Post by Ed Slovenkay on Jun 28, 2011 22:55:38 GMT -5
Fellow teammates Jason Davis, Steve Thompson and I embarked on a training weekend for IMLP that included a 70.3 race in Tupper Lake just outside of Lake Placid. The race took place on a Saturday which left us the perfect opportunity to ride the Lake Placid bike course early Sunday before making the 10 hour drive back to Cleveland. None of us wanted to make the entire drive on Friday so we split up the trip by leaving after work Thursday night and driving the rest of the way on Friday. As luck would have it, the forecast for the entire weekend was RAIN.
This was the 29th year for the Tupper Lake Tinman. The only reason I had any desire to do it is it’s proximity to Lake Placid and the fact that the course is hilly. The race entry includes dinner Friday night and post race food. We finally arrived in Tupper Lake and got checked in to both the motel and the race. After so much sitting for the long drive the only thing I wanted to do was get out on the bike and ride a little to loosen up the legs, but NO it was raining. So we ate the dinner at the Park Restaurant which was a generous spread for something that was included with our race entry. Then we decided to unpack the car and figure out how to squeeze our gear and bikes into a 10’x10’ motel room. Seriously my laundry room is bigger than the motel room. Unfortunately it was my idea to stay in Tupper Lke instead of Placid so as not to have to make a 30 minute drive the morning of the race. To add insult to injury, the Park Motel required a 2 night stay, arggggg. Despite the rain we decided to ride from the motel to the park in an effort to stave off claustrophobia and spare our noses for a short while of the foul air that 3 middle age men on a guy’s training weekend drinking microbrews are bound to produce.
Race day wake up was non eventful. Rain still coming down and we were dreading the thought of setting up in a grassy transition while getting poured on. But we came all this way to race and the show must go on so we got set up and into our wetsuits as the announcer marshaled everyone to the swim start as he insisted they would begin the race on time. My wave appeared to have 150 or so people in it and at the last minute I decided that I would begin the race in the back and middle of the wave. I wanted to feel the congestion and get some experience for Placid. I’ve heard a lot about how narrow the swim venue is there and how brutal it can be. Right after the horn I was kicked in my right goggle so hard that it began to literally suck my eyeball out of the socket. I had to roll over in the water and managed to relieve the pressure but now I was really in the back of the pack. I burned a match and got out in front, eventually caught the slower swimmers in the previous wave. Swim time :31:59
Racking was assigned and I didn’t have an ideal location. Due to the puddles that lined the park driveway around transition exit, I decided to clip my shoes to the pedals and put them on while on the bike. Bad idea, especially when this technique is not practiced. I struggled to get the shoes on and probably would have been better to just run through the mud with the shoes on since the rain would have washed them off for sure. So the bike course was rolling and you are either climbing or descending. I finally bit the bullet and invested in a power meter for racing so I was determined to race my race and not get caught up in chasing the yahoos that typically hammer too hard on the hills. It was raining and the wind was getting me pretty good with the disc wheel that I have but I was getting into a groove and averaging 22+ mph. On the climbs a couple guys would hammer past me and I would fly by them on the descents as I was working the gears pretty good based on the power data I had.
That’s when it happened. I began a climb easy so not to spike the watts and one of the guys that was exchanging passes with me began to pass. As the grade got steeper he slowed a bit which left me still in the draft zone. I was sitting up, on the bullhorns, looked over only to see a race official passing and writing at the same time. NO WAY! I could not be getting a penalty! The official has to be writing down the other guys number for drafting or something. How could he be hitting me with a penalty on a climb of all places. Nothing I could do about it then and just continued to race my race, in the rain, fighting the wind. I saw packs of riders ahead of me and race officials planted behind them and felt some satisfaction that they would be getting penalties for such illegal activity. If only the race official were writing! Wait, why aren’t you taking down bib numbers?!?!?
At the turn the weather was still nasty. As I passed Cranberry Lake the tree line evaporated and a gust of wind moved me almost over the double yellow line. I thought for sure I was going down somewhere on this course. My speed was getting slower and glutes were burning, bad. Never had this feeling before. I thought I must have gone out too hard, but avg watts were in check. At mile 35 I had to sit up, change gears, anything to work this burning out. Since it was hard to take in nutrition before with my death grip on the aero bars I focused on getting down gels and fluid with my now slower pace. At mile 45 got the legs back and started reeling in many of those who just passed me. Made it back to transition in 2:32:33 or 22 mph avg. Not great but considering the conditions, I’ll take it.
Since it was cold and rainy, I must not have sweated out much so needed a pit stop for the first time ever during a race other than Ironman. For whatever reason I can’t manage to figure out peeing on the bike. Got out of T2 and legs felt good actually. I really worked on running this winter and now it was time to see what I can do. At mile 1 the first nasty hill started. I passed about 10 people, hit a gel and a water at the water stop. By mile 2 I’d passed another group of people. Every time I saw a guy running a good pace ahead of me I tried to catch him, and usually did. I was running somewhere around 7 minute miles and before I knew it I passed mile 9. I still felt great. I kept up the pace and when I saw mile 10 I decided I was hanging on and not going to slow down. Ended up with a 1:33:52 or 7:10 avg pace and 4:43:40 finish time. That is until I saw the posted results. It was my bib number the race official wrote down! I was hit with my first ever 4:00 penalty for not dropping back when being passed, on a climb. BS in my opinion but nothing I can do about it but do better next time. The run was a PR but I was 20th in AG and 50 something overall.
