Pasadena Triathlon - DNF!

I was really looking forward to the Pasadena Triathlon. I did the inaugural race two years ago as my second triathlon ever. It is a sprint reverse tri, perfect for beginners. Two years ago I finished in 1:08:27. That put me in the top third of all competitors and I was deluded into thinking that I might actually be good at this. Sadly, I have since learned that this is not the case, but I still have fun. I didn't do this race last year because it was so close to the L.A Marathon and California Ironman 70.3. This year, being a year of sprint triathlons and half marathons it seemed perfect. 

The organization for the event has improved. There were obviously some rookie mistakes during its inaugural run, but those have been smoothed out and everything seemed to be well in place. It is a fairly small triathlon and since it starts with the run rather than the swim, it is a mass start. The run went reasonably well. We ran around the Rose Bowl and the golf course just north of the Rose Bowl and then back to transition. Not being a particularly fast runner, the first 15 or 20 leading athletes passed me on the bike while I was still on the run. 

Things started to go not so well in transition. T1 should have been very fast as all I had to do was put on my bike helmet and my bike shoes and get out of there. There was no wetsuit to contend with. I wasn't sopping wet from the swim, so there was no struggle to get my socks and shoes on. So I just grabbed my bike and went. As I was about to mount the bike, I realized that I still had my running shoes on, not my bike shoes. D'oh! I leaned my bike against the fence and ran back to my transition spot and changed shoes. That'll cost me some time. 

I took off on the bike and heard an odd clicking sound from the front crank set. I looked down and couldn't see anything hitting. It felt okay. It shifted okay. Oh well, it was sort of annoying, but I could live with it. The first part of the bike course, same as the running course, is slightly up hill. I was making good time and passing almost everybody. The only people who passed me where the really fast folks who were probably on their third lap of this three lap course. All of a sudden my left crank came off of the bike. Since I have bike shoes, it was clipped into the bottom of my shoe. Uh oh. I coasted to the side of the road and unclipped my other shoe. This was not good. I carry a small set of tools with me, but I was not going to be able to fix this. Fortunately, I was at the top of the uphill section, so I could just get on the bike and coast back to transition. I stuck the crank in my bike jersey pocket and let gravity bring me back home.  

The Great Magnetic Wife was on the access road waiting for me to return to take photos. I was coasting in and told her that I had a little accident with the bike. Not wanting her to worry, I immediately said, "not a bike accident, trouble with the bike." I'm not sure she understood as I coasted on by and she took the photo above. The first photo in the post is me with my broken crank.

Being a fairly slow runner, when I got into transition after the run, most of the bikes had left. This time, there were not many bikes in transition because most of the athletes where still out on the bike course. I saw fellow L.A. Tri Club member Lori Christiansen in transition. She was volunteering. I let her know my woes and she was sympathetic. She told me of breaking her chain at the Strawberry Fields Triathlon and having to walk four miles back. Mine didn't sound so bad after that. She asked if I was going to swim. At first I said no, but then I thought, why not? I am here anyway. So I racked my bike and took of my shoes and ran to the swim. As I was about to get in the water, I realized I did not grab my goggles. Was I going to swim 150 meters in a heavily chlorinated pool without goggles? No. I thought for a second that I would run back and grab my goggles and then I thought better of it. If I did the swim, it would look as if I had a pretty good time in the triathlon, about an hour and five minutes. That would not be fair to those who actually did complete the whole thing. So I decided that I would just take my DNF (did not finish) and go about my day. 

Having a DNF left me with a oddly empty feeling. I don't do triathlons because I have any expectations of winning anything. But I have always been proud that I finish. This is just a little sprint triathlon and not too hard to finish, but still it was a great disappointment not finishing. On the bright side, this happened at a point in the course that made it relatively easy to get back to transition. It did not happen while I was doing the Ironman last November. 

Now I am off to the bike shop to have by machine repaired.

John Thum