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May 31, 2005
Zion revisited
Today was an interesting day in Zion. Our first scheduled meeting was not until lunch time so I decided to stay at the hotel and work my way through some emails while Brian went out to work on the bike course. There is never a dull moment in our travels so as luck would have it, a fire broke out in a marsh here at the park. It soon was out of control and the emergency services folks decided to close down access to and from the park. With less than 30 minutes to go until our lunch meeting, Brian was trapped outside the park and I was trapped inside. This is not a small park, about two miles separated us so walking out to meet him with my luggage was not an option. A quick call to the city got us the clearance we needed to escape. When we left town 4 hours later the fire was still raging away. It reminded me of a fire in the marsh between Clermont and Groveland a few years back. All the firefighters could do was stay on dry ground and wait for the fire to get close enough to them so they could put it out.
On Monday we measured out a run course that is going to be awesome. The first half of the 5K loop is in the shaded forest. The second half follows the sand dunes along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Most of the run will be on a gravel-clay path with only a small portion on the pavement. While running the course yesterday we where confronted by a couple of large deer. They didn't even dash away when we ran by them, they just watched us in awe, or was it in disbelief that two old out of shape guys were running in the woods.
The Zion bike course will be somewhat technical because of the numerous turns. The roads are in good shape so it should be a fast course. We are going to stage the race adjacent to the Illinois Beach Resort over looking the lake.
For some strange reason we always seem to attract bad weather during our site visits. Not this time, the weather was perfect. Even Lake Michigan was flat as glass. I hope it acts the same way on race weekend.
We just found out our TriAmerica Zion race is on the same day as the Pleasant Valley Triathlon 20 minutes to the north. We selected our date based on their date last year. This year they moved their date back a week so now we are going head to head. Oh well, the market is certainly big enough to support both races. With the increase in the number of triathlons each year, it makes it tough to find a weekend that is clear of other events in the same market.
Posted by Fred at 05:21 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | More in: Tri America, Triathlon
May 30, 2005
Rocky Mountain High
The only thing better than Vail in the winter is Vail in the Summer....at least that's what we are banking on. What a great way to spend Labor Day weekend, hanging out in the Vail Valley and doing a triathlon. We just performed an operational site to Vail to map out the courses. During our previous visits everything was buried in snow so all I could do was just imagine that there were roads below all the snow. You really have to have a creative imagination when you try to visualize a triathlon venue in the heart of winter, especially when the ground is buried under five feet of snow.
When we arrived in Vail the weather was awesome. The temperature was in the upper 60's with only small piles of snow still hanging out in the shady areas at ground level. The second day was a completely different story; we woke up to snow fluries and temperatures in the 30's. At least the snow did not last long enough to impact our venue work.
Our TriAmerica Avon to Vail is unique in several ways. First it will be a point to point race. If you are familiar with the area you know that Vail is water challenged when it comes to lakes. That's why the race has been designed as a point to point race. We start in Nottingham Lake in the town of Avon, just west of Vail. This will be the first time that open water swimming has been allowed in the crystal clear, brisk waters of Lake Nottingham. While Avon has hosted a triathlon for several years now, the swim has always been a pool swim. Another unique feature of the race will be that both the sprint and international distance races will utilize a time trial start. Because the lake is only large enough for us to design a .75K swim course, the international distance athletes will have to swim two laps. With lap two swimmers merging with the starters, I figured the only safe way to start swimmers is in a time trial format.
The bike course will travel up to the Vail Pass and back for the international distance cyclists. Sprint cyclists will just bike from Avon to Vail. The bike course is not as tough as you would expect. The 1,500 foot climb from Avon to Vail is gradual. The run course will be an out and back style course finishing right in the heart of Vail Village. This has to be one of the most beautiful courses ever!
The only downside to the TriAmerica Vail race is that we can't stay longer. The race takes place right in the middle of nine consecutive event weekends for us. I'm going to make sure my mountain bike is on the truck so I can at least take advantage of the few hours of down time I may have while there.
I'm certain this race will reach capacity, now I just have to calculate what our capacity will be.
