A week in Kona

October 8th, 2009 KONA Week

I flew into Kona, HI for the 4rth year in a row this past Monday. It was the first year of the last 3 in which I was not competing, and I am rather happy about it to be honest. It was the usual fly over the Island, and I had to remind myself not too get worked up over being here and remind myself that I am not racing.

Monday arrival led me straight to Bike Works where I had reserved a Specialized Tarmac for rental for the week. I did not want to pay the exorbitant airline fees, nor did I want to hassle with packing and hauling a bike over here. I was out of the shop all dialed in within 15 minutes of arriving. So, since it was rather early, just after 1, I decided to kick off some training and headed down to the pier. I swam out and back to the 1.2 mile buoy and then headed over to Lava Java for some lunch. A couple fish tacos later, and I was ready for the rest of the afternoon. My excitement in being here got me out on the bike, where I hooked up with Rob Chance for a bit for a 25 mile spin, mostly to make sure the bike felt comfortable for the remainder of the week punishments. I ran off the bike a quick 4 miles down Alihii, and felt thoroughly in the mix of it all.

I was not planning too much training for Monday, but it felt right and what else is there to do when you are not racing anyhow!? Beach, pool, sightseeing, oh ….maybe next time.





Tuesday, led off with an early morning start out on the bike with Mitch and KP. We were riding to Hawi, up the hill to Waimea and the high road back to Kona, which would be no less than 125 miles. An early start was crucial, and we rolled out to light breezes, and temperatures off the scorching scale. I was happy to have KP as I have not ridden with him some Epic 06. Mitch was putting in a big week, PRIOR to racing Ironman on Saturday. He was going to end up with a 350 mile bike week this week…. A little experiment he was conducting on his 10th trip to the Island for the race. I am interested to see how it plays out. We rolled out to Mitch setting the pace, and KP dropping off on the rollers, which led to some nice waiting for a regroup here and there. Mitch looked strong, yet I wondered how hard he would push 4 days before the hardest one day endurance event on the planet.

We rolled up towards Hawi with the calmest conditions I have ever seen out there. Actually it was quite pleasant, but with no breeze meant it was going to get real hot. We stopped in Hawi for liquids and waited up a bit for KP, before heading up the big hill towards Waimea. The climb goes up to 3500 feet, and last time I rode it I was greeted with cool temps and beautiful weather. Today, I was greeted with a maybe 5 degree temperature drop. As we rode up I felt good and progressively picked up especially on the small rollers toward the top. Mitch stayed with me until I was probably hitting some 500 watts surges (big mistake on my part on a 125 mile day), and he backed off. I felt good though and hit it hard to the top.

At the top we turned back and rode down a ways to regroup with KP, before the big downhill to Waimea. Once down we had a few miles to get to our lunch spot for the day, Subway, and a break at 80 miles. Riding into town, my legs felt off, and I attributed it to food. We all hit a foot long and it went down easy with a couple big glasses of coke, and I felt I would be ready to rock the last 40 home. Boy was I wrong.

As we left, my legs felt even worse than before lunch and if I had power, it would have been some silly low numbers I guess. Mitch rode away never to be seen again, and I prayed for KP to stay on my wheel, in fear of being dropped if he went around, as I had nothing, and would be left alone in the high hills to solo home in my own misery. KP stayed patiently behind and I just waited for things to turn around. About 20 in they did began to come around, and KP although dropping slightly on the hills we rode together all the way home. The descent into town was great from 2500 feet up down the last 5 miles into town. We hit the Epic Camp meet and greet just as they were returning from a little spin, with 125 miles in our legs. I struggled to tack on a 3 mile run after the ride and called it a day.

Wednesday, started with a swim out to the turnaround buoy which was nice and quiet on the way out. I saw Mark Allen and his son pulling up to the turnaround at the same time, and we all headed back together. His son, Natz, is 15, and clearly wanted to swim faster than the old man, Mark (5 time Kona champ or more?), and he and I got into a nice rhythm swimming together. Mark was off our pace in a hurry, and the young water polo player and I kept rolling along. At the 1.2 mile buoy I really picked it up and we hammered in pretty hard to a 31 minute return trip. A solid swim for the day that I felt pretty good about.

Today was to be a bit of a regroup day, with a solid nap after I had some breakfast. I headed out on Alihi at high noon for a 10 miler. The heat destroyed me and I crumbled barely running 8 minute miles on my return 5 miles home. The rest of the day was poolside, before heading out to pick up Coach Bob and we hit the Kona Brewing Company for a large pie of pizza!

Thursday, started with another IM swim with Mitch, who again was working through the week in Epic style. To take pressure off his shoulder he slapped on his fins which allowed him to keep up with me, actually to drop me at ease. I had to work hard on the way out and we swam a 31 to the turn buoy. On the way back the current slowed to a 1:05 swim for the IM course.
After the swim I hit Jamba Juice hard, and hooked up with Mitch for another big ride. Mitch was planning on his reverse taper for the race with a ride to Waimea and back on the high road. We got a late rollout at 10 am, and it was sure to be hot. The winds were not too bad heading out, but as we made the right turn up to Waimea, the wind was at our backs for the climb. That made it the hottest I have ever been on a bike. The climb rises to 2500 feet from Kaiwaihae, and it was ridiculously hot. Mitch who is from Palm Springs had two little water bottles and was pouring at least one on his head and just drinking one. The guy is either a camel, or is very well acclimated to scorching heat. As we rode up there was a layer of clouds just teasing me up above the hill. Although the clouds did not look far, they made me climb to 2500 feet essentially before I saw any benefit. With the tailwind effect if felt like a sauna and had to be at least 110 degrees. Just as we rolled into Waimea the clouds came over head and dropped the temp to about 70 degrees. It had to be the biggest temperature drop my body has felt in a 5 minute period. We refueled and hydrated for the high road stretch home. It was warm but pleasant enough to not be miserable. The road is a great rolling terrain with views of the lower Island and of the volcano.
As we approached Kona, the clouds turned heavy and we got hit with a large downpour. Instead of riding the curvy road Palani into town, we made an earlier cut down Hana Lani which would be a little safer and get us out of the rain. It was 2500 feet straight down without a turn essentially, with in a ½ mile the rain had stopped and within the descent we dropped from 70 degrees and heavy rain to 95 and hot and dry. It was like being blown dry with a hot hairdryer on the way down. We rolled back down the Queen K to town, with another 95 mile ride under our belts.

Friday was another Ironman swim course and then working the Coffees of Hawaii boat. The Olympic medalist 10k swimmer was on the boat, a big Dutch man, who tore it up in the Olympics. We headed out with Epic crew at Noon to Waikoloa. Rich Blanco, a newbie to Epic camp this year went to the front and laid down the hammer hurting us all before he told us at 60 minutes he needed to turn around and go tend to his gal racing tomorrow…Johnno deducted him a point for the camp start for such a faux pa and we settled into a much more sane pace before refueling in Waikola. On the way back we had some headwinds for a bit before it turned slightly before the vista point, so I made a rather Petro-like pull at the front and insured no takers would roll by until we were done in town.

Saturday, Ironman World Champs day led Coach Bob and I to an early start down at the pier to absorb the atmosphere without the pressure of racing. I enjoyed the scene and the amped up racers without having to be one myself. We watched the swim start before we headed up to Jamba for a quick breakfast and then the Queen K, to watch the front groups heading out on the bike. The sun heated things up rather quickly on a very clear sunny day. We watched the swim groups head by and then headed out to Kaiwaihae to witness the out and back on the bike, before heading back to Waimea for foot long sandwich and coke. Today is a long day of spectating and we were heading out into the lava fields by foot.
After racing back to the Queen K intersection in town, Rich and I headed out to the Energy Lab to watch the race develop. It was hot, and I mean hot as we ran out, and I wondered how I might be running any of this at any time in the past. We parked at the entrance of the EL, before Rich said to head down into the EL. I suspected it was a no-no as it is always so quiet down there, but I followed and we got a good ½ mile down there before we got chased out by a marshal. We watched at the EL for a while before heading the 6 miles back to town. On the way back I stopped at an aid station and volunteered to help. They said it was ok, so I spent the next hour passing out Gatorade and watching the racers go by at about mile 16 and about mile 22 on the way back. This is where there is no more faking. The runners going well were obvious and the folks hurting were pretty obvious too. It was the Ironman at its core, in its purest form, where the race was either going well or not. There was nowhere to hide, and the sun was relentless.

I watched most of my friends go by before I saw Scott Jones heading back dueling with a Marine. He is a Navy boy, and did not want the Marine to beat him and win the Armed Forces division. So I ran back with him giving him a few updates on the Marine. I ran back and forth for the next ½ hour running and cheering on others I knew. It was a lot of fun, and I must say a heck a lot more fun than the actual race. I ended up running 15 miles for the day, and with the additional walking of 5 miles or so, I suspect it was a good 20 miles on my feet, and I must say they were pretty trashed.

My thoughts on the race after watching after racing it the last couple years, is that it looks a heck of lot easier than it is from an air conditioned car. I actually enjoyed watching and did not feel that much of an urge to race it as the agony of it is clear watching it. But remembering the sights, sounds, and feel through the athletes as they race is also very enjoyable. I will be back but it is not necessary for me to race it every year. I enjoy the training and hanging out without the stress of the race a lot as well!

Sunday, morning Coach Bob, and I headed down to the pier for a swim. I ended up swimming the course rolling through in cruise mode in 1:05 or so. I improve daily in my swimming when I swim daily and I am glad I am starting to feel my groove again in my swim. The rest of the day included a Lava Java breakfast and a large nap in prep for the post IM party.

The awards banquet did not get rained out this year, and the after party at Huggo’s rocked until midnight with some dance moves on the floor with the IM boys and an IM world champ, MJ, where I pulled a couple moves with for a bit. The after-after party continued across the street and I rolled home a late 2am feeling the effects.

On Monday, before my flight I headed out for one more swim in the bay, only out to the 1.2 mile turn buoy, and I was surprised by all the Ironman athletes back out training again. Me, I would be in bed, or at breakfast.

Great trip, and congrats to all the Ironman finishers!!

Summer Recap

2009 Summer Recap (slight delay in posting)

Hmmm….where to begin?

I suspect I have not written a blog in a while as I seem to ‘tweet’ my every move these days, and as that is a summary of my life for my review if I ever decide to review it, I have found less desire to write what I am doing a lengthy blog.
But here is a recap since mid July in Hood River. I spent a good amount of time re-exploring the good old US of A this summer. Colorado, Oregon and So Cal, and I know So Cal is not a state but it probably should be because it is a heck of a lot different than Nor Cal. I spent very little recourses on these trips as most of it was suburban camping, and exploring some un-chartered territories, from Crater Lake to Universal Studios, Orange County, and San Diego. I saw our 43rd President, GW Bush, speak at our annual advisory convention in San Diego, and visited the San Diego Zoo.

As far as training goes, I have been doing anything I feel like. I windsurfed in Hood River as much as I could. I ran 20 days in a row before falling down and tearing my intercostals muscle/tendon? and could hardly breathe right for two weeks. I started an 11 day bike streak after that, before resuming my 30 day attempt in August. I now sit at 24 days and see the light at the end of the running tunnel!

It has been a nice change not having to train for Ironman Hawaii…it has been a very loose training summer. I plan to get a little more structured and do a couple late season races. On that note I did go to Minnesota for my high school reunion and compete in the first triathlon, Turtle man that I ever competed in some 20 plus years ago. It was shortened to a bike/run with the inclement weather rolling in, and it was a hoot to see old friends I have not seen since high school years!

The rest of the year will consist of a gradual build up to Epic Camp (length of New Zealand), which will be 15 days of 100 mile days of riding. Swimming and running included. My goal is to complete all events of the camp, something I have yet to ever complete. Running included, which is why I have attempting some daily running goals the last couple months.

Paige is back to school on Thursday, attending a private school in Menlo Park, Menlo School. She will be taking a train most days at 6:55 giving me some changes in my training schedules. Specifically no more 6 am master swim workouts on ‘Paige weeks’, but I will begin swimming with the BAC Masters in Burlingame which should up my swimming to another level. Or just keep it at a higher level.

Summary on the summer….Awesome. Great time just going with the flow. Good to be back and time for the school year which gives us all a bit more structure!

It's All Good in the Hood

July 13, 2009, It’s all Good in the Hood

As I have spent nearly a week back in Hood River, I have realized I love this town. Paige and I have rolled into this town for 11 years every summer, me a bit longer than that. Why do I love it? Short answer, it just feels right.

