I had the honor of being “best man” at Noah and Darlene’s wedding. It was an extremely nice wedding, I had a very good time and enjoyed Darlene’s family thoroughly. All the best to Noah and Darlene, they are quite cute together. =)

Getting there was pretty uneventful, although I did come to the decision that I really do hate airline travel. It puts my American sensibilities on edge, as I feel that as soon as I enter the airport I have relinquished all my rights afforded to me under the Constitution. I have no recourse, no matter how negligent, rude, inept, annoying, retarded or down right mean spirited the people there choose to be. I think I’ll try to get around as much as possible as God intended: in a car.

Fast is not amused…

But, once there we all got to stretch out and relax a bit.

The Groom, keen eyed, rested, ready.

The wedding went off without any problems of note, kudos to Darlene and company organizing such a comfortable and enjoyable “hitching” as we say out west.

Now that I’m back, it’s time to start training for IM Az in ernest. Tomorrow.

Parting Shot: A Capybara pic from the Albuquerque Zoo I shot some years ago and am now posting here for no damn reason. (I shot the picture, not the Capybara…)

Why, you replace it of course.

And I’m pretty sure I’m gonna make it. =)

Maybe you have to train for / do an Ironman to fully appreciate this, but maybe not.

It’s time again for the Tour Divide. Starting in Banff, AB and finishing 2,711mi in Antelope Wells, NM. Race kicked off last Friday. You can follow the progress of a 505 girl (Alamogordo), Mary Collier, here. Mary and Brendan are the owners of Siren Bicycles. How about one of these? My birthday is coming up…

Fool Hollow Lake in the town of Show Low Az hosted the Deuces Wild Triathlon Festival on May 31 / June 1. The even consists of a “long course” (aka half ironman distance) and an Olympic distance on Saturday, as well as an XTERRA off-road triathlon on Sunday. I elected to do the Long Course race on Saturday, and headed to the lake to bag a camping spot after work on Thursday.

Fast says: “All you see from the Interstate is Interstate.” The El Malpais National Monument is beautiful and only a short drive from ABQ.

I wound up in the RV “camping” area (which is characterized by full electrical hookups) b/c the “tent” “camping” area was already full when I arrived.
There were some extremely expensive rigs.

I was definitely lowering the rent.

For those of you wondering what Fast eats, here it is. He says it’s good for your coat (and libido..).

So, what do you do when you’ve got some down time and you are “camping”? Build wheels of course:

The long course went off at 0630 Saturday morning in an extremely brisk lake (~61F?), and thanks to the combination of altitude and cold water I had a bit of a slow swim at 37:10 for the 1.2mi (2000m). After that long cold soak on the legs it took some time to get up to speed on the bike, but once finally loosened up the bike went smoothly, hammering out the 57.5mi in 2:42:04, which turned out to be 13th fastest bike split of the day. Heat and wind started to become a challenge on the in the last 14mi (which also contains the majority of the sustained climbing on the course). The combination of Perpetuem and nuun worked flawlessly on the bike as usual. An early mistake in T1 though I think set things in motion for a problem filled run, I took a couple ibuprofen after the swim to ward off the not uncommon post swim headache, having forgotten to bring tylenol. Unfortunately, what I failed to remember is ibuprofen will tear up my stomach in a hot run like we had. The result was an inability to absorb nutrition during the run, so after the initial 6 miles pace was decreasing continuously despite trying to keep up the fuel/hydration strategy that has worked well in the past. Consequently the run was a somewhat disappointing 2:04:12. A testament to the Hammer Nutrition and nuun combination on the bike that I had enough gas in the tank to complete the 13.1 mi run with effectively no nutrition and still salvage a 5:29:38 total time. Good enough for 30th overall and 4th in the 30-34 age group.

nuun is “gettin’ it done”

I know you have all been patiently waiting, and your patience is to be rewarded. It is, once again, that time of year. I give you, Summer Mike 2008.

2007…
2006…
2005…

Mike says “You stay classy Albuquerque.”

Lenny, Rich, Chris, David, Mike, and I bagged the Santa Fe Century last Sunday. Vanessa went and road it w/ some of her training friends so I figure what the heck, why not get up at 5am on Sunday morning for a nice catered training ride. Without a doubt, SFC is the absolute best bang for your buck event around. $23 including the $5 late registration fee gets you unlimited grazing at I loose count how many rest stops on a sweet low traffic rural course. There are a few minor hills to contend with.

So, in the interest of keeping things, uh, interesting, Lenny, Rich, Chris, and I decided that single speed was the way to travel. I was a little spinny with a 41×18 compared to everybody else, but I think it worked out in the end. It certainly made heartbreak hill a bit more tolerable.

Me…

Lenny…

Chris, AKA, C-cow; filling one of four stomachs apparently. =)

David…

Rich on the left…

The view that keeps the ladies goin’….

Good times.

Have I mentioned I love nuun?

Profile and heart rate, maximum heart rate of 189 achieved at the top of “heartbreak hill”.

Wildflower 2008 is officially in the books.
2006…

Vanessa and I headed out Tuesday afternoon for Flagstaff, then drove the rest of the way on Wednesday to Paso Robles, heading out first thing Thursday AM to Lake San Antonio to secure a camping location. Total about 16hrs of driving each way in the Ironvan…

Once there, it was a simple matter of setting up camp.

Went for a short leg-stretching ride on Thursday afternoon, you can see where the race derives its name.

Here is a couple shots of the climb out from T1, this is how the first 2 mi of the course “starts”. It doesn’t get any better.

Got up about 05:45 on Saturday to get coffee/breakfast down and head for the lake. Got transition set up.

Overall the race went pretty well for me, the only slight disappointment was the run, but plenty of opportunity for improvement. The good news is that I was able to do it, and I’m not paying for it like I did prior to surgery. I also had some significant cramping issues on the run that attribute to insufficient hydration on the bike. Every race teaches you something.

Saturday afternoon/evening was nice chilling and grilling.

Did I mention there are dogs at Wildflower?
This is Buddy:

And Brewster:

Unfortunately you can only have so much relaxing, it was necessary to pack up and hit the road ASAP on Sunday before the close the road for the Olympic. I’d love to hang out and watch that one sometime but when you’ve got 16hrs of driving ahead of you and have to be back to work Tuesday…

Quick update, live from i-40 west of needles. Vanessa had a good day yesterday, finishing in 5:21 and getting 4th in her AG.
I had an ok day, strong swim and bike but started cramping on the run. Finished in 5:27, which in the ultra competitive 30-34 AG is only good for 47th. Can’t complain though, since I only have been running for 5 months out of almost 2 years.