The 11-28 Experiment on Sugarloaf Mountain

For several years, the hills have gotten a little higher and harder and as I want to continue riding as long as possible, I needed some help.  While my Trek 1500 road bike, the Burley tandem,  and the Softride 360 hybrid bikes all have triple chainrings, the bike I ride the most (and the farthest), the Litespeed Tachyon tri-bike, has a double.  When I built the bike, I had the foresight to swap the stock crank to a FSA compact crank.  I felt the change from 52 and 39 chainrings to the compact 50 and 34 would definitely help my climbing.  While the bike has a 10 speed cassette, I was using the original 12-25.  Shimano offers an 11-28 and I finally purchased one last month and Phil at David's World swapped it out.  Shimano also makes a 12-30 but it requires a new long-cage derailleur.

I rode several times with the new gearing and liked the wider range of gears but the real test would come out in Lake County.  I passed on doing the Great Floridian Intemediate Tri last Saturday (which was combined with the Great Floridian Ultra Tri the same day).  So today, I decided ride the 39 mile bike leg starting in Clermont.  To simulate race conditions, I ran 17.4 offroad in Wekiwa Springs with Bernadette on Saturday, then washed and waxed both cars to boot.  This meant I was not the freshest when I arose at 5:00 on Sunday morning.  Plus, Hurricane Sandy was stirring up the Atlantic Ocean about 100 miles offshore, pulling winds across the Florida penisula at 15 to 20 mph.

  Sugarloaf Mountain, at 345' above sea level, is the highest point in penisular Florida.  It climbs about 274' from the base to the top.  On a clear day, you can see the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico from the summit.  The picture above is near the top looking back down the road.

Arriving in Clermont at 6:30 AM, it was still dark and conditions were a bit fresh, with a stiff wind blowing across the swim course at Lake Minneola.  I headed out and as dawn broke I got lost for the first time at mile 6.  The bike course map I had to guide me did not have all the streets marked and I missed a turn at Cherry Lake Road.  However, I hit State Route 19 and headed north, eventually passing Cherry Lake Road.  There were plenty of hills but my real goal was to climb Sugarloaf Mountain, which is famous for it's steep grade uphill.  I reached the base at mile 23 and began the climb.  It's deceptive as it doesn't look steep from the bottom; the fooler is that it gets steeper as you climb.  I stood for a bit but quickly shifted down and began pedaling in my new super low 34 x 28 combo.  My speed dropped to 6.1 mph which I held for a while, dropping to 5.9 for a few seconds.  I kept on cranking though and made it to the top without stopping or walking which is a first for all the times I've climbed it!  I stopped to chat with a few cyclists at the water stop provided by the Fenstads  at their home at the top.  My downhill speed peaked at 39.7 mph coming off the mountain and I headed home, happy that my experiment had worked out fine.

Mike's First 5 Miles!

My friend Mike O'Leary did his first 5 Mile run this morning at the U Can Finish (UCF) 5 Mile Run at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.  Mike first saw me run a 10K in Dublin, Ireland, four years ago and that inspired him to begin running.  Click on a pic to enlarge it.

I normally bike 50-70 miles each Sunday and found that the UCF campus was 26 miles from my house, which was a perfect distance.  I left the house at 5:30 AM and got there at 7:05.  The weather was good, clear, and 65' F at the 7:30 start.  The course wound around the UCF Campus so everyone got an idea of how big the campus is.  I met his wife Louise right after the start and after I rode down the course to get some pictures, I joined her back at the finish line as Mike came in.  His time for the 5 miles was 50:50, which was his intended goal.  Well done Mike!

Here's a pic from that Dublin 10K (yellow jacket on left) from 2008; 50' F, rain and wind (typical Ireland!).

# 118 Moss Park Olympic Triathlon

Today was the last triathlon at Moss Park for 2012.  I did all four Olympic-distance triathlons there this year.  Today was great; lake was cool, bike ride was fast and dry, and my run was quick.  I finished 2nd to Joe Trettel for the third time this year (I won the second race) but I will leave him behind next year as I will graduate to the 60-64 age group (he's very fast). 

But happy as I was with my performance today, I was pleased to meet an amazing family.  Eric and  Lisa and their 6 children are on vacation from their home in Georgia and decided to throw some triathlons in the mix.  Eric did the Olympic distance today (winning the Clydesdale division), Lisa is doing the Sprint tri Sunday, and several of their children are doing the Children's Tri next weekend in Clermont.  Eric is a U.S. Marine Corp helicopter pilot and Lisa is an ex-Marine who now takes care of the family. 

No mini-van for this big family, a Mercedes Sprinter is perfect.

Their oldest daughter presented me with a very nice drawing of the sun rising behind the clouds over Lake Mary Jane before the race start.  Meeting this wonderful family was the highlight of my day!