Last week, we rolled out of the Bay area, at 10 pm. An interesting experiment in travel by car. Not exactly safe in all respects, but what is safe anyway? No cars on the roads, just professional truckers. I barely hit Redding before I was sleeping in a rest area at midnight. I slept, in loose terms, for two hours, and felt wired and ready to drive. I did so for 3 more hours until sunrise at Mt Shasta led me to sleep at the base of the mountain for 3 more hours. By then, I had enough in the tank, to make it to the Hood.

Paige and I rolled into town, and we hit the Old Columbia Highway for day 7 of my 30 days of running for 30 minutes minimum each day. She rode, I ran. Tired I was but I got it done. Then we hit the local haunts , Crazy Pepper for dinner, before heading out to Tucker Park, for our sleeping arrangements for the next few days.
Now starting today we are back in a rental house with Big E, enjoying a roof over our head although I feel like I am out of place and would prefer to be back alongside the Hood River, setting up our bed in the back of the Suburban. There is something about sleeping in the back of a truck that appeals to me. Perhaps of the simplicity, the ease, and the forced aspect of being outside looking to fill time and see things all day long.

Since we have been here, we have been on a family fun ride near Mt Adams, run, swam, and explored the Town of Hood River. All of our favorite past-times. Paige has been in windsurfing camp, and has a few more days lined up to learn to jibe, water start, and use a harness….

A two full weeks coming up with Canuck Billy coming into town on Friday, and one of Paige’s best friends from home coming in on Wednesday.

It’s all good in the Hood….

Boulder, Living the Dream, Part II

Sunday, June 21st, Longest Day of the Year…back to BOCO




The day started in Chicago. A quick cab ride to Midway Airport for a 730 flight to Denver. I was back in Boulder ready to ride at 11. I had a riding partner out from LA, and we headed out to the Canyons to show him around a bit. We hit Jamestown, and then up Left Hand to the 13 mile mark, before heading back Old Stage for almost a 3 hour ride. My calf was pretty jacked from my escapades in Chi-town so I opted for a little TLC on my calf today and napped instead. Tired living this jet-setting life, and woke for another kick-a dinner by the Byrns….I think Kami might have to step it up a notch if she wants me to come home ;). Although she might never know that is she does not get up to date on my blogs entries!!


Monday, June 22, Ride with the big boys

I woke to swim with JD at 8 down at the Scott Carpenter pool. LCM and we swam 8 400s with paddles. I have never swam that far with paddles. I got in the lane with Chris Macdonald, who I did not know, and did know until later when we rode. He led, with JD, D. Meeker, and A Dimarco swimming with as well. After the swim I hit Jamba and breakfast before meeting up with those guys at 11 at Amante coffee, the local coffee meeting spot. We then rolled North, hitting Hygiene and all the flats and most of the cross roads before hitting both of the Froot Loops before heading back. I hooked up with Todd Beetcher, a former running college mate, I had not seen in 20 years and tacked on another 20 miles before calling a full day of riding about 75 miles.

Tuesday, June 23rd, Into Thin Air.




Today I climbed up into the mountains. After a rollout to Lyons, we headed toward Estes via St Vrain Canyon. I rode with Gary M from So Cal, until he capped his intensity, and I rode on up alone. I played it conservative knowing that the thin air, might cause a little trouble, and did not want to hit it hard and explode. After a refill of the bottles, I headed South on the Peak to Peak Highway, which rolled along the ridge with great views of the mountains, west, and I spend a lot of time at above 9000 feet. I felt ok, and was a lot easier to roll at this altitude than last week. I missed the turn at Ward down Left Hand Canyon, and went hand on to Nederland. The clouds were starting to roll in, but I had mostly downhill from there into Boulder and raced the storm back to town. An easy 30 minute run around Lake Bennet, and then a massage to work out the calf soreness. She said it felt ok, so I should be good to go next week on the running!

I had two dinners tonight, after a lite meal with the ever so hospital Byrns, and then hooked up with Todd Beetcher, a former running buddy from the Golden Gophers, and a ton more sushi at Sushi Anamai….good stuff.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 Riding with BDC

Today I woke and rode over to the Scotty pool for masters’ long course. It was equipment day and I had no equipment so was stuck working really hard to keep up with fins and paddles. Off to Jamba and Moes bagels where since it was Bike to Work day, I received a free bagel and cream cheese. BDC showed up and we headed north to Carter Lake. A great day of riding, and just a little bit of climbing, but a good solid 75 mile day and rather warm on the return. BDC and I grabbed a Lark burger, and then I headed to a movie to see Hangover…not in the mood for that humor today. Maybe the fatigue is setting in a bit.

Thursday, June 25, 2009 keeping it rolling

Today I woke with plans to take a day off the bike. Well, that did not happen when G said he was heading out for an easy spin and the morning was sooooo glorious! So, I headed out and we looped out to Lyons, and hit the northern Fruit Loop, before I headed back for another Dave Scott swim. I rode about 2 hours and approximately 40 miles. I had a muffin or two and Monica and I headed out for the lunch time hour of power swim. Today, there was more of the who’s-who of the triathlon world showing up. I ended up swimming with Chrissie Wellington, and the Grangers. The swim was feeling a lot better than last week and a lot better than yesterday’s long course session. I am feeling much better at the top end and swimming a lot better without the attitude affecting me as much. After the swim though I was feeling pretty good and worked…it is turning into a rather solid week of training, and tomorrow is going to be another doozie. Well, at least it will be at 14k feet. Mt Evans is in tap, and I am being joined by Taylor Dudley, who must weigh all of a buck 25!!

Friday, June 26, 2009 Mt Evans Hill Climb



Today the ride up Mt Evans was scheduled. Well, I scheduled it yesterday, so I guess it is a schedule although not much of one in advance!

I was met by Taylor Dudley at 6am, to drive up to Idaho Springs. TD has just moved to Boulder from Park City, and has spent a bit of time in these parts and the mountains, but has yet to ride this. He is preparing for the race next month and thought it would be wise to preview the course. Since he weighs in at about 130 pounds, a good 45 less than me, I was expecting it to be either a get dropped day or he might hang out and be social. He decided to be social, which made the ride go much quicker and distracting from the lack of oxygen getting to the brain.

We rolled out of Idaho Springs shortly after 730, to perfect temperatures, and clear blue bird CO skies. We were starting at about 7500 feet and cresting 14, 130 at the top. Mt Evans is the highest paved road in the continental US A. We headed out leisurely and the first few miles were rather flat, but then it started up. I felt ok, but knew it might get tough, so I endured the ½ never ending 1/2 wheel by TD for the day. There was no way I was going to increase the pace, as no matter what I could withstand, I knew TD would be able withstand a lot more.




It was hard breathing for me, and hard to carry on a conversation really from the get go, but we talked for most of the way up, which never seemed to bother TD. Also, just taking a sip of liquid caused great consternation on my part, because the split second it takes to take a sip while holding your breath at these attitudes, takes at least a minute to regain normal breathing.

The ride up was pleasant until we hit about 13k feet, then we donned some jackets and gloves, as it was chilly with the wind blowing off the snow, the iced over lakes, and ice cliffs. As we ascended to about 13, 500, the clouds began to roll in. And they rolled in fast with the temps dropping and the weather changing. We plugged on to the top, with the last 500 feet really taking a toll on me. The gradient was minimal, but the speed and power was minimal I was getting rather delirious, when I looked up to see a truck at a complete stop in front of me. Luckily through the fog he saw me, as I did not see him, and I had drifted out into the middle of the road, but at 5 mph, it did not take much effort to move around him. But it wakened me for the next trashed truck than came rolling down at high speed, which for sure probably had insufficient brakes to stop if she did see me. But by this time I was awakened and hugging the side of the road. The last few hairpins to the top, and the victory pictures at the posing spot next to the signage, and we were off heading down as quickly as possible as the hands were freezing up, and the temps were dropping . Most folks were getting in cars for the drive down instead of the ride, and the first 15 minutes were tough going.
The descent can be as hard as the ascent, as the hands cannot brake well, the cracks in the road are relentless, and not to mention the sanded over hairpin turns, and the snow run off to boot. We made it down with some hairy cliff drops and rolled back to the car when the realization that I felt really really blown. The effort is so slow but the effects of the altitude, high heart rate, and cold on the descent takes its toll. And since I neglected hydration due to the lack of oxygen every time I did, I was dehydrated, hungry, and worked.



We headed over to the local brewery as quickly as possible and I knocked back another burger, fries, and salad. All in a good days work and one thing is for sure I am glad I do not have to race up that mountain next month!

June 27, 2009, Go Big and then Go Home




Another perfect morning in Boulder led me out to the Boulder Reservoir for the local Boulder Masters fundraiser. Today, you could choose between a 1 mile or 2 mile open water swim race. I opted for the 2 mile as what is the purpose of just 1 mile. I would have done the double if time allowed.

We rolled into the parking lot for moderate amount of folks getting lined up for the swim. Some notable attendees were, of course, G, Chris Macdonald, the Grangers (his and her), and a few other local ringers, and a couple of fellow triathletes. The noise will be made up of the above mentioned, and Gordo let me borrow his full suit, as he opted for the sleeveless, after testing the waters. That is ok with me, more sleeves…more faster. Only it might lead to a bit of over-heating, especially since I was donning one of those extra thick caps.

A few strokes to warm up, and then we lined up, and I positioned myself next to Macca, as I figured he might provide a good draft, and I saw him in the pool, and seemed possible to stay with. At the start, the race thinned out rather quickly, as I positioned myself onto Big M, and we jockeyed for the first buoy. I was feeling ok, until about 400m I felt the altitude, the training, and the fatigue set in with a blast of rather full body pain. It was hard to breathe through the constricting suit, and the attitude did not help, so I quickly let the gap of the two leaders form.

As I tried to settle into a little better rhythm, I was shortly joined by a few others from behind. I did some backstroke, and noticed a blue cap, thinking it might be Gordo; however, it was Belinda Granger and her husband trailing me. We had another local swimmer, join in and I dropped onto the feet of Justin, as he paced off the local. This went on for the next mile, and all the while there would be some rather large surges, and then our local, got lost, taking a wrong turn and he was gone. The pace settled as I sat on Justin, Belinda sitting on me.

I swam with her in the pool, and she is not the same swimmer in the pool as in the open water. Much better in the open water. We continued on as our local worked his way back up to us after his wrong turn, and headed left to pass. I thought I should go, but was rather enjoying my pull by Justin. As we approached 600m to go, Justin swung rather far right, and I felt it was time to pull the same pass move as the local was able to pull off. As he breathed right I surged to the front far left as hard as I could. I rounded the buoy and headed back the 400m to the finish as Justin and Belinda jumped onto my feet, as I again felt that full body seize and thought I was in big trouble. I kept it steady, and noticed a small gap form once again, and felt it was time for one last surge as I headed to the last turn buoy. Of course the big orange buoy was not the last turn, and I had to head slightly left to make it legal to the tiny balloons nobody could see in the glaring sun. This insured that they were completely out of my draft, and I turned to home, swimming flat out. I wanted to get to the beach well ahead of them, as I knew the short run up could be ugly if we were all racing for the finish. As I hit sand, I stood up and saw the 10 yard gap, so I just stood there for a few seconds to regain my senses, and walked up with a 4rth place finish, and just about 2 minutes back of Big M. The course was a little long, about 5 minutes or so, so I am saying my time was equivalent to about a 42. It felt about a 52 minute IM paced swim, and I was thoroughly cooked. Gordo came in about 6 minutes back, and although his swim max was set, he was about as twisted as I and we both headed back to recover and pounded back a couple of breakfast wraps before heading out on the bikes.

The transition to the bikes was short, and I felt it. Taylor did not. And Taylor was who I would ride with most of the day, and since I was going big, I was headed to Estes. Estes is a town sitting at about 8000 feet, to the entrance of the Rocky National Park. We headed North, and riding with Gary, was a hammer fest although he was supposed to be at IM training pace, we were riding for the first 90 minutes at ½ Ironman pace (Molina you might want to get your boy under a strict pacing plan for LP). Anyway, I let Gary and Taylor battle it out, as I had some longer range plans for the day and kept things pretty steady, and did not get caught up in the mix of surges and throw downs. I will wait. Plus I had no choice, since my swim effort left me virtually gassed. Spent, wiped, trashed. It took me nearly 4 hours, three glasses of coke, and a subway sandwich until things would change.




