›2004 Banzai! Tri Race Report
Race date: September 19, 2004
by: Tom Hickmann
As many of you know, I have had a lot going on this year, all of which has significantly reduced my ability to train. One of the major things I have had to work on this summer is getting my landscaping done. So, if this was going to be a competition of carrying 60 pound concrete blocks down slopes with unstable footing while balancing a beer on the block, I would have taken home the gold. So I tried to look at this as alternative training. Prior to the Banzai, the last time I rode my bike was six full weeks, I had only swam twice that I could remember in the previous five weeks, and had not ran the last two and a half weeks before the race. Just for the record, I don't recommend this type of training.
I had little to no expectations for this event, I just wanted to have some fun. Unlike others, I was laughing at the forecast of bad weather. Well, up to a point. Saturday early AM, I saw the temperature at my house well below freezing. I then quickly checked the internet to get a live picture of the slopes at Bachelor. It was completely white. Inside I began to freak out, but I tried to maintain a positive composure to Gina and others I spoke with. But mentally I began thinking about how in the hell can I get out of doing this without catching a ton of flak. There was no way out. I could hear Barry, Wade, Gina, Jeff and the rest all calling me names that are so devastating to an over inflated male ego. So, I resigned to thinking I was going to be risking my life by riding my bike on ice slicked roads at break neck speeds..... well break neck for me.
I did have a pulled muscle in my back (I really did), and I tossed it on the table as a potential excuse to see if I would get a sympathetic dismissal. I got the usual response you would expect from other triathletes, "wow that sucks...I am sure you will be fine and it will feel better after you bust your ass". OK, that was not exactly the words that came back to me, but that is how my brain processed it.
I got a nice massage at the pre race expo, and it did help with my back. But as I laid on the table in the outdoors that Saturday afternoon while getting the massage, the cold air was a constant reminder as to what I could expect. I tried to take my mind to the tropics but a stiff breeze would blow and bring me back to the reality of the unpredictable weather here in Central Oregon. Not to mention I was constantly over hearing all of the reports from folks coming down from bringing their bikes to T2. "Dude, there is four inches of snow on the road up there! This is insane!" I just chanted loudly in my mind, "warm sun, dry roads". Externally I played up the tough image of, no problem it will all be fine. Somehow I don't think I was the only one with these mental vibes. Yea, sure, go ahead and deny it. I saw the look in everyone's eye of that iced over tear of fear.
I don't know what temperature Wade was looking at on Sunday morning, but the first thing I checked was the internet temperature measured at Redmond airport at 5 AM. It was 28 degrees!!! I scrambled downstairs and checked the thermometer on our deck, 18 friken degrees!!! It was still to dark to see the mountains so I was anxiously waiting for first light like a kid waiting for Santa coming down the chimney. "Please God, no clouds. I swear I will be good from here on, but please give me clear skies". At first light I saw my prayers were answered and saw the snow white mountains and adrenaline rushed in. It was the first positive feeling I really had.
I hitched a ride up with Mary that morning, and I was comforted with a van full of five others trying to be positive about the conditions. We all felt like we were heading up skiing, and it still seemed a distant thought to think I was going to be swimming in a little over an hour. That feeling was heightened as we got the first full glimpse of the snow white Bachelor. What a day to race!
I cheated and brought my bike up that AM. Man was I glad when I saw the other bikes left there over night. They all looked like they had been dipped in liquid nitrogen and I had comical images of people getting their lips stuck to their frozen water bottles or their hands stuck in the drops. OK, my sense of humor is sick.
The sun was out, and it was truly a beautiful sight. It still seemed insane to think I was getting in the water, but the scene was really inspiring. My Dad and son were there, and this was the first triathlon my Dad was going to witness. In fact, this was the first time he was seeing me compete in a sport since I was in high school at the state
swim championships more than 22 years ago. He was asking where I thought I would come in compared to the rest of the field. I told him to be watching in the middle of the pack. He then tossed the gauntlet
at my feet...."so, you have slowed down a lot since you have gotten older". My reply was quick with "nope, everyone here is just that good".
I geared up in the warming tent. You guys are so awesome for setting that up. It was great to get warm while sliding into the wetsuits and funny listening to everyone's thoughts.
I watched the women start, and it looked cold. I don't know why, it just did. I watched them head out and I decided it was time to take off the last remaining clothes and expose the toes to the elements. That ground was damn cold. Murmurs of water temperature were being tossed
around and mentally my brain locked on the low number I heard of 51 degrees. Ouch! I decided I better get wet before the start to get the shock over. I slowly slid into the water. The first water seeped in
through the zipper....Wow, that was cold. First attempt to put my face in the water failed. Second attempt sucked the air out of my lungs. OK, that is good, I am ready.
