Uncategorized – Page 5 – WSI Cycling Team

June 2, 2014

Deer Creek Triathlon-Mount Sterling, Ohio

June 1, 2014
First triathlon of the season! It was a perfect race day at Deer Creek State Park which is located between Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio. HFP Racing-FIT Family Series kicked off today. If you haven’t checked out any of their races I would certainly encourage you to give them a tri (pun). www.hfpracing.com
I have been doing their events for 20 years. Shannon Kurek and his team put on first rate events. The races are well organized, predictable, and affordable. HFP offers a wide variety of events that help grow the sport and make multi sport accessible to everyone. Importantly, they have mastered traffic flow which minimizes interference between racers of different abilities.

Deer Creek’s signature feature is the dam run, you literally run down and back across the dam and levies. It offers a spectacular view of the lake on one side and cyclist on the road struggling up a climb on the other.

I don’t typically like to race with the skinny Clydesdales. HFP has a cut off at a mere 200 pounds. That is bantam weight in my circle of meat eaters. Nonetheless, I am forever grateful that age groups exist so that we can all enjoy racing without be an elite. A third place finish in the Clydesdale age group was a nice reward for racing hard today. Overall there were around 600 participants mostly from the Cincinnati/Dayton corridor and the Greater Columbus area.

Shayne Thomas
WSI Cycling
Tiffin, Ohio

May 28, 2014May 29, 2014

Willow Time Trial Race Report: Haas, Winton & Wolin

Josh: Time trialing (TT) is not for everyone but for Danny and I, riding at or near lactic threshhold and suffering as long as possible is an adrenaline rush we love. Willow would be the first of the season TT for several of us and WSI Team Active Cycling had great representation. Devin Winton, Danny Wolin, Matt Wright, and myself all raced. Willow is a 2.22mi loop that is repeated 6 times equaling 13.32mi. While the weather man said it wouldn’t be windy, Willow Metropark must have been left off his report because HOLY WINDS!!! Strong side winds around the 3rd curve were hellish on deep dish wheels but we all pushed through the winds safely. At Willow, it’s important to know where you are at all times so you enter the finish chute on the correct lap. All four of us did just that and all posted great times. For me, my goal was to finish in under 35min and I posted an even 34min time. That worked out to a 23.5mph average which I was very pleased with for a race in April. The next TT for me will be the State Time Trial Championships June 22. I’ll be picturing Rocky training in Siberia whilst doing my interval work throughout the next month. 🙂

Devin: Willow has always been a good indicator if my winter training. The only thing constant about Willow is the weather: it is never consistent. Some years, it is sunny and 70, while other years it may be blustery and 40. As long as I am within a couple of minutes of previous years, I figure my off season training has been effective.

2014 was windy. Very windy. Riding Cat 4, I started just ahead of my teammate Danny Wolin. With a strong northwest wind, it was wind in your face at the start and finish of the six lap race. Riding “blind,” i.e. without hr monitor or computer, I had no idea what my speed was. By the middle of the first lap I settled into a pace I knew I could sustain and began to suffer. A TT is just a matter of how much and how intense the suffering can be endured.

Well, after 6 laps I finished about where I expected; time consistent with prior years and all in all a fun outing with teammates Danny Wolin, Josh Haas, and Matt Wright.

Thanks to Team Active, WSI, and our other sponsors.

Danny: It was a very nice, windy day to race the Willow TT and also very nice to see Josh, Matt and Devin race as well. While the training was a bit behind due to the winter I felt very good and the intervals paid off. I ended up with second place (again) to the same guy as last year but I was very happy with the result as it was the fastest time and average speed I have had there (26 mph) and 30.35.

-Josh Haas, Devin Winton & Danny Wolin

May 28, 2014May 29, 2014

A Big Day of Birds By Bike

Birding by Bike Having recently completed a Barry County Big Green Year in 2013, this year I needed a new challenge combining my two passions of cycling and birding. I decided to cram it all into one day with the goal of seeing or hearing as many birds as possible in Barry County. Riding for reasons bigger than myself, this time I would be riding for charity…

Being a new father, it’s important to me that my daughter grows up seeing healthy living and being outside and active as normal. I decided to ride for the Barry County YMCA and their Play60 program (getting kids outside daily for at least 60min). My goal was to raise $1000 and tally a bird list of at least 100 species.

The day began at 2am and without getting on the bike, bird #1 was in the bag. The endangered Henslow’s Sparrow was doing what they do best, calling at night. You may ask why a person would get on the bike at 2am… NIGHT BIRDS!!! Whip and the moon What a morning it was. I tallied 50 birds by the time the sun showed itself through the trees including Barred Owl, Eastern Screech Owl, Great-horned Owl, Sedge Wren and the illusive Eastern Whip-poor-whil.

At sunrise, a few local birders met up with me for a nice long hike through great habitat and by the time I left, my list was over 70. A lull in bird activity coupled with a nutrition problem early afternoon made for a rough couple hours but #100 came around 2pm in the form of a Red-breasted Nuthatch. This bird should be in the UP right now and for some reason decided to stay just long enough. With #100 in the bag, that was the encouragement I needed to continue on. I got past my nutrition barrier and a random nesting colony of Bank Swallows presented itself. At that point, the numbers starting going up again. By the time I reached Pierce Cedar Creek Institute, my family was already there grilling some brats which really hit the spot. Lillian loves birds but she may like swinging even more!

