Sandestin Tri

See those two flags. The red and the purple one. The red means the water isn't safe for swimmers. So ofcourse, we swam in it. The purple on means "sea pests present." In other words, jellyfish are all over the damn place. I only got stung five times. Face, shoulder, back, chest, and ankle. Good times.

I did finish in under two hours, which was my goal. You'll notice down below the clock says 2:02 when I'm crossing, but our wave started five minutes after the first one. Here are some random pics. I had a great time. Great race, good location, just too damn many jellyfish.

Jellyfish suck.

Details to follow.

Finally reading Lance's book.

Don't ask me why it took so long for me to pick it up. You don't even have to be a cyclist to want to learn his story, but being a cyclist, I'm almost ashamed I haven't read it. I'm about half way through it right now, and I hope to finish it this weekend. I've got a tri down in Sandestin this weekend, so Friday night before the race will be good for a ton of pasta and some inspirational reading. If you feel like checking it out, here it is:



It was written before he won his last two Tours. Here, he's tied with Merckx, which at the point I'm at in the book, seems very appropriate. Also, check out Lance's foundation. Not everyone can win bike races, but everyone can help the fight against cancer.

http://www.livestrong.org/site/c.khLXK1PxHmF/b.2660611/k.BCED/Home.htm

A nod to Boston.

I had a blast in Boston about two weeks ago. Caught three Red Sox games. Ate some lobster, clams, and chowder. Drank a lot of beer. So, in appreciation, Harpoon Brewery gets a nod for their IPA. I think I had one at every meal, including breakfast. Also had one of their UFOs (Unfiltered Offering), which is a Hefeweizen. I'm not a huge fan of the wheats, but it was quite good.

Bonus points for having cycling jerseys:

Tour day Frantz revisited

For some reason, I was scrolling though Jim Caple's old columns and started reading some of his Tour stuff. For the record, he's one of the few columnists at ESPN that I read because he will write about cycling, and soccer, and other great sports that are tough to follow in the States.

Anyway, I found the following pretty funny:

By the way, Rasmussen bears an uncanny resemblance to Lance Armstrong except the resemblance is to when the seven-time champ was in the hospital undergoing brain surgery for cancer. With his shaved head and sunken eye sockets, Rasmussen looks so gaunt even Mary-Kate Olsen would tell him to grab an extra power food bar in the feed zone

and....

My favorite shot of the Tour, meanwhile, is this one from Stage 9 when a dog wandered onto the road right in front of a T-Mobile rider. Amazingly, the dog not only walked away from the collision but just signed a three-year deal with Michael Vick.

and his thoughts on Bob Roll, who definitely is the best announcer in sports...

Versus announcer Bob Roll continues to be the most entertaining analyst in sports. I enjoyed his humor and strong opinions ("Yes, there will be a Tour of America race … just as soon as we run out of gasoline."), but he jumped to a new level when Al Trautwig asked him to name his favorite Van Gogh painting and he immediately replied, "The Potato Eaters." He then proceeded to educate viewers that Van Gogh painted "The Potato Eaters" (a truly gloomy, depressing painting) when he still lived in the Netherlands and had yet to develop the colorful style which would bring him lasting fame. I'm sorry, but you just don't get this kind of information from Joe Morgan.

There are no bad bicycles,

Just bad bicycle owners. - Stuart O'Grady in his latest Velo-news rant.

I thought that was a fitting way to label the dopers.

Anyway, I swim with the sharks (hopefully not) in less than two weeks in Sandestin. Really looking forward to this triathlon. It's been a while since I did my last one. The 100+ degree head and 100% humidity is making training a bitch, so this one might be hellacious. I've got all my miles for it, though. The .5 mile swim and and 20 mile bike are no sweat. I've went through some more IT band crap, so I had to take a month off from running. I only got up to four miles last night (and I've run a marathon before. How quick did I crash back to earth?), and I don't want to think about the bike/run transition right now. The first time I did it I almost keeled over dead.

Oh well. Advil and gallons of water are my best friends right now. At least until August 25th.

First Crash!

And that comes with an exclamation point because it wasn't serious. In fact, it was sort of embarassing. It actually happened the last day of the Tour, but I've been in Boston all week and forgot to post about it.

I was on mile 36 of 37 during a loop around the Ross Barnett Reservoir, turning left onto Hollybush Road. This is the road my subdivision is right off of. I was practically home. My back tire hit a patch of dirt and gravel and kind of kicked on me. I did a major wobble, but straightened out. Unfortunately I straightened out headed right at ditch. I turned hard left, but ended up running off onto the gravel shoulder. As I tried to remain upright, I unclipped and decided coasting would be better than braking and skidding uncontrollably. Well, it was really rough and loose and I started tipping to my left, toward the asphalt. I set my left foot down in reflex to try and break the fall. As roadies know, road shoes don't exactly have traction. It slipped right out from under me, and I was fully in a fall. I twisted and landed right on my ass, skidding just a bit as I had slowed down a good deal.

The final result? A bruised left cheek andd ego, but the shorts, bike, and tires were all good to go. I didn't even check myself out till I got home. I looked the Masi over and over though. The bike comes first. Hey, and at least it didn't turn out like this bike that I saw locked to a rack at MIT. (I did get some MIT socks at a bike store I randomly walked past.)


And here's a sign a cyclist can't be too thrilled about. You're private space is ending followed by a request that all to often goes unheeded.


This was cool, though. Here I am at the Boston Marathon finish line. Probably the only time I'll ever cross it, as my running style is comparable to a sloth.

This is so cool.

The Tour LeFleur was a professional cycling event in Jackson, MS. I think it's run it's course now, though there are a few people trying to revive it. I really hope they do. When was in high school, I remember volunteering for it. Part of the Key Club or some honor society or something. I was selling Powerade in a Coke truck. I remember one of the members of the Saturn females racing team coming up and asking for one immediately after the race. I handed one to her, she kind of patted down her shorts and said, "I kinda don't have my wallet on me right now." I let her slide.

Anyway, here is the cool stuff, and it's why I hope the Tour LeFleur comes back. This is a high light compilation from the 1997 event. It was posted on the Jackson Metro Cyclist email list. Be sure to pay attention to the end of the video, as the road race winner crosses the line, then check out the podium finishers for this year's Tour de France.