Longest Ride Evah...Oh Wait, I Already Did This Once

And I'll most likely do it again.  In fact I will be doing this again in just over a week.  But back to the matter at hand.  This last weekend I rode my first century.  I'm proud to say I've survived to write about it.

Let's start with the route.  I am the master at route planning and at group ride organizing.  That's right, I'm the shit.  All modesty aside.  We started from Padden (after Lora and I swam a short 30 ish minutes) as a group of about 10 and were looping south to Skagit Valley via Chuckanut and the scenic roads of F&S, Garden of Eden (yes, that's really the name of the road) and Grip.  This loop would be about a 3 hour ride for folks which is perfect for many of my weekend warrior friends NOT training for Ironman.  From there we would ditch all but 4 of us - Michael, Kyle, Lora and myself - and head north to Lynden sweeping by the house and Haggen for any refueling needs.  Finally looping conveniently back to my house for a short 30 minute run.

The ride was gorgeous.  We couldn't have asked for better weather (one of the few days of total sunshine this year).  The southern loop was a bit on the faster side than I was prepared for considering I had another 50 miles to go after some of the group fell off, but I hung in there and did more drafting than pulling.  I ate and drank appropriately and thoroughly enjoyed the company around me.  Stopping off at Padden it was hard to fathom that we still had another 50 miles to go, that we were only halfway through the ride!  Incredible.

From Padden to my house on the northern side of town, we hit the only traffic of the day and did a few stop and gos at the stop lights through Fairhaven but it was still enjoyable and the legs felt great.  At the house I dumped the two empty water bottles and repacked myself for the rest of the journey (Cliff bars x2 just in case, one bottle of electrolyte mix, and one bottle of caffeine) and we were off.  Michael and I took turns up front as we headed out Ferndale road, through the flats and on into Ferndale.  There was a bit of a headwind but nothing terrible.  We were still moving at a good clip and with a leg check (still moving) I felt okay to pull. 

Past Ferndale and heading up to Lynden via Enterprise road was probably the most dull part of the ride.  It's flat and not very scenic and it was at the point in the ride where 'riding' was getting old.  At Birch Bay/Lynden road Michael turned and headed back home while Kyle, Lora and I headed into the heart of Lynden towards Hannegan.  The shade on Front street was a 'cool' welcome as we cruised along.  Hitting Hannegan it was like a horse to the barn.  I was off...until I turned around and realized I lost my buddies.  I slowed a bit so they could hook on and then we were off again.  Apparently I was a bit too excited to be heading at least in the direction of home.

It was even more of a realization when we hit Wiser Lake Road.  I have ridden that road so many times and it's usually on my 'short' rides so I knew we were getting closer.  There was a slightly stronger headwind as we meandered west towards Northwest but not as bad as it 'can' be out there.  The little climb coming off Wiser Lake Road was miserable but I knew at the top we would hit smooth pavement and within spitting distance of home and the end of this long a** ride.

Northwest was a blur.  I pulled, Kyle pulled, we bitched, but we were getting closer and closer to town and to our 100 mile mark.  But then came the hill on Northwest.  Compared to the elevation we saw in the FIRST 50 miles of the ride it is nothing but when your legs are dead it sure seems like a mountain.  Right as we hit the climb my right quad gave out in protest.  Short little cramps were surging around my knee and inner thigh.  I backed off a bit, stretched it out as I stood to climb, and slowly the cramps started to fade and I was able to make it up the rest of the climb.  Two miles of descending and we were home free.  Whew!  100.5 miles DONE AND DONE.

Kyle escaped for home while Lora and I slowly changed shoes and headed out on our 30 minute run.  It was hot, we were tired, but I have to say that her and I both sucked it up and did our run.  Not only that, we negative split our 30 minute run.  Granted, the first mile was somewhere in the range of a 10 min pace but that's no bother.  Negative splitting is negative splitting.  I'm going to cling to that one.  All in a day's work.

And Then Return - A Follow Up to 'Borrowing'

And you all thought I 'begged' or 'stole'.  Silly you.  

