Bryanjaf:
Yep, I'll be there. I've never done it either. The photo on the website isn't too telling either: a woman in a wetsuit standing next to the water. According to the map of the bike route it looks slightly technical with lots of turns. I'll keep my eyes on this thread for any info that comes in regarding this race. My wife and I will be staying at the luxurious Holiday Inn the night before the race. I'll be hunting down a good pizza parlor. Good luck!
Tripoet

Hey guys. I have done that race. It's a very fun race. Here are some thoughts from my experience:

Swim:

1. You will start out upstream against the current, but the water is very shallow. You can practically run to the first buoy. (and I recommend it.)

2. Take the first buoy WIDE. If you take it narrow, the current will pull you past the second buoy by the time you get there. This happens to a lot racers. They end up in the middle of the river, swimming against the current, trying to get back and around the second buoy.

3. Swim at a 45% or more angle on the way in. Otherwise, you'll have a long run up the beach to T1.

Bike:
Great bike course on nice roads. Mostly rolling and well marshalled. Only a couple of things to note here:
1. Steep climb out of T1. Spin.
2. Watch for the train tracks at about the half way point. Perfect launch pad for your water bottles.

Run:
1. You have to climb the hill out of transition again. Save some.
2. It's an out and back loop that's mostly downhill on the way out and (obviously) uphill on the way in. If you go out too hard, you will suffer in the 2 miles.

Good luck and have fun. It's a really cool race. They had a helicopter hover over the river and drop the starting flag. Pretty cool.

-adam

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Adam Duncan
New York, NY

FYI, sorry we have not had a chance to ride...

A list of restaurants is available at:

http://www.escapemaker.com/cgi-bin/sql_townsearch.cgi?town_id=799&cat_id=2

Looks like there are a few pizza/pasta options among the many sports bars and diners.

Thanks a lot Adam, that is some really good stuff and I (we) appreciate the insight. Judging from the topo (link below for the Tripoet), it appears that there is some good climbing on the far out section of the bike, near Hurley/Rolling Hills once you cross over into the park. However, the majority of the ride is through a low bed as you mentioned. Again thanks for the 411.





(http://www.topozone.com/print.asp?z=18&n=4641931&e=583097

I do remember some hills on the bike, but I don't remember suffering too badly. Be careful with Topo maps. They all have different scales on the y axis, making speed bumps look like Alpe D'Huez. It's pretty much just a roller. :-)

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Adam Duncan
New York, NY

Bryan and Adam:
Thanks for all the great info. Now it's off to Tupper Lake tomorrow morning (with my new birthday Zipp 404's!) for the 1/2 Iron on Saturday. Wish me luck!

luck to you. enjoy the wheels. let me know how you do.

Restaurant recommendations,

I'm not from Kingston, my house is just the other side of Woodstock. I'm predjudiced to Woodstock, but there are lots of new restaurants in the Rondout Dictrict. Take Broadway to the end at the Rondout Creek. It's the up and coming area of Kingston with new upscale restaurants and such. But if you are up early on saturday, take the twenty minute ride to Woodstock for lunch at Taco Juan's on the Village Green. John Grant, the owner, serves great vegetatian, mexican food, and is over sixty and can still run a sub 40 minute 10k on a flat course. Most of the younger guys still feel the pain trying to keep up with him. You should come up in October for his 10k race. It's anything but flat, and has the best post race meal anywhere! Village Pizza, now renamed Pizza on the Green, also on the village green(obviously) is also good. My favorite place for healthy food is New World Home Cooking on rt 212 between Woodstock and Saugerties. It's the most amazing food I've ever eaten. Just go light on the Psychedelic Sauce the night before the race. And just one more thing, on your way home stop in New Paltz to eat. there are bars and restaurants all along Mian St. If you stop at P&G's you'll be suporting one of the sponsors of the SOS!(the best race in the world)

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

Hey Bryanjaf:
I posted my thoughts about Tupper Lake in the thread about the race. I just got home a few hours ago and I'm already getting excited for the Hudson Valley Tri. Sounds like there's some good eating in the area too!

Sounds like you enjoyed Tupper Lake quite a bit. Congrats. Based on the responses from others it does look like we have what we need to enjoy Hudson Valley. My outlook for the race has diminished slightly due a bike spill I took this weekend. New focus is on just doing the race. Having a few-rays done later today but I am pretty sure nothing is broken. Going to have to borrow some wheels though.