In any event, we headed up to Carter Lake, where Taylor and I headed up towards Estes, and we left Gary to battle the next 4 plus hours on his own, giving him time to reflect on his earlier pacing efforts up to the lake. As we headed up beautiful Thomson Canyon, we were greeted initially by a tailwind, but about ½ way up the wind turned to a rather steady headwind. This took its toll on both of us and we labored to get to Estes, without imploding due to the heat and wind. Upon arriving, we stopped for refueling, and again the 3 cokes and sandwich did wonders.



We headed out back towards Lyons on 36, and the initial ascent was rather long, but the three cokes and food kicked in, and other than the sickening full belly I was carrying, I was setting a rather strong tempo up that climb, which was giving us a nice tailwind push again to start. Upon cresting the final hill, we had a 15 mile downhill descent, which allowed me to crank up the power, and fly down the hill rolling at times as fast as the cars, until the wind once again changed to a headwind. Taylor at 45 pounds lighter had a tough time hanging on the wheel, as my weight advantage kept my momentum flowing pretty well. I drilled it all the way to Lyons, where we cruised for a bit before we hit the final stretch pretty hard, towards Boulder before the efforts began to wear, and I opted to shut it down for the last few miles to be enjoyed.

A quick dip in the Res and I sunned on the beach for an hour or so, to enjoy the last few hours of the awesome summer in the CO state. I had a solid day of over 6.5 hours of training, which leaves me with about 34 hours in the last 7 days with 7 days of cycling, with a great deal at some rather lofty heights. My swimming kicked in this week nicely and the bike is rolling well. The calf strain settled down this week, so I will get running again on it lightly next and look for a race in two weeks. G is suggesting I might be feeling it then. So, either Hagg Lake in Oregon or more likely Treasure Island Tri, both Olympic distance races might be on tap to cash in on this fitness.

That is it for Colorado this time around, other than maybe an hour run in the AM before jumping on the plane to head back to Cali. Thanks to my gracious hosts for going above and beyond the call of duty to make me feel right at home, so I could go out and drill myself every day. Thank you very much Mr. and Mrs. Byrn….until the next Colorado tour of duty…and hopefully I will be back soon!!!

Ferris-Beuller Petro Goes to Chicago

Friday, June 19th, 2009 Ferris Bueller -Petro goes to Chicago

My short pre-trip, trip to Boulder came to end with an early flight out of Denver to Chicago Midway via Southwest non-stop early Friday morning. I was at the airport in plenty of time, and with no checked bags, had a good hour to kill, so I kicked back until my overstuffed flight left for Chicago. It was bumpy for the duration as plenty of storms were heading that way, but not too bumpy for my weak stomach to act up. Apparently they were having storms, but our flight arrived 15 minutes early, compared to the nightmares I heard later of 9 hour delays…Charmed I must say. Next it was a quick train ride on the Orange train to downtown, and a few short blocks hike to my Courtyard hotel, on Miracle Mile in the heart of town. An early check in at noon, charmed, and I relaxed before heading out to get my bearings with a 30 minute run.




It had rained hard all morning, but when I headed out, the sun was coming out and warming up nicely, charmed, and I rolled down to the lake for some scenery. It was clearly a big storm as very wet ground, and apparently been raining quite a bit in Chicago over the last few weeks, charmed, but I was good with just a 30 minute run on my travel day. I went back to the hotel, and cleaned up for the 4 pm wedding of my good buddy, Matthew Kramer, aka, The Kid, who was embarking on a new journey of matrimony. The wedding went of very nicely in Grant Park, and followed with a great reception and dinner at Viand. Some dancing and fun followed.

My Saturday was scheduled back to BOCO at 230, so I headed out for a run at about 9 am. Since I had never been to Chicago before, and I had never seen Wrigley Field before I headed towards the ballpark. I headed down Miracle Mile, weaved through Lincoln Park, and ran along Lake Michigan before heading over to the ball park. I had found a guy standing out selling some tickets, about 2 hours before the game, so I decided to get an idea what the going rate was. He quickly escorts me into the back room where a bunch of guys are sitting around, fat guys, Italian guys, on phones, shooting the you know what, and hanging out. This guy needs a single my escort says. The head honcho, fat Italian guy sitting behind a desk with a wad full of tickets, says ‘what are you looking for?’ I say, ‘ a good seat, I have never been to Wrigley before’. He told me he has 5th row right behind home plate for $175 which sounded ok to me since the ticket ran about $100 anyway.

A beautiful sunny day, Chicago Cubs, and I am in town…Ok, I could do this. Check it off the bucket list if I do. So, I said, I needed to get some money back at the hotel. No problem just call in a credit card when you get back. So I ran the rest of my 90 minute run back to the hotel along the Lake thinking if I could make this happen. First I needed to change the flight. That should be pretty easy on Southwest, either to late tonight or tomorrow. Late tonight was booked out, and tomorrow had a 730 am flight getting me into Denver at 9 leaving a day of rest or riding….perfect! Next I needed a room, and the hotel had two rooms left….ok, I will take the same one I am in, charmed. Next I need a ticket. I call, Close Ticket, and get Steve on his cell. You still have my single I ask. Who are you he asks in heavy Italian accent. I was the runner in earlier. Oh, yeah Steve says, ‘the runner dooode’!! And chuckles. No he says he does not have the ticket, but hold on, he says. I have one section 19, one row closer he says. Better seat, ok, I take it, charmed…pay for it on the phone and game on!

Then I had 20 minutes to game time. A quick cab, short walk and I were at Subway picking up a sandwich and then headed over to the ticket broker next door. My short Italian Friend was now standing at the front with a hoard of people looking over tickets. ‘Hey, Steve, you got my single ticket’, I ask. He gives me this blank stare, so I say, I was in earlier, I am the ‘runner doode’, and he laughs, oh year, ‘the runner doooode!! I did not recognize you with a shirt on he says!’ and everyone laughs. He pulls out my ticket I sign, and off I go.

I get to my seat, aisle 4 rows up, perfect seat, as close to any game I have ever been too home plate, no more than 30 feet, unbelievable!! It is a great game, with hot sun, and good friendly Chicago seat mates to talk too. I sucked down a few sodas and a subway and watched the game see-saw back and forth, until we ended up in a tie4-4…Great!! Extra innings at Wrigley. I am going to get my money’s worth.

The Indians go up a run in the 13th, and it was not looking good for the Cubs. UNTIL, they first get a home run to tie up the game. Then they get a man on, another single and with one out and man on 1st and 3rd, a base hit finds its way through the gap, with game winning score sliding home for the win. All the while, I am in the front row of one of the coolest parks around taking pictures of guys playing ball within an arm length or two of me….too cool….charmed!





The game is over and lots of happy fans, I head out, not willing to sit in the crowds of subway, opt for looking for a cab. Too hard for a cab, so I jump on a bus with only 20 dollar bills, and a guy gives me a buck to ride the bus, charmed, and I head towards town. As I got closer, I jumped in a cab and back to the room. A quick shower, and then I headed out to Millennium Park, for concerts in the park on my friend’s suggestion at the game who suggested I check it out. It was great evening with a great free concert under the skyline of Chicago. Awesome!

Boulder--BOCO--Living the Dream

Monday, June 15th, Boulder—BOCO—Living the Dream

Colorado. I arrived into Denver, and headed down to Elizabeth, about 40 miles southeast of Denver, to spend some time with my brother and folks who were visiting. My brother had moved here about a year ago, so I wanted to check his new digs. Very nice I must say. The day after Alcatraz left me feeling a little spent, and I was feeling the altitude immediately. Dry and high we were at about 6500 feet. We hung out catching up as the storms rolled in. We are sitting somewhat in the storm belt out in these parts.




As I headed up to my room to grab something, I looked out the window to see a large tornado. I yelled down to everyone, and we quickly grabbed our cameras. We did not head to the storm shelter but ran outside. It was pretty clear we were not in imminent danger as it was already East of us and heading away. That did not mean there could be another one dropping out of the unsettled sky, but I wanted my storm chaser pictures of the moment. We all ran out armed with our cameras and started snapping shots. This tornado was big, and although a couple miles away, you could see the force picking up debris, and whatever else it could muster from the ground. It never quite reached the ground while we watched, but it did at some point touch land enough to do some damage to a shopping mall. We watched from afar, for at least 15 minutes before it completely went away. It was my welcome to CO, and I guess a bit of tornado alley.


I had a rather restless first night of sleep at altitude, but we woke early for an easy spin around the neighborhoods. It was a good scenic spin of Pikes Peak and the Front Range on a clear sunny day, and Chris , Vince, and I enjoyed a ride together for the first time together in a long time. My Dad at 68 was holding tough, on his mountain bike and big tires, and after he headed back, Chris and I headed over East for a few extra miles and took some shots of Pikes Peak before heading back to his house. I had a client appointment in Aurora, and headed out for lunch at 1 with my client. After work was done, it was time to head to Boulder to ‘live the dream’. I had wanted to visit for quite some time and my good buddy Gordo, was hosting my time in the City, which is always good for good times and some good training.

I rolled into BOCO, at about 4, and headed over to the reservoir, as a buddy, Kenny C, from San Mateo, was out visiting CU for his daughter and helping her through orientation. We did a little swim around the swim section of the lake, and enjoyed the sun, before the evening thunderstorms rolled in. I then headed out to Gordo and Monica, who were putting me up so graciously for the time I am here. We had a great meal, as G, cooked up some of his special G-burgers in my honor, as he knows how much I like a good burg. Well, I guess two really. I came with brownies, compliments of Kami, and was hoping to tempt G man a bit with some of my temptations. He did not, or at least I never saw him shall we say.

After another somewhat restless, high altitude sleep, I woke to start my training here in BOCO. G took me out to Jamestown, which is a awesome gradual climb into the hills, although very Petro-friendly as it is rather gradual and about 8 miles. After our climb we headed back down a screaming decent, where I split off and headed to Lyons, as G kept his ride to his 90 minutes scheduled workout. I wanted to explore a bit more and headed out to Lyons to the entrance of Estes Park, and then back down South to Longmont cutting over via Hygiene, to Diagonal Highway, that headed me back into BOCO. By then end of my 3 hour ride, I was feeling the effects of the altitude, and perhaps a little light on the calories. My timing was good, as G was serving up his breakfast, and had a massive bowl of Quinoa and eggs, to top off my supplies.



After my refueling, I headed down to check out downtown, BOCO, and hit Pearl Street; a very lively and entertaining strip of great shops, restaurants, street shows, and the like.

I purchased a CU Buffalos, T-shirt, for Paige, hoping maybe this would be a college she would pick. That way I can find a good reason to spend a lot of time in these parts. After strolling around, I jumped on the city cruiser bike; I rode down, only to realize that I was stuck in one fixed gear. The fixed gear on the way down the hill was not a big deal, but heading back up at 30 rpm’s, I had to dismount on the 9th street hill. I guess it was not a fixed gear mountain bike, but I was just not figuring out how to shift.



Monica and G, had another great meal lined up which was a great salad and chicken topped off. My eating is going really well here, and I am limiting my sugar intake, although I did reward myself with two brownies post dinner to make sure I did not go into withdrawals. I know I needed sleep and after a few calls, I hit the sack early. I finally slept pretty well, and did my best to sleep in. I rolled out of bed at about 8, as G was beginning to wonder if he had killed me off on my first day of training in Boulder.

I lounged about enjoying the Colorado summer morning on the back patio doing a little work and making a few client calls, before Monica and I headed to the infamous Dave Scott swim at the Flatirons. I think this is a rather locals only swim, and I was glad to be escorted by Monica, a very respected and top swimmer in the sport. I only have to hope I do not embarrass her and hold my own with the who’s who in the sport of triathlon, and of course with, ‘The Man’ , Dave Scott standing on the pool deck coaching. I have never swum in a pool, with so many of the top athletes in our sport, and although slightly intimidated, I knew I could tap my rather large VO2 max to hang with the second tier lane of swimmers. We started out with some warm—up sets, and I felt pretty good. Gordo said hold back to the second half of the swim set, and I did my best starting at the back of the lane. After getting shuffled up a couple spots, I was swimming behind Dave Scott’s ex-wife a good swimmer, and we hit what he called a lactate clearing set. It consisted of 3 -50s on the 40-45-50 all hard getting your average split. Then a 100 at the same pace plus 3 seconds, followed by a 300 with the first 100 hard plus 8 seconds into a 200 easy.

