Bricks, Time Trials & Swims

Brick Workouts & Time Trials

A "brick" workout is any training session that involves two or more triathlon disciplines. In most cases brick workouts tend to include biking and running, which is the case for the BTC brick workouts.  

The origin of the term is a bit of a mystery.  Some say that it came from the combination of Bike-Run-ICK!  But others claim that the term was first coined by a couple of pro triathletes who felt that combining multiple disciplines together in these types of workouts was just like stacking building blocks, or bricks, to build to something larger. Thus after finishing the workout one of them said "just another brick in the wall," inspired by the Pink Floyd song.

BRICK Locations 

The first formal BRICK of the year will be hosted at Sunshine Park in West Seneca. See our Southtown workout page. Due to inclement weather, we did not host an intro/orientation class. 

The 2nd BRICK will be at the Northtowns site. 

For the 3rd BRICK, the club will make a return to the Chestnut Ridge location!

The 4th BRICK will be at Beaver Island on Grand Island, similar in location to our Spring Thing event. 

See the BTC Club Calendar for the latest up to date scheduling of the Brick workouts.

Start time SATURDAY Bricks - Sign in at 8:00am, Start time 8:30am

Northtown Site

On-site sign-in, number assignment, and transition area set-up takes place between 5:45pm - 6:25pm.  The timed brick events start promptly at 6:30pm.  It is crucial that we start on time to ensure that we finish before dusk.  If you arrive late, there is a good chance that you will still be able to do the timed event; however you will have to wait until after everyone else has started so that the volunteers can check you in and get you started, without delaying the start of everyone else.  There will be official time keepers at these events, and the results will be posted afterwards.  The time keepers will also keep an eye on everything in the transition area.  Members are also welcomed to participate in the workouts even if they do not want to be timed and do not want to have their results recorded and posted.

The Northtown bricks and time trials take place at the North Amherst Fire Company & Park, located at the corner of Tonawanda Creek Road (South) and Campbell Blvd (rte 270).  The exact address is 2200 Tonawanda Creek, Amherst NY 14228.  It is crucial that you park on the West side of the fire hall, and not the East side (where the baseball diamond is), because the ambulance exists from the East side.  The fire hall is a prime location for the brick workouts because there is ample parking, decent roads to bike on, and a very nice paved running path.  The terrain is very flat. Use the interactive map below to familiarize yourself with the location, bike, and run courses.

Types of Bricks, Bike Routes, and Running Routes

If you would like a turn-by-turn cue sheet for the brick bike course, you can print the one that is attached at the bottom of this page. That pdf file also contains cue sheets for 7 other bike routes that start at the North Amherst Fire Hall, but we do not use any of those for our timed brick workouts.  If you're going to use a cue sheet, you should give some thought to how/where you're going to attach it to your bike. You can also find some examples of home made cue sheet holders attached at the bottom of this page.

Timing & Scoring

For the timed Northtown bricks participants are awarded points based on their age group.  The fastest finisher in each age group is awarded 7 points.  The second fastest earns 5 points, the third fastest earns 3 points, and all other finishers earn 1 point.  Participants are grouped into the following age group categories: Male under 25, Female under 25, Male 25-34, Female 25-34, Male 35-44, Female 35-44, Male 45-54, Female 45-54, Male 55-64, Female 55-64, Male over 65, and Female over 65.  We follow USAT rules with regards to determining age groups (age as of Dec 31st of current year).   Awards are given at the end of the year for the top point earners in each age group.  The lowest score is dropped for each person.  In other words, if you miss a week, or have a bad week, that score will get dropped when the total points are calculated at the of the year.  The same categories and point system also applies to the time trial events.  Separate awards are given out for the time trial winners.

