HOOOOOLY shit. I literally just got done doing it. It lasts for about 30 minutes. I'm not even fucking kidding. A full half hour of mashing the X / A button, and holding forward....

Yep, the Coyote Cross Country really sucked. Took me just under 30 minutes, and it really tested the endurance of my thumb.

I almost lost that damn thing, too. Crashed my bike by running into a sign at one point, and I also had two guys sprint ahead right in front of the finish line that I almost didn't get back in front of.

I accidentally quit the race two times while trying to turn off my light, but it was easy on my third attempt. I was pretty surprised that I could mash X for 28~ minutes and not feel sore.

Call me crazy but that sounds like fun! Just finished the first one and I had a good time. Same thing but more extreme is going to be great.

That sounds like an...*puts on sunglasses*...Endurance Run. XD

I was in for like 22 minutes and then some stupid biker rant into me and I was last and could not even find my bike so easily......

After that I stopped. But I really liked the triathlon stuff^^

It's pretty fun, but it's definitely a test of your endurance. The cycling portion of the race is pretty long, but it's also pretty nice watching the transition from the countryside to the city. Give it a try, homie.

I used Michael in all my runs and I never was running out of stamina as well. At first I thought it was a bug but the real challenge is your own endurance^^

I won it in 28:45 as Franklin. I was last out of the water but it didn't take long to get to first. Then I tried a shortcut but the race bikes don't bunnyhop so I got turned around and was in last early in the bike portion. Worked my way up to 3rd and wiped out twice late in the bike portion dropping me back to 6th. Started the running portion in 4th and won easily.

Heh that sounds pretty fun. Will have to try that out

I need to try this out!

Yeah try it they are fun. The first 2 are not really that long and you can easily enjoy them. And if you enjoy them you have a challenge with the real long one^^

I ran all three triathlon's as Michael. He's mellowed out as I've carried on progressing through the game. At first he was smoking it up and downing whiskey, but now it's all health shakes and yoga along with growing out his hair and beard :P

That triathlon though really is a killer on the hand. I did have to pause and take a couple of breaks but finished with a time of around 27 minutes and that was with a bike crash which forced me back to 6th place. Was quite close up until the run where thankfully I stayed ahead right till the finish. They are fun to do though for those of you who have yet to partake - just make sure you have half hour to spare.

quick question on the triathalon is it possible to gank the system like in previous GTA games? Can I possibly run them over with a bus or block their path with a tank?

@i_stay_puft: nope, there are no vehicles on the road, so...

I tried to shortcut once and ended up wiping. Pretty sure the rubberbanding was such that I could've caught up, but I started over anyways. Even with no mistakes the AI kept passing me, and then slowing down again. Brutal to endure that for such a long race.

Yeah, compared to how short the first two were, this came out of fucking nowhere. I was not prepared to devote 30 mins to that.

When you fully upgrade your stamina stat (which is highly likely when doing the triathlons) it will stop draining. I was at the end of the pack the entire race but lucky halfway through the bike part my stamina stat maxed out and from then on you can just keep mashing x forever.

Man, that shit was fucking ridiculous. What's worse is that I got very close to the end, but pressed right on the d-pad to see if Franklin would interact with the other racers or the crowd, only for it to of course immediately end. Like, why is it just a press? Something like that should have required you hold it down or something instead >=/

Once you have full stamina it's not even hard, as it's mostly just a lot of rubberbanding AI as they constantly keep racing past you until the sprinting portion at the end, where you'll very easily zoom past the competition

LOL!

I vote GTA5 triathlon for the next Breaking Brad.

@chiablo: That would be fantastic. Or Brad trying to steal a fighter jet from the military base. Fuck that damn stalling piece of shit.

there are some hard grinding quests in this game.

I'm in the middle of the biking part and I had to take a break. My hand is on fire.

121 check points later I finished first with some other runner right on my ass.

If I start a triathlon with one character the missions become exclusive to that character, or can I do the triathlon missions with each character?

I think you can do them with anyone, but Franklin seems like the obvious choice because he has the highest stamina to start. I'm not sure how strength factors in since swimming seems to be my weak point, although I destroyed that chick when she challenged me

I just accidentally hit right on the d-pad while I was trying to make the map zoom out to see how close the guy behind me was. 27 minutes lost. Ugh.

Just did it today with Michael.
Had to pause a couple of times, thumb wasn't liking all that mashing.
I thought I screwed myself when I didn't turn quite soon enough and wound up crashing onto a fence. Six guys rode past, but I managed to get the lead back and keep it.
Think I took around 27 minutes. Enjoyed the triathlons anyway.