After the set, I was thinking that was it, and had tapped myself to the point, now where the lack of oxygen was starting to affect me. When he said one more time, it was alright, hold on. I did everything in my power to hold the stroke together, and heading into flip turns, I was gasping for air, at this thin air was making every part of my body shut down. I was ok swimming until cranking it up that one little notch, the effects of altitude was a severe hit. I was happy to be done, and after a great tip on my right arm entry by Dave Scott made a lot of sense. Something nobody else has ever picked up on, I shall continue to work on as soon as I can swim and think again. I could not mostly through that set. A good 4000 SCM set, and I just hit my swim volume in the last month.

After the swim, I had met up with BDC for lunch that had just gotten out of the hospital from a virus he had picked up. His training is going well, but he might have to hold back for a few days to get his game back on. Back to the G-spot, and a little rest and recovery. The swim was a taxing one, but good fun, to be able to be in the same pool, as the likes of Crowie, Matt Reed, JZ, and some of the other strongest and fittest triathletes in the world. And this was a light day according to Monica. I can see how it would be hard not to drill it every time you show up to a workout around here….too many hammers hitting it in every workout!



G and I headed out for a pre-dinner run, which led to tempo for me, even after cutting the corner at Lake Bennett. It is a 1.15 mile loop and we ran it 5 times, at about 715 pace for me, which at altitude felt more likely 630 to 645. It got my calf aching a little more, but with no races on the horizon, I felt I could push the envelope a little on working myself on a bum leg. The old body is going to have to learn how to heal faster, and a little ache in the calf is not going to slow me down (have to show who is boss every once in a while), that way maybe it will not act up again ;) !!

Alcatraz. The Escape

2009 Alcatraz Race Report—The Escape! June 14th, 2009

Alcatraz. The escape. Swim Bike and run, on a beautiful course in one of the best small big cities in the World. I had never done the race, and after securing a last minute entry, I felt it was time to race it. Granted, my prep was this rather limited except for some long slow bike miles, I figured I could get through it ok.
I rolled up from San Mateo, to the start, and managed all the logistics of getting set up, on the shuttle, and over to the ferry terminal. I hooked up with IronMike Breen, and Coffee Man Albert Boyce and we boarded the ferry for our start. I was surprised how effortless and how much room it was on the ferry given the 2000 plus athletes.

As we sat in our sections, and then filed down the door to jump out, Albert and I positioned ourselves as far right as possible, based on suggestions deeper water has less current. I have swum a handful of times in the last 4 weeks, and given this was a swimmers race, was not too sure how things would pan out.

I hit the water and headed right. The water was cold but completely manageable and actually quite pleasant once the shock on the face left. I waited for Albert to roll by as he jumped out a few seconds behind me. I did not have expectations of swimming with him today, but hoped for a few minutes of sitting on his feet. That was not the case as I was quickly dropped and gapped with in the first few hundred meters. Now I was solo. I swam WAY left, and hugged the kayakers. I had nobody to swim with and knew the minute I hit the water the race day was going to be tough.

I quickly was being yelled at by the kayakers to head left, which I mostly ignored until one guy wanted me to stop. He was radioing folks, and probably wanted to DQ me. Although I felt he was power tripping, as long as I was not right of where they were I was patrolling, then I was within the limits of what they wanted. To swim with the packs well, it is just not that big a deal. I headed a little more left, still swimming alone, not thinking anything was helping get me through the swim. I had a few minutes of Great White Shark fear, and felt if I was not swimming by myself, then at least there was less odds of Whitey picking me, so I started heading a little further left. Not enough to get in with anybody to draft off of until the last ¼ mile or so, and only then I was catching and passing folks.




The exit to the swim was not pretty, as I staggered up the steps to find my running shoes for the 5 minute run to T1. I fought to get the wetsuit off, sat down to put the shoes on and ran at max effort to get my bike. Nothing felt good. The bike I thought things should change. I was riding my road bike, with clip-ons, which since I had carbon handle bars were VERY loosely attached. To the point of dangerous, and needed to be ridden with great care. I hit the bike thinking, ok, now it is my time. Well my time did not come, and nothing felt right through the ride, the course was hard, very hard. The aero set up was not working as if I hit any bump, they would drastically drop down. I had no game either, and was drifting out of the race contention. After a 37 minute swim (slow for this year from last year), I was just holding my position and it was not that good.




The bike was over and the run, definitely not my kind of course, was 8 miles with trails, hills, tunnels, beach running, and soft sand and sand ladders. I rode about 55 minutes, and started out hoping I could motor the flats and hang on the hills. Well I could not motor anything, and was slogging through now in survival mode. I thought the Alp du Ez triathlon was hard, but this was exceeding the pain tolerance I had for the day. After a rather ugly 55 minute run, I rolled in for a 2:38 and 5th place in my age group, well behind folks I am usually racing with or beating.



But a race done, and a good experience nonetheless, and I was happy to finish. I was not thinking that was possible and if I was a drop out kind of race guy, this would have been the race I would have done it, as I sure wanted too. Check it off the list…probably won’t be back for 400 bucks Terry Davis…no hard feelings.

Lake Garda to Milano Airport Hotel, 120 miles

Day 7, Lake Garda to Milano Airport, 120 miles, LONG day

I should have expected day 7 to be the toughest. It is the only day that I had to get somewhere, a schedule so to speak, it was the hottest by far, and I got the latest start of the week. In fact, Lance who of course was bike racing down South said that day was perhaps the hardest day of racing he has had on a bike because of the heat. Of course, they were going up and down mountains as fast as they could so that does not help either.

By the time I rolled out after my large breakfast, one of the best so far on the trip, I was already noticing the heat at 9am. After it got good and hot, I was in an unusual amount of rush hour traffic as the Italians were heading back to work and I was heading to a major city, Brescia.

So, I opted off the main road, and headed north. As soon as I made the turn, within seconds I was on quiet, peaceful, wine country like roads, with the back drop of the rising mountains north of Milan. It still amazes me how many roads in Italy, and they all seem to go somewhere, although it might take a little longer to get there, they eventually will get you somewhere. I continued to route myself to the quietest and most peaceful roads I could find, and it was worth the extra effort. Except the headwind was really picking up and the heat wore on me quickly. By the time I was 30 miles in, I was out of liquids and finding it very difficult to keep rolling. By then it was close enough to lunch, so I rolled past a tasty looking sandwich shop and pulled over.

A little air conditioning, coke, and a sandwich is nothing better to lift the spirits. Also, it gave me the opportunity to get the liquids back in me before the heat of the day really kicked in. It had to be over 100 today and it was not helping that I was rather tired and spent from the week of riding.




After my little break and lunch, my spirits were back up, or maybe it was the 2 liters of coke and sugar that was racing through my system. Either way I was rolling better, and it did not hurt to see a local heading out so I jumped on his wheel, and started rolling with him. It was not a hard pace, but good enough to keep me entertained and focused for a bit and I figured he would be heading to the good local roads.

As I followed this local, I did not pay much attention to my whereabouts but ended up heading toward Lecco, which was taking me a little too far north. This is the lakes region, and there is good scenery with the rivers, mountains, and small villages to roll through. It was good riding even though I was doing the math, and not liking the fact had a long way to go.

Things got long when I had to start heading south and west when there was just one busy area after another and endless Milano sprawl I guess? My wheel acted up quite a bit then and I was guessing it might blow within 20 miles to go and would that have been ironic? 20 miles too far, and 20 miles to go, my equipment shuts down on me! It did not thank god! Finally made it to my starting point, the Novotel Milano Malpense hotel. I knew they would be serving a good dinner at 7, and so I packed up the bike in a jiff, showered, and packed my bags for the trip home.

I had one more tasty Italian meal, and called it a night. The thing is with touring, it takes a long time, with all the stops, looking at a map, lunch breaks, etc, but since there is no hurry nothing really matters. Does not matter what time you arrive. So, the average speed might be rather low over the course of the day, but there is plenty of time where the riding is not all that easy, and the speed and effort is high.

Some Memorable m moments. Broken derailleur 10 miles in to the start of the Tour:
No flats in 700 miles.
Running up hill TT with Lance and Levi.
Meeting lots of cool Italians.
Riding and meeting Arie, my Dutch Friend.
Riding thru Genoa at a seriously busy rush hour.
120 miles on last day after cracking to 2 liter cook at 30 miles into the day.
Nice digs on Lake Garda. Talking with Italians when we don't understand a word of each other’s language. Hands, English, Spanish, Italian all mixed in works pretty well actually.
Last few nights sleeping only few hours’ reminiscent epic camp. So tired but cannot sleep.
Great warm weather.

I rolled through Italy, with a great amount of ease and not a whole lot of planning (only about 5 days), never having toured before without support and taking all my own gear. It worked out amazingly well, and was so much fun; I say I am hooked to do it again. It is definitely a great way to see the country, and experience a great event, the Giro.

Ciao from the Italy report.

Bologna to Lake Garda (Desenzano), 101 miles by 1:30

Day 6, Bologna to Lake Garda (Desenzano), 101 miles in 6.5 hours

I slept well, and I woke early and rested and ready to roll. The breakfast was spread was not out, but I picked up a couple items as they were setting up. It was a pretty basic breakfast buffet from what I have had in many of the hotels, but good enough to get me rolling out and early. I was rolling at 630. I love these Italian cities early as it is very quiet. The Italians do not seem to be early risers and it is so pleasant to have the roads basically deserted like nobody lives in town. Also, the temperature is much more tolerable in the early hours as the forecasted temperature is going to be well into the 90s again.

The riding North of Bologna was very central California like, a lot like a Stockton, Lodi, and a little wine country mixed in. There was lots of farming going on out there and mostly flat, until the last 20 miles getting into the Lake Garda region. I had a very small climbs to get in, and headed to the southeast corner of the lake before I headed to the southwest corner of the lake to Decenzano. I had spotted more high end Porsches and fancy cars rolling around the lake here then I had seen in all of Italy the whole week. Clearly another area of the rich and famous. It was a great quick ride, and I was in town, and into a hotel by 2 pm.


This gave me the opportunity to enjoy the roof top pool, and lounge poolside enjoying another salad and Panini sandwich while cooling off in the refreshing pool. I splurged on this stay as I figured I would be spending a little more time as I got in early, and I had begun tiring slightly of the basic 3 –star hotels. Plus I felt I earned a little fancier bed, and balcony and view of the lake. It was worth it, and I earned it!


Also, I got watch the end of the Giro on TV from the comforts of my comfy cool room. It is going to be hard to leave this room in the AM. I might have to have a late check-out/rollout and enjoy the area a little longer as I have nowhere to go but to the airport hotel in Milan.


After a short nap, I rolled through town scoping out my eating establishments, and after a snack of a slice of pizza,




rolled into a full course meal for 15 euro, which included my pasta dish (lasagna), and some meat and vegetables with some desert. I still hit a gelatteria for some additional ice cream fix after, of course!!

Day 5, Pistoia to Bologna

Day 5, Pistoia to Bologna, 95 very hilly miles

Climb 1-2500 ft
Climb 2-1800 ft
Climb 3-1900 ft
Climb 4- 800 ft Total probably 7-8000 ft of climbing on the day.

Rolled out of Pistoia to 2500 ft climb within the first 5 miles of the day. All the Saturday local riders were out and I had plenty of company heading up the first climb. The legs were feeling pretty good right off the bat and I did not need much warm up. Thus, I was in a frisky mood to play with the locals. I should have showed more constraint so early on such a big day being 5 days into a big week, but what the heck, I was feeling good!?

I jumped on the first group heading by with a bunch of older very fit Italians rolling along rather steady. All of the Europeans go helmetless, and it sure does look tempting, but I have banged my head around on the pavement too many times to get sucked into that routine.

I sat on for as long as I could but then the extra weight was beginning to wear on me so I let them roll away. Again the routine for these groups is to hammer to the top, then stop, chat, refill water bottles on the many fresh spring fed taps, and then most likely go back down, although I am not sure because I just keep riding.



I continued to get these looks of respect as I roll by, usually with in less than a minute of these guys crushing themselves only to see some touring dude just a short while back. I smile, wave and roll on after some water from the fountains. No time on these long days for a whole lot of milling about with these guys.

I kept rolling up and down these steady climbs, and with about 40k to go, the caravan of fun came screeching up and pulled over as I was having some bread and a little Italian cold cuts. The sponsor car drivers, and models, and the like jumped out to get their lunches in or a cold beverage. My favorite la Gazetta Italian girl popped out and we chatted it up a bit, although my Italian and her English was not taking us too far, but we seemed to get our points across good enough. I got out of it was that she was fired up to come back to California with me….hmmmmmm….tempting!!



