Dear Cleveland Tri Peeps,

As winter turns to spring, Cleveland Tri Club is excited to begin our training and racing for real! The Club had

an outstanding winter with so many great training opportunities around the city. The warmer weather will

allow even better ways to

train for any upcoming

race you might be

planning. We look forward

to seeing all of our old

friends and some new

faces very soon.

Congratulations are in

order to all those that

worked so hard over the

winter to help CTC finish

first in the Mid East Region

of the USAT National Club

Challenge. Many of you

participated in the 3 month challenge and your results were amazing. Winning our region was a good start.

The club will look to have more participation next year making our presence known nationally against some of

the bigger clubs!

Once again, the CTC Tri Camp is May 1-3 at Mohican Wilderness Adventures. This is a great weekend for

everyone to learn, train and have a lot of fun. Be sure to reserve your spot quickly as this event will surely sell

out.

The new gear for CTC looks amazing thanks to CTC member Steve McGowan. Steve put some great thought

into the new design. We researched several new suppliers and selected Sugoi for the gear. Their gear has

always been high quality. The ordering is up on our website and runs through April 6. You will definitely want

this gear this year for racing!

CTC looks forward to a big year for all of us. Many of our members are going long with 70.3’s and 140.6’s. But

even if you are looking at your first sprint, please come out and join us for any of the events. All are welcome

and you will have a great time.

See you on the road!

Ken Beech

CTC President

Paco Velo Wetsuits Official

Supplier for all WTC Races

WTC has taken a surprising turn away from the

well-established wetsuit manufacturers like

Zoot, Xterra

and Blue

Seventy.

New comer

to the

marketplace,

Paco Velo

LLC, has

entered into an exclusive relationship with WTC

and all of their Ironman branded events. TriBug

sent reporter and veteran triathlete Eric Gibb

out to interview Paco Velo at his chalet in

Breckenridge, CO to discuss his new line of

wetsuits and what this means to the triathlon

community.

TriBug (TB): Mr. Velo, you are relatively an

unknown in the triathlon community at the

national level. What can you tell us about your

background that makes you qualified to make

this new venture successful.

Pace Velo (PV): Even though I don’t know you,

you can call me Paco. I am nationally known,

people just don’t realize it. I’m post/comment

on Slowtwitch….especially when someone

needs a dose of reality. I’ve been doing

triathlons longer than some of the “pros” have

been alive. I’ve done countless races at all

distances. Needless to say I have participated in

over 100 triathlons, and that includes 13

Ironman races.

TB: How did you get involved with WTC?

PV: Once they realized who I was on

Slowtwitch and other social media they

contacted me about being a consultant. My

swimming background is what they really

wanted to tap into.

TB: What ideas have you presented to

WTC?

PV: First I told them the swim needs to be

longer. Make everything more proportional.

They threw some BS at me about tradition and

history. I still don’t buy it. Then I mentioned

qualifying swim times BEFORE you are allowed

to sign up for an Ironman race. And the

wussification of swimming 2.4 miles by

providing “rest areas”. I almost had an

aneurysm with that brilliant idea. They should

have brought me on years ago.

TB: So why wetsuits? Everything I have

read about you seems to be anti-wetsuits.

PV: It was a hard pill to swallow but

wetsuits aren’t going away. As much as I feel

they are a crutch for many swimmers it is part

of the sport. I continue the battle and

encourage people to become proficient

swimmers so that if necessary they could swim

1.2 or 2.4 miles without a wetsuit.

TB: So tell us about your new product.

What is your relationship with WTC?

PV: I am the EXCLUSIVE provider of wetsuits

for all WTC Ironman branded events.

TB: I understand that.

PV: No you don’t. No one does because I

haven’t told you what EXCLUSIVE means in this

case. If you want to do an Ironman event, 70.3

or 140.6, you must wear one of my wetsuits.

No exceptions.

TB: Isn’t that unfair? A monopoly at the

races?

PV: Grow a pair. This is ‘Merica. Home of

the free….land of the brave….birthplace of

commercialism.

TB: Okay. Go ahead and explain what this

means.

PV: I have developed a new wetsuit that

will change triathlon swimming forever. Let’s

say you are doing a full IM. You use one of my

full sleeve wetsuits for the swim. The neoprene

is designed to disintegrate over time.

TB: WHAT?!?! The suit disintegrates?

PV: Yes. Now please shut-up. The sleeves

are the first to go. After 30 – 45 minutes, half

way through a 2.4 mile swim, the sleeves fall

apart and you are now in a sleeveless wetsuit.

Another 15 – 20 minutes later the legs fall off.

