SOMA pictures.

Thanks to Red Rock Co. for putting on a great event! Thanks to Rudy Project for a great dinner this weekend. We bought our ski passes today. Now it is time for some winter activities! The resorts are opening and I am excited.

Back at it.

It is still snowing. I feel a bit like a housewife with nothing to do all day. I hate being cooped up inside, so I went shopping. I got myself a table specifically for tying flies. I tied a few more of my homemade variety and then got fed up of sitting around watching the snow fall. I thought it would be a lot more fun to watch the snowfall from outside. I packed my fishing stuff and jumped on the bus towards town. Having Boulder Creek run through the middle of Boulder is one of the nicest aspects of this town. It makes running, cycling, or fishing in Boulder more enjoyable. There were a few homeless people under the bridges doing whatever it is that they do, but I put on my waders, boots, and vest and started on my adventure. I tried a dry fly that I thought would work before trying one that I made. Mine didn't have any success and when the weather is better (next week) and I can see the fish I will be more excited to use my own flies.

Beautiful.

It snowed the whole time that I was out there. As the afternoon wore on it seemed to get colder. Ice formed on my line and on the guides (holes where the line passes through). I had to break the ice to be able to cast from time to time. I had a couple of hits but either I was too slow to set the hook or the fish spit it out. I wasn't having much luck except with catching a few "tree fish". I didn't lose any flies and just before I left I landed a little Brown Trout.

My fish of the day.

I was surprised how warm I was. My left hand got a bit cold from handling the line and putting my hand in the water to pick up the fish felt like needles, but the rest of me was quite warm. As I was on the bus home (I wore my waders and boot on the bus) I saw the temp was 25! Tomorrow has a high of 36 so it will feel like summer. I am going again. I loved it!

Snow day.

Arriving in Boulder was wonderful. It was a long drive from Flagstaff, but well worth it. Having an apartment is great.

The view yesterday.

Then it started snowing. Heavily. It is a nice change from the last 18 months. It has been a perpetual summer for a while. Now it really feels like winter. For better or worse, we live across the street from Front Range Anglers. I already went by and introduced myself. Moj got me a beginners fly tying kit this week. Oh no. Now I am in trouble. It is dumping snow and I drank way too much tea. Time to start tying flies.

The van today.

I began reading a book about fly tying. Then looking up websites, videos, anything that I could find to figure out how to tie flies. I started with a Woolly Bugger and then started making things up.

My Woolly Bugger.

After tying about 4 flies I was ready to rush out to Boulder Creek and give them a try. Sitting here warm and comfy, I was convinced that it would be fine to be out fishing in the snow. Then I looked out the window. And I sat down to tie some more.

My personal box.

I have no idea of some of the things that I tied. I plan on using them though! I don't know if they float or not. I don't know if I can trick the fish with them. I will try though.  The forecast is for more snow tomorrow, but  I am not sure if I can contain my excitement.

SOMA Half.

Swim 33:43
T1 1:06
Bike 2:38:10
T2 1:09
Run 1:47:12
Total 5:01:21

While I am happy with my overall result, I feel like I made a lot of mistakes.
The swim was the most brutal swim that I have ever been in. I was kicked, hit, punched, slapped, pushed, and everything else that could happen. That being said I think that I violated quite a few people as well. It was a swim start and all the guys under 30 were in the same wave. It was pretty aggressive. I made my way towards the front of the pack, but it did no good. I had to stop to fix my goggles a couple of time. That never happens. The women started a few minutes before us and we quickly caught them. Then I caught the group in front of them. A couple times I ran into some massive person that was sitting still treading water and trying not to panic. My wetsuit was rubbing on my neck. That also never happens, I must have put the strap in a funny position. Another rookie mistake. I am such an age grouper.
The first transition went well although I have still never tried the flying mount. Mounting my bike, I put my foot on top of my shoe and somehow pushed it off the pedal. I had to stop and put my shoe on like everyone else. Come on Rory, get it together! I took off pedaling and realized that I had no liquids. No water bottle, nothing. I knew that at mile 9 there was an aid station so I just hoped to make it there. The bike was 3 loops. I started pretty conservatively because I don't think that I have ridden 56 miles at one time this year. At the aid station, I grabbed a bottle of Gatorade. While trying to take a sip and thank the volunteers I somehow managed to squirt the Gatorade up my nose and into my eye. I guess I was squeezing the bottle really hard. I was very thirsty! The first bike loop was faster than I expected. The course was flat and we had a bit of cloud cover so the temperature was perfect. The second loop went well except for my penalty. The three lanes came together to one lane with no shoulders. A dozen people came together and as we tried to get in front of each other two guys in front started talking and going the same speed. There was no way to go forward, back, left or right. The ref pulled up and gave at least 8 of us either drafting or blocking penalties. We were all yelling at these two guys to move, but it was too late. Whatever. The bike ended well and I was excited for the run.
The run started well with the first mile a 7:04. Mile 2 was a 7:10. I was hoping to run 8 minute miles, so this was feeling good. I know that my last two half marathons that I ran were a 7:10 pace. Then it all slowly deteriorated. 8:00, 8:30, blah blah blah. The last four mile were hard. I was definitely shuffling. I think that people were cheering for me because I looked like I was hurting.
Overall, I am really stoked about the time though. 5:01 is almost 15 minutes better than my last half. Of course comparing Kona to Tempe isn't really fair. I will post pictures as I get them!

