The Howling -- Wolfpack Weekly Update (June 8, 2025)

June 8 2025 -- Before I dive into the last few weeks racing results wanted to share that, sadly, Matt Lubiak was in a bike accident as he hit a car that turned in front of him while riding in NJ. Although I know a little more, I'll let Matt share what he wants to, but, in short, from what I understand, he was riding down a descent and a car turned and he t-boned the hood of the car. Although he was knocked unconscious and woke up in the hospital, he is expecting to be released soon. Of note, the driver was at fault and she waited at the scene.

HOWLS

May 24/25

Howl out to the Navesink, NJ Swim racers who dealt with miserably cold, 59 degree water. Matt Lubiak and Andy Solomon raced the 2.4 miler and RJ Boergers raced the 0.8 Miler. Way to tough it out, That swim race is hard enough without those absolutely freezing conditions.

Howl out to Mary "Mtn Goat" Hoftiezer who raced in the Hemi Mad Gravel 30 Mile race. Mary placed 2nd F60-64!

June 7/8

Howl out to Tara "The Little Engine that Can" who, at IronMan 70.3 Western Massachusetts, despite having her best discipline cancelled (swimming), had a solid day and punched her ticket to Marabella, Spain to compete in the IronMan 70.3 World Championships!

Howls out to Thomas "The Swedish Chef" Andreasson and Jason "Maverick" Smith who raced at IronMan 70.3 Des Moines. Of note, this was Thomas' first ever 70.3 (which I convinced him to do a couple months ago) which he completed a month after doing his first 13.1 (which I also convinced him to do a couple months ago)! Maybe 140.6 in the fall... Just saying... Oh, and next time Thomas, you don't sign up for the "Open" Category... Age Group... <Insert headshake here>. Credit to Maverick who wrestled through a bad stomach day to finish. Jason told me that they had them sign an additional document which he didn't really look at. E Coli in the water... Yikes and Yuk... Saw all the swim times were slow... Hoooommmm...

At the All Out Summer Breeze Half-Marathon in Arvada, Colorado, Mike "Captain Chaos" Vrabel muscled through the race as he knee got painfully sore at Mile 4 and he hand to hobble through the remaining 9 miles.

At the Colorado Sprint Tri in Boulder, CO which ended up being a competition loaded warm-up to IronMan Boulder 70.3 this weekend, Howls out to:

Mary "The Mountain Goat" Hoftiezer who placed 2nd F60-64

Natalie "Starfire" Pitts who placed 4th F35-39

Adam "The Giraffe" Smith who placed 4th M40-44 (Just a bummer as the guy that took first in M40-44 missed 3rd Overall by half a second which would have pulled him from Age Group and popped Adam up. Of note, Adam also raced this guy at KHMTT which he also, for the series, ended up in 2nd as one of the races he beat Adam by a half second...) With that said, Aam's race was the standout of the weekend. Given Adam's performance improvement over the past year, it is amazing how he went from being the slow moving "Kaiju" to the speedy "Giraffe", especially on the bike, as he used to be extremely tentative and now is comfortable flying! :)

Finally, Chris Kachinsky-Bye placed 1st F55-59 (8th Overall Female) and I took 2nd M55-59 ( One of those Colorado super studs showed up and stomped me... :) )

Get Ready to HOWL Next weekend:

On the East Coast, Andy "The Hammer" Solomon will be racing IronMan 70.3 Happy Valley in Pennsylvania and RJ "The BoogeyMan" Boergers will be racing the Independence Triathlon in Massachusetts!

Out West, Mary "The Mountain Goat" Hoftiezer, Natalie "Starfire" Pitts, Adam "The Giraffe" Smith, Khabir "Oh My Gosh, By" Ghale, and Chris and I will be racing IronMan 70.3 Boulder. It is supposed to get close to 90 degrees, so if you read about some athlete spontaneously imploding on the course, that's probably me... On hot race days, Chris likes to play "Melt with You" while we are having our breakfast... :)

2025 Podium / Personal Record (PR) Counter -- 75 (If I am missing anything, let me know)

2025 PR Counter -- 6

- Thomas "The Swede" Andreasson (M55-59) 2 - Drink MO Wine 13.1 / IronMan 70.3 Des Moines