I got in the back of the pack. Not as far back as super Dave, but behind everyone else. I like to let everyone else beat each other up and then go by after they have blown up. I took off and quickly set into a comfortable pace. After about 150 yards it looked like everyone was heading to the shore. I thought I was way off line, but I looked up and saw the buoy in line. I had no idea were everyone else was going, but they looked lost to me. I thought I saw a group of green caps break away out front and way out front at that. I decided not to look at anyone else, and just stick with my pace and focus on enjoying the swim. I did. The water was actually comfortable after the numbing tingling sensation went away. I knew hypothermia was setting in when I thought I could feel the heat of the sun. OK, just kidding. But my feet did go completely numb. I would try to kick hard and wiggle them to get
circulation. Nope, still numb. Oh well, they were comfortably numb. With that thought and seeing some pink caps go by, images of Pink Floyd, The Wall came to mind. It all started to feel surreal.
I continued to pass pink caps and at one point I could not see anyone. I actually paused to look around to see if someone had played a practical joke on me. I was relieved to see that others were still in the water, but I had no idea where they were headed. They looked off course to me. I did more sighting than I have ever done trying to
convince myself I was on course. Yep, those big orange things were still out in front of me. On the last leg I continued to pass pink caps and was looking for some green caps. I thought I saw an entire pack of green caps out in front of me and I thought I was near dead last. So I picked it up, because I wanted to at least save face in front of my Dad.
I swam until my hands touched bottom and stood up slowly ready to accept defeat. Then I heard Barry yelling.... "Tom Hickmann, second man out of the water". I paused and thought, I have crap in my ears again. Excuse me Barry, what was that you said...."Tom Hickmann is the second man out of the water with an excellent swim ...... blah, blah, blah" No way, how did that happen. I think my HR shot up to max at that point and I sprinted out of the water. I was so damn excited and totally forgot what I was doing or what I was supposed to do. I was kind of
like that little kid that goes fishing and all of a sudden hooks into a monster. My eyes were as big as pie plates. I grabbed a hand full of clothing I had laid out before the race and ran to the tent. I had told myself that I would get totally dry and get dry clothes on before I took off on my bike. I knew this would be trouble, I have never been good at T1 under ideal circumstances, and this was anything but.
I ran into the tent and was the only male in there on the one side. I stripped off the wetsuit and overheard the women saying "did you see those two guys, they were flying in the water". I really wanted to pull the divider back and say, "yea that was me". Then I remembered what I was supposed to be doing and had to tell myself to turn off the stupid male ego device in my brain. I wrestled with the mental switching device for a moment before I could transfer my full frozen mental ability to task on hand. I quickly realized I had forgotten a piece of
clothing, a layer of lycra shorts that I normally wear under my running/cycling shorts. Oh well, no big deal I could do without. I stepped into my tri shorts and wrestled them up. I could not figure out why they were not comfortable, but chalked it up to being wet and cold. I wrestled my way into my tri jersey and cycling jersey over that.
"Hmm, these damn shorts don't feel right". Now I could here my son cheering me on outside the tent and I think I heard Wade yell something like "for Gods sake, what the hell are you doing in there". It was at that moment that I realized in my previous mental state of swelling my ego, that I had put the damn shorts on backwards! For a brief moment I thought they may be more comfortable that way when I am in my aerobars. That quickly fleeted and I did the switch, "ahh, much better". Out of the tent and back to the bike.
I still had a pile of clothing to put on. I slid on the leg warmers and forced my frozen feet into the socks. For a moment I thought the feeling in my feet was returning but I realized that was simply ghost pains in my solid frozen feet. I stuffed the ice blocks into the shoes and wrestled the shoe covers up. "Whew, its kind of getting warm". OK,
now the arm warmers, than the riding jacket, the head band to cover my ears, the glasses, the helmet, the gloves. Damn, this pile did not seem to be getting smaller. At this point, I did hear Wade yelling "cmon Tom, just grab it and go". Yea, that was easy for you to say. You were not about to ride off into a frozen wonder land with giant Yeti's's chasing you. I was convincing myself that it was worth the time to get this all together as I watched guys roll on out one after another. I figured they would all be frozen popsicle and I would make up time. Then Wade's yelling began to penetrate the outer layers of my frozen brain..."Hmm, maybe Wade is right, just put the rest in the bag and go". I did. I later learned that I had given up at least ten spots in T1!
OK, I am on the bike, I still feel good and now I can switch back to my ego mentality and reminisce about that great swim. A huge smile was on my face, and I then remembered to hit my lap timer on my watch from T1.
Holy crap, it said 10 minutes and some seconds. Wow, that was enough time to shower, shave and have a quick breakfast of ham and eggs. I quickly made myself feel better with reminding my ego of that great swim. As I began to reel people in on the bike and ride by them, mentally I was thinking, "yea that was me you saw coming out of the water". I realized I had better turn that ego switch off again, it was sure to screw me up again. I had already put my shorts on backwards because of it, God knows what else I could screw up while on the bike.
I did not want to find out, so I switched back to mental reality mode. Those thoughts were more along the lines of, "Dude you suck!!! What the hell were you doing in T1?!". "You better peddle your ass off or I will never let you live this down". Ahh, much better. Mental motivational degradation or MMD.
