Black Bear Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Waded out slowly and found a spot a bit outside and in the second row. Heard a lot of folks complaining how cold the water was but it didn't seem too bad. Got a nice clean start and was able to get in a nice smooth rhythm and navigated off the folks to the outside. Slide into the heavier traffic but was pretty spread out by then, so I relaxed and stayed calm and tried to draft. The turn I found myself right on the bouy and inside an bunch of folks taking the shortest line and I kept it up on the turn for home and then worked my way back. Started hitting the previous wave and having the speedsters come up from the wave after so traffic was interesting but again no real problems and again hit the turn in bouy head on. Good swim.

Not much, maybe warm up a bit other than that it was a nice swim.

Not too bad. Went smooth and more ironman mode so didn't worry about speed. Had some issues getting my left leg out of my wetsuit and a long run and a sand pit up to the road

work in the speed a bit, but not too bad.

Wow that was a mean couse. The bike is my weakest leg and this was far and away the hilliest course I have ever done. Right off the bat I realized my aerobars weren't going to get much use today. For perspective, most races a 20 mph ave is a farly common sight. At Black Bear a 20 mph ave was the 5th fastest split of the day. So I just tried to stay within myself and grindout the hills. The first loop I witnessed someone fall on the course as they dropped their chain on a short steep hill. I worked through that section and tried to get going but, it seemeed I was either crawling up a hill or blasting down the far side, trying to avoid the potholes and rough patchs. It was a heck of an adventure. Then throw in some sharp turns and some wind and it just challenged you the whole way. At the end of the loop there was a major downhill twisting downhill with enough rough road to scare the hell out of me. And of course about a mile down the road was the bottle drop and turn around, which went a long climb back up in the small ring and standing, I actuall got a good rhythm and made some progress, at the top it said slow down on the pavement, which was odd but heading down the next twisting downhill with only a small patch of smooth pavement I understood the instruction. But that lead to another long steep hill and another standing small ring climb, then another turn and another set of hills (an people with cowbells cheering us on, very cool). Finally it flatten out for a bit but then a 165 degree turn, killing my momentum and into another long steep multi tiered hill around the corner. Finallly we had a good downhill stretch where i could get into my aerobars and hammer a bit. But soon enough it was time to turn into the second loop and a cool crowd cheering us on. The second loop was just a matter of grinding up the hills again and doing a lot more coasting on the back side. Felt i rode the hills pretty well, but I was in the small ring alot more. Had one hicup. On the same hill I saw the guy fall, I was standing and dropped to the small ring and pop goes my chain and over I go still clipped in. Deja Vu never hurt so much. But I didn't hurt anything other than a scrapped up knee. After counting down the three monster hills the second time through, I thought I was home free, but the course had one more haymaker. Turning for home, the guy is yelling last climb, and there was probably the toughest steep hill to grind up in my granny gears and standing, a couple folks crampped up and had to walk it up. I made it and then we head for home. Om any other course the last incline heaed to the park on the road I drove this morning would be considered a hill but on this course I basically didn't count as more than an incline. Finally we were done. What a ride. I tried to drink ever 5 miles and have a gel every 10 miles and did pretty well. Got through 2 bottles of gatorade and grabbed a bottle of water at the last water drop.

Surprisingly enough, even though I was only doing 16 mph, I was pretty happy with the ride. I wouldn't fall over on the second loop and I probably would have drank more but there was only one opportunity to refuel and they only had water and Heed (never heard of t and didn't really like it)

Long run/shuffle to the transition area and went around the sand trap. took my time and sunscreen myself again. But on the way out, my race belt feel off as the strap came off.

Not have equipment issues.

The time was a bit slow since I battled with my race belt and stopped at the potta potties and battle with my belt some more until just tying a knot and stating out. Probably wasted a good 5 minutes. Getting going the trail was pretty rough. Passed Johnny K heading back in at the end of his first loop, so I challenged my self to see if I could keep him from lapping me. But more immediately I had a guy from the Westchester, NY tri club who kept passing me then walking thru the aid station where I would catch up and repass and it repeated. This kept up until we hit the hill when I pulled away. I did the hill well, and barely noticed the second hill onto the dam. The dam was hot and dusty, but I saw Johnny K a few more times and pushed on. Got a splash from the kids at the water station (don't know who enjoyed it more, me or them). Work my way back and held of Johnny K, but after meeting that goal, I had a serious lull and realized I didn't have a gel since mile 45 of the bike, but I just culd stand the idea, so I tried the Heed which wasn't very good. On the way back out I worked through the lull and start feeling a bit better and passed a dude from Drexel, and then about 2 miles later, I was about to pass the same guy (turned out same team and same uniform). I really snapped out of my funk hitting the hill then coasting down and over the dam. I felt pretty good and plugged along the last 5k and passed a number of folks until getting outsprinted at the end by two guys one who had to take his kid across the line for the second time that day (Mom did he sprint. Cool thing to watch.

I certainly should have kept with my nutrition stragey and eat the 3 gels I brought with me and I probably wouldn't have had the major lull in the middle miles, but all in all considering my quads were shot and the trails weren't too friendly for tired legs, it wasn't too bad after you took out the 5 min delay at the start

Walked to the water and Ice then up a hill to the food. Plopped down and Johnny K came over and we talked a bit. He had a great race I told him I used him as motivation for my first loop. He never mentioned he finshed 3rd in his age group and 14th overall. Didn't hear that till, after finding I wasn't hungery, and went to transition to pack up my stuff and then announced it. I got my stuff together and rolled my bike to the car' loaded up and headed home.


Hills, heats, and no sleep made it tough but that was a hard course and taking that into account I was happy with the effort. I also wasn't racing full out since I am doing another HIM (Rev 3 Tri) this weekend.


Great race. Only glicth was the delay on the start thanks to the traffic jam but heeding their advice and getting their early was smart. Not sure they really could do much about it. The bike could have used another bottle dropp but they more than made up for it on the run course and they were very enthusiatic so it made things fun. Hard race, but well run.