Josh Haas here; the 2014 State Time Trial Championship brought some good talent to a hilly, technical course in late June. With three turnarounds and a short 16 miles ridden, it was an odd route that catered to the more technical riders. It was certainly a learning experience for me and I felt I rode well given where my fitness level is currently.
I missed the podium by 57 seconds and I placed 4th in my division. I was happy with my performance and believe the hilly course did play to some of my strengths. Pre-riding the course the night before was also very useful. WSI was also represented by Danny Wolin and the time trial master podiumed with a 3rd place finish in his division.
I’m looking forward to next year. The goal is to come in stronger and faster than ever with a podium finish.
Carson, Charles, Tony, Dwight, and Travis
Summer marks a busy season for WSI cyclists. Of course there are races almost every weekend. In addition, WSI loves to support the local community by volunteering at races. The past 2 weekends they have had the pleasure of leading out for both the Cereal City Classic on June 14th and the Cheetah Chase on June 21st.
The Cereal City Classic, an annual race held during Battle Creek’s Longest Breakfast Table Festival, is hosted by one of our great sponsors, the Battle Creek YMCA. They reported over 650 racers this year participating in both the 5k and 10k events. Racers even had the pleasure of meeting Tony the Tiger, himself.
Dwight, April, Angela, Mike I., and J.J. at the Cheetah ChaseThe Cheetah Chase is a unique 5k through Binder Park Zoo. The course is a challenging run for racers, winding through the zoo and making use of it’s many terrains. Definitely not a course for the road bikes. This year the Cheetah Chase boasted over 1,500 runners for the 5k event.
Shayne Thomas at HFP Maumee Bay Triathlon Toledo Ohio 2014
Shayne Thomas here…I’m glad to report that I have done the second race in the HFP Fit Family Series-Maumee Bay Triathlon at the awesome state park of the same name near Toledo Ohio. Once again doing the sprint triathlon in the age group-fat, old, & ugly. It was the second time that I placed third in the over 40 over 200lbs. I was generally satisfied with my times. I came out of the swim with my buddy and fellow Clydesdale Mark. We talked about how good a pizza sounded right then as we trotted up to the transition. Toledo is table top flat. The only challenge on the bike is wind. There was a bit, but, not as bad as it has been in the past. The brutal run is also flat, but, is run in zero shade. I thought a Guinness sounded pretty good and would quench my thirst, but, realized it would take a special person to drink one during a triathlon.
I literally grabbed my metal and my time slip and trotted off to gather my stuff from the transition. As quickly as possible I needed to be in Mansfield, Ohio for the Miss Ohio parade to drive my daughter’s float. She is the reigning Miss Mansfield’s Outstanding Teen. www.shaylathomas.com. I got a lot of questions about why I had my weight and age on my calves, unfortunately, they started to cramp halfway through the parade!!
First few turns reminded me about the course and also why it is so important to pre-ride the course (which I didn’t). I was hanging with the front guys, lost them half way through the first lap and then just blewup half way throughthe second lap. I had a headache so bad that I was straining my eyes to focus on the down hills. One of the guys in my group fell here and broke his helmet. He is okay, but a reminder as to why we wear helmets and why I needed to focus so intently on the course—nearly impossible with my head pounding. I will save you the effort. I finished 8/9 and the only guy I beat was in the med tent getting looked at with his broken helmet.
Top 10 Signs that You are finishing DFL (Dead Last) in your group (some of these I made up, some really happened to me today.)
The water hand up station is closed prior to your last lap.
When you finish, the photographers have already uploaded their pictures for purchase.
The results are posted before you finish (this actually happened today).
They ask you if anyone else is on the course when you finish.
The race organizers wonder how many course flags you picked up on your way in.
Neil Sharphorne claps and says, “way to go old timer”!
The leaves have changed and they ask if you want a hunter’s safety vest for your last lap.
Your Gel Shots shelf life expires while you are riding.
The team sponsors change during the race.
10. The end of winter party starts just as you cross the finish line.
I decided the Wednesday of race week to sign-up for the 10k race. It was my forst 10k running race and with the goal of an Olympic triathlon distance this summer it was a perfect time to see where my pace and endurance levels were at.
The morning of the race was chilly but turned out to be great once we started running. The course is fast and perfect for setting PR’s. It was great to see the team there leading us out onto the course. Just prior to the start I was able to take a picture of the team volunteer’s and thank them for coming out and volunterring their time.
The start of the race was on the Lakeview HS track. We went 3/4 of the way around the track before heading off onto the strret. As a tech consultant, I have been trained to plan “go-live’s” and I treat race days in the same manner. Pre-race checklist, estimate race time based on training times, etc. For this race, I was planning on a 9 min mile pace. In order to help me stay on pace, I set a 10k workout on my Garmin 910 to keep a pace between 9:00 and 9:05. From the start of the race my watch was alarming to let me know i was heading out too fast. I was at an 8:23 pace as i was leaving the track to head out on the road and managed to start slowing my pace.
As i made my way around the course, I was hoping I was not annoying other runners with my watch alarm. I was maintaining a a faster pace than what i had set but I was feeling comfortable and strong in the run and made it a challenge to stay under the targets I had set in the watch. As we made our way back to the HS, I got a photo opp from Nikki Elder (Thank you) and got encouragement from our team of riders.
As it turned out, I finished second in my age group. I missed the award ceremony because it was opening day for Avery’s LYA team. It was a pleasant surprise to receive a medal in the mail about a week after the event. My kids thought it was pretty cool!
Male 35 to 39
Total
PlaceNameCityBib NoAgeOverallTimePace
1 Eric Greene Battle Creek MI 159 39 2 46:15 7:28/M
2 Robby Robertson Battle Creek MI 116 37 18 53:53 8:41/M
Josh Haas here; the 2014 State Time Trial Championship brought some good talent to a hilly, technical course in late June. With three turnarounds and a short 16 miles ridden, it was an odd route that catered to the more technical riders. It was certainly a learning experience for me and I felt I rode well given where my fitness level is currently. 
