.

Ok, so now that the Mayan calendar scare is past we can all move on to more important things. Like the end of the Swim Session. 

For all the newcomers and anyone who has been here before but who has forgotten how this works, this is how the session wraps up. 

The official end to the Swim Session is midnight on December 31. If any of you are unlucky enough to be in the pool at that time you may as well stop swimming. Not only is it time to grab a glass of champagne, any distance covered after midnight will not go towards the Swim Session - it will (or should, if you log it honestly) go towards January's session, the Bike Session. 

However, you still have 48 hours to log your December miles.

Up until midnight local time on January 2, 2013 you can still add your miles for December. Any mileage you actually DO on January 1 and 2 will count towards the Bike Session, but you won't be able to log those until January 3. Got it?

Because of the 7 day cutoff this year, that means that up until midnight January 2 you will be able to add any miles you put in from December 24 onwards. Anything you did before that date cannot be entered, but the 7 day cutoff ends on the 31st. 

RECAP:

• the Swim Session officially ends December 31 at midnight
• December miles can be entered up until January 2 at midnight
• the Bike Session begins on January 1 at one second past midnight
• January miles can be entered beginning on January 3 at one second past midnight

If you're reading this post, you must be a keener. Or maybe a club rep. Almost the same thing. 

Registration for the 2012-2013 edition of the USA Triathlon National Challenge Competition opens on November 1, 2012. That means club reps can register their clubs and begin adding athletes to their rosters ahead of the December 1 official start date.

This year athletes will once again be able to enter their own results, which means a lot less work for club reps. The response last year to this feature was overwhelmingly positive so it looks like it will be a permanent thing.

New for this year

As always, we're trying to make the competition and the website better each time out by tweaking the rules and adding new things. 

Second, the website:

• New graphs: the flash graphs from previous years have been replaced by iPad-friendly javascript charts from Highcharts
• Regional standings: no prizes for the winners but you can now see how your club is doing against others in your USAT region
• Age group standings: these were implemented post-competition last season and they're back now with new age groups
• Design tweaks: the site has been updated to make it easier for everyone to find things, like the login button for instance. Also new is the 'fat footer' with all the important links, and a drop-down standings menu to make it easier to navigate around the site

Here we are in the home stretch of the competition and it looks like there are a few divisional battles that could go down to the wire. Here's a quick roundup: 

Division 1

Three teams are clustered near the top of the standings in the heavyweight Division 1 (clubs with more than 250 members): Cyclonaut Multisport of Agawam MA continues to lead the pack heading into the final few days of the Run session, with Jacksonville FL's Hammerheads about 1,000 NCC miles behind. That's only 333 real miles, so it's still not over. The other big mileage club in the pack is perennial contenders DC Tri Club out of Washington DC, and even though they are still some distance back a big push (and maybe some good running weather) could make things close.

Division 2

The Kansas River Valley Tri Club is still hanging onto a 1,000 NCC mile lead in this division over newcomers Swim Bike Run, based in Town and Country MO. Another 1,000 behind them is Colorado's Boulder Tri Club but again, a big effort from either of the chasing teams could change the final standings on February 29.

Division 3

This division, for clubs with 80-129 members, is an anomaly this year as the Fredericksburg Tri Club of Fredericksberg VA has opened up a big lead over the rest of the division. The real battle is for second place right now, with Paole Sport from Seattle WA holding a 1,000 mile lead over the Redline Tri Club of Font du Lac WI. 

Division 4

This is where the closest race in the competition is going on. In first place today (February 25) is the Brentwood Endurance Athletic Team of Brentwood TN, but right behind them and chasing hard is Get Fit Families of Cranberry Township PA. Not far off the pace is the Northwest YMCA Tri Club based in Irmo SC. The gap between 3rd place and 1st place is less than 300 miles, and just over 100 miles behind the Y crew is Team NRGY of Montclair NJ. This could get interesting over the final few days!

Division 5

The battle for top spot in the final division has come down to two teams: Hurdle the Dead of Harrisburg PA (the team with perhaps the best name in the competition, maybe even the country) is out front with a slim lead over Women of Steel, racing out of Auburn IN. We won't know who comes out best until all the results are in.

Even if your club is not vying for a divisional or overall prize, it's still worth putting in some run miles this week for your internal standings. Bragging rights may not come with a banner or a cash prize but they are still good for reminding your club mates who can put the hammer down when it counts.

