September 18, 2008 by steve.

Team CurbCrusher is out racing again. Although what happened at the end can not be called racing, more like surviving. This month’s triathlon installment is the OUC Downtown Orlando Triathlon. This race starts with a quarter mile swim in Lake Underhill, located just south of Orlando Executive Airport, followed by two laps on the bike that takes you to downtown Orlando and back for a total of 12 miles. Then its a one way run of 3.9 miles from Lake Underhill to Wall Street Plaza in downtown Orlando.

Pre-Race

I wandered downtown on Friday and picked up my packed at the Y. That made Saturday morning a bit nicer, but I still got up early and headed the three miles up the road to Lake Underhill. The pre-race email said they would close the road around Lake Underhill at 6:30am, and I wanted to park off Lake Underhill so I was there in plenty of time.

The transition area was set up very nicely. Not only did they have the range of numbers on the racks to let you know which rack to use, they actually had a number at the location where your bike was to be racked. Evens on one side and odds on the other. In addition, they had officials working the transition area making sure that all bikes were racked and equipment set up within the rules. Alta Vista was running they race, and they run a good tight transition area, only athletes in transition at all times, and they make sure they check body markings and numbers on the bikes when you exit.

I set up my stuff and did my usual walk through. I walk down to the swim finish and then back to my racked bike. Then leave through the bike start. Re-enter at the bike finish and walk back to my racked bike. Then walk to the run start. Sort of a rehearsal of the transitions so that I know where my spot is in relation to the entrances and exits.

Swim - 10:49

I’m in the third wave this race. The first wave is all the folks over 50. Second wave is the 20 year olds, and they put all the 40’s in the third wave. You start this race in the water, treading water actually. When the wave is called, we all walk down the boat ramp and dog paddle, tread our way over to the start line (an imaginary line between a no wake bouy and the dock). The horn sounds and I start swimming. The water is clearer than what you experience at Lake Mary Jane in the Moss Park races, but there are a heck of a lot of weeds in the water. As you look down, you see weeds. They grow high enough in a number of places that as your arm strokes through the water they get tangled on your arm. On the inbound leg of the swim, I have to slow down three times to reset my watch band, because the weeds have pulled the velcro off and it is working its way off my arm. Needless to say this makes for a very errie, weird feeling swim.

T1 - 4:11

One nice thing about this race is that the transition area is real close to the swim finish. Up and out of the water, and your at the entrance to transition. I put on the bike jersey, helmet and shade. Find my shoes and get them on grab the bike and head to bike start.

Bike - 41:22

On the bike you start with a smooth ride along Lake Underhill, then turn west on South Street. This is where the smooth ride ends. South Street has a number of pot holes, water and sewer covers, not to mention bumpy intersections, that the seat on the bike is just beating up your rear end. The nice thing is that the wind is out of the east, so I was able to get some pretty good speed, I was just waiting for a tire to go flat going over all those bumps. At Rosalind Street we turn north, and head up past Lake Eola, then take a left and head east on Robinson Street. Robinson starts out as bad as South, but smooths out just past Howard Middle School. The wind doesn’t seem like it is too bad headed east on Robinson, as a matter of fact it felt like it helped more headed west than hurt headed east. At Crystal Lake, by Herndon, you turn south. The first time you take a right at South and head back for another lap. The second time by you take a left and head back the transition. I was pretty happy with the bike time, I averaged a bit over 17MPH, and that’s a good bit better than I was doing last October.

T2 - 1:48

Easy transition. Rack the bike, change from the bike jersey to a dry shirt, grab my hat and go.

Run - 55:53

Ok, this sucked. It started out good. The run course went up Crystal Lake to Robinson and then to downtown. So it basically as the north part of the bike lap in reverse. So on the second bike lap I’d checked the distances to the water stations and back to the transition. I ran about 10-11 minute miles to the first water station, reaching it at about 14 minutes. Not bad. I’m thinking this is going to work out ok. Then I turned west on Robinson. The sun was out and shining bright, but I was running away from it. However, with a dark pair of shorts on, I could feel the heat coming off the road and cooking my rear end and thighs. I wish I could find some light colored tri-shorts to wear. I just kept getting slower and slower, and really not liking the run at all. I was at about 38 minutes at the second water station, which was a little over a mile from the finish. That last bit to the finish was bad, I walked a few times, and just sort of looked to survive the end.

Finish - 1:54:05

The race took you down Orange Avenue, then right into Wall Street Plaza to finish. Yay!! I’m done. I was really hoping for about a 1:45, but it was over. Wall Street Plaza is a crappy place to finish a race. There were so many people in that little alley that is was almost impossible to breathe. You had to walk all the way through the throngs of people to the end of that little alley, then they had blocked off direct access to the park in front of the history center. To get somewhere to breathe and feel a bit of a breeze on you, you had to walk south to Central (I think its Central). Because of the crowd in Wall Street Plaza it was almost impossible to find any post race food, I was lucky to locate the water and sucked down a couple of bottles.

To get back to the transition area, Lynx was running a special shuttle bus. I wandered over and was packed into a standing room only city bus with a bunch of other sweaty triathletes for the four mile ride back to Lake Underhill.

All in all a good day. It’s almost the end of the CurbCrusher triathlon season. There may be one more race at Moss Park in October. At some point I have to start concentrating on running, as I agreed to do the OUC Half Marathon the first weekend in December with a couple of friends from work. I’ve wanted to do the half-marathon for a number of years, and decided that this is the year that I’m doing it.

