Ontario Provincial Time Trial Championships & Danfoth Fall Fllolic Duathlon

Report from John Roden

September 8 / 9 2007

Saturday Race-Ontario Provincial Time Trail Championships - Wellandport, Ontario

The whole master plan for the weekend included doing the 40K tt up in Ontario, zipping over to Niagara falls for some tacky tourist fun, re-crossing the border and getting some free camping on lake Ontario before jumping in a sprint Duathlon. The whole plan went out the window once we realized the kids were utterly exhausted and camping would only decant more gasoline on the fire, so we made a day trip of the TT.
Arriving more or less on time for the race, we were greeted with a bit of a breeze and pretty hot and oppressive temperatures. There were over 200 riders in the event, which is a great turnout. The race was well organized and my high-noon start time was right on target. I decided to try stuffing a little camelback under my speed suit to have more water during the event, giving me kind of a hunchback look.

I didn't feel great warming up, but what are you going to do. The course was gently rolling to flat with a crosswind the whole way. I was really wishing for a disk, a fact which I mentioned to my wife while making excuses after the race. She noted that it's always one more expensive thing that I need to buy, just one last little gizmo, which while true was not relevant to the need for a disk wheel today.

In any event, it was slow on the way out and quite a bit faster coming back.
The interface between my body and the saddle was in searing pain the last 20 minutes, which detracted from the fun. For some reason, the course was mis measured and a little long, I averaged just over 26 mph and back-figuring my time would have been a low 57, not exactly setting the world on fire but not awful either. I'm amazed that people ride these at 30 mph, would take more than a disk to make that happen...

We drove to Niagara Falls down Lundy's Lane past all the porn shops and strip clubs and by the time we arrived the kids were starting to melt down, so we headed for home, making for kind of a dull outing, but that's life sometimes.




Sunday Race Danfoth Fall Frolic Duathlon - Barker, NY Day two of my weekend of racing dawned cold and rainy. The race was up on Lake Ontario and by the time I arrived it was blowing up in sheets of rain and maybe 58 degrees. With the storm overnight, the lake turned over and the water temp was in the low 50's, so the swim was canceled and everyone was doing a duathlon, which was fine with me. The first run was short, maybe 1.6 miles and I just kind of chugged along, finishing maybe 10th. or so in my wave, which was full of old folks like myself. The bike was mostly out and back, with the "out" portion straight into a raging gale. I chugged along in the low 20's until the turn around, then dropped it down in the 11 for the return journey, still shaking my head that people can ride 30 mph without a monsoon storm pushing them along. My legs felt like dirt from riding the time trial the day before, but that's life. The second 5K run was dreadful, I did not drop any places but my injured leg was telling me in no uncertain terms that duathlon season is simply over, which is fine. In any event, I was able to win the race, but it wasn't pretty and no pictures as the family had zero interest in a day out in the rain in the middle of nowhere.