Rochester Autumn Classic F1 Duathlon
Sunday, September 28, 2008
2008 Autumn Classic Duathlon results
Yesterday I told a couple of folks I've done the various Rochester Classic Du's at Mendon that I could follow the course with my eyes closed. And then last night I wished for a dry morning... could I have done anything more to jinx myself? Rain, rain, rain. Not terribly hard rain, fortunately, but steady enough that at least one competitor wearing glasses (ie. me) spent the whole time looking at the blurry trails and roads in front of him wondering if tiny windshield wipers for glasses really are impractical. This wasn't the first wet du I've done - the 2006 Lake Effect "Snowshoe" Duathlon won that dubious distinction, but that was only 4 miles of running and 12 miles of riding, as opposed to today's 6 mile run and 20 mile ride. On the other hand - it was a heck of a lot warmer today than that first Lake Effect race was!
As I was getting ready to leave Ann looked out the window and commented that I would be running in the fog... I pointed out that running in fog is no big deal and can even be kind of fun, and besides it would probably clear by the time we started. I didn't remind her that I would also be riding in the fog, which is the scary part. At least the rain had let up for the moment. I wish I'd had my camera up front on the ride over to snap some photos - the fog and the barely starting fall colors were very scenic. As I pulled into Mendon Ponds Park I passed one field with a fairly large herd of deer munching away... very cool. Every year I arrive at pretty much the same time, and every year I end up parking further from race HQ - while that bodes well for the future of the event, I'm thinking I may need to get there a bit earlier in the future so that I'm not parking out on the road.
Picked up my packet, which included a truly hideous tech fabric shirt in eye-searing greenish yellow, and then lugged my bike and gear into transition. After that I geared up and went for my typical pre-race walk down to the beach. The fog was thick enough that I couldn't see across Hundred Acre Pond... all in all it was a pretty neat morning for a race. Eventually we all gathered at the starting line, got the usual pre-race briefing which included a special emphasis on being very careful on the slippery roads, and then took off across the fields and into the woods.
more to come...
2008 Event Totals
Run 170.1 mi / 39 hr 21 min
Bike 52.4 mi / 3 hr 46 min
Snowshoe 45.7 mi / 13 hr 19 min
states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, PA, VT
