In this race I had my fastest run split of the last 4 races, I also had my slowest bike split in a non Half-IM race since St. Anthony's Tri in 2010. This as my 3th attempt at Brewhouse and it was my slowest, due to the bike split. That being said, I am happy with my results.
Jackie and I drove up to Duluth on Saturday and went straight to packet pick-up. In 2010 packet pick-up was horrible, they had the pick-up in a small building at the park and the line was long and it took forever. This year it was in a tent and it was fast. Thankfully. After the horrible hotel experience we had in 2010, a stinky and dirty AmericInn, we decided to stay in a nice hotel in Duluth. We stayed at the Sheraton in Duluth and ate at a decent Irish Pub across the street from the hotel. We had pasties with mashed potatoes and gravy that were pretty good. After that we walked down to Canal Park and met some of Jackie's friends who were in town for a family reunion. It was a nice evening.
The next morning was a bit of surprise. The air temperature was about 55 and it was windy, it seemed very windy. It was nice and sunny. We got to the race site, Jackie slept in the car until about race start time, and I set everything up. Set up went pretty smoothly. There were no issues getting body marked or chips. I took a short ride to make sure the bike worked ok and to warm up a little. It was chilly outside. There were people wrapped in blankets, people with stocking hats, jackets, etc. I was relieved once I was setup and could go down to the water and wear my wetsuit.
There is a long wait time for the start of the "long" course. The short course started and once all the waves were off, we had to wait about 15 minutes for the long course waves to start. The water was choppy and definitely warmer than the air. Jerry later, after the race, announced that the water temperature was about 63 degrees. The swim course was reversed this year, because the exit is a boat launch and apparently it was covered with Zebra mussels and they are sharp. So to avoid cut feet they reversed so we could enter and exit on the beach. Anyway, the swim was choppy and most of the back half was right into the sun. I was all over the course. The first half because of the choppiness, the second half because of the sun and the chop. On the second half I stopped and bobbed for a second or two to find the bouys, it has been awhile since I have been that disoriented on the swim course. I don't think I was the only one, since when I looked around people were swimming all over the place. My time compared to previous years was not that different, so either the course was shorter or I swam pretty fast.
I did not feel too bad coming out of the water. The course is not too crowded since there is a large buffer between the sprint short and long. The long course bike is two 10.3 mile loops. When you come out of transition you go up a mile long hill, not terribly steep, just long. Once you right turn at the top, you get a nasty head wind. The wind this day was by far the worst of any race this year, and it showed in my time. It was a tough bike, besides the headwind, there was the road conditions. I did this race in 2008 and 2010, after 2010 I said I would not do this race again because the road is so bad, in general, and then has a ton of bad potholes and cracks. Well, this year I needed a 5th race to qualify for the Midwest Multi-Sport Series, and the website has thess statements:
"Is the bike course smooth?
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