- Matt "Jiffy" Lubiak (M50-54) 1 - 10K: Cherry Blossom 10K

- Andy "The Hammer" Solomon (M50-54) 1 - 26.2: Jersey City Marathon

- Matt "The Mountain" Rogotzke (M30-34) 1 - 5K: Fitger's 5K

- Adam "The Kaiju" Smith (M40-44) 1 - 13.1: Boulder Rez Half-Marathon

2025 Podium Counter -- 69

- Mary "Mountain Goat" Hoftiezer (F60-64) 15 - Bicycle Colorado Zwift Series (Race 1: 4th/Race 2: 2nd/Race 3: 2nd / Series: 2nd) / 2nd AG: KHMTT #01 / 2nd AG: KHMTT #02 / 2nd AG: KHMTT #03 / 2nd AG: KHMTT #04 / 2nd AG: KHMTT #05 / 2nd AG: KHMTT #06 / 2nd F50-59 Blue Heron 13.1 / 2nd AG: KHMTT #07 / 2nd AG: KHMTT Series / 2nd AG: Hemi 30 Miler / 2nd AG: Colorado Sprint Tri

- Adam "The Giraffe" Smith (M40-44) 10 - 4th M40-44 Cat 5: KHMTT #01 / 4th M40-44 Cat 5: KHMTT #02 / 1st M40-44 Cat 5: KHMTT #03 / 5th AG: Boulder Rez 13.1 /1st M40-44 Cat 5: KHMTT #04 / 2nd M40-44 Cat 5: KHMTT #05 / 3rd M40-44 Cat 5: KHMTT #06 / 2nd M40-44 Cat 5: KHMTT #07 / 2nd M40-44 Cat 5: KHMTT Series / 4th AG: Colorado Sprint Tri

- Matt "The Mountain: Rogotzke (M30-34) 4 - 4th AG: Fitger's 5K / 5th Cat 5: KHMTT #02 /5th Cat 5: KHMTT #04 / 5th Cat 5: KHMTT #05

- Matt "Jiffy" Lubiak (M55-59) 2 - 5th AG: Cherry Blossom 10K / 1st AG: Independence Sprint Tri

- Nat "Starfie" Pitts (F35-39) 2 - 2nd F30-39 LM 13.1 / 4th AG: Colorado Sprint Tri

- Thomas "The Swede" Andreasson (M55-59) 1 - 4th M50-59 Drink MO Wine 13.1

- Tara "Yes I Can" Corduan (F50-54) 1 - 5th F50-54 Superhero 13.1

- Andy "The Hammer" Solomon (M5-54) 1 - 2nd AG: Jerseyman

- RJ "The Boogeyman" Boergers (M45-49) 1 - 1st AG: Jerseyman

- Christine Kachinsky-Bye (F55-59) 11 - 3rd Overall Female: Polar Prowl 10K / 1st F50-54 All Out Mardis Gras Crawl 13.1 / 2nd AG: KHMTT #01 / 2nd AG: KHMTT #03 / 1st F 50-59: Boulder Rez 13.1 / 1st AG: KHMTT #05 / 1st AG: KHMTT #06 / 2nd AG: KHMTT Series / 2nd F50-59: Colfax 13.1 / 1st AG: Colorado Sprint Tri

- John Bye (M55-59) 21 - 3rd M55-59 Polar Prowl 13.1 / 2nd M55-59 All Out Mardis Gras Crawl 13.1 / 1st M50-59 Cat 4 Frostbite TT / 2nd M50+ Cat 4: KHMTT #01 / 2nd M55-59 Cat 4: KHMTT #01 / 1st M50+ Cat 4: KHMTT #02 / 2nd M55-59 Cat 4: KHMTT #02 / 1st M50+ Cat 4: KHMTT #03 / 2nd M55-59 Cat 4: KHMTT #03 / 2nd M55-59 Boulder Rez 10K / 1st M50+ Cat 4: KHMTT #04 / 2nd M55-59 Cat 4: KHMTT #04 / 1st M50+ Cat 4: KHMTT #05 / 1st M55-59 Cat 4: KHMTT #05 / 1st M50+ Cat 4: KHMTT #06 / 2nd M55-59 Cat 4: KHMTT #06 / 1st M50+ Cat 4: KHMTT Series / 2nd AG: KHMTT Series / 2nd AG: Colorado Sprint Tri