My favorite side activity in the game, was shockingly a lot of fun. Got 28:18 and thinking of doing it again for a better time

I hit the B button instead of A in the last 3 seconds and got 3rd place :( Still got a medal though!

I did the same thing, I felt so stupid! I can't believe they made it just enough to push the button once. Shame on you Rockstar!

I think R* makes losing easy because, in its own simple way, they replicating "losing focus". The very second you stop pressing the button your character stops. You don't even have to press fast, but you do have to keep pressing about once every second to keep going

My guess is in an early version of this they probably had players pressing two buttons in cadence (it just feel like there was more too it before)...but that was probably too evil. The current mini game just makes you press one button, if you play the game 'typically; your stamina meter probably only went down in the first race. The whole thing is about your focus and stamina not the character's.

27 minutes of pure rubber-band AI. I nearly lost my shit when one guy nearly passed me 30 meters from the finishing line. Overall I think almost all the side-activities were too easy. I really feel bad for anyone who played this on 360 though, since the face buttons aren't that optimal for constant button mashing.

@myslead You can just use some tape. I did that. Took me 20 minutes or so.

I used my turbo controller. The AI had some weird stretches where they could swim/bike faster than me during the swimming and biking portions of the race, but once everyone was on foot I got ahead of the two or three that I felt like were miles ahead of me during the bike part almost immediately, and stayed there and won the race.

That was horrible... I fell off my bike 3 times but i was almost 20 minutes in the race at that point so i figured i would play through it. At the Bike finish line all the AI racers ran into each other and fell over for some reason, I started running and was in 2nd place and passed the first place dude that was just walking slowly for some reason. Was able to stay in 1st pretty much all the running part but i did pause the game for a while cuz i was tired of mashing X.

Scared to get into it but I won the first two handily; as Swaboo mentioned, in both of those races I was already ahead comfortably by the running portion but as I was getting a block or two away I'd hear a ton of "ahh!" "ooh!" "ow!" and then all their dots would just linger back there on the map.

Jesus. 30 minutes!? I mean, I have the time but holy hell. You can only virtually bike, swim and run for so long before it gets annoying. I'll be doing it anyway because I want to play everything this game has to offer.

Took me 27:18:917 with Michael, I was ahead of everyone in both the swimming and running parts, but that biking section I was between second and fifth, got really tired of seeing the other bikers zoom past me like I was sitting still.

My first run I was halfway through and I accidentally pressed Y and throw my bike down like 2 blocks and never recovered.

Did it the next time. I used the turbo on my fight stick for the swimming part

25 minutes in and I ran into another biker with my bike and it said Race Forfeit Crime Committed...so fuck that.

After 5 or so minutes of swimming, I started to actually curse loudly, because that whole thing just had to be a joke. Especially since even though I kept mashing A and took what looked like the shortest route, the AI still managed to pull ahead considerably.

Started biking in 7th place, managed to get to 3rd pretty fast, and about 18 minutes, finally managed to get to 1st, just so I could then crash into a pole, I didn't even see. (I'm not sure if it popped up late or if I was just getting real distracted by that point.)

Finished biking in 4th, again cursing loudly, because I really didn't want to do this shit over, and then luckily managed to get back to 1st relatively quickly. Took it home easily from there, in about 28 minutes.

Just did this, I had no idea what I was getting into. 27 minutes later I nearly lost the whole thing when two sprinters got a magical boost of speed in the final 100 meters. That sucked.

Why isn't there a trophy or achievement for this? It seems like the sort of thing achievements were made for.

@berserker976: I agree - Achievements are really weird and sparse in GTA V. In San Andreas it was quite a feat to get all golds in Flight School, and I think you got a special helicopter for it like you got a special bike for golding all of bike school. In GTA V you get literally nothing that I could see. No achievement, no helipad or plane. It was very anti-climatic for me.

Ha, that sounds great, some 4th wall enduro.

I got to the end of the bike portion and hit a jump going into the finish line icon where the first place NPC was getting started running. I accidentally hit him landing, and failed the mission immediately for committing a crime. Haven't had the desire to return. Yet.

I too managed to screw up during the like 20 minutes of cycling...somehow. Experienced the same rubberbanding AI, but like everyone has posted broke away from the pack during the final section (running).

With the infinite stamina, I was able to walk across the finish line with Franklin. 1st place. And absolutely nothing to show for it. Oh yeah!