Cool Pix,

I probably saw you at the Boathouse.
Cayman and I were there from 12 pm to after 12 am after clean up.

I was wearing the floppy boonie-type hat to keep the sun off me.

They were running out of sponges by 6pm.
The recycled sponge thing was kind of disgusting, so I am packing my own wet sponges in a ziplock next year.

You missed the last couple of finishers coming thru close to midnight.
The drama!!

Nice pics!

I volunteered at Special Needs Bike from 9am-2pm. SO glad I did. All of the athletes were SO grateful and fun to be around. It's obviously a nice perk being able to register first on Monday before non-volunteers, but I can say without a doubt that I will be volunteering again either at IMLP or another race just because I enjoyed it so much.

The whole Special Needs Bike station freaked me out a little, because I feel like people were coming in WAY too fast and not doing a good job of getting out of the middle of the road once they stopped. Fortunately there were no accidents/collisions, other than a couple of people falling off of their bikes at slow speeds. I am definitely going to steal some ideas to use in my own special needs bag next year.

Anton I definitely saw you on the run and cheered for you. I assume you were finishing your first loop. Despite your foot problems, you obviously looked like someone that deserved to be there! :) Congrats to any and all finishers! Enjoy the recovery!

IMLP 2010 will be my first full IM. Can't wait!

I have to comment on the riders as I was making my way slowly up Rte 73 to LP Saturday morning. Bikers 2-3 across and in groups were selfishly hogging the lanes oblivious to traffic and the posted signs of "share the road". This was without a doubt the elitist, we're more important than you attitude that the locals must be so tired of enduring. I had a few select comments to shout out the window myself as I was driving along.

Saturday night Sunday morning walking back to the car a mile or so from the station beads and I were yelled at by a carload of passing teens and it wasn't a happy, hi howdy, how ya doin? The next morning on our way out of town after signing up for 2010 we passed a car with a coupla bikes racked on back, obvious racers from the day before, the troopers lights blaring on this guys butt. My conclusion, okay the weekend's over, you've spent your money, we've put up with your bs, now it's our turn.

This race may go away in 3 years because the locals seem to be fed up, can't say as I blame them.
Don't sh!t in your own backyard, it's important to be respectful of the communities we race in.

Sorry for the rant.

And yeah, I think I'll pass on the sponges next year no matter how hot it is.

Cayman,
Yeah, 2 years ago at IMWI I was on my way to the Saturday TF meetup when I noticed a huge gash in my tire and had to head to the expo to get a new one to replace it.

If you were anywhere near the end of the aid station (as the runners were coming out) you and I were real close. I was there with an older guy that was handing out water. I was the one that kept sneaking across the line to steal cookies later on in the evening. I would tell you I had an orange IRON TEAM shirt on, but so did everyone :) I spent the first 2+ hours behind the tables filling up the gatorade and ice and then the last hour or so on the yellow line giving out ice as runners came back into town.

As for athletes in LP, I had heard going in there were tensions. About 6 of us did a group ride around the course Saturday and we did our best to ride single file, on or as close to the berm as we could etc...and still got honked at and flipped off constantly. I clearly got the impression the townsfolk were going out of their way to let us know we were not welcome, which is a shame that a few are ruining it for most of us that do behave.

We will def have to plan a meet-up next year at IMLP for the race.

KK

Good for Patrick! He coached me and my husband for a few years until we parted ways (primarily due to issues with his business partner). But he's a good guy and a class act.

Thanks for sharing, Anton!

I read it and added my .02 to the site

here it is

It is sad that there was a reason to write an apology letter. I am a triathlete and I have family that has a house in Lake Placid, and I have spent time in the area in other times of the year. Unfortunately it is not just the triathletes that are the only contributors to these problems. As previously posted it is many groups that are visiting, and of those it is just a few disrespectful people. I spent over 12 hours on race day this past weekend volunteering to assist the triathletes on course. Most of that time I spent walking back and forth beyond our aide station cleaning up trash with other volunteers. I can speak for over a hundred volunteers at our aide station that we respected the area we were in by cleaning up after ourselves and others. Some of us did this so we could have the privilege of competing in the event next year.

Just to bring this back to the positive side a bit, IMWI is a completely different animal. Towns people come out and support the riders often crowding the lane at aid stations and special needs, more like TdF, mucho cowbell.

The run is also well supported thru the campus and you're just as likely to get handed a weiss beer and jello shot as gatorade. One of the runners I heard tell of had a special treat of a wet t-shirt line and the showing of the guard. Sure would have picked up my run.

Sorry to hijack your thread KK.