Buzzard Duathlon

[Brooks Modie]

Great race by all who participated! I saw many CTC members competing and doing very well. Unfortunately my race recap ends with a flat tire on the 4th loop of the bike course. This course is both challenging and beautiful. The hills make this a tough course to find a rhythm leaving most racers breathing a little heavier than normal. In my opinion this is one of the most beautiful sections of the Metroparks with the pine trees, lake and waterfall. I ride there every weekend so I hope to see some of you out there one morning.

Brooks

[Eric]

Bummer about the flat tire. It was great seeing so many people at an easy season race. I only did the bike part of a biathlon relay and boy was it cold. Props to Brent who motored by me and disappeared.

[MattCollister]

It was good to see a lot of Club members there. Cold, morning, but I kept surprisingly warm for most of the race. Only thing that suffered was my hands. By the fourth lap of the bike my first two fingers were so numb I couldn't feel my brake levers. But I didn't use them much anyway

[ALW]

Great seeing a lot of CTC members there. I must have misheard the meteorologist last night because I thought it was shorts weather.

[ALW]

When you are a quarter mile out of T2 and running with your bike helmet securely fastened to your head, you:

a.) Feel safe
b.) Feel sleek
c.) Feel stupid
d.) Feel sexy
e.) Feel all of the above

[Brent]

Alan, at least your T2 was faster than normal right!
Thanks Eric, I like props. Sorry if anyone thought I was yelling at them coming into the 90 degree turn at the bottom of the hill. I was bombing down the left hand side around a large group that started widening out way up the hill and I didn't want to get clipped at 45mph. I did yell "on your left" rather loud. Anyway, good race I had fun. Did it seem like there was a disproportionate number of really fast people there?

[Papa Louie]

Here is my recap!
It was a beautiful day to be out participating in a duathlon race yesturday! The sun was shining through blue skies. The temperature was about 38 degrees F. The race began with a run of 3 hilly miles around Hinkley Lake on the road. I felt comfortable running a 6:00 minute mile pace. I made it back to the transition area to get my bike and took off riding and still feeling good. After cruising with the 2nd lead pack group (on my 2nd lap of 5 around the Lake) my chain popped off going up a hill. I lost my momentum and could not put the chain back on while riding and had to get off the bike to put it back on. And of course being on a hill I could not get back on and ride so I ran with the bike up the hill. I realized these things can happen and just continued to ride my heart out. I completed the 5 hilly laps of 15.3 miles in 46:10 which is a 19.9 miles per hour pace. After racking my bike in the transition area I attempted to unsnap the chin-strap of my helmet but my hands were so cold and numb from the ride that I struggled with it for about 30 seconds but it seemed more like 2 minutes. With the mechanical mishap of the bike chain and the discomfort of frozen fingers I was still feeling strong and happy to be out racing my heart out. On the last lap of running the hilly course I took the opportunity to pass some of the many people that passed me on the bike leg. I finished 13th overall with a time of 1:24:34. It was a beautiful day!

[Angie]

Nice to see everyone yesterday. Sorry to hear about all the mechanicals. Alan.. that one was classic. I vote for feeling safe with you helmet on. Ha ha. Since you feet were cold you might have tripped... nice to have that extra protection. My transitions were super slow.. I could not get my shoes on with cold fingers and big bulky gloves. Otherwise... I felt pretty good on the hills... all that hill running at the zoo has paid off. Nice to see 2 of my hill climbing buddies, Brooks and Dave there too. The hard winter hills paid off for them too.

It was nice to see a pretty nice turn out from the club. Hang on.....Spring IS coming. ANGIE

[Janet E]

Good to see some of you out there! Well yesterday I completed my first multisport event, the Hinckley Du. The first running loop felt good. And I know I was even slower than you Angie, in transitions. The biking went fine, despite my terrible nose running. Upon getting off the bike my legs did not want to move and racking my bike felt like it took a lot of effort. Back out for my final running loop and I focused on just putting one foot in front of the other. Slowly I started to feel better and finished with a time of 1:42:16. All in all, a good start I think to something new. I think the training days out there really helped.

[jetlink]

The Buzzard Duathlon was a ton of fun. I also have to add that it was great to see so many CTC members out on the course. I think everyone had a good time and, from the results, competed fairly well.

[M Gorris]

Great job to all CTC member who participated and braved the cold. Heck, props to anyone who was out there yesterday: racers, volunteers and spectators.

Lou - If you do the Buzzard again [and if you have bar end shifting], try to ease the chain when shifting from the big ring to small ring. My educated guess is you probably lost your chain during that shift. The Buzzard course lends itself to continuos shifting, increasing the chance of dropping you chain. I've seen a few dropped chains out there. Way to stick with it and grind it out.

Brent- Carefull on that final hill. Last year I was in a pack of about 8 and we decided against flying down that specific hill. That turn can be dangerous and the time lost by coasting down is negligible. The bonus is you get to stretch the legs for the upcoming hills.
And yes, there were some VERY fast people out there. For some reason, the Buzzard always brings in more than a few ringers!

I think in the future, when race morning is cold, I will make sure to bring along those hand warmers I've used for years skiing. My wife had some serious issues that many of you were talking about regarding frozen fingers. Like you, Angie, she could not tie her shoes. For some reason my hands were fine....feet...another story.

And finally, speaking of my wife, she makes me sick. She gave birth to our second child 7 months ago and has only been on the bike a few times since. Then she goes out and takes 2nd overall female.....puts me to shame!

Best of luck to all this race season and may you all hit your goals.