She was from Milan, but was much more impressed with CA, probably all those Bay Watch shows they watch over there? We took our pictures, said our goodbyes, and they kept pushing on screeching through the towns, alerting the locals of the approaching race.


I got rolling out with the caravan, as I wanted to make the final climb and station myself for some more TV coverage. It was a very hot day and with these relentless climbs those guys are going to be working up over the last one, and I wanted to see the carnage. I set up with about 500m from the top of the final climb, and was viewed again on TV, when the main group went by. They motored up it impressively as always, as I continued to even get the pedals around.



Again, after the group went by I was on my bike rolling down the back side of the hill. A few racers came rolling down with their police escort, so I had to make a quick pullover to let them come flying down the descent. When I got into Bologna, one more straggler came rolling in, so I stayed right and let him pass and then I followed the escorted rider in, as they started opening up the intersections behind me. Good timing I have I must say, as it is always nice to roll through town with closed roads.

I wanted to get to one of finish line areas, to eye the finish line fun, and with about 5k to go I saw a whole lot of action at an approaching intersection. It was not the finish line, but since they had to head up a steep hill, all the busses and team cars were kept down below. I spotted Team Astana bus, and as I looked left, Levi came rolling out of the team cars and busses on the right almost t-boning into me before I jumped on the brakes and he scurried over the bus, or was it me t-boning into him? Either way, it was a closer call than I had wanted to take out a lead rider in a Grand Tour….as that would not have looked good on my cycling resume and sure would have caught some media attention as there was nothing but cameras, and media around to capture the moment of touring dude taking down Levi…beauty!! Lance had already made his way onto the bus, and Levi talked briefly and I got some pictures, before the bus closed up and rolled off.

I then headed into the center of Bologna. I find it easier to ride in these big cities and almost prefer it as you can take any little path and there is always a general sense of where the center of town is.



I hit the main square, Duomo and all, right at the peak of the night with folks milling about. I checked out the scenery and snapped some pictures, before heading in the direction of a suggested hotel by a local. I could not find the suggested hotel, so opted for another centrally located 3-star accommodation.

I went for a stroll through town, and this was a great town, with lots of action and sights to see. I hit one of the bars, when I noticed a full spread of appetizers for the bar patrons, and enjoyed a cold local brew and snacked to kill the major hungers and fill the pit in my stomach.


As the sun set, I strolled around a bit more and ended up at a busy pasta joint, where I had one of my best meals of the trip, having again a caprese salad and pasta alla carbanara….hmmmmmm!!!


Good quiet night of sleep in downtown Bologna, as I made the window did not open up to anything that might be noisy. I slept well and got caught up on some of the lost sleep!

Lerici to Pistoia

Day 4, Lerici to Pistoia, via Lucca, and outskirts of Florence, 114 miles

Woke in Lerici to another perfect Italian coastal day. My hotel breakfast was solid and I loaded up with a few extra Euros of breakfast. I hit the road around 9 and headed south. In retrospect, I should have stayed along the coast and did the loop around the Peninsula, as it looked like a lot of small Italian coastal villages…perhaps for another time.

I headed south from there to a long coastal flat beach town after beach town. It looked a lot like anything like the coastal flat areas of Florida like Daytona. The long holiday weekend had started and a lot of Italians were heading to the coast for a holiday.




The Giro started south of me about 30 miles and did a loop north and then back south before heading inland towards Lucca and the hills. I routed myself well down the coast riding with a lot of locals who were heading out to check out the Giro. Upon heading East through town I quickly became lost, riding the same road a few times back and forth before figuring out which way the Giro was heading and started following the little pink signs.

My first rather strong effort was on the first climb heading east. I was spinning along pretty easy when some local young guns came by rolling pretty well, so I ramped up the wattage and gave it a go to stay with them. I suspect I was pushing 350 watts up this hill to stay with them, so I suspect it was not the easiest for them either. The looks I get when I am sitting on their wheels and then when they notice they cannot drop me is rather entertaining. I did my best to stay with them to the KOM and I got gapped slightly at the top but got some kudos from them in Italian and kept rolling along.

After a nice decent it started rolling again, and another hammer head (will call him Mr. Lucca since we are close to Lucca), went flying by me, so again I ramped all 230 pounds of me and my rig. I sat and sat right on this guy. I think there is an unspoken rule in Italy that no matter what the situation, you race for the tops of climbs, and you race to win the KOM. I sat on this guy rolling pretty well, and he never made a real good look to see who I was or that I was toting up 30 pounds of extra baggage. I was on the edge to stay with him, and as we approached the top, Mr. Lucca went HARD, dropping me. As I rolled over the top, he was nowhere to be seen, and I figured, 1. He either was pissed I was sitting on his wheel and wanted me gone, or 2. Was riding hard and going to go harder than I could muster.
So, I just rolled over the top, only to realize that he had stopped at the top, as I had noticed several times climbing with Italians that they do that to regroup, or hash out who just one the KOM. He came rolling up on my side, smiling, pointing at my 30 pounds of luggage, and realized he had just hammered some dorky touring guy. He was sweating a lot, and was pretty worked so I know I gained his respect. And he said something in Italian, gave me a pat on the back, pointed to his rear wheel, and ramped it up again. He paced me hard 25-28 mph for the next 30 minutes up and over the rollers, heading toward Lucca, before he said his goodbyes, and headed off in another direction pointing me towards Lucca.

I stopped shortly after rolling through Lucca for some beverages and a ham and cheese Panini. Again it was hot and a cold coke and salty, fatty Panini sandwich goes down oh, so well! I started rolling again, when the caravan of sponsors rolled up on me beeping, and racing through the streets. This is the one hour warning that the riders are about an hour out, and get ready.




There is probably 100 cars of various sponsors in this caravan, escorted by police racing through the towns waving at the locals. The roads were rather flat, so I was able to ramp it up to 30 mph, and enjoyed a good 15 minutes of entertainment as all the caravan rolled on through, giving me a draft off the vehicles, and a fast escort through lights, and the cheering fans.

It definitely has to be pretty entertaining to see some dorky touring guy with a couple big panniers racing through the streets with all these cars and all. Once the caravan left, I was back into a saner pace, and rolled along towards Florence. At about 100 miles the race caught me and I was pulled over within a few minutes of the peloton going by. They let cyclists stay on the road to almost the last minute but when that last few motorbikes, pollcia, come by you better make sure you are well off the road. The race went by in a jiff, and I rolled along to the next town, where I regrouped with a couple cokes, a recharging of my quickly dying life line, my I phone, and caught the end of the race on TV in Florence with the locals at a local bar.


After getting some sugar in me, I decided to stay out of Florence and head to one of the first towns on the race course tomorrow, Pistoia. Pistoia is about 20 miles northwest of Florence and I could easily navigate myself there using my handy dandy I-phone . Unfortunately, it was s little big back heading west, and that left me rolling into a pretty good headwind, heading slightly uphill as Pistoia is a small village town in the foothills. No worries though as there is no hurry and it is all pleasant riding and a good time of day as it is cooling and pleasant. I rolled into Pistoia after 114 miles and rolled into the center of town, and followed a couple signs to a nice 3 star hotel at Hotel Patria. This was the cheapest hotel of the week at 50 Euro and I was set for the night.

I strolled the evening hour with the locals, as the town was ramping up for a fun, holiday weekend party. I had a great meal of pasta and my favorite salad, the caprice salad. Unfortunately, the music was playing until 1 am, so sleep was limited this night but I am not sure if it is not just a little bit of excessive fatigue setting in as well. I never sleep well, when I am extremely tired. And the training effect of 100 mile days is certainly starting to set in.

Day 3, Cinque Terra TT

May 20, 2009, Day 3, Cinque Terra TT, 75 miles, 7 hours
I woke at 3 am today after about 2 hours of sleep. Not sure why, but I headed out at about 6 am for a sunrise run and ran about 5.5 miles up the coast. I took lots of pictures of the great scenery and sunrise. This area is just spectacular. It is all very exclusive and one little coastal town after another. The weather was warm and it was nice.

Today, I had a breakfast company, and Arie and I hit the complimentary breakfast in full force. The eating is starting to really ramp up now. Today we headed out about 9 am as we were catching the hardest TT stage in Grand Tour history. We rolled South towards Sestri Levante a coastal town just before hitting the hills of the Cinque Terra. We headed to the start of the race, and there was a lot of action near the start. Arie, rolled right down the bike path taking charge, yelling in a very loud, Dutch voice, ‘Hey’, and Italians started jumping out of the way. I just let him lead me through and we got to the front for our token TT start photos.


We then headed out onto the course, following the little pink signs directing us through. Before we hit the hills, which came quickly, we stopped at a local grocery and I picked up some prosciutto, and loaf bread, and more beverages. Did I mention it was hot, very hot again today!? We rolled up the first climb of about 2k, and with the 230 lbs I was pulling up I felt it.





Especially since Arie was a bit lighter and was a good steady climber. I did my best to stay with him, which I did for the most part. I had plenty of other slower folks to ride with too. It was an event and everybody, old, slow, fast, and young were out on their bikes heading to the hills to watch the race.

We descended and rolled through a small village on the sea, before we climbed right back up to 2000 feet again. The guys in the TT were going to ride this TT in about 90 minutes, and it was taking us over 3 hours. We rolled to the top of the second climb and snapped some more photos before heading back down, and positioned ourselves for some good viewing of the racers coming up about 500m from the top. We had about 2-3 hours to watch all the individual TT guys to come through. This is what I came to Italy for, is to see this and to get the full experience I planned on running up with Lance and Levi.

Waiting for them to come around the corner was exciting, as you could hear the cheering pick up as they came closer. When Lance rolled around the corner, there was an enterouge of motos, cars, and action. I started running as far and long as I could yelling, Go, go, go, as he went up and around the corner. The guys on the motor bikes were honking like crazy behind me and the police on those bikes are aggressive, and tough. They don’t budge when they are rolling up the hill and I only had so much nerve to run alongside for so long. But I got a good run, and it was a huge rush. I did it again, when Levi rolled up and that again was so much fun.




Right after the leaders rolled by, Arie was on his bike cresting the climb and heading down the mountain. I was on his heals following his lead again. He is experienced in this stuff, and I wanted to learn from him and follow his lead. It was chaotic, with thousands of cyclists, scooters, and cars trying to get down the mountain. Once we made it through the initial mass of people the downhill was rather smooth. Just hoards of cyclists heading down the mountain. Once we hit the bottom of the hill, Arie had to head North, and I South, so we had to say our goodbyes, and part ways. It was fun to ride with Arie, and great company but hopefully we will get to tour again together. I headed towards the coastal towns South riding through La Spezia which was rather busy. I ended up in Lerici, another great village on the ocean with a cool looking castle and great scenery. It was the start of a holiday weekend, so this was the first and only time I had to stop by a couple hotels to find a room. I ended up finding a room that slept 3 and was huge but I took it and cleaned up for a good dinner in Lerici. Lasagna again and of course hitting the Gelatteria for some scoops.

Today was one of the most exciting experiences on a bike. A dream comes true to run up with Lance on a stage in Grand Tour. I had always wanted to do it when he was racing the Tour, and now my dream had been fulfilled. The riding was spectacular, and the excitement of watching the Tour awesome!

Day 2 Alessandria to Rapallo

May 19, 2009, Day 2 Alessandria to Rapallo (near Portofino), 95 miles about 7 hours

Today I was in Alessandria at the Hotel Londra. I woke to the smells of a great continental breakfast. I hit the buffet in full force, and was throwing back the cereal, muffins, pastries, eggs, and Italian cold cuts. I loaded up a few things for the day, and headed out into to town to replenish my Euro supply. The first stop was a fancy looking bank that had several security doors, and after obtaining clearance to enter I was told that this bank did not do cash transactions, or something to that effect. I rolled to the next bank, and sat with one of the bankers, who had to copy the passport, and start filling out several forms. After about 10 minutes I found out the computers were down, and that it would be a while longer. I continued on. The last bank I tried shut me down when I wanted to cash 100 USD. I guess they do not exchange bills that large. I give. I went to an ATM and found my ATM card working. I had called Wells Fargo that morning and they had released the hold on my card since they noticed the unusual activity and I had not notified them. Finally cash but I was good and tired of running around town. Back to the hotel to load up and head out.