The last time trial of each season is dubbed the Members' Memorial Time Trial.  It originally began as the "Tim Chesko Memorial Time Trial," in 2008.  Tim Chesko was a BTC member and an all-around great guy who was taken from us much too early, in February of 2008.  You can read more about Tim in the March 2008 BTC newsletter.  In 2012 we lost another member, Gary Grant.  Gary was one of the original founders of the BTC in 1999, and had remained a member ever since.  It was then that we changed the name of the time trial to the "Members' Memorial Time Trial."  In 2016, we lost Kyle McArdle, and he was added to the list of BTC members that we wished to memorialize.  Anyone who has been to a BTC event or activity has likely met the McArdle family, and knows what a great family they are.  In 2018, the club was devastated again, with the loss of Joe Rosati.  Joe was one of the biggest personalities in the BTC, and a true cornerstone of the club.  One of the most prominent, welcoming, and helpful members that the club has ever had.  This special workout is part of our regular time trial series, but members are also able to compete for a special award.  At our year-end banquet the Tim Chesko Award will be given to the male and female who are able to beat their season average MPH by the greatest margin in the Members' Memorial Time Trial.  If nobody is able to beat their average MPH then the award will be given to whomever comes closest to their average MPH.  This award is all about competing against yourself, to be the best that you can be.  In order to be eligible for this special award, members must have competed in at least 2 of the 3 BTC time trials preceding the Member's Memorial Time Trial.

The results from each week, as well as the cumulative point totals will be posted on the web site shortly after each workout. 

The BTC generally holds 4 time trials per year. This year they will remain hosted out of our Northtown workout site. The day of the week is moving to TUESDAYS and are scheduled for the 3rd Tuesday of each month.

The final time trials of the year is our "Members' Memorial" time trial as a tribute to BTC members we've lost over the years.

Start time Northtown Time Trial Events: Sign in 5:45pm-6:25pm, workout starts promptly at 6:30pm

Northtown Maps & Cue Sheets

If you would like to print out a course map or cue sheet we have a few options available below.

Southtowns Location 1 - West Seneca

Location:  Sunshine Park

1750 East and West Road

West Seneca, NY 14224

The bike look is approx. 5.7 mile bike route. We will do 2 loops. Course is marked.

Bike Course (mapmyride.com)

The Run course is a .5 mile loop around the park.  

This will be an UNTIMED event.  Run as many loops as you'd like!

Southtowns Location 2 - Chestnut Ridge

Southtown brick location at Chestnut Ridge Park, near the North entrance off Newton Road.  It is typical for the BTC to utilize shelter #21.  If/when there is a problem with this location (such as another group booking the shelter, or the closure of the Newton Rd entrance, etc) we use the Casino parking lot as our alternate location (see map below).

This location has ample parking, great roads to bike on, and very nice running routes within the park.  Unlike the Northtown site, there are some significant hills on Southtown biking and running routes.

Types of Bricks, Bike Routes, and Running Routes

The workouts tend to consist of some combination of two running routes (0.9 miles and 3.9 miles) and a 7.5 mile bike loop.  Maps and elevation charts for those 3 routes can be found below.

Southtown Maps & Documents

Over the years we've used variety of routes for events at or near Chestnut Ridge. Some of the old maps and routes are available below for historical purposes and might be used again the future.

Important Information and Rules

Scheduled workouts are subject to change due to weather or other unforeseen circumstances.  Please be sure to watch this schedule along with the BTC online calendar, email, facebook page, etc, for any changes and cancellations. It is very rare for an event to be canceled in advance. Cancellations due to weather may be made on site at the time that the event is scheduled to start. Even though it might be raining at 5 pm where you are, it may be clear and sunny at the event site or vice versa! We'll all do our best to provide advanced notice of event changes/cancellations but your cooperation and patience are also appreciated!

Rules

Group Bike Rides

In the past there have been coordinated Weekend Group Bike Rides. Currently there are no plans for this type of group activity this summer.

If you are a member and would like to assist the Board of Directors in re-establishing / resuming this activity, reach out to the Board of directors either through email or Facebook to start up a conversation!

Schedule

Date

Event

Saturday May 10

BRICK - Sunshine Park in West Seneca - See Southtowns page

Saturday May 17

BTC Spring Thing - Grand Island 

Tuesday May 20

Northtown Time Trial #1 

Saturday May 1

Northtown Brick (Firehall)

Tuesday June 17

Northtown Time Trial - #2

Saturday June 21

Ride for Roswell - Join the BTC team and ride with us!

Saturday July 12

CHESTNUT RIDGE BRICK! BRING ON THE HILLS! 

Tuesday July 15

Time Trial - #3

Saturday Aug 2

BRICK - Beaver Island - Details TBA

Tuesday Aug 19

Northtown Time Trial #4 (Members' Memorial) 

Saturday August 23 

Ontario Scenario & Picnic - Lake Ontario Swim Site / Porter on the Lake Town Park