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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: 

So now the Swim session is over and everyone is focused on putting in the miles on the bike, or trainer if you happen to live in bike-unfriendly climate. Of course everyone is looking forward, but what about the official results of the first session?

They're coming.

The Officially Sanctioned by USA Triathlon Results and Standings for the National Challenge Competition 2011-2012 Swim Session (or OSUSATRSNCC20112012SS for those who like acronyms) cannot be computed until all team rosters have been finalized. Club reps have all been contacted about making sure all athletes are USAT members in good standing, and the rules clearly state that only USAT members can participate, or at least have their miles count towards the team totals. 

Once the rosters are complete and any non-member athletes' mileage has been 'recalculated' (ie. removed) then we can see who won the session. 

Until then, the UN-official results are available via the Swim Standings page, but be aware that some numbers could change. 

Full results plus other statistics in mind-boggling detail will be available on the site as soon as possible. 

In the meantime, happy biking!

Since this is the first year that everyone is entering their own miles, here is a bit of important information that in previous years only club reps needed to know. 

Each session ends at midnight on the last day of the month. However, as in the past we will be keeping things open for an additional 48 hours to give everyone time to enter their results. This was necessary when one person was entering miles for an entire club, and although it may not be quite as necessary this year we are still going to give everyone that extra time. 

The Swim Session officially ends at midnight on December 31. At that time everyone should get out of the pool and get some champagne. Athletes (and club reps for those still logging miles the old fashioned way) will then have until midnight on January 2 to enter all of their miles for December.

If you visit the site on January 1st or 2nd without logging in, you will see that the current session will show the Bike Session. You won't see any miles yet for anyone, so don't panic. If you log in to enter your miles it will still show as the Swim Session and any miles entered must have been accumulated during December.

You will not be able to enter any miles for January until January 3rd. After that you will not be able to log any more miles for December, so please make sure you get everything in before then. 

Please tell your fellow clubmates to read this post! 

Happy Holidays everyone.

An important note regarding the end dates of sessions:

For club reps (or athletes) entering mileage, you will have an additional 48 hours to enter miles for each session.

Each session will close at midnight on the 2nd day after the official end of the session, based on your local time.

• Swim: midnight January 2
• Bike: midnight February 2
• Run: midnight March 2 

This also means that you will not be able to add any miles for the bike or run sessions until after the 48 hour extensions are over. Please take care when entering your mileage!

Anyone checking the standings without being logged in will see each session finish at one second past midnight Alaska time, but club reps who login will see the session extended.

The end of January is almost here, and you know what that means: another month of winter has been put behind us. For northern triathletes that is definitely something to celebrate, although it also means the beginning of February. Not exactly everyone's favorite month, is it? 

The end of January also means that T2 in the National Challenge Competition is coming up fast. Time to lift the hammer and let the bike legs cool down a little? Not likely. Given the results to date it seems more likely that all teams will be going full gas right to the line in order to secure the highest possible standing in the bike session. Of course there are no wobbly run legs to worry about when you don't have to go straight from the bike to the run, so feel free to keep the hammer down until midnight tonight. 

Again, we are keeping the session 'open' for mileage entries for 48 hours. That means club reps have until midnight on February 2 (Groundhog Day!) to enter all miles for the Bike Session. For anyone else checking the site, you'll see the current session status change from Bike to Run, but you will not see any run miles until February 3. 

For club reps, just a friendly reminder that only miles accumulated during January can be added to the Bike Session, and only miles accumulated during February can be added to the Run Session. 

See you after Groundhog Day, folks, and let's hope the wee beastie doesn't see his shadow this year.