Who's going to Apostle this weekend?

[Spencer.Berry]

Any of you going to be at the Apostle Islands Inline Marathon this weekend?
I've been wanting to do this one for years, and I'm finally going!
Hope we get lucky with the weather!

[SkateMO]

I wish I were going. It's a great race.

In terms of the weather, it always seems to either rain at that race or be wet at the start of the race (or have a threat of rain during the race). So, my point is to say, weather always tends to be factor regardless of whether it physically rains or stays dry - because again, rain is always in the forecast. And, oftentimes, skaters spend a lot of time debating equipment choices because they try to predict the conditions.

On the bright side, even if it rains, it's an easy course to skate in the rain. The last time I did it, there was standing water on the roads. There were some heavy downpours while we were skating. Other than a few things here and there, rain didn't have an impact. We were still skating fast and having fun.

My advice would be to use "regular wheels", regardless of the conditions. I can't speak for the 125 wheel options, but I would use a hard wheel from MPC or Atom or even Matter (if you are using 110s). My preferred wheel is the G13, but I tend to use something like the "Booms" if it rains. I think G13s can be a little iffy in wet conditions. But, assuming your technique is relatively good, I definitely wouldn't go for a rain wheel - but that's just me. The only real technical spot on the entire course that might give rain wheels an advantage would be the finish...because it's a 90 degree right-hand turn and that's the only spot where slipping out could cost you placement / time.

Good luck.

[ese002]

I wish. The travel logistics of this race are formidable, though, and I started a new job barely two months ago. I just couldn't pull it together in time.

[kufman]

Would like to go, but we can't afford to pay a babysitter for 36 hours straight Truth be told, I am not in shape enough to do a marathon anyway.

[gopherfan]

Results can be found here. Participants are down from 371 last year to 351 this year. Looks like Steve Meisinger took the lead on lap two and maintained a two minute lead for the rest of the race. Kara Parker also won with a solo finish. I'm curious if the course dried out after some rain overnight? This would be the best race in North America if the weather was drier and it was easier to get to. As Ty said, the pavement takes water well, but most of us prefer dry pavement.

[Spencer.Berry]

It was an AWESOME race! Blue sky, totally dry pavement, and lots of great people out there today! I turned 50 on Thursday, so this was my first race in the 50-59 pro/advanced group. We had a large fast group and caught a lot of the younger guys who started a minute earlier. Super fun! I definitely want to come back!

[Spencer.Berry]

There are tons of great photos from the race all over FB, but here are a few that were easy to link to in inline images:
















Embedded images above are from this site:
https://kennedyonsports.smugmug.com/...2017/i-JNbBhDz

[Spencer.Berry]

Originally Posted by ese002

The travel logistics of this race are formidable

Very formidable indeed!
Wednesday night June 14th, we did an overnight flight from Portland to Chicago. Arrived in Chicago early morning Thursday the 15th. Drove up to the Milwaukee airport to pick up our older daughter who was flying in from NY. From there, we drove all the way up to my mom's house in Door County (extreme NE part of WI, above Green Bay). On the 16th, we drove from my mom's house over to Bayfield, WI, which is a 6 hour drive. Got up early on the 17th to do the race (that was the fun part, of course!). Immediately after the race, back in the car for the 6 hour drive back to my mom's house. Wow, that was exhausting. The race was the easy part! But yes, totally worth it!