# 117 Moss Park Olympic Triathlon

Saturday's Olympic-distance tri at Orlando's Moss Park produced a few surprises for me.  After last Sunday's Daytona Beach Tri, I felt I was primed for this race 6 days later.  However, that afternoon I knocked off the big toenail on my left foot with a door.  It was a bad black toenail and didn't hurt much and after a visit to Dr. Mason on Monday, he said it would be healed enough to race on Saturday.  Even so, I approached the race with a bit of trepidation.  The race itself was uneventful though I did have a bit of a dice on the bike for several miles with Dave Smith.  I worked hard and opened up a 1:30 minute lead by the end of the bike leg.  I think the swim was a bit long as everyone's times were increased from previous events here.  I finished at 2:32:59, giving me 2nd out of 5 in the age group to "Super" Joe Trettel, who beat me by 12:33.  He beat me in June's race by 14 minutes so I'm getting closer! Joe was 28th overall and I was 38th so I never feel bad losing to someone that fast.   During the awards, the skies opened and it poured.  Oddly enough, my toe didn't bother me at all during the race.

# 116 Daytona Beach Max-Sprint Triathlon

Today was  the last and longest of the 3 Tigershark Daytona Beach Triathlons.  I signed up at the last minute due to an erratic tropical storm in the eastern Carribean Sea that appeared to be heading towards Daytona a week ago.  But it changed course and dissipated so the stage was set for a great race.  Rob Wallace of Tigershark stages 3 tri's a month apart during the summer, each one longer than the previous.  Today's was the final, with an 800 yard swim, 15 mile bike, and a 4 mile run on the beach.  The announcement that the swim would be wetsuit legal at 77'f was greeted with cheers and groans in transition early Sunday morning.  Since the temp was 81'F yesterday, most people left their wetsuits at home.  However, when we hit the water at the start, the water felt more like 70' !  Surf was OK with waves about 2 feet high and I finished the first leg in 19:57.  By then the sun was up and the bike ride on A1A was fast, covering the 15 miles in 44:00, for an average of 21.0 mph.  After a quick transition, I headed down the ramp to the beach for the 4 mile run.  Heading south, the course was a simple 2 miles out and 2 miles back along the shoreline.  Passing morning strollers (coffee in hand) and the early sunbathers dozing in their chairs, I pushed hard for a finish time of 35:05, averaging 8:46 per mile.  Total time was 1:42:05, which gave me a 1st out of the 5 in my age group.

Also at the race today was the founder of Seminole County Triathletes, Billy Price (photo above), along with members Deanna Abdin (photo right) and Tim Rowand.  Everyone had a great time battling the cold water and hot sand today.

1,000 miles today!

Went for a 15 mile ride in Wekiwa Springs State Park on my Salsa Mukluk this morning.  A few miles into the ride, I checked the odometer and discovered my total mileage was 998.9.  A short time later I made the 1,000 mile mark; this is the distance since I got the bike in May 2011, 15 months ago.  I still enjoy my rides in the woods and the variety of wildlife I see.  With the heavy rains recently, several trail sections were flooded, adding to the fun.  Click on a pic to enlarge it.

# 115 Moss Park July 14 Olympic Triathlon

Today was the 2nd Olympic tri of the season at Moss Park in Orlando.  Upon arriving in transition, I met 2 fellow St. Pete Maddogs, Bobbie & Glen Gullickson.  She was doing her first Olympic distance and he was doing the Aquabike. (Bobbie eventually won her age group and Glen got a 3rd OA) 

A few minutes later, I ran into my co-worker at Ernst & Young, Chris Louthan and his girlfriend Amy.  Both had done the June tri here but Amy "touched the floor' on her bike last weekend, so she was sitting this one out.  I gave her my camera and she took some great photos.

The sun in front of us rose in a crystal blue sky and we were off on the swim.  I had a great swim, taking 4+ minutes off my previous time last month.  Heading out on the bike, a surprise was waiting for us.  A large dark cloud was looming up in the east, and around mile 8, the sky opened and it poured.  It actually felt good and I negotiated the corners slowly in the wet.  I passed 1st and 2nd place on the bike and increased my lead as the race continued.  I was cheered on when a tremendous rainbow arched over the road near the end of the first lap.  The showers moved away by mile 15 and I concentrated on putting on some speed, finishing with an average of 20.2 mph.

I had a quick transition and headed out on the run course, passing a yoga-in-the-park class in session near the west boat ramp.  The shaded trails are nice in spite of the heat and I averaged 8.17 mile splits over the 5.8 mile course.  I finished 1st out of 4 with a time of 2:24:15, much better than my 2:30:23 in June.  Chris also had a great 12th overall finish, taking 1st in his age group, with a 2:07:38, nearly 9 minutes faster than his June time.  Afterwards, I headed home to my wife Sandy to celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary.