After our big announcement on Saturday, September 1 that the American Triple-T, after 15 years at Shawnee State Park, was moving to Salt Fork State Park in Cambridge, Ohio I made plans for a bike course recon day on Labor Day. I wanted to ride all the roads on the course to be able to better answer the many questions coming into our customer service…the number one question was the terrain on the bike course and how did it compare to Shawnee State Park.  The plan was to ride the half iron course and then when it intersected with the Olympic course on the way back do the rest of the Olympic course. This would allow me to hit every section and every major climb on the weekend.

I arrived at 9:30am at Salt Fork State Lodge and Conference Center and parked at the transition area location across the cabin boat docks. There is a nice bathroom located there and a nice egress to the swim course from the cabins private beach area.  I jumped on my bike and road a few laps around the parking lot to make sure everything was working properly. I quickly realized I forgot to charge my front derailleur battery and I could not shift out of my large chain ring. I addressed my options; I could ride the entire day in my large chain ring (wow that would make for some hard-core blog riding) or swap out the back-derailleur battery with the front temporarily, so I could shift into my small ring and leave it there for the rest of the day. Believe it or not I decided to go with first option and keep it in my large ring for the ride…that lasted about 6 miles and after my 4^th climb at 480 watts I decided that there was no way I was going to survive this course in my large chain ring. After switching to my small ring, I finally started to enjoy the ride…even as temps approached 90+ degrees by 10:30am. About 7 miles into the ride I left the park roads and started riding the county roads of Guernsey County which is when I got the first switch back climb on Freedom Road (love the name). As you can see the switch back is wide enough for two-way car traffic to pass by safely and the elevation is much more gentle than the steeps of Shawnee. On this particular climb I bombed down the decent and actually enjoyed the accent which still was mostly in the shade.

After a left turn on to Broadhead Road, which is a smooth and gently rolling road, you’ll notice most of the houses do not have electric lines running to them…you are now officially in Amish Country! This is a beautiful section of the course and I enjoyed passing by the many Amish houses and seeing their underwear out drying in the sun. Other than some horse droppings, the road surface is smooth and fast. In the middle of Broadhead Road you’ll drop down to the Rocky Fork Recreation Area around mile 11. The climb up and out of the Rocky Fork Recreation Area is nice and has a gentle rise to the road that leads to “Ohio’s Pikes Peak” and the top of the climb.  

At 13.5 miles you leave to the smooth surfaces of Broadhead Road and head north on the bumpier Salt Fork Road which features some wheel sucking cracks in the road. I’ve been assured by the county these roads will be repaired by the time the race rolls into town. You’re only on Salt Fork Road a short distance (about 1.5 miles) before it turns into State Route 258. Once the road turns into State Route 258 the surface goes back to smooth and fast. State Route 258 rolls down towards River Rd where you begin a nice flat section along the Tuscarawas River. This is a spectacular section that had very little traffic on it and provided awesome views of the river. I rode past the turn around point at Gilmore Road so I could restock my fluids at a local gas station in the little town of Gnadenhutten (say that five times fast).

The ride back from Gnadenhutten was a little tougher on River Road as I discovered I had a headwind coming back. However, I still enjoyed this section and held back a little knowing the ride back up 258 would be tough in the early afternoon heat. At the top of 258, around mile 41, I stopped at the appropriately named “Sally’s Hilltop Store” for another refuel stop which included a huge chocolate chip cookie that the checkout lady said was actually made by Sally.  Salt Fork Road turns into Old Twenty One Road and had some of the same wheel sucking cracks and bumpy sections that plagued Salt Fork Road. However, you can count on those being repaired or at least well highlighted by orange paint by race weekend.  At mile 46 you take a left back on to Freedom Road for 4 miles of serious roller coaster riding. This section featured large hills that go straight up and straight down allowing me to hit about 45 mph safely without even peddling. I can imagine this will be a really tough section on day 3 of the Triple-T for both the XT and ST racers.

Once I got back to Egress Road where the half iron turns right and heads back on to the park roads, I opted to go straight and ride the back half of the Olympic course which again featured the switch back climb from earlier on Freedom Road. The course goes south on Birmingham Rd which is a state bike route and features smooth road surfaces and multiple long climbs. I loved this section of the course and I’m sure this will get rave reviews from participants…maybe not the second time around in the afternoon but certainly during the AM course.

Birmingham Road intersects with the little town of Winterset, home of the Pot House Garden Center that Batman appears to be watching over…from thereturning right onto Cadiz Road (State Route 22) was a nice relief as I knew I was getting closer to the park. Due to this road being a higher traffic road we’ll be detouring car traffic via Birmingham Road south to Lake Ridge Road during both Saturday races. As you approach the park entrance you cross a bridge that has a spectacular view of a beautiful lily pad section of the lake. The section in the park from Park Road #1 to Park Road #3 is no joke and features some of the toughest climbing of the day (or at least that’s what my legs were saying at this point in the ride).  Some of the park roads have sections with orange paint on them and according to the park manager these sections are scheduled for repair…hopefully before the race.