I have done that ride so much, I knew ever little bump, hill and turn. I knew when to rest and I knew when to spin. I knew exactly what gear to be in at every spot. I figured I could certainly hold my own and even get a few spots back. Sure enough, before long I had reeled in six and was hunting down number seven as I hit the climb. "Ooops, one slipped by me". No big deal, I knew I could not beat them all. "Ooops, another one, and then another". Hmm, I see a trend here and I am not liking it. "Pick it up". I increased the mental abuse or MMD to
motivate myself. I can't help it, its the remnants of boot camp. A total of four slid by, but now I was nearing the top. Once I get there no one gets by. Just as I am less than a half mile from the aid station, Shawn goes peddling by me like I was standing still. Now don't get me wrong, I like Shawn. He is a great guy and I know his story. He has come a long way in the last few years. But, this is bullshit! I don't mind getting passed by people I don't know who I can mentally tell myself that they are younger, or been at it longer, or genetically gifted. But I can usually stay out in front of Shawn. This was not sitting with me at all. After all, he is old. Well, not old, but he is
in the same damn age group as me. My competitive mode popped out. I tried to tuck it back in, but to no avail. It was hammer time. I tried to answer his spin past me, but the damn guy continued to roll away. I
wanted to yell at him "no fair, you should have told me you were coming up like that!" I did not think that would sound well, so I stayed silent but really started cranking. Within a mile I realized I had to accept defeat and realize that when you train, it actually helps. Guess I should have considered that about six weeks ago. I consoled myself and said, at least I am warm.
I had a good descent and you know what, I was having fun. A lot of fun. My son and Dad were in the bus and passed me at the top of the climb. It was really cool having Collin cheering his Dad on. And to think, he could tell all his friends his Dad was the second man out of the water. I forgot, I turned that off. Damn ego, I have to get that switch fixed.
I entered T2 and I felt like the dude in Dumb and Dumber when they were entering Vail on a mini bike. It felt like I had snot frozen to my face along with a stupid frozen grin that was half smiling and half grimacing in pain. I hopped off my bike and a new sensation hit. What the hell happened to my feet? They still seemed to be attached to the body but I could not feel them hit the ground. I felt vibration in my lower legs, but it seemed to start at the ankle. I ignored it, they will be fine. I hoped.
I began to shed my layers like an onion being peeled. At one point Murphy commented "how many more layers do you have?". The scene from dumb and dumber entered my mind again and I wanted to say "at least I did not have to piss myself to stay warm", but I realized they may not get the humor sense their brain was not on the same movie. Besides, I know my Dad would have thought that very strange, so I kept my mouth shut. I was thankful that Justin was right there and was able to remind me to take off my half pulled down leg warmers. I did not want to run out on the course looking like I had stepped out of flash dance. Of course in retrospect, it may have helped me. I could have caused people to collapse from laughter.
I took off on my frozen stumps and had let the competitive side of my brain to switch off. I told myself to enjoy the run, the scenery, and ...."hey, there is Shawn! Damn him for passing me, I am going to run him down and give him a run for his money. Screw this scenery, catch Shawn and you won't have fun until you do". The race was on. I pushed and peered into the distance trying to catch glimpses to see if I could close the gap. At mile two I thought I had a rock in my shoe. All of a sudden I felt like I had several smooth rounded cobbles in my shoes. My feet, the feeling was coming back! The stinging and tingling, pins and needles sensation had never felt so good. By mile four I had full feeling again. And at about that same moment, I felt a rupture in my fuel supply. Energy was quickly draining. I poured goo in, trying to keep the engine running. I managed to keep the wheels spinning but the
rate of spin was dropping exponentially. OK, it was time to again except defeat. "Hey, there goes a squirrel!" I was back into fun mode.
I crossed the finish line and managed to show some kick still left in the engine. It always amazes me what the sight of a finish line can make you do. I finished, and the time was nothing incredible. But, for me, I had fun. I felt good and it was so cool to be at the finish line with so many friends. And then my Dad came up to me and I could see the pride in his face. The first thing he said to me was, "did you know that you were the second man out of the water?!". I played it cool, and calmly replied, "yep, I got lucky today. Everyone else was pretty slow and let me take the lead". It didn't stop him from bragging, I think he told Joe's Dad several times that I was second out of the water, in fact that is how he introduced me. "Hey, this is my son Tom, you know the one that was second out of the water". OK, it was almost getting embarrassing. But it felt good to make him proud.
Out of all the races I have done, this was by far the most fun. I felt like I was out with a bunch of friends and having some friendly competition. And I learned, that training crap actually works. Because when I stopped training, Shawn continued. And he took a hard earned and much deserved third place in our age group. Not bad for an old guy Shawn! But look out next time buddy, no giveaways!
Oh yea, one last thing. I had to ask Collin what his favorite part was (anticipating the stroke to my ego about his Dad being the second out of the water). His response, "riding on the bus and catching crawdads at the lake". There is nothing like kids to help keep your reality on track about what is really important
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