I am back in Lake Placid to volunteer at the Ironman. It is 7 years since I did my first IM here and this will be the third time I volunteer. Last year I was up here only Friday to Monday and for a 6 hour drive it seemed too short. This year I arrived yesterday afternoon (Thursday) and will stay until Tuesday morning. I am volunteering at registration today from 8:30 to 12:45 so have an hour to blog. I am also doing two volunteer shifts on race day (Sunday).
I planned to leave at 8am yesterday but it was 9:30 before I left. I did an hour on the bike trainer in the basement and then threw a huge amount of stuff in Scrat (my campervan). I already had both the Buffalo Triathlon Club’s tent and one for my friend’s Love and Sprockets bike shop but Van has more space than I can use. I put some drinks and fruit in the fridge but didn’t bring any real meal food as Lake Placid is not the wilderness.
The thruway was not bad at all compared to recent summer travels. Cruise control on 75 and Waze notified me of the few police.
I was glad not to be stuck in this very long westbound delay for an accident that seemed to involve a boat trailer.
Scrat is very comfortable to drive for long distances (a few weeks ago Alex and I drove from Buffalo to Montauk Point) , I just wish it had lane assist , it just has lane departure warning but doesn’t keep in the lane line most modern cars, I think maybe because it is a Commercial vs passenger van.
While the shortest distance between two points is a straight line there is no direct way to Lake Placid from Buffalo. The quickest is via Syracuse, then North to Watertown and then East to Placid.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adirondack_Park?wprov=sfti1
The Adirondacks Park is 6 Million acres!
Last year I stayed at a KOA campground much further away from Lake Placid and in wrong direction for race day driving. This campground has just bathrooms, hot showers (very clean as I always find at NYS campgrounds) and water. But I don’t need electric hookup or a store, pool, etc. that he KOA provides. And at 18$ per night…… 🙂
I locked my bike to my table and headed into town. I did a longish swim, water was around 75 so I didn’t bother with a wetsuit (would wear it in race for the added speed). My swim pace was not great but my rash guard slows me a little and I and biked in the morning and driven 6 hours ….
I had planned to put up the tents on Friday morning but there was a high chance of rain both Friday and Saturday so I set up the BTC tent (only raised halfway and secured with stakes, weights and tied to lamppost in case got windy). This was an extra workout….
My friend Joe was also here early so we met for dinner at the Tail o the Pup which I have driven past 20 times but never eaten at. It was great. Amazing service, great food and live music (it is under new ownership now). It is just a 2 minute walk from my campground!
There was an ice cream shop across from the campgrounds so I got a milkshake to enjoy while I arranged my gear, put a tarp over my bike and got ready for bed. I put the top down and slept downstairs as I knew it would start raining at 3am. The tent top is waterproof but I try to avoid getting it wet if possible to extend its life.
