Double Duty at IMLP
In a moment of weakness, I signed up for a morning shift at
bike aid station 6 and an evening of “catching” at the IMLP finish line. Bike aid station 6 was well chosen, perhaps 5
miles down the road from the KOA campground.
The finish chute, not so much.
More on that later.
Lake Placid is 7 or 8 hours from Alliston, depending on how
heavy your right foot is. Mine’s lost
weight as I’ve “matured”, so, leaving at 9:00 I arrived at the KOA around
4:30. The return trip took a full 8 hours,
the additional time chewed up by a senseless traffic snarl on the 401 between
Shannonville and Belleville and the ludicrous mess of an interchange from 401W
to 400N. Missed the exit and had to take
the scenic tour of Weston. I crossed at
Ogdensburg (bridge toll $2.75, either currency) and used routes 68, 56, 3 and
86. With two short bridge construction
projects on 56, this route was excellent.
I’d love to do it in a fast car with enough money to pay the speeding
tickets.
The KOA is a KOA.
What can you say. The RVs were
tightly packed, while the most basic tent sites had a decent amount of room on
the fringes, where it was quiet, with enough trees that the rain on Saturday
night barely got through. Just outside
the campground, cliffs and a tightrope across a deep pool in a whitewater
section of the Ausable river provided adventure for those bold enough to drop
the roughly 25 feet into the river and entertainment for chicken like me to
watch. It is a good place to stay if
you’re at bike station 6. Nearby
Wilmington features an A&W that is a throwback to the 1950s. The layout is the same as the first A&W I
ever encountered, at Lake Pepin, Wisconsin, in 1956. The girls on skates were no longer there, nor
were the trays that hung from the car window (refer American Graffitti). Nothing else much was changed. Hours of business: 11:00am to 7:00 pm!
Bike station 6 was run the way bike station should be
run. Pairs of widely separated tables
for Gatorade Perform, water, food, water, Gatorade Perform.
A cryer up the road calling the order, and a bank of porta-potties and
the exit end. There was a pair of
canopies sheltering refreshments for the crew.
Most of the time there was an ambulance on site. When one was called away, another replaced
it. We had a full time ham radio
volunteer, so communication was constant.
All in all, well done.
With #86 closed for the tri, getting to LP for the finish
line gig was not so easy. North to
Wilmington, west to St. Armand, south to Saranac Lake and east to LP. 57 km of twisty back roads, the sort that
gets clogged by drivers who have nowhere to go and all day to get there. It took well over an hour.
Parking was not the problem I expected, as 4 lots had been
set up, with shuttle busses every 15 min to within 5 min walk of the finish
line. The finish line was on the back
stretch of the Olympic speed skating oval, which in turn enclosed the
transition and the M.A.S.H. tent. Good
security kept it clear of anyone who did not have business there. Compared to IMC, the only deficiency I could
see was that with the space constraints the oval presented, refreshments for
staff and volunteers were outside the secured area at the top of a set of
stairs. It worked, but took longer than
the on-site pizza at IMC. Transition
being a couple of 100 metres from the lake meant that finishers couldn’t go for
a cool-down soaking either, as they can at IMC.
On the other hand, no kids got into the finish chute as always happens
at IMC, often to the detriment of other competitors.
Leaving at 11:30 was easy.
I crashed a couple of barricades before finding one that was in the
process of being taken down. The
barricades blocked Main Street which was already well populated with athletes
and spectators returning to cars and hotels.
Back at the KOA, it was so dark that I had to leave the car lights on to
find my flashlight in my tent.
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