June 24 (recap)

Distance: 1/3 - 1 mile swim & 21 mile bike

Outing Highlights
You can tell that the water is getting warmer and that Brewhouse is getting closer. Turnout was roughly 20 people this week with many new faces for this year. Sorry, I forgot the camera again, so no pictures this week.

We again had participants who had never swam in open water along with many regulars and two kayaks for support. Ed & Nick, the newbies from last week, showed amazing improvement looking like veterans in the open water. Dave, one of the new guys this week, made his first open water trek. It is a different experience to be sure, but I'm guessing we'll see Dave again soon in the thick of the open water swim group. The long & short distance swim groups was loosely half and half.

We tried a slightly modified bike route at Glen's recommendation that scoots around two miles of the rough section on Midway and, instead, takes Samuelson. The route was much smoother and I for one really appreciated it. Upon reaching LaVaque, it wasn't long until Greg took the lead. He led this large pack all the way to the turn around point and really pulled the group to new speeds. For this section, I would regularly see my computer registering speeds between 26 and 27mph on the flats or slight uphill grades. I heard plenty of speed comments at the turnaround. There were two flats tonight and members were kind enough to stop and help as well as provide a new tube in one case.

Be sure to check the post for next week's meeting. We will be splitting into two groups so some can practice traditional triathlon and others can pre-ride and run the Duluth Duathlon course. The start time may also creep up a bit to insure we wrap up with daylight and be able to eat dinner before 10PM.

Work hard all of your weekend triathletes with races on the schedule!