I made it home at 8:30pm which meant I was on the road 18.5 hours, rode 106 miles, hiked 5 miles, kayaked 1 mile, tallied 116 birds total (which is a Barry County record, bike or no bike), burned over 4000 calories and climbed over 4000 vertical feet. Needless to say, I slept well that night!!

Most importantly, I surpassed my charity goal of $1000 and have brought in over $1400. Thanks for all who donated. I’m even hopeful by the time my donation site closes; I’ll have raised over $1500. If you would still like to donate, please visit www.active.com/donate/joshhaas by May 31st.

-Josh Haas

May 25, 2014

The Bridges Family Members Continue Their Racing Efforts

WSI Cycling’s “cycling family” – The Bridges – have been busy these past couple of weekends. In addition to the two following race reports featuring their exploits on trail and road, you can expect at least one more report on their most recent triathlon, the Seahorse. Scott’s doing the sprint distance, Marie is racing the duathlon and mom and dad (Katie and Kevin) racing the Olympic distance triathlon. Can’t wait for the results!

Yankee Springs Time Trial – Sunday, May 18, 2014

Yankee TT 2014 was almost a repeat of Custer Stampede; Scotty was first in his age group with a 1:03, Marie second. Kevin was 18th racing in the Sport class for the first time, turning in a 1:03. Katie was 13th. Scott’s time was about 20 seconds faster than the old man’s (daddy might need a new bike). Although the trail was fast and the racing fun, I think hanging out with the family and friends at the finish line was the best part of the day. Hopefully next year’s race will be held on a day as nice as this year, but moved to April. The Bridges don’t have any more mountain bike races on our schedule for this year, but we might try to squeeze in one more race, if we can find the time. Triathlon season is starting soon it’s going to be a busy summer.

~The Bridges Family

Tour de Frankenmuth – Saturday, May 24, 2014

The Tour de Frankenmuth 2014 was Scott and my (Kevin, the dad) first road race. Scott raced as a junior that was one 20-mile lap. I raced Cat 5 over 35, which was two laps. The first lap was uneventful, at every turn the peloton would slow then everyone would sprint back into a group. The farther back in the pack you are the harder it is to catch back up. I managed to stay with the peloton until the last left-hand turn where the road widened out the group spread out and picked up the paced, I tried to stay with them, but all I could do was keep them in sight to the finish line. Riding in a large group was very intense. I averaged 22 mph with a top speed of 34 mph and finished in 41st place. I want to go back next year to see how much I can improve.

Scott’s race started with about 15 riders, at the starting line the starter lady said that if there was any swearing you will be disqualified (this may be an issue) but all the riders agreed not to snitch. After the first turn the group narrowed down to about eight riders. In a single file line taking turns pulling, they cruised at about 22 mph. Every two mile there would be one rider drop off the breakaway, until there was five of them, things were calm for about five miles. Then as he got back into position after a pull, took a drink and a deep breath, the person third in line crashed, Scott and the rider in front of him managed to miss him. After they regrouped, there was four of them, knowing the top three got on the podium, he tried to lose at least one rider, but it did not happen. He finished fourth with a 59 second gap between Scott and the winner.

~Kevin Bridges

December 30, 2013

Tiffin, Ohio YMCA indoor Tri

I want to thank WSI Cycling and Team Active for allowing me to join the team. Many of you know me through Eric Cook and our triathlon adventures. I am an age grouper, viagra typically racing Master Clydesdale-fat, old, (and ugly). I usually stick to Olympic and Sprint events in Ohio. I was able to get an age group win at the Cedar Point Sprint Rev this fall-(only because Eric chose to do the half). Joining the team has given my training new focus. There are many good cyclist and triathletes in my area, but, no comparable community to what Team Active has been able to build in Battle Creek.

As many of my fellow triathletes do in the winter, I have moved inside. I ride a Trek Madone, purchased at www.Teamactive.com. shoes and trainer from there as well. Graciously, my daughter allows me to ride in her ballet studio in our basement. www.shaylathomas.com. The only stipulations are that I have to mop up the sweat and use my own Pandora station-usually AC DC.

Part of the joy of multisport is helping other athletes get involved. Twice in 2013 I have strayed from doing an individual event in order to participate on a team. This has served to introduce aspiring athletes to multisport. For the New York Triathlon I participated on Team Sad Dads as the swimmer. Jumping into the Hudson for my buddies was worth it, because, one of my teammates has already registered for his first triathlon in 2014!! This week was my second attempt to get friends turned on to triathlons. My friend Pam was an accomplished cross country runner and her boyfriend Steve was an All American swimmer. They wanted to attempt a triathlon in 2014, however, were overwhelmed by the thought of the logistics. I agreed to serve as their cyclist on Team Wolfpack for some local races until they got a feel for multisport. We did our fist training event at the Tiffin, Ohio YMCA indoor triathlon. We got a second place finish and are looking forward to a spring team triathlon with fall individuals for each of them. Happy New Year and may your 2014 race calendar be full of races with friends!!