First let me says this. I thought TRI Indy was put on very well, it was well organized and planned. My only problem with the race itself was the bike course, I felt it was a little rough. I am still not 100% comfortable in my areo bars and I felt like I got rattled out of them on a few patches, and I especially did not like the 4 sets of train tracks I had to cross with one of them nearly sending me airborne. The swim was fun in the canal, it was nice to spot off the side walls and be able to swim 3/4 of the race before making a turn. Except for the part about actually having to run on the run, it was fine.
My Issues: I'm not really sure what my classification is as far as my background level, but this was pretty much my first tri. I have been a swimmer my whole life, as a kid my brother (who is an amateur cyclist) and I rode all the time, and I had to run for soccer and what not. I have done a few TRI's in high school, but none in the 7 years since. Anyways being my first real tri my only goals were, 1: be top 5 out of the water 2: DO NOT WALK 3: Finish. The trouble begin on the swim....I lost my timing chip, came right off in the water and I didnt notice until I put my shoe on for the bike. I asked after and they said they had gotten it. So I have no split times from anything. I was in the second heat and knew I was one of the first two out of the water from our heat and we had caught some of the people from the first heat which left 2 minutes before us so I am just going to say I accomplished that goal.
My next issue came from the jacka** in the transition area next to me. When I got there he was already set up. he was 2 numbers off from me so there was a girl in between us, and the jacka** was on the end. Well the jacka** decides he needs 3 feet of space for alll of his belongings and his bike so when the girl got there she had very little space and I ended up moving some of my stuff around to give her as much room as I could (not like it mattered for me you know?). Anyway in the past I had always operated under the philosophy of NEVER touch someone else's bike (especially when I have the least expensive bike in the rack) but I really wanted to toss his in the canal. So the race starts and I am easily the first bike out of my rack no problem 25 miles later I am no longer the first one from my rack but jacka** appears to have a very strong ride because his bike is back already and taking up even more space!!! I really wanted to ditch his bike in the water then. I racked my bike directly on top of my small towel I had set up but the girl between us had to rack hers somewhere else and judging from her tone she was not happy and it messed with her transition a bit (she also looked like she took it very seriously college race suit, ironman fisnisher warmups etc. so I felt kind bad). Now to top this all off and to really give you an idea how much space this idiot had I put on my running gear and headed out and one of the race volunteers pointed out I didnt have my number and belt. I went back (2 steps) and looked around and jacka**'s number and belt were there but mine were not, and I immediately knew he had taken it. Basically, he was taking up SO much space he grabbed my number out of my area with a whole other persons space in between us. Anyway I actually heard them announce my name when he finished so I went over there and asked him for my belt (closest tri store is 2 hours, dont feel like ordering one because of his stupidity). He apologized but I didnt really care, I was satisfied though because I ended up beating him by ALOT and I have a TERRIBLE run.
Anyway it upsets me most I can not get my splits because I wanted to use them for training and goals for my next tri, I honestly do not even know my finishing time! FRUSTRATING! I guess the goal for next time will be finish and know my time.