Overtime: road to kona

Although the buildup Kona training has gone well so far it definitely feels like the post season. With my training partners moving on to other interests and our tri group shutting down for the season I have officially become a robot. The long sessions now are all business. There are lots of great rides I can do right from my house. In every direction there is a different style of terrain, we live on a mountain pass so there is no shortage of climbers routes, the Can/US boarder is only 10k away and there is lots of good flat fast riding down there, and a good mix of both heading towards Nelson. I realized on my ride yesterday that I have ridden the same route 9 times in a row, not on purpose, just simply unaware. I am excited to race in Hawaii and I will do everything I can to have a good day there, I am also excited to start the off season. A good break from Gatorade, the Ipod, and aero bars is sounds good.

This season was a great season of racing; I had fun at every race I entered. I like to set the “happy with” goal and “BigShow” goal before most races. I don’t write them down or really tell anyone what I am thinking but I always have them in the back of my mind as I am sure everyone does. Things went well early with running races, I hit the times I wanted and results I was hoping for (other that when Trev crushed everyone in our home town 10k with a 33, showoff).
The races I picked were; Barebones, Wasa, Ososyos, Nelson Cyswog, IMC as the giver races. There were some fast dudes at Barebones, I ran the first 5km with T1 in 18minutes and was heading out on the bike in about 20th, wtf. There was a headwind on the bike and I made it in to about 3rd off the bike and finished in second (BigShow). Wasa, I would give race report from Wasa but there must have been fifty SpeedTheory people there and lots of them ahead of me. I wanted to break two hours, at the run turn I was chasing a ST guy and I though if I could catch up two hrs was a possibility, I never caught him, I missed by 6 seconds, Ryan Murray who I couldn’t catch up to was comfortably under. Osoyos was a week before my wedding. I raced well and went home. It was a great race and so well organized but we had other thing on the mind. Cyswognfun is our local Olympic race in Nelson. This will be a huge problem for the Calgary IM 70.3 as they fall on the same weekend and the draw from Nelson could really hurt the 70.3 ;). This race is never easy as the run course is hilly and at least one fast guy always shows up to make it hard. Last year Seth took a big lead out of the water, held it on the bike and it took everything I had to catch him on the run. This year same scenario with Scott McMillan. Very fun race.

IMC. The most fun I have ever had in sports. The swim is the swim, get in – get it over with – get out. The ride was rad (I know “rad” but it was), old school rad too, not the new kind of lame rad. I needed a bit of breathing room in the run to hold of the runners. I rode in control and steady and it felt smooth. My older brother is one of the runners. He is about a two-thirty-fiveish marathon guy and I have never come close to beating him in a run (not from lack of trying). Every time we train together we race, every time we do pretty much anything we race. I knew he would be running well. I came off the bike 5th in the am race with 8minutes up to the lead and 27minutes back to my brother. At the run turn I was in third, I saw all the fast runners n there way as I headed back. I never did the math or looked at my watch just kept moving. I saw Paul heading out looking good, he yelled “you are tearing this race up”, that got me fired up. I caught the second place guy around Skaha, he had red compression socks on as if I needed more of a reason. I passed the last guy right where Steve King was set-up, perfect. I ran the rest into town shoulder checking every 100meters, Peter Reid would not be impressed. The finish was unbelievable, thousands of people, my family, amazing. Two hours in the med tent later and it has been a crazy ride since.

Wow, that got long. I am sure no one has made it down this far. Sorry for the long blog I will take a break now eh.

Last quick note. CEEPO Venom size L for sale. Complete or frame only. If you buy it before next Tuesday it is a killer deal. At 6’5” it is a little small or aggressive (hence the positive rise and spacers)...

Dallas.