›Pole, Pedal, Paddle 2007
Race date: May 19, 2007
Joe Barrett
It all started in 2001. That was my first foray into the event known as “PPP.” It was in its 25th year and slowly become a signature event in a town obsessed with fitness. I have participated in pairs, and once on a team from work called “Freudian Slips” wearing a woman’s bra. It is always an excellent mulitsport challenge with five different legs. The following account is of yesterday, my first attempt at solo competition:
The weather was good and my support team in place. Anne would help me on the mountain, while Frank and Maddy would man T4 at the boat. I have to admit that I got a little bit lucky with that last bit of equipment. I decided to wait until the day before the race to test out the kayaks I had borrowed. Both of them were tragic. And I wouldn’t have known that, if not for getting some instruction on rowing from Marc. Fortunately G.I. Joe’s came through with a last minute rental.
On the mountain things were cold, around 35 degrees. I was prepared with several layers. My ski boot situation was quite impressive. My neighbor Ben had set me up so I could fit the Nordic boot inside the Downhill one. It should shave six minutes off the first transition time. But, things weren’t quite as stable on the ankle, so things skiing downhill seemed a bit more precarious.
Now it’s time to start. I followed the others in my group in putting my skis wherever I wanted behind the start line. I then descended by foot about 100 yards downhill. At the signal I was hiking in my boot contraption very slowly up toward my skis. I saw Stuart in my starting heat and decided to just follow him. I ended up at the skis in the back third of the group. Things went from bad to worse when I wrecked 200 yards after putting on the skis. The snow was hard like ice and it kind of hurt to fall. I was now firmly in last place. The descent went quickly from there and I passed a few dudes.
At T1 Anne was at the ready with my Nordic Skis. The boot contraption worked well and I was back on course in two minutes. I was now skate skiing alone, but soon Stuart came in view. We stayed together for a bit and I benefited from his measured pace. At the hill, I started to weave through dudes that were tired from blasting downhill hard. I kept it going and didn’t stop until T2. Another successful transition with the beautiful Ania ensued and soon I was biking.
The bike course is very easy, as it is a 2500 feet drop into the city of Bend. I took it easy as a way to prepare for the run. I did pass a guy who was wearing a leisure suit. My new bike was also very comfortable and required very little effort to propel. You would have to have serious gear ratio in order to actually pedal most of the course. I just tucked and glided into to T3.
At the transition there was a volunteer their to take my bike. I ate a Lara Bar and started to jog. There was a good deal of aid stations with all the Gatorade you could want. I was just content to click off 8:30 to 9 minute miles. Soon I was nearing the end of the run and surprisingly my body was holding up well. I saw a couple of people I knew and there was one guy dressed in a neon orange body suit. I said “Go Beavs!” and he didn’t seem to acknowledge me.
The crowds were numerous and supportive. As I ran into T4 I saw Izzy cheering alone. She seemed to be shouting that she couldn’t find Grandpapa. I gave her a high five and she was still concerned. So, I said “Sabel, come with me and hopefully we’ll hook up with Grandpa.” She kept up with me for a while, but then her Sponge Bob sandals started to give out on her. I sped to my boat and saw Frank and Maddy at the ready. In moments I was afloat and paddling the rental kayak. It handled much better and I was able to keep up with the crowd of rowers. The whole family, including Mark, Diane and Analise, were cheering on a bridge as I rowed upstream. What a shot in the arm that is. I got around the buoy and was greeted to ¾ mile of downstream rowing.
I was thinking of smooth sailing ahead when I was rammed by another kayak from the side. I didn’t feel much better when the dude said, “When this thing gets turning, sometimes I can’t get it straight.” Needless to say, we battled for control for a couple of minutes. Finally released from that, I was able to push to the dock in about 30 minutes.
Now there was only 1/3 mile of running until the finish. The National Guardsmen helped me into shore, but would not set me up right next to dry land. I dunked one shoe in the water and hobbled off to the finish. Ahhhh…the finish was grand. I had placed 15/30 in my age division with a time of 2:30:03. Not bad for a first try. Sure, I’m in pain today, but heck I’ll live…..
Joe
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