodies.

The volunteers and police were great, as were the guys giving out beer on the run. Overall, it was a great experience.
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Re: 2019 CT (Quassy) 70.3 [dgutstadt] [ In reply to ]
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dgutstadt wrote:
IntenseOne wrote:

The bike course is technical, based on the course and the often bad roads, but the biggest issue on the bike course was the horribly bad riders- why do so many triathletes not put any time into basic riding skills?


^this.
People were constantly riding on the left side of the road, sometimes 3 or 4 abreast.
And most annoying is the stupid idiots that charge up the hills then totally die at the top and cruise down the other side. It totally blows up any attempt for other people to keep consistent power and low VI. This is a triathlon not a fucking strava KOM group ride!

^^Don't expect this to get better ANYTIME soon. Some of these races are getting to be down right dangerous now. People sign up for an Ironman or 70.3 and then sit on Zwift all winter and summer. They get outside on courses like these and have no idea how to ride their bike. Throw in the packs of people that all of these 70.3 races have and you are bound to have crashes. Not the only reason I am taking a break from the sport but definitely one of them.
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