I rolled out of Alessandria at 11 am. I headed Southwest toward a town called Aqua Terme. It looked like a decent area to ride and apparently the town had large hot springs, which I never did make it to see. I headed back East toward Oveda through some great rolling hills. I started off on the main roads but kept exploring the more remote areas and continued to find great roads with great scenery. And after losing track of where I was, my GPS and I phone would re-navigate me back to where I needed to be. Outside of Oveda I finally hooked up with the race course, and started following the signs. They have these little pink signs, with Esta on them, which are easy to follow and spot. Shortly after the route turned off which had a blockade but In continued on. Up the road I came about a large landslide which I attempted to walk but was called back by some official looking guys that had other ideas. I explained my plight in the best Italian language I could because the only other route I saw through these mountains was on the Autostrada. They explained there was another way on the other side of the freeway. So I headed back and over through some small village onto some tiny, narrow roads which the race would follow. At high speed and racing these guys would be taking some crazy route. I hooked up with three older Italian guys who were navigating their way through as well, and we kept running into each other.




I made my way through the coastal mountains and climbed to about 2000 feet. I through my bike over one of the barricade fences, and set prepared to wait for about an hour. Shortly after, I was joined by the three Italian guys I had ridden with a bit earlier. We sat and chatted as best as we could understand each other for the next hour.




As the sun set I was out of the shade and into the sun again, but I noticed this other guy sitting on the other side of the road, under a tree now fully protected from the shade. I thought now that guy is one smart dude, he has done this before as I sat cooking in the sun, he was situated in the shade fully protected.

I was on the Passo Torchino and saw the guy who always runs with the antlers up the hill next to the cyclists. I figured it might be a good way to get on tv, and situated myself to run up next to him as the riders came by. I ran up behind him, but his American flag got stuck in his antlers and he had to stop. I tried to help him unhook himself.



After the race rolled through which was rather quickly, I was on my bike heading towards Genova. There was not any caravan of race cars coming by after so we coud get rolling rather quickly. However, there was a few racers coming by on the rice course so they had us pull over after the tunnel just before the long descent. There was a good group of cyclists and folks waiting to get down. The descent was great and followed the masses into Genoa. It was rush hour and I was happy to see other cyclists riding through this highly populated city. I saw a small group of cyclists from the Genoa East bike club, and started rolling through with them. This helped give me a feel for how to ride in this crazy environment. Scooters, cars, and just pure controlled chaos. It all worked out pretty well. Just after I was waving goodbye to these guys, I saw another cylist heading in my direction. It ends up being the guy sitting under the tree in the shade. We recognized each other and started rolling through town together. His name is Arie, and he is Dutch so he speaks perfect English. We were heading in the same direction of the Italian Riviera to set up for the next days stage.


We rode another couple hours into the early evening and ended up pulling up in Rapollo, a very nice coastal town just up the road from Portofino. This area is certainly the area for the rich and famous. We found an average 3 star hotel. We cleaned up and headed out to a great dinner. Lasagna, salad, and pizza. All or 20 Euro. I am eating well now!!



Another great day of riding today and more great riding in tap with the TT set for tomorrow. I did not sleep well but it might have been the big dinner so late at night or the jet lag. I ended up only getting a couple hours of sleep and woke early….

Day 1 Milan to Alessandria

May 19, 2009 Day 1. Milan to Alessandria, 104 miles, 9 hours

Today, I was planning on working my way into the tour, slowly. I had planned on heading South directly through Novarra, to Alessandria, which would give me about 60--70 miles according to my mapping it out prior to getting here. I was not sure how I would react to the time changes, the jet lag, and how much sleep I would have under my belt.

Unfortunately, I woke at about 1:30 am, after sleeping about 3.5 hours, and killed time laying around in bed watching the clock tick by oh, so slowly. I finally got up about 5 am and headed down, and went on the free computers, to check out my route once again on Google maps.. I had the route drawn up and written with the major roads, cities, that I would be traveling on and through. They had an early free continental breakfast set up and up and I had some continental breakie... Muffins and some rolls with nutella and a couple pieces of fruit. I pocketed a couple rolls and packets of nutella for my lunch or afternoon snack as I was not sure what I would find out there on the road.

I could not wait any longer and I was on the road by 6:30 am. It was a nice peaceful morning with the temp just perfect to start out my tour. I was rolling through the country loving it immediately. I had my route planned out thinking how great and easy this was, but I was off track and lost on my planned route by 10 miles in. That was the first lesson I learned on this trip. I was not going to be able to stick to any plan for too long, and I am going to need to be flexible and not worry on what route I was on or actually taking.

I was rolling along feeling good, although my shifting was a little off, I was again thinking a test ride of the rig might have been a good idea. Within the next few miles, still within 10 miles of rolling from the hotel, I had pulled over to check what was going on. As I started again, my pedals would not move. Jammed chain or something going on. I pulled over and removed my panniers and started working at getting the chain moving again. I was a few miles out of Oeggio and a couple nice old folks working in the garden came by the fence to aid in my assistance. I asked them the closest bike store and since we did not understand a word of each others language there was a lot of hands, a little Spanish, and a word or two of Italian. They offered me a rag, as my hands were greased and black beyond recognition. After a few minutes of fighting with the chain, I had it at least back into a working fashion. It would go and that was all I needed to get me rolling slowly to the bike store they had described to me. Of course it was still before 8 and the likelihood of a store open was unlikely.

The chain was bent and had a good skip in it and after I un-jammed it from the cogset it was at least working and that was all that I cared about at the moment. I headed to the bike store the gardening folks told me about 3k away. I rolled around the town, to find the store opened at 815 and was a scooter shop.

I saw a guy that was clearly a cyclist and yelled, ‘skuzie’, and explained my plight in English -Italian asking, Dovei, Biclicletta store? Biker dude points me down the road and when I could not find it I did a Google search. Google showed me a bike store about 25 miles East. Now I might not be going that far out of my away in a normal situation, but I checked there website out and it showed they carried Shimano parts, and in a county of Italian parts, I thought it might make sense to head there no matter the distance. It was in Ringamore northwest about 25 miles. I pulled up Google maps on my phone and mapped myself there.

After traveling South on a busy road, I detoured West and took side roads that were awesome and it took almost 30 miles before my round about approach got me there. I also had so much trouble keeping power all the way through the pedal stroke, that I would have to avoid any hills so as I approached a steep hill I had to detour to what looked like might go around it. I was pedaling in a rhythm that would apply pressure for about 2 seconds and then soft pedal when it was going to skip out, and after a while I got in a pretty good rhythm knowing when the time was to let up on the pedals. I was traveling on great quiet little country roads, and discovered almost every road went somewhere. So I would take it and then look it up and find where I was or GPS myself and watch myself travel closer to my bike store.

I found the store and rolled in looking for some assistance. And after a new derailleur and chain later I was happily again rolling. I had no Euros left since the store only took cash. I had traveled pretty far West and North and had climbed to start of the mountains and it was beautiful area. I cruised downhill and hit headwinds at bottom and headed to Navarro. Since I was out of cash I had to resort to my extra stash from breakfast and the few bars I had brought from home.

By early afternoon it was hot windy and rather average riding terrain. The temp was well into the 90s and 20 miles out of Alessandria the riding turned very nice riding. I rode into town and did a map search on my I-phone and found hotel Londra for 70 Euro. I had clocked about 104 miles which was a lot further than I had planned on day 1 and I was out there for about 9 hours from when I had started. It was hot, and I was feeling it, but I felt good enough to start rolling around town, looking for some food. I could not find food with no cash but I had a few coins which bought me a couple slices of pizza. I then headed to the local grocery and bought a full chicken on credit card and a some fruit and drink for tomorrow. I got really lost heading back to the hotel, and ended up asking for some directions. A nice Italian girl spent the next 10 minutes explaining which way to get back. I understood nothing, except she told me to take bus 4 which would take me back to my hotel. Just then bus 4 came rolling up, and I felt so bad about not getting on, since the Italian girl was pointing and motioning for me to get on, I did not want to just ignore her help and keep walking, so I got on.

Of course I had no money to pay for the bus except for a full cooked chicken, and after the bus driver said I needed a ticket, I was about to get off she told me to stay on. I explained where I was and that I was lost, and she was so nice and ended up taking me right to the front of my hotel. Initially the Italians can seem a little rough, but once you start trying to communicate and they understand you are a foreigner or lost, or in need, they become the most helpful people I have ever seen. Not understanding each other makes for some interesting attempts at communication, but nothing like a smile a little wink or two and you are golden. It all worked out and I was safely back to my nice little Hotel Londra, eating my chicken and drinking my big bottle of Orangina soda, which would be my energy drink mixed with water for tomorrow.

May 18, 2009 Petro Giro Tour

I am writing this Giro blog post tour, so with a few notes I put together I am going to try and re-enact my thoughts, joys,, struggles, and fun on my little adventure to Italia. I planned this trip within 5 days of leaving, and in short, it went well beyond expectations in every way. In the execution of my trip, in the pure joy of the adventure, and in Italy itself. It was the most fun, the easiest 700 miles I have had ever ridden and in short, a fantastic adventure. Again, having never toured solo before and not knowing what it would be like to ride with 25 plus pounds hanging from my bike, I boarded my Air France flight threw Paris into Milan Malpense airport. I left about 2:30 pm on Sunday and arrived at about 3:30 on Monday in Milan.

The airport is a few km to my only booked lodging for the trip at the Novotel hotel. So I went looking for a cab. I found a long line of Italians standing around smoking cigarettes, and noticed the lively atmosphere among these cabbies. They were having fun waiting for the next fair. I did not know how else to get to the hotel so opted for a quick easy transfer. The cabbie I picked was willing to take me until he found out I was only going a few kms, and then explained there was free shuttle right up the way. I figure he did not want to lose his place in line, for a short trip, and was more than helpful to get me to the free shuttle. I was cool with that, and ended up calling the hotel to confirm the arrival of the next shuttle. They indeed have one on the way. I waited a few minutes and my shuttle was there.



I checked into this 4 star hotel and quickly set up my bike shortly after arriving at about 4. I was thinking I should take it out for a short test ride but opted out of and I went for short walk and run at 6. Dimmer at hotel at 7 and I had salad with lots of bread and massive bowl of strigoli con pesto. In bed at 9 feeling pretty good. I took a little sleep aid for the night to hopefully get me on schedule. I hate taking sleeping pills but figured it might help get me sinced up to the local time. It really did not help much.

Why Not?

Why Not?

9 days ago, I started watching the Giro. Lance, Levi, and company racing around Italy for 3 weeks. 5 days ago, I purchased a ticket to Milan, via Paris on Air France. Tomorrow I leave on that adventure. I think somewhere along the line this year, I planned on a year of spontaneity….somehow with not a whole lot of thought, that is happening. I guess that is spontaneous at work.

The plan is rough, but it looks like this. One hotel booked, and a goal to ride 4 stages of the Giro, and one day before it and one day after. It should be an adventure….Ciao!!

Petro-GIRO Tour
Depart SFO to Milan (Air France via Paris), Sunday 17th, Arrival at 2:30 Monday, May 18th.
Hotel Novotel Milano Malpense Airport
Tuesday, 19th, Petro Prologue Stage, Milano Malpense to Torino, 125k
Wednesday, 20th, Stage 11-Torino to Arenzano (Genova)-214 km
Petro Tour same)
Thursday, 21st, Stage 12-Sestri to Riornaggoire(Cinque Terre)-60 km
(Petro Tour add-on 60k add-on from Arrenzano to San Terenzo (just South of La Spezia/Riomaggoire---Total for day 140K)

Friday, 22nd Stage 13-Lido di Camaiore to Firenze-176 km
Petro Tour add on from San Terenzo 40k. Total for day about 216k)
Saturday,, 23rd, Stage 14-Campi Bisenzio to San Luca(Bologne)-172 km
(Petro Tour same with slight add on depending on where I stay in Florence area)
TGV Bologna to Milan on Sunday 24th, 60 minute train ride
Tourist in Milan Sunday and Monday.
Depart Tuesday, 26th, Arrive SFO at 12:30 pm.

