Newport, NEW HAMPSHIRE--I must admit I really enjoy the handful of "team" events I get to do each year. The
Pinnacle Challenge is one of those and today 16 teammates and I travelled to the Lake Sunapee area for the only double-duathon that I'm aware of in all of New England. This year was by far the biggest turnout of
aR athletes with four teams of 4 plus
Steve Sprague again racing as a solo. As the teams were developed it looked as if our three all-male teams (aR, aR-2, and aR-3) would be fairly evenly matched while our lone co-ed entry (aR-4) looked to be very competitive in their class. Friday I received notice that aR-2's road runner,
Justin Snair, was a scratch for health reasons. A frantic sc
ramble ensued and resulted in a last minute replacement...a very fast last minute replacement, former CBNA runner
Derek Hamel. The race began under cloudy skies but surprisingly the temps were very mild compared with yesterday's bone chilling rain.
Steve Wolfe (aR),
Derek (aR-2),
Kurt Hansbury (aR-3), and
Karen (aR-4) led the race off. Derek was the
first road runner finisher of the entire event entering the transition area in a blistering 26:20.
Steve McCusker (aR-2), who had by his own admission never
led a race, left the transition area first and began the 5.3 mile mountain bike course. My road runner,
Steve Wolfe, was exactly 2:00 minutes behind Derek and with a quick switch of the timing chip I headed out after the 2007
King of the Glen. No more than 300 meters into
the course riders are faced with a 100+ step climb UP a set of wooden stairs. As I threw my bike onto my shoulder the handlebar end swung around and hit me directly in the eyeball. Not too seriously injured, I kept climbing taking two steps at a time until I could feel the pH level in my quads begin to bottom out. Nearing a flat section toward the top of one of the first climbs I saw Steve, slumped over his handlebars. I quickly surmised that his troubles were of the physical, not mechanical, variety and I asked if he needed help. Not hearing him answer either way but thinking I saw him shake his head "no" I rode past him and continued the 20 minute climb. I felt strong and rode many of the technical sections of the course that had dogged me in the previous two years despite the wet & slippery conditions. One minor chain suck in the last mile had me off the bike briefly while I pulled it free. I entered the TA in 42:34 setting a PR on this course at this race. I handed the timing chip to
Geoff Cunningham who took off for the road bike section. Steve finished about 13 minutes behind me and when he had caught his breath explained why he was slumped
at the top of the first climb. He had apparently gulped a mouthful of water just moments before heading out. When he got to the top of the stairs he felt like he was going to vomit. Holding it back he attempted the first rideable climb. Reaching a level place he couldn't hold back any longer and vomited that gulp of water...and the DD croissant he had eaten before the race. While that alone would have halted nearly anyone else, he also aspirated the vomit when he took a deep breath. With lungs burning he managed to continue to ride. That's why they call him the
King. Geoff ripped a 37:59 and handed off for the final time to our trail runner anchor
Brent Tkaczyk. Making up considerable time on the road bike, aR-2 road cyclist
Jay Myers hit the TA less than 12 minutes behind Geoff and sent road & trail star
Tim Cox off to try to run Brent down. With just 3.5 miles to cover the gap was too much to overcome as Brent crossed the finish line in 26:20 for an overall finish time for us of 2:16:40. Tim, running the fastest trail split of the entire field, taped
in 23:58 (2:26:17). Despite heroic efforts from our road runner, road cyclist, and trail runner we finished :56 off the All-Male podium in 4th place. Our overall finish time was also the 4th fastest of all 23 teams. aR-2 finished 8th overall with aR-3 & aR-4 placing 15th & 16th. Of note, our co-ed team (aR-4) finished on the podium in their class. Congratulations to
Karen,
Sarah Silverberg,
Scott Graham, and
Rich Lavers as well as the other aR athletes
Brayden Dunn and
Austin Stonebraker. And a special thank you to
Jay Curry who joined us and had a very solid road bike split of 41:30. The
Pinnacle Challenge never fails to disappoint and thanks to our friends at
Redhook we had plenty of cold beer waiting for us and
Rich Lavers won the aR drawing for FREE BEER FOR A YEAR. Does it get any better I ask you?
