WILKES-BARRE — When Tom Jones was bike director for the Wilkes-Barre Triathlon in 1982, its first year, the helmet requirement in the bicycle part of the race caught participants unaware.

"Most people did not have helmets at the time, so we were kind of scrounging around," he said.

Jones recalled that one of the cyclists wore a construction hard hat — it didn't even have a chin strap to hold it on — "and we let it go."

This weekend, participants will wear lightweight, aerodynamic, adjustable helmets like the Garneau model Jones selected from the rack at the shop he co-owns, Around Town Bicycles, on North Main Street. Helmets like that can shave 40 seconds from the time on a 40-kilometer course such as the one through Back Mountain back roads the athletes will be riding today.

Although the technology used in it has changed dramatically over 32 years, one thing about the Wilkes-Barre Triathlon hasn't: It's still an opportunity to introduce people from all over the country — and beyond — to the Wyoming Valley, its natural beauty and its businesses.

Triathlon Director Joanne Gensel said that as of Thursday, 280 people and 47 relay teams of two and three people had signed up — approximately 400 athletes — not to mention friends and families coming along to support them.

"I'm very pleased," she said.

Most of the participants are local, Gensel said. But some have come from as far as Australia.

That's where local hotels and restaurants come in.

"There's no question it has a great economic impact," Luzerne County Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Merle Mackin said of the triathlon.

As one of the event's sponsors, the bureau tries to draw attention to its Web site, www.tournepa.com, which has links to places to stay, eat, and shop, as well as various recreational opportunities.

Mackin calls the triathlon a "first-class event" that is recognized throughout the running, swimming and cycling communities for providing a well-organized but challenging course.

"We're very proud of the race, and event organizers do a terrific job. There's a lot that goes into this race," Mackin said.

What's also important, he said, is the race gives people the chance to see Luzerne County, particularly the Back Mountain, "which is a beautiful area." He hopes people will enjoy what they experience of northeastern Pennsylvania and come back for a family vacation.

"The entire Valley has a beautiful landscape we're happy to showcase," Mackin said.

The triathlon involves a 1.5 kilometer swim, a 40 kilometer bike course and an 11 kilometer run — all Olympic lengths — starting at Harveys Lake and ending up at Penn State Wilkes-Barre in Lehman Township.

The course has evolved over the last three decades. Gensel said a sprint course, which is half the distance of the Olympic course, was introduced last year and proved so popular that it is featured again this year.

There's a new bike course, which Gensel said was created for safety reasons, since roads can't be closed down for the race. The new route, mapped out at www.wilkesbarretriathlon.com, is also designed to be challenging but scenic.

One of the local businesses that benefits from the triathlon is the bike shops.

"It helped ours a lot," Chris Jacobs of Main Bike World said. "We did a lot of tune-ups this week on road bikes for people who are doing the triathlon."

The shop at Kingston Corners sells BMX, mountain and road bikes. This time of year, it also sells a lot of bike-related accessories as well, Jacobs said.

David Kaplan, owner of Sickler's Bike & Sport Shop, said the local triathlon group always comes in, and "Sometimes we get a few out-of-towners."

"We tune their bikes and fix things," he said. "We also sponsor Kelly Ciravolo. She's a Sichler's rider."

Ciravolo, of Shavertown, is a seasoned triathlete who has competed around the country and took part in the ITU Grand Final Triathlon Beijing in China.

Sickler's, which has been around since 1933, has a store in Clarks Summit and Kaplan said he's in the process of moving the other store from Exeter to a temporary home in the West Side Mall in Edwardsville until Kingston Village at the former Thomas' Market complex on Wyoming Avenue is complete.

Besides being good for business, Kaplan considers the triathlon a well-organized event that is good for the area.

Jones said the triathlon has created a year-round demand at Around Town Bicycles.

"They're a good piece of our business," he said of triathletes.

Today the training is regimented and calculated; there is a lot more science behind it, and it has become far more technical in terms of the equipment the athletes use, Jones said.

"In every way imaginable, technology plays a role," he said.

In the early 1980s, just before the running shoe revolution really exploded, runners usually wore canvas or padded nylon sneakers with rubber soles. Today, running shoes come in a mind-boggling array of colors, styles and materials. Racing swimsuits have evolved into Lycra Spandex wetsuits. Athletes sport gadgets like heart-rate monitors, GPS watches and tracking apps.

But it's the bicycling component of the triathlon where the technology has really taken off, according to Jones.

Take something as simple as the biking shoes, which in the 1980s were commonly made of leather and wore out after a season or two, Jones said.

Now cyclists can get far more lightweight shoes with carbon fiber soles and — goodbye, Velcro — quick-adjusting snap dial closures.

The bikes themselves have come a long way from, say, a 38-pound Schwinn Varsity, which Jones describes as a "very classic, popular bike."

Instead of steel rims with tires that hold 75 pounds of pressure, wheels are now ultra-lightweight carbon fiber with tires that can hold 120 to 130 pounds of pressure.

"So there's far less rolling resistance with these," Jones said. "They're completely different."

The more lightweight 22-gear bike, with 11 gears in back and two in front, has outrun the old 10-speed bike, with five gears in back times two gears in front. And the GPS has replaced the cyclometer attached to the front wheel that Jones said "would just click away and turn the miles." Some bikes even have electronic components, and Jones said his shop does software updates.

Hydration systems that mean cyclists don't have to take their hands off the handlebars and a better understanding of nutrition that has spawned the creation of energy bars, gels and powders, are also new developments.

But there's nothing like getting your carb fix with a good old-fashioned pizza, and since the swimming course of the triathlon still takes place at Harveys Lake, as it has since the beginning, Grotto Pizza is a favorite.

"It's a busy weekend for us every year, no question," Grotto's General Manager Armand Mascioli said.

He said each year the Harveys Lake restaurant sees a big increase in customers, both triathlon participants and spectators.

This year, the triathlon will coincide with another tradition at the lake: The Northeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society's 24th annual boat show at Grotto Marina. The show, which is free to spectators and participants, usually attracts a good crowd.

"So there's a lot of activity at the lake and a lot of activity at Grotto," Mascioli said. "It's going to be a good combination of events for the lake."

Gensel said local businesses and organizations including service clubs and schools are very supportive of the triathlon. Businesses donate items and many of those along the route to Harveys Lake feature messages of encouragement on their signs.

"It's great. It makes the athletes feel welcomed, you know?" Gensel said.

The triathlon is all volunteer — "Nobody gets paid," she said — and each year from 900 to 1,000 people come out to do so.

"The community really supports and backs it, which is great," Gensel said.

eskrapits@citizensvoice.com

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