It turns out my Zipp wheel ride is not to be.  The spokes for the rear tire are misaligned by quite a bit and since my seat tube doesn't have much wiggle room it will not fit.  So, I sadly bid adieu to the race wheels.  Which I have to say I'm pretty comfortable with despite the lack of aero dynamic benefits.  I know my wheels.  They've been with me through this entire journey.  More importantly I know how to fix a flat with those wheels.  So, thank you to Marc for being generous enough to lend them to me but it looks like you can have them back.  And to the beautiful race wheels here is a short tribute.

Cheaters Never Prosper - Chelanman Olympic Distance Triathlon Race Report

Two weekends ago I headed east for the Chelanman Olympic Distance Triathlon with Lora and Carol.  It was kind of a crazy weekend for the Starbuck household.  First things first was shipping the ghost dog off to casa Deschenes for some time with little Hunter, then Gabe was packed up (outrigger, mountain bike, wetsuit, and other multisport gear...) and headed to Stevenson, WA for the Gorge Outrigger Races, participating in the 6 man outrigger race with the Bellingham Bay Outrigger Paddlers.  And lastly, I threw all of my racing gear in a bag and jumped in the car with the ladies.

We arrived in Chelan around 4 ish, picked up our packets at the transition area, checked in at the hotel in Manson (15 mins up the eastside of Lake Chelan), dumped our bags, donned cycling gear, and headed back to the town of Chelan for a 10 minute spin/10 minute jog to loosen the legs and make sure the bikes were working correctly (wow, that was a long winded sentence).  Of course 2 minutes into the spin we all hit a huge section of glass nicely coating the width of the shoulder.  Screams and curse words flew and we all just prayed we wouldn't get a flat the night before the race.  A thorough check of the bikes after the ride/run seemed to convince us that we were all okay and unscathed.  The run, thankfully, was uneventful (all 10 minutes of it).  My legs, at this point, simply felt tired.  I didn't feel 'race ready'.  In fact the left hamstring was incredibly tight, but I figured I would chalk it up to Ironman training and do what I could out on the course the next day.

After the little exercise we headed down to the mandatory race meeting along the water's edge and froze as the sweat cooled and the wind picked up.  Thirty minutes later we'd heard enough of the back and forth describing first what the half iron course was like and then the olympic distance course (maybe in the future they'll do two race meetings - each specific to the course).  In my mind it was all 'blah, blah, blah'.  It was time to eat!  Actually, it was well past the time to eat because I already had a headache from lack of nutrition.  Back to Manson we went and stopped in at the only 'active' restaurant in town which was a pizza place.  Thirty minutes later, or maybe longer, our food arrived.  For me - French Dip.  There weren't many pre-race options on the menu so I stuck with something super simple.

Food inhaled, we headed back to the hotel to prep our transition bags and call it a night.  Knowing that I don't sleep well in new places I brought all the necessary accouterments that would make it a bit more comfortable - my own pillow, eye mask, and ear plugs.  I'll never leave home without those things before a race.  Apparently it was the right call too as the neighbors next door kept Carol and Lora up fairly late for an early morning race.  I was exhausted though and the ear plugs provided just enough muffling of the noise.  I think I had one of the best nights of pre-race sleep that I've ever had.  No nerves, no race dreams, just sleep.

Of course the next morning came bright and early as the alarm whistled at me at 5 AM.  Time to make the water bottles, take in some early morning breakfast to get things going, pack up the car and head to the shuttle bus (there was no parking at the race start so they organized school buses to transport athletes and spectators to and from a massive parking lot in town).  The weather was perfect.  A bit overcast and relatively cool.  
 

We arrived at transition with plenty of time to get situated.  It was by far the most relaxing race prep ever.  Usually I'm frantically throwing stuff around my transition area and squeezing into my wetsuit minutes before my wave start.  That said, I still didn't take the time to warm up properly.  In fact, when I headed out into the water (which I have to say was colder than I had expected it to be) I heard over the loudspeaker that everyone needed to get 'out' of the water and onto the beach.  Crap!  Opportunity missed.

