9/8 - Muskoka 70.3

How did I end up in the north woods of Canada you ask for a 70.3 race? Well Muskoka has a very long triathlon history and looking at the schedule it was a great race since I had hoped that everyone else would be in Las Vegas racing the world championship. That may not be entirely true, but either way what a truly great destination race.  The Muskoka race is in the town or Huntsville Ontario at a large resort that a few years ago hosted the global G8 summit. About 4 hours north of Buffalo, where I flew into. I took this race opportunity to travel north into Canada and enjoy a great location.  Flying into Buffalo on Friday morning and driving around the west shore of Lake Ontario gave me time to enjoy the scenery and head even further north to Huntsville. My home stay was right in town, Rob his wife and two children both similar in age to my own. The town so much reminded me of the north woods of WI, interconnected lakes all over, with cabins up and down the shores. It is a popular destination for folks living in Toronto. Rob and his family were super nice and more than welcoming to me, he was involved in the race as well coordinating the bike course volunteers, his wife and children were also at the first aid station on they run. 

The race course is set in a beautiful lake at a large resort, and was a larger race than I was really expecting. I spent my Saturday taking my time getting checked in, driving the bike course, and getting familiar with the area. I took especially long around the bike course which went around a large lake call Lake of the Bays which has a rich history.

This steam powered boat used to take visitors to a island resort which still has a private golf course among other things. I toured the history museum there and a lot of the pictures reminded me of my fathers boats in the past. Apparently the boat sank to the bottom of the lake and stayed there for quite some time, but has since been rescued and restored. The course around the lake was just as I expected beautiful, hilly, and smooth, it was going to be a great race. One thing that I realized was that this was the first time I had ever driven a bike course prior to the race in all my years racing, I see why it's a good idea now. After that was the pro meeting, bike checkin, fixing a flat tire already, and a great dinner at Rob's home with his family. I made it an early night, even though race start was not until 8 am, it was still east coast time. 

Race morning I headed over to the venue, caught the shuttle bus, and got my gear set up. The only two pros that I knew were Richie and Mirinda, but there were more than I expected for the men's field.

We warmed up in the cool clear waters and lined up for the start, the women were starting with us as well today. I headed out to an early lead but there were 2 or 3 other guys keeping pace no problem. I just swam my race nice and smooth, about two thirds through the swim one other guy decided it was time for him to lead, and I was fine with that. The water was so clear I could follow him and conserve some energy. But the last 500 meters my 'got to win attitude' got the best of me and I went around him to get 1st out of the water. There is a 300 meter run up to transition, which felt quite long. I was onto the bike in 3rd place now, not sure how that happened, maybe I need to work on my transitions. In the first 10 miles or so I got back into 2nd place, but 1st was not insight. The 3rd place guy was behind me for the entire bike and we were passed in the last miles by Lionel the eventual winner of the race. Bike course was great, just as I expected, but I averaged 318 watts which is a little high for me on a half. This may explain the last 10k of my run too. So I exited the bike in 4th place along with the 3rd place guy. 

I felt pretty good on the first 10k of the run it was hilly, I was keeping pace and 3rd was not gaining to much of a gap.  Raliert passed all of us and ran himself into 2nd place. My 2nd 10k was another story, I did not totally fall apart or anything, just gradually slowed and was passed at like 19k to sit in 6th place, where I would finish for the day. I would of liked to been top 5 for sure but my run was not having it after biking a little too hard.  I got tons of food in afterwards, got back to Robs house and took a nice walk downtown, had dinner and drinks. Overall such a great race I would love to do it once again for sure, or even make a vacation up in the area with the family. Turns out I had been up to Algonquin park when I was 4 for a canoe trip with my family.  I love the paddling atmosphere up there, I just need to figure out how to get my kayaks up.

All picture from Muskoka - 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13519781@N02/sets/72157635504319072/

SSSR 8/31-9/2

Labor Day weekend was spent this year up in Steamboat Springs, Shanon and the girls came to this race not necessarily to watch but rather to spend the weekend in a great mountain town. This was the second year I have completed this 3 day stage race, consisting of a time trial the first day, a road race the second, and a crit the third. We had a great CAT3 showing for our team with 9 guys of a 45 man field, so we knew we had to put our plans this weekend to work. Ryan Taylor and Rob Thayer were our GC guys for the weekend. We arrived Saturday morning and had a nice studio to stay in right on the ski / mt bike trails. The girls headed out for a bike ride and I went to the TT.  It was a little over 10 miles, but much flatter than last year. At the end we had 3 riders in the top 10, with Ryan 1st, Andy 6th, and myself 10th. 

The 2nd day was the road race, over 82 miles and 7k' of climbing.  Our plan was the shelter Ryan and Rob the whole day and get them both fresh to the last few climbs, cover attacks, and keep the pace of the group in check.  The was an attack with 2 guys early and I covered this one and one more bridged up. I was not doing any work oping to slow the pace of the other three riders in the attack, they were not happy with me, but it worked after about 25 miles the group caught us again. I stayed toward the front of the group still to cover any other attacks, as did a few of our other guys. The first big pass went well and the group stayed together nicely. But the second was where the race is generally determined. The group started to fragment right from the base of the climb. Ryan and Rob stuck on the lead pack, Andy and myself were just behind. As we neared the summit there was a feed zone to exchange bottles, after this I realized that the lead group was together just up the road. A quick decent and a little climb brought me right back with them. Though Rob and two others had managed to break away. Ryan was still with the group though. There was a longer very quick decent, the back towards town for the last 20 miles or so. All we had to do was make sure Rob was not caught. Little did I know he was working very hard and pulling a huge 5 minute gap. Once I realized how far ahead they were, I decided that I was going to make this group of 15 or 20 work to make this finish. Ryan said he was feeling well again so I started throwing attacks, on each climb, and during the flats. 

This managed to loose about 1/3 of those guys, but I was getting tired of leading and the legs were starting to fade, I could not shake them all by myself.  For some reason I get into that mode where I think I can do all the work and still manage to get away, well it did not work this day. It ended up being a sprint for the last 1km and needless to say I lost the sprint due to all the work up in, but Rob won his sprint to the line and took the win on the RR, so mission accomplished. The girls spent the day in the hot springs pool, enjoying Steamboat.

The last day of our stay was the Crit race, which was not until 2PM. We decided to hike to one of the best waterfalls in CO in the morning.  It was a short hike the girls and I climbed the rocks all the want to the base of the falls.

The Crit race was only 45 mins long, a standard rectangular 1k course, with a small hill thrown in. We still had a large team presence to make something happen here and Rob was in control of the GC so it was basically keep him safe and get him to the line in the main group.  The last 3 laps I was leading and really thought I was going to make it happen, Andy and Ryan were even blocking for me.  But in the end I lost it in the last 1/2 lap and to the sprint, but Rob was a few wheels back and took 2nd on the sprint.  Seems I took this Crit race very similar to the road race, by leading way too many laps and loosing in the sprint.  But I got a $50 prime lap in there and got Rob where he needed to be. The girls actually came to watch the 2nd half of this race, it was nice to see them on the line cheering for me.

Overall Rob took the GC win, and Ryan got the BRAC season win with this race topping it off, and I got 6th on the GC. Not too bad of results, it was great to see our plans work out in the end and get our team on top. The girls even had a good weekend vacation in Steamboat Springs. Great racing this weekend boys, I am proud to be part of the Sonic Boom team.