My 50 Miler

Monday I set out to ride to Texas through Florida and I took my camera since I haven't really done a 50 miler in a couple years.

Starting point Jewell, OH



First town was about 8 miles away. Man Florida comes up fast. I thought the 50 was pretty cool in this pic.



Next up was Napoleon. Apparently they like water polo.




Look back at the big city of Napoleon, OH



Finally made it to the turn around point. This was the only proof I could find that I made it to Texas. Took a gel at this point and some water and started worrying about getting rained on.



I stopped about 5 miles later at a little shop to get a plastic bag to put my camera in and ate a sample size cliff bar and more water even though I didn't feel I needed it. Here are just a few pics for the rest of the ride.

A happy barn



Campbell's soup factory


This is what I saw for most of the ride. Lots of corn, wheat and soy beans. I loved it.



Ended up back at home in a couple minutes under 3 hrs ride time. Ate a great granma cooked lunch and headed up to Sandusky, OH to go to Cedar Point Amusement park for the night and next day. Hope to have some of that ready to put up later.

Warsaw Tri Race Report

Day one of vacation took us from Oklahoma City to Greenville, IL. Not a very eventful drive we got through St Louis and right by the arch during the day this time which is a pretty cool sight. Day two took us to Warsaw Indiana. Checked into the hotel and then ran over to a pizza dinner and packet pick up. After I got the packet I wanted to drive the course since it was in a pretty residential area and I didn't want to make a wrong turn. I was really impressed with the course marking and that made me feel better.


Race day came (500m swim/14 mile bike/3.5 mile run) and I woke up about 5:30. I took a shower to wake up and put on my gear and drove the two miles to the race site. Got my bike out of the trunk, put it together and walked into my spot. Transition area was a lot bigger than any other tri/du I have done. About 30 minutes before race time they announced that wet suits would be legal and I was glad to have mine. I was in the first swim wave with what looked like a bunch of ex and current Purdue swimmers and triathletes. Great. We just stood there for 5 minutes and a lot of people were really starting to shiver but I was comfortable in my wet suit. Gun finally went off. I felt ok for the first part of the swim but had to move to the back stroke about a third of the way in. Got out of the water and into transition in 12 minutes, which was really good for me (took me 16 minutes last time).


T1 was a lot faster than my last tri since I already had my jersey and HRM strap on. Off on the bike immediately to a set of hills where I was able to pass quite a few people. The end was pretty cool since we came back into a neighborhood and were winding through the streets like we were on the tour complete with cowbells. I settled into a rhythm and was done before I knew it in 41:11.



T2 was OK and I was off on the 3.5 mile run. The run was nice and through a wooded area and into a neighborhood. I was amazed at the amount of people out there cheering us on. I felt like I was along a marathon course or something. Came back through the woods and into the neighborhood. The last part of the course was down a steep hill right before a turn and it threw me off a bit but once you turned that corner, the crowd hit again and they were loud. Like nothing I have ever seen at a multisport event. I sprinted to the finish in a time of 28:41.


Total time was 1:24:46 good for 16 out of 27 in my AG (damn you college swimmers) and I was 164/338 in the males. My goal was sub 1:27, so I hit that. I didn't get to stick around for any of the post race stuff like food or massages since I had to check out of the hotel. Looked really good though. If you find yourself in Indiana in late June, do this race.