Posted by Fred at 10:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Tri America
Off to the beach!
I must admit, I've been a total slacker with my blog this month. Well that's going to change! I'm currently flying to Zion to work on our upcoming TriAmerica race. If someone asked me what I did for Memorial Day, I can tell them I went to the beach. They don't need to know that it was the beach at Illinois Beach State Park on Lake Michigan. With water temps in the 40's and the air temperature in the low 60's, it's not quite the beach experience I was hoping for. Zion is a new stop for the TriAmerica Series this year and it is going to be a great one. It is located in the northern burbs of Chicago, just south of the Wisconsin state line. We are being brought here by the City of Zion. They want to enhance their image and hang their hat on a high-profile family oriented athletic event. Unfortunately Zion made national news a few weeks ago when a couple of young girls disappeared while riding their bikes in their neighborhood. A sicko murdered them and tossed their bodies in the woods.
Our goal during this visit is to finalize the run course and race site venue layout. I already plotted out a course with my mapping program so now it is time to see if it will work. With my trusty GPS on my wrist, I'll head out to run the course and see if the distance is right. If not, a golf cart is on standby. My marathon training is not quite far enough along to work in a mega run. It may take all afternoon to get the course right.
I’ll update you on our visit when I return home Tuesday night.
Posted by Fred at 11:29 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Tri America
May 19, 2005
Panama City, here we come!
No, we're not heading back to PCB, I'm just finally getting around to finishing this post. I started typing while we were driving up to this year's Gulf Coast Triathlon. Unfortunately with my cold, all I could do was just stare at my laptop screen. Like an idiot I took non-drowsy cold capsules instead of the night time ones, so I was forced to stay awake the entire trip. The trip from Central Florida to PCB is not one of the more exciting or scenic race trips you can take.
It is hard to believe we have been involved with the GCT for 20 years. At first it was just equipment like bike racks, buoys, cones, etc. Then in the early 90's we started timing the race. In the old days I was able to race the Gulf Coast Tri. It was a tough race for me because I would first set-up the bike racks, then race. Shortly after I finished I would head back to the transition area to take down the bike racks and put them back in my truck. There is nothing fun about tearing down a transition area right after completing a half ironman, especially when the pipes are baking in the hot Florida sun.
I have lots of fond memories of the GCT. I also have some not so fond memories that involve a couple of hangovers and a missing truck. Those stories are best told over a couple of beers. Gulf Coast Triathlon was always a party race. In the early days I recall wondering if the race committee would even be able to pull off the race after the serious drinking that took place on Friday during set-up. The race committee was great and the race always started on time the next day. Of course the swim buoys may not be set, but they still started on time.
The GCT has always been one of my favorite races to work with. Shelley and the entire race committee are awesome. This year was the smoothest GCT ever, both from the race execution side, and from the timing side. I'm glad because it is tough timing a race with a head cold. You do have to maintain a certain level of concentration while compiling results, and fortunately for me, the timing was almost glitch free...damn those relay teams!
This was the first time in years that Gulf Coast did not fill up and close registration in advance of the race. Although the participation numbers were down from last year, the number of finishers was only down about 30 compared to last year's count. A bunch of new half ironmans have popped up around the U.S. recently, so I'm sure that had an impact on participation. The Disney half most likely kept some athletes from racing too. The Disney half is not full yet either and it is this weekend. Hopefully this is not a trend, I'm sure it is just the result of supply outpacing demand.
Posted by Fred at 03:20 AM | Comments (1) | More in: Triathlon
The hurrier I go, the behinder I get....
I came down with a monster cold the beginning of this month and that sort of set the stage for a crazy couple of weeks. I can't believe I came down with a darn cold. I always amaze myself how I manage to escape all the bugs that go around, especially seeing how I'm always surrounded by stress and go for days with only 3-4 hours sleep a night max. Maybe it was my marathon training that did me in. :)
During the past three weeks I started no less than 10 new entries on my blog, but I never got past the first paragraph on any of them. No more excuses, my cold has finally left me and my brain is beginning to function once again.
I have lots of stuff to report on, so stay tuned.
Posted by Fred at 02:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