NEXT UP: MNT EPIC, Sunday River, Maine
Newport, NEW HAMPSHIRE--I must admit I really enjoy the handful of "team" events I get to do each year. The Pinnacle Challenge is one of those and today 16 teammates and I travelled to the Lake Sunapee area for the only double-duathon that I'm aware of in all of New England. This year was by far the biggest turnout of aR athletes with four teams of 4 plus Steve Sprague again racing as a solo. As the teams were developed it looked as if our three all-male teams (aR, aR-2, and aR-3) would be fairly evenly matched while our lone co-ed entry (aR-4) looked to be very competitive in their class. Friday I received notice that aR-2's road runner, Justin Snair, was a scratch for health reasons. A frantic sc
ramble ensued and resulted in a last minute replacement...a very fast last minute replacement, former CBNA runner Derek Hamel. The race began under cloudy skies but surprisingly the temps were very mild compared with yesterday's bone chilling rain. Steve Wolfe (aR), Derek (aR-2), Kurt Hansbury (aR-3), and Karen (aR-4) led the race off. Derek was the first road runner finisher of the entire event entering the transition area in a blistering 26:20. Steve McCusker (aR-2), who had by his own admission never led a race, left the transition area first and began the 5.3 mile mountain bike course. My road runner, Steve Wolfe, was exactly 2:00 minutes behind Derek and with a quick switch of the timing chip I headed out after the 2007 King of the Glen. No more than 300 meters into 
the course riders are faced with a 100+ step climb UP a set of wooden stairs. As I threw my bike onto my shoulder the handlebar end swung around and hit me directly in the eyeball. Not too seriously injured, I kept climbing taking two steps at a time until I could feel the pH level in my quads begin to bottom out. Nearing a flat section toward the top of one of the first climbs I saw Steve, slumped over his handlebars. I quickly surmised that his troubles were of the physical, not mechanical, variety and I asked if he needed help. Not hearing him answer either way but thinking I saw him shake his head "no" I rode past him and continued the 20 minute climb. I felt strong and rode many of the technical sections of the course that had dogged me in the previous two years despite the wet & slippery conditions. One minor chain suck in the last mile had me off the bike briefly while I pulled it free. I entered the TA in 42:34 setting a PR on this course at this race. I handed the timing chip to Geoff Cunningham who took off for the road bike section. Steve finished about 13 minutes behind me and when he had caught his breath explained why he was slumped 
at the top of the first climb. He had apparently gulped a mouthful of water just moments before heading out. When he got to the top of the stairs he felt like he was going to vomit. Holding it back he attempted the first rideable climb. Reaching a level place he couldn't hold back any longer and vomited that gulp of water...and the DD croissant he had eaten before the race. While that alone would have halted nearly anyone else, he also aspirated the vomit when he took a deep breath. With lungs burning he managed to continue to ride. That's why they call him the King. Geoff ripped a 37:59 and handed off for the final time to our trail runner anchor Brent Tkaczyk. Making up considerable time on the road bike, aR-2 road cyclist Jay Myers hit the TA less than 12 minutes behind Geoff and sent road & trail star Tim Cox off to try to run Brent down. With just 3.5 miles to cover the gap was too much to overcome as Brent crossed the finish line in 26:20 for an overall finish time for us of 2:16:40. Tim, running the fastest trail split of the entire field, taped 
in 23:58 (2:26:17). Despite heroic efforts from our road runner, road cyclist, and trail runner we finished :56 off the All-Male podium in 4th place. Our overall finish time was also the 4th fastest of all 23 teams. aR-2 finished 8th overall with aR-3 & aR-4 placing 15th & 16th. Of note, our co-ed team (aR-4) finished on the podium in their class. Congratulations to Karen, Sarah Silverberg, Scott Graham, and Rich Lavers as well as the other aR athletes Brayden Dunn and Austin Stonebraker. And a special thank you to Jay Curry who joined us and had a very solid road bike split of 41:30. The Pinnacle Challenge never fails to disappoint and thanks to our friends at Redhook we had plenty of cold beer waiting for us and Rich Lavers won the aR drawing for FREE BEER FOR A YEAR. Does it get any better I ask you?
Gilford, NEW HAMPSHIRE -- The first event of my self-proclaimed "Slow-Twitch Decathlon" is in the book. This morning with temps hovering between -1 and 1 above I stepped to the line of first event of 2009 and my first ever winter triathlon. To be honest, I bet I wasn't alone. It may have actually been the first ever winter triathlon in NH. If anyone else can lay claim to that one go right ahead. My expectations coming into today were not surprisingly tempered by at least two things...the fact that it's only the end of January and I haven't spent more than an hour on my skis. You know what they say about the best laid plans. Now, before you rush to judge those comments as excuses, know this...I never make excuses for my performances. I own my performance today. Fact is, I learned a great deal about winter triathlon today and I had a fantastic time doing it. The first leg of this winter tri didn't include any swimming which I was actually happy about. It did start with a 5k trail run (two 2.5k loops) on the new Gunstock Nordic stadium course. Having pre-rode the loop prior to the race I knew