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September 17, 2008 by steve.

Catching up on the blogging here at the CurbCrusher household. We took off for Labor Day and went as far north on Florida’s east coast as you get without being in Georgia. Located on the northern tip of Amelia Island (north of Jacksonville) sits the Fort Clinch State Park. Once again, this was a trip that was part of the Florida Pop Up Campers group, so we knew some of the folks in the campground.

There are two camping areas at Ft. Clinch, the beach campground located on the east side of the park and the river campground located on the west. The river campground is a very shady and has a mixture of large and small sites, with some of them looking like they might be a challenge to get into. There is also a new bathhouse at the river campground, a playground and it is not a far walk from the fort. The beach campground sits just behind the dunes from the beach and the Atlantic Ocean, and has a few palm trees, but no shade to speak of. The sites are all fairly large, and there is plenty of room to back into and position yourself in the sites. The bathhouse at the beach campground is old, it is probably the original bathhouse for this park, the showers are located under a roof, but they are outside the bathroom proper. It is about two miles from the beach campground over to the fort. Both campgrounds offer water and electric at each site, and a dump station.

For things to do, there is of course the beach. We spent quite a bit of time wandering up and down the beach collecting shells. Each high tide was depositing a number of large conch and other whole shells on the beach. The area down near the fishing pier was especially rich in shells, we returned with a full five gallon bucket of shells. Just south of the pier is the swimming area, about a ten minute walk from the beach campground. This area is fairly unpopulated, as the public swimming area for the town is just south of the park, so not a lot of people come into the park to swim. The town of Fernandina Beach is close by, and has a downtown for walking and eating.

We had a great Labor Day weekend camping with FPUC at Ft. Clinch, and you can see our pictures here.

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September 3, 2008 by steve.

Time for the August installment of Team CurbCrusher. Ok, I know its September, but on August 23rd Team CurbCrusher was up early and participating in my first Aquabike. No, not a triathlon for August, I decided that I’d try the Aquabike event at the Buttar Fall Traithlon Festival at Moss Park.

Pre-Race

The nice thing about a local race is that I can go pick up the packet the day before the race. On Friday, as Tropical Storm Fay was moving away from central Florida, I drove out to North Lake Park and picked up a race number, t-shirt and all the assorted junk that goes with a triathlon.
Race morning goes fairly smoothly because of this. Lady and Little CurbCrusher decided that they want to go cheer me on, so we head out to Moss Park early in the morning. I get the bike set up in transition, and organize all my stuff with no problem. I’m in the middle rack on a set of three racks, but snag the spot near the end. It’s not my favorite spot, but it will do. Looking at the soaked ground with standing water, I’m glad I signed up for the Aquabike. The run portion of this triathlon is through the campground at Moss Park, and the entire road is hard packed dirt. I’ve been in the campground after a regular rain and there is a good deal of standing water, I can imagine what five straight days of Fay has done to the roads. Nope, good think I’m swimming and biking today.

Swim — 14:37

The water is comfortable, but not something you can see in. Lake Mary Jane is a lake that has clean water, but because of all the cypress around the lake, the water is a permanent shade of brown. So when you start swimming you can’t see much in front of you. All the male triathletes and aquabikers go in the first wave. Its 750 meters and even though I’ve only had a couple of swims in the past month, I feel pretty good in the water. I keep reminding myself that I don’t have to run, so not to hold back. I come out the water in a little over 14 and a half minutes, and head for the transition.

T1 — 5:19

There’s a pretty good run from the water exit to the transition area. The run is on sand, some pavement and through a stand of pine trees that leave a number of needles and pine cones to step on, along with a bit of standing water. I slog through to the transition area. Get the bike jersey (a Father’s Day gift) over my head, helmet, shoes and shades. Grab the bike and run to the spot where I can mount.

Bike — 39:30

The bike course is about 12 miles long. The roads are dry and clear of debris so it turns out to be better that I was thinking. I keep telling myself that I don’t have to run, so there is no reason to take it easy on the bike. The course has a couple of places where you have to make U turns and they are a bit sandy. I watch my cadence and speed, trying to make sure that there is at least an 18mph on the bike computer. Since I’m not running, I don’t worry about drinking too much, so I suck down the bottle of Gatorade on the bike. As I get near the end I realized I will probably break 40 minutes on the bike. Considering that the previous two times I’ve done this course I did close to 44:00, I’m really happy.

Finish — 1:01:17

I dismount and run the bike back to transition. The guy next to be is back and racked his bike right where mine should fit. I spend 15 - 20 seconds moving his bike and getting mine into position. Then its time to haul butt to the finish line. I leave the transition area and head to the ropes marking the finish line. There is standing water the entire length of the finish chute. 30 yards of splashing and getting wet, but I’m done for the day.

I was hoping to get under and hour, but was only a little over a minute over. I’m fairly happy with the finish. It’s good enough for second place overall in the aquabike group (of course there were only three males running the aquabike). Everyone that’s running the full tri is coming in covered with mud. Apparently there are lots of parts of the course that look like the finish chute. Yep, its looking like I made a good decision to run the aquabike.

Next month its back to a triathlon. It was fun to just do the two fun things, but its not really a good workout unless you do something awful like running.

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