I liked the venue but not sure I’d ever do the race again. All it did was rain there and it took ~10 hours to drive one way. I enjoyed spending time in Lake Placid and think I will benefit from having rode the course prior to the race. If I do race there again, I will stay in Lake Placid.
This was the 29th year for the Tupper Lake Tinman. The only reason I had any desire to do it is it’s proximity to Lake Placid and the fact that the course is hilly. The race entry includes dinner Friday night and post race food. We finally arrived in Tupper Lake and got checked in to both the motel and the race. After so much sitting for the long drive the only thing I wanted to do was get out on the bike and ride a little to loosen up the legs, but NO it was raining. So we ate the dinner at the Park Restaurant which was a generous spread for something that was included with our race entry. Then we decided to unpack the car and figure out how to squeeze our gear and bikes into a 10’x10’ motel room. Seriously my laundry room is bigger than the motel room. Unfortunately it was my idea to stay in Tupper Lke instead of Placid so as not to have to make a 30 minute drive the morning of the race. To add insult to injury, the Park Motel required a 2 night stay, arggggg. Despite the rain we decided to ride from the motel to the park in an effort to stave off claustrophobia and spare our noses for a short while of the foul air that 3 middle age men on a guy’s training weekend drinking microbrews are bound to produce.
Race day wake up was non eventful. Rain still coming down and we were dreading the thought of setting up in a grassy transition while getting poured on. But we came all this way to race and the show must go on so we got set up and into our wetsuits as the announcer marshaled everyone to the swim start as he insisted they would begin the race on time. My wave appeared to have 150 or so people in it and at the last minute I decided that I would begin the race in the back and middle of the wave. I wanted to feel the congestion and get some experience for Placid. I’ve heard a lot about how narrow the swim venue is there and how brutal it can be. Right after the horn I was kicked in my right goggle so hard that it began to literally suck my eyeball out of the socket. I had to roll over in the water and managed to relieve the pressure but now I was really in the back of the pack. I burned a match and got out in front, eventually caught the slower swimmers in the previous wave. Swim time :31:59
Racking was assigned and I didn’t have an ideal location. Due to the puddles that lined the park driveway around transition exit, I decided to clip my shoes to the pedals and put them on while on the bike. Bad idea, especially when this technique is not practiced. I struggled to get the shoes on and probably would have been better to just run through the mud with the shoes on since the rain would have washed them off for sure. So the bike course was rolling and you are either climbing or descending. I finally bit the bullet and invested in a power meter for racing so I was determined to race my race and not get caught up in chasing the yahoos that typically hammer too hard on the hills. It was raining and the wind was getting me pretty good with the disc wheel that I have but I was getting into a groove and averaging 22+ mph. On the climbs a couple guys would hammer past me and I would fly by them on the descents as I was working the gears pretty good based on the power data I had.
That’s when it happened. I began a climb easy so not to spike the watts and one of the guys that was exchanging passes with me began to pass. As the grade got steeper he slowed a bit which left me still in the draft zone. I was sitting up, on the bullhorns, looked over only to see a race official passing and writing at the same time. NO WAY! I could not be getting a penalty! The official has to be writing down the other guys number for drafting or something. How could he be hitting me with a penalty on a climb of all places. Nothing I could do about it then and just continued to race my race, in the rain, fighting the wind. I saw packs of riders ahead of me and race officials planted behind them and felt some satisfaction that they would be getting penalties for such illegal activity. If only the race official were writing! Wait, why aren’t you taking down bib numbers?!?!?
At the turn the weather was still nasty. As I passed Cranberry Lake the tree line evaporated and a gust of wind moved me almost over the double yellow line. I thought for sure I was going down somewhere on this course. My speed was getting slower and glutes were burning, bad. Never had this feeling before. I thought I must have gone out too hard, but avg watts were in check. At mile 35 I had to sit up, change gears, anything to work this burning out. Since it was hard to take in nutrition before with my death grip on the aero bars I focused on getting down gels and fluid with my now slower pace. At mile 45 got the legs back and started reeling in many of those who just passed me. Made it back to transition in 2:32:33 or 22 mph avg. Not great but considering the conditions, I’ll take it.
Since it was cold and rainy, I must not have sweated out much so needed a pit stop for the first time ever during a race other than Ironman. For whatever reason I can’t manage to figure out peeing on the bike. Got out of T2 and legs felt good actually. I really worked on running this winter and now it was time to see what I can do. At mile 1 the first nasty hill started. I passed about 10 people, hit a gel and a water at the water stop. By mile 2 I’d passed another group of people. Every time I saw a guy running a good pace ahead of me I tried to catch him, and usually did. I was running somewhere around 7 minute miles and before I knew it I passed mile 9. I still felt great. I kept up the pace and when I saw mile 10 I decided I was hanging on and not going to slow down. Ended up with a 1:33:52 or 7:10 avg pace and 4:43:40 finish time. That is until I saw the posted results. It was my bib number the race official wrote down! I was hit with my first ever 4:00 penalty for not dropping back when being passed, on a climb. BS in my opinion but nothing I can do about it but do better next time. The run was a PR but I was 20th in AG and 50 something overall.
I liked the venue but not sure I’d ever do the race again. All it did was rain there and it took ~10 hours to drive one way. I enjoyed spending time in Lake Placid and think I will benefit from having rode the course prior to the race. If I do race there again, I will stay in Lake Placid.