Swim: 33:09 (eh...not what I hoped but whatever)

As with most races, the swim waves were broken down by age group.  I was in the second wave, 30-39.  The waves were not broken down by gender though so when you think about it my wave was going to be the biggest.  Ugh!  I headed into the water with the rest of the 30-39s and then promptly wiggled over to the side.  What was I thinking wading right into the MIDDLE of the pack?  I seeded myself right next to the buoy line and towards the front.  The countdown began and then we were off.

Although I had moved off to the side I don't think I was far enough over.  I think next time I will be the LAST person on the side.  That should ensure a clean space.  This time, however, it was not the case.  I wasn't pummeled (unlike Lora who was kicked in the face and had a black eye to prove it) but I didn't have any swimming room.  I was moving forward but I didn't feel like it was safe to really get into a rhythm so I stuck to breathing on one side and keeping an eye on the folks around me to make sure they were swimming straight and not into me.  It took quite a bit of energy needless to say but there was no moment of panic and I was trying hard not to work too hard (if that makes any sense).  Probably 200 yards later I finally found open water and started to get into my stroke and began passing those that obviously shouldn't have been in the front of the pack.

I swam undisturbed for the rest of the race.  On the way back I found a guy's feet to hang on to and pretty much stuck with him all the way into T1.  I only lost him when he didn't swim straight and I held my course, or when I got sick of him not swimming straight and decided to pass him.

T1: 2:10  

This was my first experience of dizziness coming out of a swim and I didn't even realize I was dizzy until I started walking backwards while I was bent over trying to take my wetsuit off.  At that point I decided just to sit down and do it.  T1 is always a bit slow because I like to put on my Garmin but this time around it felt (and was) even slower.  I felt disorganized.

Bike: 1:14:30, 20 mph, 3rd in my age group

Rocked it!  It took a bit to warm up the legs starting out on the bike but after about 10 minutes I was ready to go.  I felt strong the whole way and was passing people left and right.  The course had more hills than I had envisioned (I actually had no idea what the course profile looked like) but they were rollers and didn't take much to get up and over them.  I will say this - the course was crowded.  I was constantly checking to make sure I was passing people fast enough and staying out of the draft zone.  I remember distinctly thinking about this the ENTIRE ride (which makes me question the penalty - more on this in a minute).  I even remember witnessing an entire group of riders go flying past.  One of which, at the tail end of that pack, ended up being the overall winner for the women.  And yes, this 'group' was ALL drafting.  I'm not sure if they were working together but there was not 3 bike lengths between all of them.  And...not to belabor this point, but I saw that exact same group of riders as they headed back in to T2.  Coincidence, I think not.

Honestly, there isn't much else to say about the bike course.  I had a blast out there.  I raced hard and have a good time to show for it.  Not to mention I had a smile on my face for most of the ride.  Oh yeah, and it did drizzle a little which made riding with sunglasses a bit tricky but the rain was refreshing.

T2: 1:05 (pretty transition considering past T2 times of 1:42)

Nothing too exciting to note here.  I ditched the watered down sunglasses, swapped out shoes and took off.

Run: 50:08, 8:00 pace, 6th in my age group 

Like the bike course the run is an out and back following the same roads.  Granted, this is kind of boring but at the same time it's fun to watch all of the other participants throughout the race.  Not to mention there was a running race (I think it was a half marathon and maybe a 10k) going on at the same time so there were loads of people to encourage along my trudge out and back.

The first mile was 'interesting'.  I had total double vision.  I'm blaming it on the caffeine I ingested on the bike but who really knows.  I was literally seeing double (two lines that marked the shoulder...only one really existed) for the entire first mile.  Needless to say I took it relatively easy.  I didn't want to pass out or anything!  So, mile 1 was a 9 min pace.  Slow but necessary.  Not to mention I peeled off and hit the porta pottie at the aid station - it's not good when you've had to pee since the middle of the swim!

The remaining miles I ticked off like clockwork.  After settling into a rhythm the double vision went away and I got quickly to the task at hand - reeling people in and negative splitting the run.  And boy did it feel good.  Every mile felt better than the last and the splits back that up - 8:57, 8:03, 8:00, 7:50, 7:52, 7:37.  At the turnaround I knew I had the energy to pick it up and I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to cramp.  No worries though, I had a whole handheld water bottle with pickle juice just in case.

