Race Coverage

Bike Course Reconnaissance...

Friday, 12 June 2026 00:10

By Mitchell Clayton

I started the Buffalo Sprint Triathlon on a terribly rainy day back in 2014 and did not finish due to a flat tire roughly 1 mile into the bike leg. Last Sunday, 12 years later, I finally collected my first Buffalo finish. The conditions were great for racing early in the day but got a little hot and humid right around the time I finished. The short summary is that I was able to put together a solid overall swim-bike-run effort. The swim was standard (but weedy), I biked faster than I thought I would on this course, but I ran little slower than I expected.

Now for the long summary. Like in most races as a former high school swimmer, the swim leg was pretty standard. I settled in at a 6/10 effort – fast enough and sort of tough, but without tiring myself out. Unfortunately, the lake was pretty weedy at the start and end of the course and I felt like a lake monster with the weeds getting caught around my head and shoulders.

The bike portion of the race started about a month prior to race day when I made the 4-hour round trip to do a course recon. And boy, I’m glad I did. The course was hillier than I thought, which changed my race plan and gave me time to buy a new cassette with easier gearing. The goal was to push less watts than I usually do on the flats but to really rip it up the hills, and that what I ended up executing. I built into the uphill portions, ending up cresting the 4 major hills at over 400 watts, and settled in at a high Zone 3 effort for the rest of the course. There are 2 major takeaways from the bike course: First, I’m really aero right now, ...

validating the time and money I invested in this over the winter. Second, I rode the course well. My average and normalized power stats were actually pretty low for me, but I ended up going fast on a tough course by putting down power where it matters. I think triathletes in general can get too caught up on power, but the only stat that matters on race day is speed :)

My big goal for the day was to average sub-6:00 miles for the entire 5K for the first time ever. And I missed that. I averaged 6:12 miles, so not far off, but I felt like trash and wanted to quit after the first minute. Upon reflection, I think the big efforts up the hills on the bike may have taken the spring out of my step for the run. Oh well, room to improve in the future!

The Buffalo Triathlon is an early-season classic, and one that everyone should put on their race calendar next year. Big shoutout to everyone who made it around the tough, fun course. And a special shoutout to Owen Lindseth who got 2nd place with a great time in his first triathlon ever. My money is on him to start winning competitive races in the next couple of years.