i made a return trip to the UP this weekend, this time to copper harbor for my first-ever triathalon — and managed to survive! not only that, i think i did pretty well, finishing 25th out of 100 or so. also not too bad considering i’m a poor swimmer (78th ‘fastest’ time, lol) but made up for it on the run with the 5th fastest run time. more importantly it was actually a lot of fun, even the swim. the course was beautiful, and the biking portion was especially kick-ass; it’s a lot of fun to ride with the wind to your back along curves and (mostly) gentle hills right next to lake superior. and naturally the weather was perfect, unlike in mpls.
the UP, as always, supplied plenty of scenery and very few people to spoil it. we spent the afternoon following the race on a quiet beach in bete grise bay, drinking beer and catching a few z’s. (doesn’t get much better than that, right?) on the trip home we drove through porcupine mountains state park and visited the presque isle river and a lookout area somewhere (can’t remember the name). the keweenaw is definitely a pretty area, and i’d look forward to an excuse to go back up sometime.