The last section of the run is an uphill climb with a sharp left-hand turn downhill into the finishing chute.  I had already prepared myself to go as hard as possible on that climb and give it whatever I had left.  Right in the middle of the climb I passed a girl with 31 on her calf - 'yes! one more in my age group!'  The last quarter mile - 6:26 - SAWEET!  Average heart rate - 204.  It was worth it.

After crossing the finish line I was on the verge of regurge but I held it together.  Surprisingly, only mere minutes later I felt completely fine and not even tired (caffeine must have kicked back in or subsided enough to be a stimulant again).  I had just enough time to grab my camera from my transition bag and snap a few photos of Carol and Lora coming across the finish line.

We all celebrated our excellent races (everyone was feeling great) and we cheered as Carol was awarded 3rd in her age group.  Lora got 5th in her age group and I got 8th in mine (well, 9th in the end but again more on that in a minute).  Then we grabbed our bikes and rode back to the car to chow down on pork jerky (that stuff is AWESOME) and anything else we could get our hands on.

Bikes loaded, transition gear picked up, and we were headed home.  We figured we'd hit a truck stop along the way to freshen up a bit (baby wipes are key) and change and then stop in Leavenworth for food.  Leavenworth might have been a bit too far for our hungry post-race bodies because by the time we reached the mountain town we were STARVING and on short tempers.  I'm pretty sure I cursed at every pedestrian that continued to cross in front of our car as we searched the packed town for a single parking spot.  Irritation aside, we found a great Mexican restaurant in the middle of town.  Sure, we were looking for beer and brawts but we settled on Mexican because it was right in front of us.  And I'm glad we did.  The food was excellent and salty chips and salsa are perfect post-race meal additions.  So...the next time you're in pretty little Leavenworth stop by South.  

One last pit stop before we hit the road was a coffee shop that seemed oddly disorganized.  Oh...maybe it's because they were a brand new business that had opened that day.  A simple latte took about 10 minutes and I'm not sure the guys behind the counter really knew what the heck they were doing.  But, the bonbons were sure good.  

At long last we reached home and the whirlwind race weekend was over (at least for me, Gabe wasn't coming home until the next day).  I settled in with my dog to watch movies when I received a disturbing text from Lora - 'You got a penalty, what did you do?'.  I thought it was a joke so I quickly went to the computer to make sure it wasn't true.

  

And there it was - the standout 2 minutes over in the far right margin.  WTF!?  I can only assume that I was either charged with a blocking or drafting penalty, neither of which I believe I did.  I've emailed the race director to try and get in contact with the referee to actually hear what it is I did and to learn from it but at this point I haven't heard anything.  It's a bummer and a bit of a black mark for an otherwise fantastic race.  More to the point, though, it's kind of a black mark for how the race was run.  There were 7 penalties issued for the olympic distance race which is way more than most races.  On top of that, to not be warned or told you're getting a penalty...I think that's just bad guidance for future racing.  

C'est la vie.  I had a great race, I enjoyed the course and in my mind I walked away with 8th place in my age group despite the cheating.

I Digress...

I was wearing a pair of TYR tri shorts the other day when it came to my attention that not all tri shorts are 'good' tri shorts. In fact, not all tri clothes are 'good' tri clothes.  Let's start with the shorts though.  Why would anyone EVER put a a seam directly down the center of a pair of form fitting shorts?  I don't have an answer, do you?  It really doesn't make any sense to me.  If these were men's shorts I wouldn't understand either.  You see, there are bits down there.  And bits, are not flattering when emphasized with a seam.

Let me also take a moment to mention that seams in areas that are in constant motion equals not okay.  So why, oh why, would there be large seams (if any) in the areas that do move constantly?  I'd rather have an unflattering seam halfway up my behind than right in the creases.  Just saying.

Moving away from the lower half of the body let's now talk about tri tops.  Not all women have ridiculously small torsos.  Nor do we really appreciate showing off our midriff while exercising (I think back to moments when I bend over to take off my wetsuit and the rolls start to pile up - not pretty).  Is it hard to make tri tops longer?  Or are all women short-waisted?  I know I'm not so there has to be others out there too.  Besides length issues there is also the built-in bra factor.  I realize that women come in all shapes and sizes and so nailing this one is probably harder than the rest.  That said...I'm pretty sure a white, mesh, super thin built-in bra is probably not going to help anyone out.  Let alone said built-in is worse when wet.  I believe it defeats the purpose of having a built-in bra if you need to wear a sports bra underneath the tank...but again, that's just me.

