Black Bear Sprint Report

Now THAT’s a bike course!

Even though it felt like most of the weekend was spent driving, I somehow managed to also squeeze in a wedding and a race, too! The Black Bear Sprint Tri actually isn’t that far from my place, being located up in the Pocono town of Beltzville, but first I had to get to Rye, NY just above the city for a good friend’s wedding. After spending a large portion of the evening on my feet (though I DID limit myself to two glasses of wine…) I couldn’t help but wonder if my legs would feel it come Sunday. But good friends are important, too, and it was a really fantastic time.

Saturday morning found me nearly retracing my path back through Pennsylvania (and passing Roadside America for the 3rd time this summer! If you haven’t gone, you must, it’s simply fantastic!) on my way to the race venue, where I was scheduled to give a brief talk on open water swimming. (Which was actually rather well-received and enjoyable.) Wow! What a venue! The lake was beautiful and the weather perfect. Managed to get in two loops of the bike course (and glad I did) before heading off in search of a campsite.

OK, so I do love the whole tri-camping thing, but I have to say, I did not see the 45 degree weather coming. Ended up a little chillier than I might have liked, but hey it’s my own fault for being too lazy to get up and grab my warmer sleeping bag. On the plus side, I wasn’t dawdling in the morning when it came time to head over to the race. I couldn’t wait to start the car and bask in the glorious warmth of the heater!

Nature's warmth on the other hand certainly took it’s time to come around in the morning, but I scored a primo aisle spot on my transition rack thanks to my early start and had enough time to get in a little swim warm up, too. Coupled with a 15 minute delay while they waited for all of the cars to get into the park and it was almost warm by the time my wave was being called to the start. For some reason I was feeling almost too calm going into the swim start, but I decided to go with it and keep things relaxed. At the horn 3 of us jumped clear of the bunch rather quickly, with myself heading directly for the first turn buoy and the other two guys following the slight arc of the markers. It wasn’t long before our paths crossed and while the guys were swimming just a hair slower than I probably could have, I’m totally getting into this whole swim drafting thing at the bigger races and just sat on their feet for about 200 meters.
With the turn buoy coming up, I gave it a little gas to gap one of the guys and he responded by pulling up next to us. With the pace now a little quicker I just settled in to finish. (A bit unlike me to forego the inherent ‘cool points’ that come with an unofficial swim prime, but I’m trying to wise up in my old age.) I did have a brief moment of panic when my timing chip slid down my ankle, but a quick reach down assured me it was still attached, just a bit looser than I would have preferred. Sure beats the alternative though!

Hit the beach with the other two guys to discover my swim strategy had paid off. Each was breathing hard having obviously pushed the whole time. I made a quick move past each and was the first from my wave out of transition. Ended up clocking the 3rd fastest swim split of the day, only 6 seconds back from the fastest.

Took a long run through grass to get to the mount line and my new pedals finally paid off. With all the tension you can put on Dura Ace pedals my shoes were in no danger of popping as I mounted and I was off on the course. Finally! According to splits I had the fastest T1 in the whole race which I thought was pretty cool!

I was certainly glad I’d ridden the sprint loop the day before as the first 7 mile or so are fairly gentle rollers that can lull you into a false sense of security. I picked off a few first wave riders here and then made the turn for the first uphill section. Unlike Columbia, the hills here are a bit shorter, but also a bit more ‘pronounced’ shall we say? OK, they are STEEP. Makes the Ironmasters course look downright gentle. But it also gave me a good chance to reel in some more dudes. By the end of the first big hill I had pulled ahead of everyone I could see. A ref motorcycle passing me led to me to believe I might even be ahead of everyone in the first wave, but there was no way to know.

All told, there were probably 4 or 5 really steep parts and equally fast downhills, very little in terms of steady effort. I loved it! Nothing like a course where you can max out at 50 MPH and still hit climbs that find you going 5!

Heading into T2 I still hadn’t seen anyone else since mile 9 of the ride, but I did hear the announcement that I was the second sprint competitor to come in off the bike, which I thought I was very cool as it meant I’d passed all but one person from the preceding wave. Now if I could just hold them off for the run…

Had a decent second transition and was out onto one of the nicer run courses I’ve been on. All packed trails with lots of spectators cheering. Made me feel good! About ¾ of a mile in someone did catch me, but he was moving too fast for me to latch on, though my run HAS been improving little by little, I swear! At the turnaround I saw the other guy who was ahead of me and it was clear I wasn’t going to be catching him anytime soon so I just kept plugging as best I could. Had a brief moment of concern when my watch told me my split for mile 2 was 7:17, 37 seconds slower than my first, but since I finished the last 1.1 mile in ‘5:48’ I’m going to go ahead and assume that marker was in the wrong spot ☺

Came across the line in 3rd overall with 3rd fastest bike and swim splits of the day, but was really pleased to have a run time that finally cracked the top 20. Not spectacular, but it’s coming around…

Got a really nice trophy as well, plus a ton of free food, always a plus! Some other YBR folks has pretty good Sundays, too, but those are not my stories to tell....

Pinchot Sprint on Sunday (with another of my fellow H2oyas (GU swimmer) coming to join me!) and then big one, Eagleman on the 14th...