By the time you exit the water there won’t be

much left to take off and the first transition will

be much easier. For some swimmers the arms

coming off will be the first indicator that you

better get your butt moving. Because if you

aren’t that strong of a swimmer when the legs

come off your swim becomes harder. Now for

the surprise.

TB: You mean the arms and legs

disintegrating isn’t “surprise” enough?

PV: No. Because if at any point the swim

safety director feels you won’t make your

cutoff, based upon your submitted qualifying

time, he can trigger the inflation feature. Your

wetsuit will fill with air and you will become a

bobbing obstacle. Then the safety teams in the

boats can take their time towing you into shore.

Unfortunately your race is over.

TB: Wow. I just don’t know what to say. I

can’t believe you were able to pull this off and

convince WTC this would work.

PV: Of course it works. People won’t die

during the swim, WTC makes their money….and

so do I.

Before going to press, TriBug tried reaching

Paco Velo with additional questions.

Unfortunately no one has been able to reach

Paco including WTC. As of this time the

relationship between WTC and Paco Velo

Wetsuits has been cancelled. Happy April Fools.

APRIL FOOL’S!!! Now for the real news…check

the following pages.

Elite Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation is a privately owned, outpatient physical therapy clinic in North Royalton,

Ohio. Our mission is to provide the highest quality, most innovative rehabilitative services to patients of all ages.

We pride ourselves in providing one-on-one care, utilizing a whole-body approach to treat the “cause” of the

impairment, as well as, the impairment itself. At Elite, our goal is to maximize every patient’s level of

performance and wellness.

Matthew C. Stevens PT, DPT graduated from Walsh University in 2010 with a doctoral degree in Physical

Therapy. He attended Baldwin-Wallace College for his undergraduate studies in Pre-Physical Therapy and

Exercise Science, where he also played collegiate football for four years. His clinical expertise includes outpatient

orthopedics, post-operative rehabilitation, sports injuries and dry needling. Matt has competed in triathlons for

two years. He is an avid yogi, a handstand enthusiast and enjoys water skiing, hiking and spending time with his

English Mastiff, Winston.

Elite Physical Therapy offers a variety of services to assist athletes with improving performance and reducing

risk of injury. Our services include functional movement screens, dry needling, running evaluations, therapeutic

sports massage, joint mobilization/manipulation, active release technique and corrective exercise to keep you

performing at your highest level. Elite treats all orthopedic conditions including sports injuries, neck/back pain

and joint pain to name a few. In addition to treating orthopedic conditions, Elite offers therapeutic sports

massage to enhance performance pre-race and improve tissue healing post-race. Check out our website

www.elitetherapyandrehab.com for more details.

All CTC Members Receive 15% off of all Physical Therapy services at Elite Physical Therapy

We accept most major medical insurances and no physician referral required.

Tri Camp Preview

The 2015 CTC Triathlon Camp is right around the corner! It’s hard to believe that a year has

passed since the final day of Tri Camp. This will be the 6th offering of this fantastic event.

Tri Camp provides an excellent opportunity for both “newbies” and veterans to jump start their

season. Our camp

focuses mostly on

cycling, as Mohican

State Park and

surrounding areas

provide an amazing

venue to work that

piece of the trilogy.

We get in some

quality running as

well, including the

infamous twilight

trail run to kick things off on Day 1. Swimming options are limited to some instructional work.

Of course, if getting wet is important, we have several hot tubs at our disposal!

For the veterans, there is no better pre-season training on the bike than this. If you can make it

down for the big Friday ride, you will ride more than 150 miles & climb over 10,000 feet during

the course of the weekend. A shorter option is also available Friday afternoon. Even if your

base training was sub-par over this long, cold winter and spring, the weekend at Tri Camp will

get your training back

on track.

For the newbies, you

will be learning from

several veterans who

love to share valuable

knowledge and advice.

We are changing up the

structure of the instruction session a bit based on feedback from previous years. We have

some very cool surprises for you this year!

The social aspects of camp are immeasurable.

Contacts are made. Friendships are formed.

Stories are told for years. Last year, we had

over 50 campers. We expect about the same

this year. Dinners will be catered and there

will be plenty of food and goodies available for

breakfast, lunch, and snacks.

We’ve received rave reviews from the camp

participants each of the past several years.

There is no doubt that we will all start our early

season races strong and confident thanks to

our camp experience!