So, for all those manufacturers of tri clothes out there please take note.  I know you're all reading this with bated breath.  If you don't take note I'll be forced to start my own line.  I can sew a mean pillow seam.  Watch out! 

Beg, Borrow, or Steal

Ironman Canada Recon Mission

Last weekend Gabe and I took off for the great orchard country of the Okanagan Valley.  The plan - ride the two passes of the Ironman Canada race.  The execution - flawless.

We left Thursday evening after work.  Being the organizational freak that I am I had packed for both of us and of course that means I WAY over packed.  Normal clothes....who needs normal clothes when you're training all day?  I wore a dress for maybe an hour - I guess that counts.  Needless to say the car was loaded down with a suitcase (neatly organized with normal clothes and training clothes and separated down the middle for his/hers, oh yeah and cold weather cycling gear just in case), a duffel bag with cycling accoutrements (helmets, sunglasses, spare tubes, tools, gloves, and shoes), a 'nutrition' bag with all the necessities, two bikes, a bike pump, two sleeping bags (I failed to mention that we were 'camping'), and road snacks (Joe Joe's from Trader Joes are a must for traveling).

The drive up was easy and we made good time.  I think we pulled into the Lakeside Resort campground on Tuc-el-Nuit Lake around 9:45, just in time to check in before the front desk closed.  You may remember this location from a previous post.  Gabe and I camped here in his Mom's Rialta last year for the Oliver Half Iron race.    Anywho.  No Rialta this time (not to mention that the campground was totally full due to Canada Day weekend - whoops, didn't factor in Canadian holidays) but I had reserved a cabana for our two night stay.  The cabana was as simple as they come.  There is an outdoor covered area with a sink, refrigerator and a picnic table.  Inside there is a full sized platform with a thin foam mattress on it and then two sets of bunk beds.  After tucking our bikes into the bunk beds (okay, not literally) we opened up the sleeping bags and promptly passed out.

After a fitful night of sleep - my back was killing me from a full day of sitting on Thursday, there were a few loud campers throughout the night, and just a new environment - we awoke slowly and started to plan our day.  On the training schedule was a 4 hour ride followed by a 30 minute run.  I really wanted to ride Richter pass so we decided we'd leave from Osoyoos and ride to Keremeos and then back.  But, first things first, a hearty breakfast.  We drove into town and ate a breakfast of champions (or pure grease) at the Cock & Bull Cappuccino Shop.  Then it was off to Osoyoos which is only a 20 minute drive south.

 5 minutes later...

Heading out on Highway 3 out of Osoyoos you pretty much get right into the business of climbing.  There is no fooling around.  Richter itself is manageable (I think I'm about to overuse that work in this post).  It's made up of four individual climbs separated by little stints of false flats.  This was nice to break it up a bit and let your legs recover.  The sections are steep but they didn't seem that bad.  Gabe, of course, left me in the dust on every section of the climb but was kind enough to circle back and snap a few shots of me working hard (this is just before the crest of the pass).

Once up and over I smoked down the other side spinning out just a tad in the big ring of the new compact crank (have I mentioned that I switched to a compact?...well, I did).  After Richter comes a section of the course that is claimed to be 'the hardest'.  I hadn't even heard about this part until we were crossing the border into Canada and the guy in the booth promptly named it off as 'the Seven Bitches'.  And, yes, yes they were complete bitches.  Luckily Gabe and I had driven them (backwards) the night before on our way into town so we knew what they looked like and how long they lasted.  Expectations set - the first 'hump' (as I like to call them) wasn't that bad.  The momentum coming off of Richter carried you most of the way up and then grinding it out to the top seemed okay.  