Once I pulled back up to my truck I was totally cooked and looked forward to jumping in the lake to cool off and to clean off. There was about 8 boats anchored in what would be the right side of the swim course and many had entire families enjoying themselves on inflatable rafts or just swimming near their boat. I was amazed that there was a nice firm sandy bottom as I walked out to nearly chest deep water, which will be part of the swim course for every race. This will certainly be nice for the Saturday PM race where many participants will discovery it’s really tough to swim after riding a hard-hilly bike ride and may need to stand for a break ;).

There is no doubt that Salt Fork will continue the tradition of challenging courses in the American Triple-T. However, the major difference I felt was that the hills may have been long (in some cases even longer than Shawnee) but they were not as steep and the descents were much safer.  All the courses are on much wider roads with have much better visibility than the roads of Shawnee.

HFP Racing is planning an early May training camp for the American Triple-T to give participants a chance to train on these roads and get some miles on the Shadbush Trail.

Hope to see you then.

Shannon Kurek, aka HFP Man

Mark your calendar for Fall TBD, 2019 for the Inaugural Great Lakes TRIAD in Vermilion, Ohio. (.4mi Swim – 18.6mi Bike – 4.3mi Run) x 3 = 70.3 miles
More details on this EPIC triathlon adventure coming this fall on http://www.hfpracing.com.

“Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.” Dwight D. Eisenhower

Plan your summer racing during the HFP Racing 4th of July sale going on now through Midnight on July 4th. Receive 15% any HFP Racing event below by using the code “HFP-4th-Sale-2018” during the registration process.  Remember the code is case sensitive and must be typed in just as it reads. This code is not retroactive for races already registered.

July 7-8: FIT Family Series @ Caesar Creek (Waynesville, Ohio)
July 21-22: FIT Family Series @ Buck Creek (Springfield, Ohio)
August 4-5: FIT Family Series @ Alum Creek (Lewis Center, Ohio)
August 18-19: FIT Family Series @ Vermilion Harbour (Vermilion, Ohio)
September 8-9: FIT Family Series @ Portage Lakes (Akron, Ohio)
September 30: Deer Creek Fall Challenge @ Deer Creek (Mt. Sterling, Ohio)

HFP thanks and remembers our U.S Armed Forces this week both active duty and veterans for their selfless sacrifices that allow us to live in this wonderful country.

Thanks and we look forward to seeing you at an HFP Racing event soon.

Shannon and Jennifer Kurek

Grandview Heights, OH – Race committee members from the 1st Annual TRI The Heights Youth Triathlon are excited to announce the confirmation of a completely closed to traffic and volunteer-supported courses for their September 1 event. This exciting new event is a partnership with the City of Grandview Heights Parks and Recreation and the Grandview Heights | Marble Cliff Education Foundation. The triathlon will feature distances for kids 6 and under through age 14.

TRI THE HEIGHTS TRIATHLON COURSE DESCRIPTION
Youth racers will be treated to a spectacular swim in the brand new Grandview Heights Municipal Pool (transition area #1), then transitioning to a bike ride on a fully closed to traffic and volunteer-supported bike and run courses.

The bike course will feature a tour of the beautiful Grandview Heights/Marble Cliff community and provide older participants a challenging climb up Lincoln Road before their respective turnarounds.

The run courses start from Wyman Woods Park (transition area #2) and feature a loop through the park before finishing at a grand finish in the park open space.

Following the race, participants will have multiple activities to continue their fun, along with an awesome post race party.

More race information can be found at https://hfpracing.com/race/tri-heights-youth-triathlon.

TRI THE HEIGHTS TRIATHLON VOLUNTEERS
TRI The Heights is Grandview’s first annual kids triathlon with a priority on safety, fun, and community. Pulling off an event like this requires manpower – a lot of it. We have a wide variety of needs ranging from packet pick up to post race tear down and everything in between. If you need more details, please don’t hesitate to contact Taylor Lindsey at Parks and Rec at 614-488-3111 or tlindsey@grandviewheights.org and thanks!

Oregon, Ohio – The FIT Family Series @ Maumee Bay has changed the bike course for Sunday’s 2nd race of the FIT Family Series due to construction on the course. “The new course is actually a much nicer loop and has very smooth roads. It should be a nice change for this venue.” Shannon Kurek, Race Director – HFP Racing

Click here to download the latest maps.

