Ohio Street, August 28

When we left our meeting place for the loop this morning there was not a trace of wind, a nearby flag was totally limp. Two younger but very strong swimmers from our morning pool have signed up for big shoulders so they finally decided to accompany us this morning. But they did drive together but separately from us. We were expecting a possible parking hassle with the triathlon this morning but although there were noticeably more cars parked near Columbus drive it was typical Sunday morning by the Lake. We motioned our fellow swimmers into the prime spot by the entrance to the tunnel under LSD and we parked just around the corner on Ontario. We first realized we were in trouble when we had a hard time just opening the car doors because of the wind whipping down Ontario St.

Conditions were not as bad as two weeks ago, according to Leo and Jody who were here then but not at all nice either. A strong northeast wind, and 2-3 foot waves, water about 73 degrees. One of our new swimmers felt seasick by the quarter mile mark and came back and left the water. Leo had a hard time making any progress at all so he and Jody got out of the water and walked to the quarter mile mark and swam back. I did swim to the quarter mile mark and then came back in time to see our friend Sue just starting out. Shortly thereafter Leo and Jody appeared and Sue and Jody took off for the quarter mile mark and back, Leo and I got out and waited. Our other newbie, who is hoping for an "elite" designation at Big Shoulders did swim all the way out to the Oak St. turn, it took him 30 minutes. He came back with the wind in 14 minutes, still slower than his hoped for Big Shoulder pace. If Big Shoulders had been today the only reason it might have been doable is that we would have the wind for 2 out of 3 legs and the third leg, although directly into the wind, was more protected from the waves.