Where is Wakeeney?

I was happy with my race at the Capital of Texas Triathlon. I swam, biked, and ran as well as I could have for my first olympic distance race in two years. Given the slightly hilly course and humidity that is notorious in Texas, my 2:24 makes me happy. I am not as happy with the pictures that they shot. They took none of me in my aero bars. All of the photographers were set up at the corners and I think that the lighting sucks on most of them. That being said, my gear looks pretty cool. Especially the bike and helmet!

Tuesday May 26 - Leaving Texas we had mixed feelings. We had been there for a couple of weeks which is quite a long time for us to spend in one state. I had a few friends in Austin. It is nice to know people in an unfamiliar place. It was three days of driving eight hours a day to get from Tempe to Dallas. It is the same from Austin to Boulder. Day one is in the bag. We had no problems driving today which is always good. If our tires survive and our van can go uphill for 800 more miles, we will be in the mountains soon.
Wednesday May 27 - We are stuck in Dorrance, Kansas. We are on the side of the road with a blown out tire. Unfortunately, we looked up information about where we are. Dorrance is a city in Russell County, Kansas. As of the 2000 census there were 205 people living here in 94 households. The racial makeup of the city is 99.5% white. The median household income is $31,250. $31,250 is more than I will make this year. The very nice state trooper that pulled over to direct traffic for us was very vocal about his frustration with our commander in chief. He wished that our country would spend more money on military endeavors like China, North Korea, and the Middle East. I didn’t introduce him to Mojdeh. I did give him a pair of socks that say Team USA. He gave me a highway patrol patch.
Update: We made it to Wakeeney, KS. Tomorrow, we buy another tire and drive to Boulder!

Texas Man pics.

Here are some pics from last week's race, the Texas Man Tri.

We made it to Austin. Tricia was here for a few days before leaving town. We got together with her and Ben over the last couple of nights. They are fun people and awesome athletes. It has been great weather here which is really nice.

Ben and I before a run at Barton Springs.

I have been training a little more now that I have races coming up. Tonight, I go to pick up Michael. He also works for my boss, Craig. He will be manning the soy milk booth next to our USAT booth. He will also be staying in our room with us. Barton Springs is closed on Thursdays. That is something that we found out the hard way. It looks like a fun place to hang out in the sun. It is a spring that is contained by man made barriers. The water is constantly 68 degrees. I get to wear my wetsuit for the 2nd time.

Texas Man Race Report.

At a KOA on our way to Valley View, TX.

Leaving Odessa we made it to a state park in Valley View, Texas. We were out in the middle of nowhere, but it was pretty. There was a big lake and not many people. We made friends with the rangers and hung out for a few days. Living in a van has another advantage, people think that you are parked, they don't know that you are living in their state park and not paying for a campsite.

Another beautiful day at the park.

Attending packet pickup, I was given the opportunity to race the next day. I took it. It was a sprint distance of a 500 meter swim, 18 mile bike, and a 3.1 mile run. I led the swim to the first buoy and was third onto the beach. On the bike, things went pretty smoothly, but I don't like my saddle. It was fun having a set of race wheels and a bad ass race helmet. The run went really well and I ended up 14th overall and 2nd in my age group. Now we are in Ft. Worth headed to Austin where I also hope to race in the CapTexTri.

Just trying to fit in.

Oh-Dessa!

We have made it deep into Texas. It is hot, but not nearly as hot as Arizona. After being in Texas for an hour, we encountered Border Patrol. It is a good thing that our van says "USAT" in big letters on the front. I think that the guard thought that it meant, "USA Texas". He asked us what we do and I said that we did triathlons. He looked quizzicallyat the roof and said "With bikes?" That threw me for a loop, but then he just made sure that we were both U.S. citizens and let us go on. Having a dark girl beside me definately slowed me down and I am glad that we didn't have to open the trailer and look through it for illegal immigrants. While filling up with gas somewhere between jackrabbit heaven and tumbleweed alley, someone asked me if I was a race car driver. I said, "No" pointed at the bikes and replied, "triathlete". He too was confused and said, "Oh, like running." The bicycles must have given it away. He asked if I had any pictures, socks, or shoes that I could sign and donate for the town's museum. He was in charge of the museum and said if I ever wanted to see it, we could. Now we are in Odessa heading for Denton tomorrow. time for the LOST finalé. Pics next time...

Swimming and riding.

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This is what I saw this morning. Lots of long, flat, straight roads.

Tempe.

 From time to time there are tiny tornadoes in Tempe. They tend to be practically gentle, except today. At ten meters tall it took out our tents and threw them into the transition. Tearing, tossing, and destroying three tents in thirty seconds. It was terrifying.

These are the before and after pictures from the dust devil. Ignore the lady in the picture that showed up 5 seconds later and started shopping. Apparently, she didn't care about what had just happened. She just wanted a bargain.

Mojdeh participated in this weekend's race and had a good time. She will be posting a race report on usatri.blogspot.com. I got to ride my bike for a few miles this morning. I need to put a computer on it soon. It is still too hot to do anything so the plan is to watch House all day today. My friend Kevin is visiting for the weekend, so it was cool to hang our with him last night.

We hung out in Buellton a little longer than we had initially planned. The car turned out to be a dirty sensor. It took them a few hours to clean and we took off. We drove for about 13 hours and made it to Goodyear, Arizona. Our boss has a friend who is renting his house. We are staying there while the tenant is out of town. Tempe, Arizona is the suburbs of the suburbs. The suburbs spread on forever here. I just got fit on my new Blue Triad.

Getting fit.

Now we sit inside and wait for the heat to subside. It is over 100 degrees outside. It has been over 100 degrees since we got here and won't subside until we leave. It makes going outside pretty miserable. This weekend will be intereseting since we will be outside the whole time. The only shade we have is under our black tents.

Wildflower

Rudy Garcia-Tolson.

Wow. Leaving Yosemite, our next event was Wildflower. What a great, crazy, busy, fun few days. I got to see Terenzo Bozzone, Chris Lieto, "One Arm" Willie Stewart, Andy Potts, Luke Bell, Rudy Garcia-Tolson, Sarah Reinertsen, and many more heroes race.

Me and Luke Bell.

Mojdeh cheering on Terenzo Bozzone.

We are back in Buellton where we are having transmission trouble again. Tomorrow, they might tell us what is wrong. Then we are going to Tempe, Arizona for a week.