It's the second one that sucks.  And actually, according to the elevation chart, is a cat 5 climb all on it's own.  Granted that's the easiest category there is BUT the fact that it's considered a 'climb' will tell you that these are not just rollers.  Momentum lost, gearing down occurs, and the slow slog uphill is what I will expect come August 28th.  Even at the top you're not actually at the top.  The false flat on this one is lame.  Even Gabe stopped because he thought he was dragging a break pad or something.  He was baffled by how slow we were going because it honestly doesn't look like it should be hard.  So, yeah, bitch #2 is brutal.

The rest of the seven were much like the first.  You get about 1/4 to 1/2 way up the hump and then either have to stand and crank it out (which I don't recommend if you want legs for the run) or sit and spin it out.  The good in all of this is at least there is a downhill side to every hump.  Just think of them as slow rollers.

After the humps comes a fair stretch of flat through the valley and into Cawston and Keremeos.  I heard later (from a fellow triathlete on the road) that this section can get ripping with wind.  On this day, however, there was only a slight headwind and, as I mentioned before, it was manageable.  Once into Keremeos I opted to stop at the gas station and load up with another water bottle.  Since our ride was mid-day it was definitely hot and more than that it was dry.  It takes some getting used to to acclimate to that drier climate.  Water bottle refilled we did a 180 and headed back in the direction we came from.

The heat picked up but the legs still felt strong.  On the humps going this direction I tried a bit of over-gearing just to work it a bit harder.  As we neared the start of the pass, however, I returned back to spinning up the hills.  I had it in my mind that this side of Richter was going to be harder.  But, before we got to the pass I was climbing up one of the humps (I think it was the last one) and noticed that my seat was bouncing all over the place.  My rear tire felt squishy.  Luckily Gabe had stopped mid-hill to take a picture of my torture and so I pulled over to check things out.  Sure enough, flat tire.  Bummer!  We swapped out the tube, gave it a hit of CO2 and then were on our way.  Not before Gabe had a run in with brier bushes - trying to spit wash and then dry his grease filled hands.  It was pretty comical and I wish I had a picture of it.  Anywho, back to riding.

Climbing back over Richter was actually not as hard as the other direction.  Although there are no breaks (no false flats to break up the climb) it's definitely not as steep.  I pushed bigger gears, alternated between sitting and standing, and channeled Michael yelling 'Come On!' in my head.  I felt really strong and summitting definitely felt like a victory for me (there were a lot of cheerleaders in my head).  Then it was rocketing downhill all the way back into Osoyoos.  I have to say that tri bikes are meant to go downhill.  I easily caught Gabe (although he wasn't pushing hard and somewhat waiting for me to catch up) and surprised him when he turned around at the bottom of the hill and saw me only 10 feet back.

Once back at the car we had planned on going for a run but weren't too keen on leaving our bikes on the back parked in a truck stop.  So we loaded up, returned to our campsite, and then hit the pavement for 30 minutes.  At this point my legs were feeling fatigued and were ready to relax, the heat of the day was upon us, and it took all of my energy to shuffle along.  But, we did it and felt good about ourselves when we were done.  After soaking our tired legs in the lake we showered, donned 'normal' clothes and headed out for dinner.  

On our way back from Osoyoos I had spotted a little BBQ stand so that became the destination of choice.  Just past the main downtown section of Oliver sat Hammer's House of Hog.  Pulled pork...mmmm.  A simple meal of pulled pork sandwiches (coleslaw included inside the sandwich) and a side of baked beans split between the two of us.  To top it off, a root beer.  I think it hit the spot and the little shack was as quaint as the town of Oliver.

Before dinner we had considered' going for a swim later that evening.  Those plans quickly faded as we plopped down onto our foam mattress with content bellies.  So instead it was a little book time and off to bed.

Day two brought more training.  First things first, a nice swim in Tuc-el-Nuit Lake.  I had pointed out a short triangle that we could swim thinking it would be about 30 minutes total.  A nice warm up for another day of riding.  But, after swimming to point 1 Gabe stopped just long enough to say, 'Let's go a bit further'.  So we made our way down one bank away from the campsite beach.  At the next point I checked in with him and he wanted to keep going so we picked a dock about 50 yards further down.  Then at the dock the comment was 'Let's go to the other end'.  Well, shoot, alright.  I was a bit nervous that once we got down there he'd be too tired to swim back but he seemed relaxed and I decided to just go with it.  This is Gabe we're talking about.  The 'non-swimmer'.  He was a machine!  We ended up swimming pretty much the entire perimeter of the lake which brought us to around 1.6 miles - swam in about 1:10.  Not too shabby for someone who only 8 months ago was swimming backwards in a pool.