I am packing with two Navarro (REI saddle bags on rear), weighing in at less than 15 pounds total. And one handle bar navigation bag, the little one that straps on to handlebars for I phone, map, passport, money, etc

Packing:
1 underwear 
1 shorts
1 Nike pant
Asics lightweight trainer
2 Cycling kits
1 cycling rain jacket
Visor
Arm warmers-knee warmers-beanie cap
2 pair of socks
1 running shorts
1 synthetic running shirt
Swimsuit-goggles
Garmin and charger
I pod and charger
Camera and charger
Small toothpaste and brush, contacts and solution, deodorant, and sunblock
Passport, AMEX card, and Euros
Cable and lock
Garbage bag, and 1 gallon zip lock bags
Woolite detergent
Gorilla tape

Kuota kOM with Old Man Mountain Racks and Navarro bag, all weighing in under 20 lbs (without bike weight)

Seat Bag:
2 tubes, tool, patch kit, emergency jacket, Co2 cartridge, tire lever, mini-pump

Australia from a 11 year old's perspective

April 23rd, 2009

Australia from a 11 year old's perspective

After a short hiatus from blogging/journaling, I am back to summarize the latest. Well, with a little help that is. I am going to ‘borrow’, plagiarize (with consent of course which I guess is not plagiiarizing), or use as I was hoping the journaling by Paige would be complete by now and give a complete story of our trip. But she has returned to normal life and that leaves little time to write. She is too busy texting, emailing, schooling, soccering, and kung fu’ing her busy little life that she leads. So here is a summary of her/our trip through the mid-point:

Friday April 10th, 2009

Today was an exciting day. We arrived at the Sydney International Airport at 6:05 A.M. It wasn’t as bad as I thought a 14 hour and 40 minute plane ride would be. Luckily I slept 9 hours and I was prepared with books and lots of other stuff. My dad picked Kami and I up from the airport. Luckily my dad had gotten here earlier than we had because in Australia you drive on the other side of the street and the steering wheel is on the right side of the front seat instead of the left side. We drove to the Swiss Grand Hotel in Bondi Beach where my dad had stayed a few nights before he picked us up. A few hours after we arrived we walked across the street to Bondi Beach. We were there for about 3 hours. The sand on the beach was so fine and powdery. It felt so nice to walk barefoot and play in it. My dad and I went swimming in the Tasman Sea. Kami and I also built a sandcastle but it got washed out by the shore when the tide came up. After the beach we went to lunch in the town. We were at the restaurant for about 1 hour. After we ate we went back to the hotel and rested for a little bit. Then we went to drive around Sydney. It was pretty dark but we could see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.




We didn’t really know where we were but we figured out our way to see those things and make it back to our hotel. By the time we got back to the hotel I was exhausted because it was 8:00 at night on Friday which is 3:00 in the morning on Friday in the USA. So I was pretty tired and right when we got to our room I fell asleep.

Saturday April 11th, 2009
When I woke up today I was fully rested. I woke up at 7:30 A.M. on Saturday which is 2:30 P.M. on Friday. The time difference is really big. At 8:30 A.M. we went to Bondi Beach again for some more fun. We went in the water again. We were swimming like yesterday but we also tried body surfing. Body surfing in Australia was super fun! It was really fun because the waves were so perfect and lots of other reasons. Kami and I built another sand castle before we left. After the beach we went to lunch just like the yesterday. After lunch we were on another adventure. We were going to visit my dad’s old neighbors Dave and Pat from when he was in 2nd grade and when he lived in Australia. We drove from Sydney to their house which was about a 30 minute drive. When we arrived there we put our things down and heard stories about my dad when he was a kid. After about 30 minutes of hearing stories my dad wanted to try and find his way his old school. We walked to his old school just like he did when he was living there. We finally found our way there and took some pictures in front of it. Unfortunately, there was a fence around it and it was locked because they were off for spring break. When we were done taking pictures we went back to the house where there was my dad’s neighbors Penny and Wendy. Wendy was his age and Penny was a few years younger. Dave and Pat are their parents and they are very good friends with my grandparents. We are staying at their house tonight and maybe a few more nights before we go back home.

Sunday April 12th, 2009



Today was another beach day. We woke up and had some breakfast. Right after we finished breakfast we headed straight to Palm Beach. It was about 30 minutes from where we were staying. We arrived there and relaxed until Kami said she wanted to go by the rocks. We walked to the rocks and climbed them out until there were no more. All you could see past that was the water. On the rocks there was a type of muscle. We tried picking them up off of the rocks but the big ones wouldn’t budge. The small ones we could look at but not the big ones. There was also tide pools which were cool. After exploring the rocks, my dad and I jumped in the water. We went body surfing again. The Palm Beach body surfing was just as nice as the Bondi Beach body surfing. When I finished body surfing I was exhausted but we had told Wendy’s husband we were going to watch him play in his band at a restaurant in Gosford. After watching him play we went to Terrigal. Terrigal was another little beach town not to far away from where we watched him play. We had dinner there and then drove back to Pat and Dave’s house.

Monday April 13th, 2009
Today was a fun day. We woke up and had a quick breakfast. After breakfast we drove to Sydney. When we got into Sydney, we found a parking area and parked our car. Then we took the monorail to Darling Harbour where the aquarium and wild life center was. We went to the wildlife center. In the wildlife center there was so much to see. There was insects, kangaroos, koala bears, wombats, snakes, bats and many more. One of the snakes that was there was the most venomous snake (Taipan) in the world. One thing that I did there was touch living snakes and touch living walking sticks that were huge and many more. My favorite part was touching the koala bears.





They were so cute and soft and I just wanted to pick one up and hold it but I wasn’t allowed to. After the wild life center we had a late lunch. Then we went to find a hotel. We were not planning on staying the night but since we wanted to see the opera house and walk the harbour bridge we were going to because we weren’t going to have enough time to see all of that in one day and we didn’t want to drive back to their house and drive back to Sydney in the morning. After we found our hotel we walked around Sydney but a few minutes after we left it started pouring rain on us. Luckily we borrowed umbrellas from the hotel or else we would have been drenched. After walking around the city in the rain we came back to our hotel.

Tuesday April 14th, 2009
Today I woke up in the hotel and had a quick breakfast. My dad left for a run before I even woke up so when he got back he got ready and we went to do some of the touristy attractions. We first went to the Opera House. The Opera House is a famous building. It is famous because how it was built. It was built specially for Opera and music. Every 2 out of 3 people can recognize the Opera House. Once you see the Opera House once you will always recognize it. We got a 30 minute tour of the Opera House and we went through a few of the rooms. After the Opera House we went to the Botanical Gardens. We walked through the Botanical Garden where my dad had run in the morning. He took us to this area with these fruit trees. I looked up in the tree and I saw hundreds of flying foxes which were bats. We first thought that they wanted the bats there but when we read the information about them it said that they didn’t want them there because they are destroying the trees. After the walk through the Botanical Garden we walked to the Sydney Tower. The Sydney Tower is basically the same as the Space Needle in Washington and the Stratosphere in Las Vegas. All of them have a level where you can go on and look out the glass windows. All of them have a restaurant a few levels above or below the observatory deck. Kami, my dad, and I were on the observatory deck for about an hour.




Then my dad and I decided to do the Sky Walk. The Sky Walk is where you have a tour guide and a group and you all walk outside of the observatory deck. It is higher than the observatory deck and the restaurant. You walk around part of the tower not around the whole entire thing. You are secured in a jump suit and you are connected to a line so wherever you walk you will be connected. When we took the tour there were some places where there was only glass platforms. On the glass platforms you could just look straight down and you can see the street. It is really cool but it would be really scary if you are afraid of heights. After the sky walk we went to meet back up with Kami because she didn’t do the Sky Walk because she is afraid of heights. We met her at the Monorail Station. We rode the monorail to the station where we parked. We got to our car and drove to Pat and Dave’s house again.

Wednesday April 15th, 2009
Today we went to 3 places. We first went to Palm Beach. Then we went to Gosford and then Terrigal. I woke up and I had breakfast. After breakfast we headed to Palm Beach. A little bit after we got there my dad and I went into the water to body surf. A few of the times my dad and I rode the waves all the way in to the shore. The waves were a perfect size because it was my second day body surfing. They weren’t too big or too small. We were at the beach for a few hours and then we drove to Gosford. The reason we went to Gosford was to see Chris Wendy’s husband play in his band at a restaurant right on the water. He played the harmonica. We didn’t get to see much of his band play because he told us the wrong time that it ended. We ended up only hearing 3 of his songs. After listening to his band play we went into the town Terrigal. Terrigal is right on the water. We ate at a restaurant that was across the street from the beach. When we were finished eating dinner we walked back to our car to drive to Dave and Pat’s house. (Editors note—this was actually done on Monday…we were confused on our days, but is has a little more than what she originally wrote)

Thursday April 16th, 2009
Today we went to another beach. We went to Avalon beach instead of Palm Beach. My dad and I were trying to body surf at 5 beaches the whole time we were there. After we ate breakfast we headed to Avalon Beach. When we got to Avalon I went swimming. After I was swimming for a while my dad came in and we body surfed some waves. The waves were bigger than the waves at Palm Beach but I was ready for them because I had enough practice from the other waves. My dad and I went out and body surfed the waves. They were really fun. We didn’t only body surf the waves but we also swam under the waves. When big waves came we would go under or over them. After Avalon Beach we decided to go to Bilgola Beach. It was another beach but it wasn’t as busy because only the locals knew that beach. We went body surfing again and swam under and over but this time the waves were much bigger. The waves at Bilgola Beach were the biggest waves that we had seen out of all the beaches we went to. The bigger the waves the more fun they were. When we were done with the beach we went to…. (to be continued hopefully)…

A week in Sydney

April 9th, 2009 A week in Sydney

After the Ironman in Port Mac, Raf and I jumped into our Peugeot Holden, a very fancy large sedan and headed South back towards Sydney. The weather was better, and the we are now getting used to the driving on the left of the road. We made it to Sydney and rolled through town pretty effortlessly towards Bondi. A quick search on the I- phone showed the Hotel Bondi right on the beach so we headed there.

We liked the looks of the Swiss Grand better and headed in to find a room, and well, they had a room. Not surprised give the world financial meltdown, and that it is a Monday night. So we said we would stay a couple nights and see how it goes.

Tuesday we rolled out South driving and ended up at the Sydney National Park on North Head which is a point a lot like the Headlands in Marin except it looks back toward Sydney not SFO. After stumbling upon this find we strolled along the paths and spectacular views and walked a good mile or more checking out the sites, taking pics and enjoying the beauty of the spit of land. It was used for military purposes back in the day a lot like the Marin Headlands and had a very similar feel.

After our walk we headed toward Sydney, parked in a very expensive garage and proceeded to stroll around the Circular Quay area, and the Rocks. We got all the good pictures of the usual spots, the Opera House, Sydney Harbor Bridge and just kept strolling along. I walked by a free 1 minute massage spot and this Chinese guy coaxed me in. It did not take a whole lot of effort to upgrade me to the 45 minute massage for 60 AUD. He worked me hard on the back, neck and shoulders, very Chinese style massage, and I told him I did an Ironman two days ago, and my legs especially quads were shot. So, he go working on those, and used a little Chinese herbs to spray on. It ended up being the best 60 minutes I could get and helped loosen up my aching muscles. We continued our walking tour, heading over to the Sydney version of the Space Needle and took our tour up to the top for great views of the whole city at sunset. We then caught the Australia flight excursion tour down below and headed back. After a long day and probably about 5 plus miles of walking I was starting to feel the fatigue from the Ironman again…might have been a little much on the old body two days out. Back to Bondi Beach for a great Italian meal in town, and that was all I had for the day.

My observations of Sydney is that it is a very busy city with lots of people in it, but very nice with lots of different very cool areas, restaurants, shopping, etc. and of course with the views of the water and the buildings has always something to look at. It has a New York, San Francisco, and Boston feel all rolled up into one with plenty of action and things to do. One day was certainly not enough to catch to much of what Sydney has to offer.

Our next day was a lot more relaxed with a focus on staying on the beach sides of Bondi, Bronte, and Coogee. We had lunch in Bronte and lounged on one of the many beautiful sandy beaches after, and then drove down and hung out on the cliffs outside of Coogee. Coogee seemed a little more upscale and less touristy than Bondi, and apparently Coogee and Bondi have this love-hate relationship. Must be Bondi gets all the hype but Coogee gets all the pizzazz according to my observation. There we came upon some young Aussie kids, which if I lived there long enough I would suspect we would have been doing the same thing. One of the kids, must have been all of 12 or so, launched himself off about a 30m cliff. The jump was harrowing but it was shear cliffs, and rocks and the exit after the water was the more harrowing part of the whole experience. But he made it without incident and it was mighty impressive. One of the young kids was trying to talk me into coming down with them and jumping off one of the 10m cliffs but I was not going to get sucked into that whole scene. I can just hear it now, American jumps off cliff and is stuck in offshore shark invested waters only to be rescued by the Coogee surf patrol, costing Aussie taxpayers thousands of dollars…no thanks Mate!

