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Of the thousands of bicycles our service department sees each year, there's one that stands out: John Logan's custom Guru Chrono triathlon bike. Not only is it a gorgeous, custom built, carbon fiber ride fully equipped with top-of-the line components and Zipp wheels, but it generally shows up in the shop requiring all the tender loving care our mechanics can heap upon it. During the course of training to race Ironman Lake Placid this past July, John literally sweat his way through three head sets, two bottom brackets, two front derailleurs, and one pair of shifters! That's a whole lot of parts to replace in one season, all due to the corrosive effects of perspiration and many, many hours in the saddle.

While our service professionals refer to him as "that guy who abuses his bike," John is better known in the village of Skaneateles as the CEO of Mirbeau Hospitality Services which is the management company that is responsible for operating Mirbeau Inn and Spa. He is also Vice President of Mirbeau's Development Company which is in the process of developing Mirbeau Inn & Spas around the northeastern part of the US, including Richmond, VA, the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Plymouth, MA.

"I enjoy the challenges that come with my job and I enjoy the hospitality industry," says John.

John raced his first sprint triathlon at Cazenovia five years ago. "I almost drowned during my first race and for some reason that made me more determined to train harder," he says. Not one to waste any time, John spent the next few seasons improving his swim stroke with the help of a swim coach and logging miles on the bike and the roads. He showed steady improvement and was soon thinking about taking on the challenge of an Ironman triathlon where he would be required to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and run 26.2 miles all in under 17 hours.

John's path to Ironman finisher wasn't without setbacks. Like so many of us, he found it difficult to balance training with a demanding job and the responsibilities that come with raising his four young children. He also had significant health issues to resolve. "In the Fall of 2009 when I started training for Ironman, I was out of shape, coming off of back surgery and surgery to remove my gall bladder," John says. He decided to enlist the services of triathlon coach Doug Bush of Endurance Factor who provided John with an individualized, online training program tailored to his available training time. "Doug put together a great program for me that was very easy to follow," he says. "Based on the results of my physiological testing, Doug created custom workouts just for me. These workouts were a lot of fun and the result was that I got out on the road in the spring feeling much stronger than I ever have before."

John trained anywhere from 6 to 18 hours each week over that ten month period. "I was able to get in over 90% of the planned workouts Doug prescribed. There is no way in hell I would have put in that much work on my own without knowing someone was checking in on my progress and analyzing it. The bottom line is that I recommend a coach to anyone who wants to make their training life easy," says John.

John spends about half of his total training time on his bike. "In my opinion, the bike is the most important leg of a triathlon," he says. And he loves his Guru Chrono triathlon bike. "It was custom made for me. Paul Komanecky [Syracuse Bicycle co-owner] did a great job fitting me to the bike. It is very comfortable to ride, even for six hours straight," he says. John is lucky to live in Skaneateles which has what many agree the most scenic riding in all of Central New York. One of his favorite rides is a 100-mile loop that circles Otisco, Skaneateles, and Owasco lakes. Another great ride he used for Ironman training measures 120 miles. The ride starts in Skaneateles, continues west to Montezuma, then south to Ithaca. "After a quick refueling stop at the Ithaca Bakery, I would then head north on Rt. 34 to Auburn and back home," he says.

What would possess a person to dedicate ten months of their life to training for an Ironman triathlon? "The entire experience was incredible. The overall size and magnitude of the event was unbelievable: 2600 competitors, 3500 volunteers, and tens of thousands of spectators on race day," he says. "But the one thing that I really enjoyed most was the training that led up to race day. I really enjoy the group of people I train with and without them I wouldn't have stuck with it." Overall, John lost over 40 pounds during the course of his training and improved his overall health and physical conditioning significantly. "That was more important to me than the amount of time it took me to cross the finish line," he says.