Helen, GA – Another Helen Training Camp down and I’m ready for some spring races. I can’t believe I’ve been coming to this amazing town since 1995. My first trip to Helen was to recon a potential fall mountain bike event to take advantage of the recent UCI World Cup event that put Helen, GA on the map in 1994. Yep…HFP used to produce Mountain Bike races back in the day. After spending a very warm day in May visiting with local officials and running the trails I was hooked. What a super cool venue with the Chattahoochee River running right through the middle of town and awesome pubs like the Troll Tavern serving cold beers and burritos the size of your head (sadly they no longer serve burritos). HFP only produced a couple events in Helen but it became an annual spring training stop for myself and my HFP teammates. The Helen Training Camp has a way of getting you out of bed in the cold winter mornings to get in training that you may otherwise choose to blow off…because you just can’t show up to Helen the first week of April with hopes and dreams to get you through this brutal week of training. No…the only way to survive this annual sufferfest is to have put in some significant miles in advance. The camp gets started each year with our meet n greet at the Troll Tavern next to the Chattahoochee River. The excitement of being in a warmer venue and the nervousness of what lies ahead is evident in everyone’s demeanor during dinner. The first day starts off with a 60 minutes swim workout in the local recreation center pool then a ride to the highest point in Georgia…Brasstown Bald. It’s at this point when the reality of what you signed up for sets in and legs are telling you there is NO way you can go any further…and so it begins. Photos from this year are below. In 2018 we’ll be taking the camp to warmer weather in Oro Valley, AZ (next to Tuscon). Look for more details on our website in the coming weeks. Thanks to all the campers for your photos of this epic week.

Bring it!
Shannon Kurek
aka HFP Man

Time to Tri is a new, unprecedented initiative within the triathlon industry to grow the sport of triathlon by proactively recruiting and supporting athletes as they train for and compete in their first race. The initiative, a strategic joint effort between USA Triathlon and IRONMAN, was unveiled in early 2018. The overarching goal is to increase triathlon participants by 100,000 nationwide by the end of 2020.

Pledge your support or commit to your first triathlon at the Time to Tri website.

In an effort to get through this brutal Ohio winter we’re having this year I recently broke down and purchased a Kickr bike trainer and joined the masses training in the Zwift training community. Anyone that knows me personally knows that I’ve pretty much trained “Amish” my entire triathlon career which spans more than 30 years. I’ve never kept a training log or written down my workouts. I don’t own a heart rate monitor and I don’t run with a watch. However, in my effort to keep going fast as father time continues to move on I’ve decided to adopt some modern training methods and technology. The Zwift training has been a welcome change to the boring trainer workouts I was accustomed to for the last 3 decades or so. Along with constant reminders of the watts you need to be pushing during the workout, you have the option to join a group or invite a Zwift buddy to do your workout with you. This additionally accountability provides an amazing level of intensity to your indoor trainer workout that I’ve never encountered while riding solo on my trainer. Though I’ve never kept a log, the simple and easy way Zwift saves and records your workouts upon completion offers an easy way to see your progress. There are lots of pre-programmed workouts or you can simply create your own favorite and customize the workout to your specific goals. You can even sign up for the many races going on each week too. There are also several FTP testing workouts that will give you a good idea of your starting point and this will help you plan a better workout schedule to increase your FTP as you push towards the season. The Zwift workouts are so enjoyable (in a hurt so good sort of way) I’ve already decided to keep a couple of these workouts in my regular weekly training even when the weather breaks and most folks will be outside.

Bringing it in Granville!

Shannon Kurek
aka HFP Man

Are you going into the 2018 with high hopes and big PR goals? Hopefully you’re not planning on reaching your PR goals while training, eating, sleeping and living the same as you did in 2017 because that formula is just not going to work…you’re going to be very disappointed. The old Albert Einstein quote rings very true if this is your plan going into 2018. Now is a good time to evaluate your total approach to the 2018 season.

You’re training may be spot on and you may have a great coach but your diet sucks…or vice versa OR you’re got both those things down but you’re burning the candle at both ends and only getting 5 hours of sleep a night and wondering why you can’t recover from your key workouts. Every off season is great time to reflect on what went right and what went wrong with the previous season. Don’t be afraid to “really” look yourself in the mirror and ask the hard questions as it relates to your goals. Do you really want to see that six pack in mirror at any cost or would you rather skip the morning “insanity” workout and focus on getting 8 hours of sleep so you can crush your key afternoon workouts and actually recover from them? The latter may result in a softer mid-section but you’ll likely be going faster in the end. There our lots of decisions you have to make in your training and most of them require some sort of sacrifice (ie; less sleep, less beer, less cheese on that pizza, etc…). Just remember…most of us are not training for the Olympics or doing this for a living so don’t take the fun out of this awesome sport just to drop 5 seconds on your swim PR.

So, go ahead and sleep in tomorrow…tell your coach HFP Man said it was OK!

Giddy up!

Shannon Kurek, Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
HFP Racing
aka HFP Man