Steelhead 2005 Race Report (Very Long)
Bill Robison


First contingency planning oversight: Benton Harbor/St. Joseph, MI lies in the Eastern Time Zone. Good thing we left plenty early on Friday, because we needed that extra hour. Make that two extra hours that we needed, because when we arrived at the Comfort Suites, we learned that they had no record of my reservation, and they claimed that the confirmation number I’d been given belonged to a fellow named Oscar and it was for last week. As they were otherwise completely booked, we began looking for different accommodation, which was available at the dreaded “Exit 28,” also known as the place where truck drivers go to die. I was very aggravated with the Comfort Suites for screwing up my reservation, but The Wife said everything happens for a reason (and apparently it did, but more on that later).

After that false start, we checked into a room at the Days Inn. Although it was a non-smoking room, it had a peculiar odor. The Wife would not let The Son anywhere near the bedspread, and I was not allowed to be barefoot on the carpet (which made our sleeping arrangements tricky, to say the least, but more on that later).
After a late lunch of chili, cheeseburger, onion rings and strawberry shake at Steak n Shake, we began our attempt to follow the MapQuest directions I’d printed up for Jean Klock Park (located at the corner of Jean Drive and Klock Road in Benton Harbor) for the Race Expo and Check-In. MapQuest seems to me to work well about 90% of the time. This was one of the 10% (of course, part of the blame must lie with the City of Benton Harbor, which apparently doesn’t have money in the budget for street signs). After a tour of a few of Benton Harbor’s more rundown neighborhoods (which is saying a lot), we finally threw in the towel, stopped at a liquor store, and asked a guy in a utility truck for directions. He wasn’t sure where it was, but told us he thought we were nowhere near it, and decided to drive us to what he believed to be the general vicinity (or at least to a locale safer than where we were at the time).

After another hour of driving around, we finally spotted a couple of cars with TT bikes on the roofracks, and just followed them into the park. We finally arrived at the Expo at about 4:30 EDT. The Expo and Check-In process was extremely well organized, and I realized that once we got to the part of the trip that others were responsible for, things might start to go well. Except I was a bit troubled by the 25 to 30 mph wind blowing down the beach, and the 3-4 foot waves crashing on the shore (I actually saw a couple of kids surfing – no joke).

After checking in and getting body-marked, we decided to have an early dinner and call it a night. After lunch, the word “chili” was in my mind, and having seen a sign for Chili’s from I-94, we decided that would be the dinner destination. After a fairly typical pre-race supper for me (Supreme Nachos, Cajun Chicken Pasta and a very tall Budweiser), we headed back to the Days Inn for my final gear prep and an early bedtime. Unfortunately, as it turned out, Fox was running an Arrested Development marathon and we got sucked in. At 10:00 EDT (I think), AD ended, and I decided that early bedtime was more important than final gear prep. I was just joking before when I said there would be more on the sleeping arrangements.
The wake-up call came at 4:45 EDT (good old reliable Days Inn). As it turned out, we slept remarkably well despite the room’s ambient scent and the presence of a two-month-old baby.

Out the door and into the car shortly after 5:00, and this time we knew where we were going as we’d spent the better part of two hours driving around the vicinity the day before. Got to transition, set everything up, and caught one of the first shuttle buses to the swim start. Met a few nice Chicago Tri Club folks (Carrie, Bridget & Joe). Heard about another club member who stayed at the Comfort Suites and got a terrible night’s sleep because some high school group was staying there (The Wife was right about things happening for a reason).

Got down to the pier and prepared to take the plunge – literally. The race started with a dive off a six foot pier into Lake Michigan. As I was in Wave 3, I got to watch several others go off ahead of me, and when it came my turn, I opted for the jump. It was still tricky, though, as the guy who jumped off right in front of me sank when he hit the water after the significant drop, and I had to wait a couple of seconds for him to resurface so I didn’t come down on top of him.

From there on, the race went very smoothly. The water was much calmer than it had been on Saturday, and the temperature was very comfortable. I finished the swim in 39 minutes and some change, about a minute slower than I’d hoped, but I was still on target for my time goal of coming in under 6 hours. Transition seemed like it was about a 1⁄2 mile from the beach, and I really had to pee, so by the time I slogged up to the bike and hit the Porta John, I’d spent nearly 9 minutes in T1 before rolling out on the bike. The bike course was nice. It was basically 56 miles of gentle rollers. The good news was practically no significant climbing. The bad news was the descents were so short that I felt like I was always going uphill. I had a couple of minor mechanicals – Ruth, if you’re reading this, they apparently did not get my derailleur issue fixed. Better to have that problem in Michigan than Wisconsin, though. Even though I was off the bike a couple of times to manually shift my chain from the small cog to the big one in front, I managed to average over 19 mph, and finished the bike in just over 2:51. Having spent so much time in T1, I didn’t feel the need to loiter in T2 and turned around for the run in about 2:30. As I headed out for the run, my watch said 3:44, and I was confident I’d finish under 6 hours. As I headed up the hill out of transition, I spotted The Wife and The Son cheering me on which always helps. I managed to keep about an 8:40 pace through Mile 8 of the run before falling off to a little over 9:00 for the next couple of miles. As a lot of the run consists of out and back spokes, I passed several other Chicago Tri Club members who were either ahead of me or behind me. Everyone said hello, and their cheering sections were kind enough to give me a shout-out when I went by too.

After falling off pace quite a lot in the last few miles, I ended up finishing the run in 2:01 and some change. I’d hoped to break 2:00, but I was mainly concerned with my overall time so I didn’t beat myself up too much over that minute on the run. According to my watch, I finished in 5:42:26. The best part was I felt really great afterwards, and as I sit and write this on Sunday, I still feel great. I’m not sure I would have been able to go back out and do the course again yesterday, so I still have some more work to do before Madison. But all in all, it was a great day – perfect weather, a very nice course, and an extremely well organized race. If anyone is considering putting this on his or her calendar for next year, I highly recommend it. The race is only three years old, but it seems to be getting better and better.