Crap… yesterday I missed LOST Swimming to go to Guelph Lake 2 with Joanne, Maisey and Jillian… only to have the swim cancelled… and didn’t make out much better today!
So yesterday started out by getting all bikes and gear packed up, all nice and early headed up for the race. The weather got worse as we were driving there. We kept hoping that big black cloud wasn’t headed to Guelph… it was. 40kph winds, gusting to 60kph… rain, off and on… and cold, only about 13C. Not really nice at all. But we went… and by god we were going to do it.
The moment I stepped out of the car I heard the loud speaker say that they had shortened the course from 750m to 400m… which sucks… but whatever, we’ll make the best of it. We met a bunch from Oakville, Jo Sharland, Wendy Langell, Kathy Jackson, Heather Sibley, Mona, etc… they were all thinking of bailing… Jo and I convinced them to do it. So we got all checked in and walked down to the water for the start. It was cold. Everyone was shivering and shaking. Fortunately Joanne and I knew a secret way to warm up in our wetsuits! We waded in to our knees and “warmed up”. She went for a swim and I told her not to because we were in the 5th and 6th waves and she’d freeze standing around all wet, even in her wetsuit. I was much smarter than her and didn’t get wet (well only “partially” wet). Then, just as the gun was about to go… they cancelled the swim. The mighty Guelph Lake was roaring with 1 foot white caps… lame. So everyone turned and headed back up to start the newly converted du… and no, I wasn’t getting wet and cold. Saved my shower for home. Kinda gross, I know… call it the lesser of 2 evils… at least in my mind. All those fence sitters bailed… we bailed. Windy and wet is a lot different from COLD, windy and wet. So we loaded up the van and headed back all disappointed. I think that is the only race I’ve never started and the only DNF I’ve ever had was when they pulled me out, unconscious, in the English Channel… so it was disappointing. They had banned disc wheels, but I heard today that tons of people had gotten blown off their bikes during the race and the ambulances where busy. Cold, wind, wet and covered in road rash isn’t a lot of fun either.
So I was determined to have some fun at the Pier to Pier today.
I spoke with Melanie and Bill and they said there was a pretty good turn out for the LOST Swim yesterday. It was chilly, but still very swim-able. Actually Bill’s line was “Great swim, 55C and choppy!”. I would have to call him and Mel successful converts from pool swimmers to lake swimmers! Probably doesn’t hurt that Bill has his head in the game as he’s only 1 week out of IM Wisconsin! (Go Bill!!!). Bill’s report when like this “9 people showed up, 6 of us did swim(0 naked). After 5 min when you lose feeling in your hands and feet it’s comfy! Plus 1 to ‘mental’ toughness! We’ll be out for the P2P, hope it’s as much fun as today!” Mel’s comments “Actually Colleen went naked, she said for about 25 meters; and Steve started in a sleeveless and then went back in naked. Bill and Alexei were in for 1 hour plus… Good mental toughness day for all!!”
I hate to tell all you Ironmen out there, but swimming in cold water makes you a helluva lot tuffer!
I was wishing I had stayed for the LOST Swim yesterday… oh well, the P2P will be good.
This morning Joanne looked at the water temp maps on the LOST website… it said 46F… whatever… those things are never right. So we got up early and packed up the van again and headed to Burlington. Much better today, only a slight wind, hardly a could in the sky, but it was still a bit chilly, air temp was 12C.
We arrived to find Greg Pace in his car. “We have to cancel… it’s 46F!” Okay, sometimes those websites are right. But still… was it really that cold?! So we all walked down to the water to have a feel. Mel and Bill were already there in their wetsuits, ready to go. We still had our clothes on. I took the thermometer and waded in up to my knees. It was cold. Not 55C kinda cold… this was “it hurts” kinda cold. Sure enough 47F in 1 foot of water. That’s too cold. We hung around on the beach and several LOST Swimmers rolled in, so there was, me, Jo, Maisey and Jill, Mel, Bill, Mike, Lynne, Stacey and Jason (3 more converts that used to laugh at how “crazy” I was for swimming in Lake O and now you can’t keep them away). Several TCOB swimmers showed up too.
I’m trying to think about how to end this on a good note… not really succeeding… well, I guess I have to admit I took a bit of pride in the fact that the LOST swimmers probably outnumbered the TCOB swimmers… and were still debating going for a swim! Hell, Mel even went in with her sleeveless for a nice little dip! That’s kinda cool!
Well, this is open water swimming, cherish the good days and make an effort to get out… because like summer they come and go too quick… we’ll be playing it by ear from here on out. This would be an early close for LOST swimming but you never know there could be a few good swims left! Hope to see you soon!
Cheers,
Rob
PS. Good luck to those doing IM Wisconsin next weekend! (you are excused from your LOST Swim!)