Sweat X, 100% made and invented in Northeast Ohio, is a specially

formulated high performance sports laundry cleaning products designed to

remove even the toughest sports stains and odors from your technical

fabrics. During independent testing, Sweat X Detergent outperforms all

leading detergents removing and eliminating 99% of all harmful bacteria

that causes MRSA, STAPH, and acne in standard laundry washes. In

addition, Sweat X outperformed all leading competitors to receive the

overall number one ranking in stain removal! Sweat X is 100%

biodegradable, 100% non-toxic with no dermal impact and is cheaper on an

average per load basis than Tide Sport. Visit www.sweatxsport.com and

place your order today. Prior to checking out, use promo code CTC10 to

receive your 10% off!

Shut Up and Ride

By Marie Rote

On a Wednesday night in Tucson, Arizona, I found myself crying on a curb to a cycling coach

who was basically calling me out for playing it safe and not pushing myself. He asked me the all

too simple question: “how do you get better if you don’t challenge yourself?” I got angry, he

isn’t my coach and had only seen me ride a handful of times. Other than a few rides, an

outspoken attitude, and some race results, what did this guy know about me and my abilities?

Knowing that I only had one more ride where I could show what I could do on a bike, I realized I

needed to take the attitude that I should have taken all week: shut up and ride.

With the current surge of

activity trackers: it’s no

surprise that everything we do

can be measured and

quantified from how many

hours of deep sleep we get a

night to number of steps we

take each day. With the now

common use of coaches in

triathlon and cycling, every

workout and every recovery

day is earmarked by heart rate

zone or power zone or what have you done to maximize performance for the big day.

Despite all the measurement of the tangibles, there are many athletes who are quite outspoken

about the intangibles. Those who know me well, know my favorite cyclist is Mark Cavendish.

Let’s be clear, I do not have a crush on Mark Cavendish, I don’t think he’s hot (although he does

have a great boyish grin), but what I love about Cav is the attitude. He is passionate about

winning, hates losing, and there is never ambivalence in his feelings towards his race results.

He is very clear that his job is to win races. He recognizes that he races with a team of riders

who sacrifice their own results to do everything they can to make winning easier for him.

Failing to win is just unacceptable. Despite Cavendish’s reputation as the fastest man on two

wheels, in both of his books, he mentions how wind tunnel tests have proven that he is only an

average cyclist, capable of only average results. Yet, his race results are anything but average,

having won 25 stages in the Tour de France as the most poignant. While he points to a very

clear reason why a wind tunnel test can’t measure him accurately: his use of the bike as

leverage to gain power (something that can’t be done on a trainer), tests and numbers don’t

quantify his determination and his knowledge about what it takes to win.

Now, I am no Mark Cavendish, but sometimes, I think it is important not to limit yourself by

what a set a numbers that a certain test tells you about your capabilities. I am the first person

to refuse a compliment, and I point to my absolute hatred for losing as a reason for any success

as opposed to any talent that I may have, but the one thing I do have is the ability to turn off

the internal indicators that tell me I going too hard so I can ride as hard as I can for as long as I

can in hopes that it will be long enough to make it to the finish.

So, on that last day in Tucson when I shut up

and rode, I changed the display of my Garmin

so that I couldn’t see how hard I was riding. I

knew I was riding hard, but not looking at the

numbers made it easier to ignore the internal

voice telling me “you aren’t going to make it

back if you keep riding this hard.” Sometimes,

it’s time to ask that voice, “Yeah? How do you

know?” Maybe that voice is right, but you

probably will never figure out the truth if you

always listen to it and play it safe.

Now, I am not saying, go ride like an absolute

idiot on every ride, nor am I saying don’t get a

coach. In fact, the week with a different

coach intrigued me into a different method of

training with very quantifiable fatigue

measurements, but sometimes, it’s important

to push yourself past your pre-determined limits and see just how hard or how fast you can ride

(or run or swim).

KIT ORDERING TIME

Cleveland Tri Club kit order page is open for business!!! You spoke, we

listened. This year's kit is from one of the most trusted and well respected

brands in triathlon, Sugoi. We researched several new suppliers and feel that

Sugoi gives us the best value and

options for CTC. Many of us have

worn Sugoi for several years from

other teams and find the product to

be excellent. In addition, we have

given you a wide variety of gear to

choose from with different price

points available. The ordering will go

through April 6, 2015. Get your order

in now!!! Product should be in by

June!

Create your account on the order site

and begin shopping. Shopping and

checkout cannot be easier. You will

order direct from Sugoi for CTC

custom gear and all payments will be

made to Sugoi which will make life

easier for CTC. This is the only way to order CTC gear. No orders or money will

go through the club. Product will ship to one location and distribution will be

determined at a later date. We will let you know when the gear arrives. The

design looks awesome, make sure you order something soon!

https://www.sugoicustomorder.com/clevelandtri