Back to Bondi we went, for a little dinner at the many takeaway restaurants they have here. They have a full on restaurant usually and a takeaway counter version of them too. It was a good recovery day.



Thursday, April 9th Go Big of Go Home

Today the plan was to head into Sydney again and walk the bridge span. The weather today was perfect, clear, sunny, warm with no wind. We got to town with no problem, starting to get the hang of navigating these city streets on the left side of the road, and snagged some great parking right near the pier.





We arrived at 9 for our briefing, gear, and set up for the walk. The walk is consisting of some ladders, and lots of steps up and down. They hook you in with a special contraption that keeps you from falling to far to your demise. We started on the span walking across to the main pillar. From there a couple of good ladder ascents then a couple of crossings which were the most gnarly of the climb then the steady climb up to the top. The views were spectacular from the bridge especially since the day was sunny clear and perfect. The climb is and descent is about 2k total with 1400 steps. The bridge is quite a marvel and was the second tallest structure in 1932 when it was built. We had a great lunch at the pier looking at the Opera house, and did some shopping before heading back to Bondi.

Back at Bondi the weather too was perfect and since I had yet to get in the water here, I decided to do a little run-swim. I ran from Bondi to Tamarana Beach which was this tiny crescent shaped cove with some soliid swells and lots of surfers. I watched the action before I saw a couple other swimmers venturing out and I got up my nerve to go into the fray. The waves were big powerful, but I swam out, hung out a bit in the in-between, and would swam back in. I did that a couple times, and then threw on the shoes and ran back. Back at Bondi I ran down the sand, removed the shoes and jumped in the water for a swim up Bondi By then the sun was setting and it was going to get cool, plus I was worked enough from the day of sight seeing and the lingering fatigue from Ironman. A smoothie to go and I was good to go.
Tomorrow Paige and Kami are here and the real vacationing and sight-seeing begins…

IM OZ Race Report

April 5, 2009 IM OZ Race Report

Today was my birthday, and today is Ironman Australia, Ironman #6 in my race total for Ironman races. I woke rather early, at about 1 am with quite a bit of excessive nervous energy, so I tried to get down some calories which consisted mostly of liquid carbo pro and a banana. I then lied back down to try to sleep but that was not happening. Luckily it was end of daylight savings time, and since it is fall here we gained another hour before race start. So I had a good 5 hours of sleep which is plenty pre-race for me. I got up for good at 4 am had a banana and a little granola. Due to my stomach issues in previous Ironman races I am going a little lighter on calories before the race and during the race. During the race I have two nutrition bottles of about 750 calories each, and I am sure I will pick up some miscellaneous items on the bike course.




I headed down to the race site at about 5 am and although it had been raining hard all night it had cleared which sure was a pleasant surprise, since trying to get all the gear together in a driving rain would have been miserable. If it was still raining I would have just put on my wetsuit to stay warm. I aired up the tires to about 130 PSI, set up the bike components and headed out of there. Most of the transition site was a mud bog, as it had rained and rained all week, and anywhere you went you were slopping through some nastiness. I found a quiet and dry spot to put on my wetsuit and sat down to pull up the suit over my legs. As I stood up to pull it over the rest of my body, it ripped a bit hole right under the arm on one of the seams. Great. The Aussie who was there said follow him and he took me over to the announcer who started calling for the wetsuit sponsor to come by, and when he never did, ask the bike tech guys to bring some duct tape. I figured I had two options, 1. Swim with the hole in it and hope it does not completely shred apart and or fill up with water too much, and 2, Swim with no wetsuit which meant being a little cold and little slower. I was not too worried actually and was very calm about the whole incident.




Eventually a guy had some duct tape and the guys did a good job of patching up the foot long hole. I don’t know if it will hold but I have swam in a wetsuit for someone 6’8 I figured I could swim with a suit with a hole in it. I headed down to the race start and they had 3 groups based on approximate times, and I was in the first group to head out. I saw Raf before getting in the water and rolled into the water to check out the suit. It seemed to be holding with just a little water seeping in, so it was all good to go.

The swim start is pretty wide but about 300m, it funnels into a smaller section and then is followed with two loops. The gun sounded and we were off. My goal was to swim hard for about 100m to get clear of the fray and settle into a nice easy catch up stroke and swim around an hour. The swim went rather smoothly with not a whole lot of bumping around. The lead pack got away which would have been a lot of effort to stay with and I swam mostly with small packs drafting as much as I could and hanging on a draft of other swimmers feet. I hit the swim exit and swam around 54:50 which felt plenty easy. It always amazes me the help it gives….it is cheating if you ask me.




I took my time getting out of transition, and ran with my shoes to the bike, to avoid slopping through a mud pit, and put my shoes on there. I headed out to a bunch of guys killing it up the first hill. The roads were wet, and I took the first rollers easy. I stopped a couple of times because I was not getting any speed on my SRM but remembered that it acts up when it gets to wet and the bike had been sitting out in the rain all night. So I rolled on with just power to race by. The bike leg consists of three identical loops, with the beginning through town, and some neighborhoods, with a good many rollers to keep it hard. I kept my power within my target range and it kept a steady barrage of cyclists going by. There were a lot of guys drafting, but I kept my riding within the legal range of bike positioning. All was pretty uneventful, and on lap two we had some rain which slowed the cornering down even more. Each lap had one climb up 15 percent grade and just getting up it required at least 500 watts of power in order to avoid falling over.

I let a lot of guys go by in the first two laps but on lap 3 I held my pace and some of them came back although the bike time was a little slower than I had hoped I had rode according to plan. I came off the bike in 5:26 which was going to require a 3:30 marathon to go sub 10, which I thought I could run.






The run as well was 3 laps, and the first mile was difficult with a tight back and heavy legs, but as I got going things started to settle in. I took lap one at pace, and continued to get past by a lot of folks. Lap two I might have slowed a bit, but when I hit lap 3 I started to pick things up and pick people off. I hit the last 10k, and at about mile 22, there is a nasty hill, which we had already had to run twice, and I knew that would be make or break. I hit it hard, and was running well. My last 10k was approach low 7 minute pace and I was feeling the best I had all day. I ran fast and picked off about 10 guys in my age group in the last 10 k I would guess. Once the top of heart break hill, I knew the down was going to be all out and I rolled it hard. I caught a guy who had passed me earlier in my age group, and went by him hard thinking he might let me go. With about ¼ mile to go, he came back up on me, and when realizing he was in my age group made a surge I could just not hang onto. I rolled into the finish with a 3:39 marathon, finishing in 10:09, and 18th in my age group missing my Kona slot by a couple minutes, but feeling I put the best effort I could into the race, and the best result I had for this time of year. I raced according to plan and executed my pacing strategy and felt pretty good.

After getting sick in the food tent, they escorted me into medical and hooked me up to two IV’s and I came out feeling a lot better, although not that hungry to eat that night. I was well hydrated though as the frequent trips up that night could confirm. All and all a great birthday and another Ironman and a solid result which I can still improve upon. Right now, I think I am going to enjoy some shorter racing and other options…but maybe a late season FLAT Ironman might be in order.

Now off to Sydney for some recovery, sight seeing and the arrival of Paige and Kami.

IM OZ Race Week

The travels to Oz went well…long but well. Raf and I rolled into SFO at about 8 pm, and rolled straight into check-in and through security with no hassles. The bike on Qantas was free…I love flying international and we reassigned our seats so we each had a row on the big 747 all to ourselves. The flight left on time at 10:40 pm, and they served up a late dinner and I watched the movie, The Wrestler, before I laid down for a little sleep. I was dead tired so I figured I would sleep without any aid. I laid out the three pillows, and blankets and was out in my row for a good two hours. I then woke up do to excessive hydration issues, and strolled back through the dark. They kept the plane quite and dark through the night. I slipped an Ambien down for a little help and some longer sleep. I pretty much was out for the night except for another couple pit stops for the next 5-6 or so hours before I started to wake up. I started to wake up about 8 or 9 am and watched a couple more movies, Four Christmas’s, and Slumdog again. By then it was time for breakfast and we were getting into Sydney, at about 7 am Sydney time; They were calling for lots of rain and it surely was torrential when I looked out the window…no vies of anything as we came in..

We rolled up to Budget for our car, and they gave us an upgrade which ended up being a good sized Peugeot sedan, thankfully, because my big bike box was barely able to fit into the back seat with anything smaller. We headed out of the airport and quickly made some wrong turns and got lost for a bit in
Sydney, and a couple times headed down the wrong side of the road. It sure takes a concentrated effort and focus to stay driving on the left. We finally y got far enough out of town, where we hit the big national Hwy 1 which was smooth sailing, when we were not driving through some heavy driving rain. Some parts of NSW received 18 inches of rain in 24 hours, and had some serious flooding which of course we were having to deal with on our drive up to Port Mac. We stopped in Newcastle for lunch which was about half way up to PM. We rolled into PM about 3 pm, and checked into our cabin, which feels a lot like a trailer, which it kind of is…it will do the trick just fine this week.

We hit a rather early dinner at Subway, and it was pretty much the same set up as home except the green peppers here are called Capsicum, and their green peppers were Jalapenos. All the rest tasted the same and hit the spot. I poached a little internet from the local Mc Donald’s, and we were back to the cabin for lights out for me at about 730 pm, which was about 230 am back home, and I was feeling it. I had a good solid nights sleep and we were up at about 5 am rolling around. It was hard to sleep much longer than that.

We rolled down to the swim start a little after 7 am, and I headed out for a 20 minute swim. The water was mid 70s, and a wetsuit was necessary. The storms have caused a lot of run off the and the water was murky brown, and strong, which I realized shortly after I was making little progress toward the 800m turnaround. I swam about 400m in about 15 minutes, and turned around and swam back in about 7. I do not see how the current will be lessening with additional rain in sight, and suspect something might be done with the swim. I also spoke with someone at the race office and I think they might be more concerned with the water quality from all the run-off from the rain up stream from the farms. We shall see. I hope it does not, as it is an advantage as the swim usually opens things up the race for me as I get out front and have a bit of an advantage as the faster bikers-runners roll by…we shall see.

We headed out for breakfast and had a big plate of Ozzie breakfast, which consisted of scrambled eggs (on top of the pancakes), bacon and ham. It should hold me over for the day. We then headed out to register and do the appropriate walk through the expo, and additional purchases for the race. Then off to the local IGA for some groceries to hold us over between meals.

I was able to get a solid nap in and when I woke the sun had disappeared again. I suited up for a ride, and it started to rain hard, which put off my ride for 30 minutes or so. I waited till the sun came out again, and headed out to ride some of the course. It quickly started showering again, and I rolled out about 30 minutes and headed back. The course is not what I expected and find it is going to be interesting on race day, although I have not seen much of it, I suspect it is going to be tight as the lanes are small, lots of ups and downs, and curvy, at least where I rode. The bike is out and back for 3 loops and seems to be a bit technical, again, at least the section I rode which is only about the first 1/3 of the loop. Back to the cabin for some more lying around, and then some dinner. Travel day and day 1 in Port Mac is in the bag. Looks like a lot more rain on the way…is this monsoon season here? It feels like it, and feels very tropical.

April 3rd 2 days pre-Ironman

Today I woke from a good nights sleep to clearing skies. I like 2 days out of an Ironman as there is not much to do but rest up. I have no training to do, no real race prep, and just a lot of chillin’. I did have to head down to the expo again to purchase another race belt, although I have 5 at home, I neglected to remember to bring one, so another one gets added to the collection. Other than that I did run out at mid-day for about 2 miles on the course. The sun was out today so it was a lot hotter. It looks like the weather might be getting better for the weekend.

I rolled down to the local café and hooked up with Toby and Charlesy, a couple epic campers and then headed off for the carbo dinner. I usually opt out of hanging out at these, but the Aussies put on an entertaining show, and I stuck around for most of it. And the carbo load was pretty good considering I never thought the Aussies would be that adept at cooking pasta. But it was all and all worth the effort to make. My time clock is synced up to the new time for the most part, as I write this up at 830 pm, it is about 230 am back home the same day. We gain an hour tomorrow night so although it is Spring at home it is fall here so they fall back an hour. Which is going to be an additional bonus waking Sunday morning to gain an hour before race start. It will help as well the time start for the race is 555 am for the pros, and 630 for the age grouper and it dark at those times right now, but will be perfect come race day.
Tomorrow is a busy day,, as I have to get all gear, and some very short workouts, in and the pre-race briefing, which I am going to make sure I attend as races in other parts than the USA always have a different set of rules, and procedures it seems that they stick by.