Post swim it was a quick shower, then breakfast, and into the car (all of our stuff packed as we weren't returning) and heading for Keremeos (our turn-around point from the day before).  Yellow Pass was beckoning.

We got to Keremeos around 1, right in the heat of the day, and then quickly mounted the bikes and headed out.  There were a few cyclists headed the same direction, all training for IMC.  It was mentally encouraging to see them out there training hard like we were.  

My legs felt pretty good for having ridden Richter (x2) the day before but I definitely wasn't going fast.  From Keremeos it's only about 13 miles to the top of Yellow Pass so this day was going to be a bit of a short ride.  That said, it's 13 miles of climbing.  So we trudged along, passing a fellow trainee on one of the steeper sections as he pulled over to stretch out a cramp (we offered pickle juice but he wasn't convinced).  Near the top of Yellow Pass the road is being worked on and it was nerve wracking as our bikes slide around in sand winding around the cliffs with the shoulder completely wiped out.  I hope they fix that before race day!

When we hit the top we were a bit disappointed to say the least.  I had expectations of a ridiculous climb but really, in comparison to Richter, this wasn't that bad.  I guess after 90 miles I'll be singing a different tune but I'm glad that I came, saw, and conquered Yellow Pass.  At the top I wasn't keen on riding down into Penticton and then back up the steeper side so we turned around and made our way back to Keremeos.  I was looking forward to hauling downhill but as luck would have it there was a stiff headwind all the way back down so I had to work hard just to maintain a 17 mph average.  I think I worked harder riding down the pass than riding up!  Ah headwind, how I love thee.  

And thus concludes our reconnaissance mission of the Ironman Canada course.  We rinsed using a water hose outside of a gas station ('k'lassy I know) and motored on back to the U.S. of A to celebrate the 4th with baby Z and the white hound.  All in all a successful mission.

Data Geek Goes Swimming

We all know I love numbers and data, or at least I think you all know.  Well, anyway, now you know.  Not only do I work in a profession filled with numbers and data but I also train by the numbers.  So, it was only a matter of time before I busted out this move thanks to fellow triathlete and awesome blogger dcrainmaker.  That's right folks.  Last night I tucked my large Garmin Forerunner into a Ziploc baggy (just in case) and then under my swim cap.  I wanted to know 1) how long I really was swimming for, 2) if I swim a straight line like I believe I normally do, 3) to know the actual distance of the 'large triangle' at Lake Padden, and 4) basically just to geek out.

So here it is folks, in all of its data glory - the map of my swim.  Ta-da!

I have to say, I swim pretty darn straight (minus the little blip on the last leg).  That, my friends, is 1.73 miles.  And my fastest speed was 7.7 mph.  I think that might have been a fluke but I have no idea.  Average speed was 1.7 mph (yeah, I swam for an hour...could have figured that one out without the computer).  Lastly, the highlights of the swim:

- Seeing two eagles during breaths that were playing in the sky above the lake.
- Trying to find Carol once we got down to the ball fields (hence the swim over to shore in the bottom right hand corner).
- Discovering how creepy the opposite shore of the lake really is (I hate long weeds).
- Being disoriented by the little spit of land that juts out into the water on the opposite shore...'I'm not at the other end of the lake yet...what's this big piece of land?'
- Being blinded by the setting sun.
- Waving at Carol while I'm treading water near the dock just to have her not see me and start heading back to the beach.
- Getting out of the water freezing cold because of the wind only to find the car dead.
- Having our fabulous neighbor come and pick us up and blast the heat on my numb feet.
- Taking the hottest shower possible so I could feel my fingers and toes again.
- Driving BACK to the lake to jump start the car (I hope this doesn't become a regular occurrance).
- Coming home and cooking up comfort food - Annie's Mac and Cheese (who really wants to cook a real meal at 9 PM?).