HOP Fit Club

Team HOP-Fit has taken their first Tri win of the season at the Greenlake Tri in Spicer MN.

The Team of Carrie Hyopponen (swimmer) Eric Nacey (bike) & Jodi Rohe (runner) took top honorers this past Sunday in a cool and windy race.

After weeks of acclimating ourselves to the hot weather we’re surprised by the sudden turn in the weather. To no avail we were determined to make something out of this years race after the last 2 years of disappointing 3rd places. Recovering from a hip injury, Jodi was waffling about wearing a device that her personal trainer gave her which restricted her stride. She finally decided to go without which I think gave her the confidence she needed to run even faster.

With the Team race in the 5th wave it gave us time to burn up nervous energy and go to the bathroom that one more time.

Finally the 5th wave started with Carrie taking on the swim with great results coming out of the water 4th fastest. Then it was my turn, I saw our true competition’s swimmer come out about a 1 minute before Carrie so I knew their cyclist was just up the road, I just need to catch fast. At about the 3 1/2 mile mark I caught him and passed him as fast as I could just to make a point. After that the ride was a breeze literally, with only one short section of head wind to deal with. Coming into transition with the fastest bike split I handed off the chip to Jodi who took us all the way home with the 7th fastest time and a strong run and stride with no signs of injury or weakness.

Great results after the last 3 years of tri-ing.

Our next race will be in Baxter in two weeks. Hope you can all make it up to race. It’s a great race course and a beautiful one to enjoy too.

Cheers

Eric

Mark your calendars now for next year’s Pine City Freedom Fest Triathlon! When? Um… Well I guess I don’t know when next year’s is, since this year’s was just this past Saturday. But mark your mental calendars for sometime late next June.

What’s that? Why are you marking your mental calendars? Sorry, I guess I should’ve led with that. Here goes (better late than never):

I just discovered the coolest little beginner triathlon. And if you’ve ever toyed with the idea of doing one, but have some lingering fears, I really think this would be a gentle one to help you over those humps.

If a multi-sport event could ever be described as “cute”, this one would.

It’s a 300-yard swim in a clear, small, warm, weedless “lake”. But, even better, that 300 yards is mostly just a suggestion. Out to the paddle boat and back is 300 yards. But if you don’t want to go that far, you can just go out to the swim raft and back. It’s okay.

(Did I mention that this race is untimed?)

The swim is short and simple. The bike is flat and along mostly decent roads. The run is short, and the third quarter of it is a nice, long, gentle downhill bringing you right back into town.

Oh, did I mention? It’s wicked cheap. Early-bird registration would have been $15. I missed that and had to pay $20. Including long-sleeve t-shirt.

Granted, there are some concerns with a race this small and informal. They need lots more volunteers and some law enforcement presence for traffic control on the bike and run course. (Although they were comfortingly well-staffed for the swim part. Lots of lifeguard-looking folks on the shore and in paddle boats and kayaks.)

All in all though, I think it makes a great event for a first triathlon. My mom ran it this weekend as her first and I wrote a big, long post about it with all kinds of race details here.

Just a suggestion!

Skoog

As most of you know Brandon Testa the owner of House of Pizza is the main race coordinator for the Apple Duathlon on Saturday, May 29th.

This year has been a lean year for the Apple on getting volunteers for race day. In the hopes of getting more help, we the race coordinators of the Apple are asking our members of the HOP-Fit club for help.

If your not racing and would like to help anyway possible, we’d love you to come and help out. We’re looking for people to help with corner marshals on the bike and run course, help in the start finish area and many more other duties.

Time required to be at the race start location (Sartell Middle School) is 6:30am all wrapping up around 1pm with a after race party at 2:00 PM – Volunteer Appreciation Party at Partners Pub in Sartell. Volunteers and family get FREE PIZZA and POP!

We’d love it if you could help or if you have a family member who’d like to help we’d appreciate it greatly.

If you’re interested in helping please e-mail Samantha, she’s in charge of our race day volenteers.

Here is her e-mail,   BarnesS@centracare.com

Thank you hope to see you all out there racing or helping.

Eric

For something like 10 years now Charlie and Jeni Schad have opened their home up for the Apple Post Race party.

If there is one thing you should do to start the 2010 summer, it’s go to this Post Race party.

It’s not overly crazy and it’s not a wild drunken affair. It’s good times talking to people with similar interests from the Hop-Fit club and the St Cloud area Cycling/Tri/Running community.

It’s a great place to make friends and start matching faces with names. Charlie is always crazy good on the grill and there is always plenty of fun to be had.

I know my team-mate Jodi and I have been training extra hard just to get ready for the party.

Here is the breakdown and info.

You look forward to riding all winter and now spring is here and it’s time to ride but you fear that dreaded first couple rides due to having a sore butt.

Here’s the secret I was told many years ago and it still hold true today.

Ride your bike at least 10 miles each day for 3 days in a row. By the 3rd day your butt will be doing much better.

If you can endure the pain of day 2, day 3 will be better and you’ll be off to a great start for the season.

Cheers

Eric

As one of the founding members of this club I always want to make sure that our members get their best value for joining HOP-Fit Club. I also know that sometimes the best value is something you can’t buy, but comes in the form of advice.

So with that in mind, I’ve decided to spread some of my wealth of cycling/life knowledge onto all of you. With a 28 year history of riding bike and 12+ years of working in the cycling industry, I’ve done, seen and heard just about all of it. Take this for what you want. Some people will know some of this stuff others none at all. My hope is to educate and entertain you with tid-bits of (hopefully) daily advice.

First one: Recovery

Never stand when you can sit. Never sit when you can lay down.

Cheers

Eric

Hello to all HOP-Fit Members

With this fine springtime weather apon us our desire turns to the great outdoors. With that,  we’ve come up with a planned weekly mountain bike ride.

Starting this next Monday May 3rd at 6pm we’ll be meeting at the Jail Trail head. If you don’t know where this is located feel free to drop a note on this blog and we’ll help you out.

To give you a heads up if you’ve not ridden the trail yet, it’s mostly flat with little technique parts to worry about.

And of course everyone of all levels and ages are welcome to join us. This is a relaxed fun time to sharpen your off road riding skills and to perhaps enjoy a beer or two at The House afterward.

If this Monday night doesn’t work for your schedule, we’ll could add another ride on Wednesday evenings. Please give us feedback as to what works for you.

Cheers

Eric

St. Cloud FC is a local adult soccer club offering
5 – 8 year old boys and girls an opportunity to further their skills as soccer players while having some fun.

A weekend training session held at Bernick’s Arena will be led by experienced adult players and coaches who will teach the children basic ball handing skills, on-field positioning and teamwork.

Each session will consist of a training session followed by a series of short, small sided games.

When: Saturday April 10th – 11am – 12:30pm
          Sunday April 11th – 11am – 12:30pm 

Where: Bernicks Arena – Sartell Minnesota

Fees: $22 includes a kid goodie bag.

Registration:  Simply print out the registration form and drop it off at the arena or mail it in to the address on the form.

Many people are wondering if the club is going to be back for the 2010 season.  YES we most definitely are.

We are having a board meeting Feb 18th to discuss all the details for this year.  If you’re interested in helping organize this year please contact us.

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Stay tuned…