Good luck and happy running to everyone in the final week of the 2011-2012 NCC.

Are you a hoarder? No, not like those poor souls on TV who fill their houses with junk, or cats, or clothes. Are you a mileage hoarder? Do you swim bike or run a week or a month's worth of miles and then wait until the last day to enter them all? And do you just dump all your miles into a single entry?

If this describes your mileage entry habits, then the 99% of athletes who enter their miles as they swim/bike/run them would like you to please stop doing that. 

it only takes a couple of minutes to login and enter your miles, especially when you can enter one of each type of workout simultaneously. This makes for a more accurate picture of team and individual standings as we go through each session. It also makes for a much prettier mileage graph on your individual athlete stats page. 

So unless you want the NCC TV crew to show up unannounced at your next workout, please enter your miles as you go. You'll feel so much better if you do.

The results have been verified, the numbers have been crunched. Here now are the official results for the February Bike Session of the 2011-2012 edition of the National Challenge Competition.

Benchmark Winners

The bike session was just like the swim session in that teams went all out to reach the mileage benchmark first. For the bike session that is 7500 miles. Just for the record, on June 11 2011 an asteroid passed within 7500 miles of the earth and it barely made the news.

First to reach the 7500 mile mark: Cyclonaut Multisport Club of Agawam MA on January 10th. Congratulations to them for putting the hammer down early and keeping it there. Have a look at their team stats page to see just how they piled up the bikes miles, day by day.

Here are all teams to reach the 7500 mile mark, in order: 

1. Jan 10: Cyclonaut Multisport, Agawam MA
2. Jan 11: DC Tri Club Team 1, Washington DC
3. Jan 14: Kansas River Valley Tri Club, Wichita KS
4. Jan 17: Alaska Tri Club White Wabid Wabbits, Anchorage AK
5. Jan 18: Hammerhead Tri Club Team 1, Jacksonville FL
6. Jan 19: Louisville Landsharks, Louisville KY
7. Jan 25: Boulder Tri Club, Boulder CO
8. Jan 27: Pittsburgh Tri Club, Pittsburgh PA
9. Jan 28: Northwest YMCA Tri Club, Irmo SC
10. Jan 31: Harftord Area Extended Triathletes, Hartford CT

Overall Bike Winner

Cyclonaut Multisport, Agawam MA with 23,748.37 miles

Divisional Winners

Division 1

Cyclonaut Multisport, Agawam MA - 23,748.37 miles

Division 2

Kansas River Valley Tri Club, Wichita KS - 16,211.62 miles

Division 3

Fredericksburg Tri Club, Fredericksburg VA - 4,924.47 miles

Division 4

Northwest YMCA Tri Club, Irmo SC - 8,546.95 miles

Division 5

Women of Steel, Auburn IN - 4,437.14 miles

Individual Winners

On the men's side, David Bowne of Jet City Tri annihilated the competition for a second consecutive year, riding to a convincing win with 3,919.19 miles. Now that you've picked your jaw up off the floor we can confirm that those miles are indeed for real and have been verified. Congratualations David!

On the women's side, Mary Guertin of Cyclonaut Multisport rode away with the title with a total of 1,709.2 miles. That was almost 500 miles ahead of her closest competitor. 

All the final results are also available on the bike session standings. 

More Stats

All the numbers you don't really need, but might find interesting anyway.

Active* Men: 802

Active* Women: 635

*Active means athletes with results.

Total Bike Miles, Men: 177,063.71

Total Bike Miles, Women: 114,771.01

Average Bike Miles, Men: 220.78

Average Bike Miles, Women: 180.74

Total Bike Miles, Everyone: 291,834.72

Average Bike Miles, Everyone: 203.09

Total All Miles, Men: 232,091.75

Total All Miles, Women: 153,805.18

Total All Miles, Everyone: 385,896.93

Average All Miles, Men: 289.39

Average All Miles, Women: 242.21

Average All Miles, Everyone: 268.54

Day with highest bike miles: January 7 - 18,382.03 miles by 527 athletes = 34.88 miles per athlete

Day with most riders: January 1 - 1208 athletes, 13,846 miles = 11.46 miles per athlete

Day with longest average ride: January 31, 504 athletes, 18,026.06 miles = 35.77 miles per athlete

Sponsors

And of course let's thank all of the generous sponsor who have provided prizes for the winners: