spin / second sole multisport team

Amidst the weather changing over the last week or two, we had one of the last triathlons of the season in Northern Ohio – The HFP Racing Portage Lakes Tri/Duathlons near Akron.  Our own Mike Schaefer went all Olympic for some season ending Nutella:

This was the most difficult Olymic Tri I have ever done, but not a bad way to end the season! The swim course was long (most folks were 2min slower than average) and the bike was extremely hilly with some tricky corners. The new run course was interesting – 2 laps with ~1.5 miles of dirt trail and 2 long climbs per lap – total distance by Garmin measured 6.5 miles! The footing was pretty questionable, but they painted all of the tree roots orange (literally hundreds of them). I really liked the shade on the trail, and I didn’t see anyone fall, so it wasn’t so bad. I kinda wish this one was held earlier in the year, as it would make every other course seem easy, and it would really toughen-up the quads! Don’t come to Portgage Lakes hoping for a PR!

Unfortunately, this marks then end of my Tri season, but it was definitely one of the best! I set a course PR in all 5 of my races – Not too shabby for my first Over-40 y/o season, (even though most were PRs by less than 1 minute I’m still getting faster with age!) I had a great time with teammates, which remains the best part!! Now it’s time to “switch gears” and enjoy a lazy off-season before XC skiing starts. Hopefully I’ll have some time to spend with the family, do some hunting, and finally figure out which brands of beer and Scotch go best with Nutella!

Then, things heated up on the North Coast over at Edgewater Park – now part of the Cleveland Metroparks!!  one of Spin Bike Shop’s sponsored events – The Edge of the World Cross cyclocross race!  A number of SSSMST’ers were out there getting dusty.

Leah at the kicker, looking for more cowbell

Spin’s own(er) Greg Jackson in the thick of the action

“Young” Zak Deringer powering away

Here’s Adam Roark’s take on his first:

I was helping out at the race and decided to give cyclocross a try. WOW was it HARD. It was awesome that the race was 30 minuets but it was similar to a sprint triathlon; redlining the WHOLE TIME!

Once the race started, people we jockeying for position and bumping elbows. I was just racing for fun so I decided to allow people to get in front of me so I did not wreck my season. The first lap involved waiting to make moves, slowing down to keep from crashing, and some timid racing.

The rest of the race was much better in terms of being in a race. I was much faster in terms of my lap times and much more confident on my bike. I was able to slowly move my way up in the standing on the stairs and sand portions when my multisport background came into play.

I love racing and this was a brilliant way of trying something new.      

And cyclo-vet Bruce McDonald:

Great race put on by Spin.  Raced in the 45+ race, and battled all race for a 4th place finish.
Great to see a bunch of teammates out there chearing…and Krol for the post race beer.
Great course design by Andy, and hats off to John Willlse for promoting the womens 1/2/3 race.     

Jackson looking for the podium girls

Noah tops the podium

Filed under: 2013 |