AZ.

I drove a couple of days to make it to Phoenix. I actually drove past Phoenix to get past the utterly insane suburban sprawl that is Phoenix and all of it's incorporating towns. I am staying in Apache Junction. I thought this was interesting when learning about AJ on Wikipedia.
There are a total of 51 RV parks in Apache Junction. 1, the Lost Dutchman, is a state park. 9 offer wireless internet connection. Note that only two of these RV Parks have indoor plumbing, the rest rely on a network of outhouses scattered throughout the park.
I am glad that I chose one of the right places to stay! Thank you KOA. I rode my bike toward the Superstition Mountains thinking that it was a cool place. Turns out that the rumor is that there is a cursed gold mine that nobody can find. If you go looking you will probably die. Luckily, gold doesn't interest me that much.
With SOMA in a couple of days I am excited to get racing again. I am even more excited for the off season. We found an apartment in Boulder that seems to be perfect. It is across the street from an Indian restaurant and a fly fishing store. Could I be any happier? I just remembered that Silverman is 16 days away. I may have just told them that I want to enter. What am I getting myself into?!

Bakersfield. Don't ever go.

Leaving Kona, our first flight was delayed just long enough for us to miss our flight to LA. We would have made it if we weren’t checking three bikes! That being said, we didn’t get charged for bikes. The Aerus bike bags are amazing. 30 pounds with a bike, box, wheels, everything. They once asked if it was luggage and I said, “Yes”. That isn’t lying. I wasn’t going to offer information that it was a bike and I should be charged! Nguyen came and picked us up and let us sleep on his floor. What karma, just a few days ago, he came to Kona and slept on my floor. The following day, he took us to the North Shore for a surf. It reminded me that I haven’t surfed in a while. In fact, the last time that I surfed was with Nguyen on our way back from New Zealand. Eventually, I remembered what to do and had a lot of fun. From there, we overnighted to LA. Exhausted we had Denny’s and I shipped Moj off to Colorado. Don’t feel bad though she is in our awesome apartment while I am still slumming in the van. I can’t complain I have been “camping” (sleeping in the van without a shower) for the last few days. I rode bikes with Nguyen and I was feeling pretty bad about how out of shape I am in. He is a great cyclist, so it should have been no surprise that I couldn’t keep up with him.

 My view on the bike.

Back on my Triad, I have been having a great time riding in the mornings and fishing my brains out all afternoon. I am east of Bakersfield (a place that no one should ever go) north of the tiny town of Kernville. North of Kernville is the trailer park area called Johnsondale. I stayed near here in one of the many campgrounds. Every day I saw hunters walking down the road carrying rifles. I wore my red and white cycling outfit and tried not to look like a deer.

 At least they have a sense of humor!

I rode my bike to the Trail of 100 Giants. It was amazing. Giant Sequoias grow only on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada in California. I can't describe how big these trees are.

This is one tree.

Kernville might be the meth capital of California. I have been without phone, shower, internet, power, etc. for the last week. Who cares though because I have been fishing!

My favorite of the day.

Not the biggest fish, but I am getting good enough that I catch fish every time I go out. I saw a couple of monsters, but they weren’t eating what I had. The river is high (800 cfs) but down from what it has been (2800 cfs!) and not wuite where it should be (200 cfs), This place would be amazing with half of the water in it. I couldn’t quite get to all of the fish that I wanted to. It was frustrating seeing piles of fish hiding behind rocks on the other side of the river with no way to walk or cast to them. Now, I am on my way to Tempe to work and compete in the SOMA half iron distance triathlon. Hopefully I can shower and do some laundry as well!

IM '09.

About 9 at night as we were walking to get something to eat people were sitting at Lava Java writing emails, posting blogs, updating friends and family, all as participants were still running the marathon. So this post is probably a bit late. A bunch of us volunteered for water patrol and were in town at 5 am. The athletes were already nervous, pacing, eating, and getting body marked. We paddled out into the calm before the storm and waited for the mayhem to begin.

Macca stopped by.

Macca wanted to see how I was doing. I told him just to relax and have a good race. I was worried about mechanical failures as you never know what can happen out on the Queen K!

Check out the wake!

He swam off quickly, but I think that Erica was smitten. We tried to keep the swimmers on course, but they didn't like listening. Only a few people didn't make the swim cutoff and the day was already emotionally charged right from the beginning.

 

Our view. 

After the swim we were able to go home, eat, shower, and return to the middle of it all. We sat in the heat for a while and waited for the pros to come by. It looked to be a good race with most of the major players coming in around the same time.

Chris Lieto coming in first.

Then we saw everyone take off running. After about 10 miles, they come back to the same place. It was great to watch the race unfold.

Andreas leading Craig up Palani.

Faris in his typical outfit.

CW.

Chrissie is the absolute queen of this sport. Not only is she an amazing athlete, but on of the friendliest women I have ever met. Always with a smile on her face. She gritted her teeth at the bottom of this hill, but all the way to the top people were going crazy screaming her name and cheering for her. She feeds off the energy and smiles all day long. She is fantastic.

Andy Potts.

I was impressed with Jon Flanagan and Andy Potts in the water. They blew everyone away. Next year, Marky V will have a huge gap on all of them.

You want impressive? Try coming close to setting a new record. Do it by being a woman beating all of the men. That is impressive to me. Here is Erica cheering on some FAST athletes!

Still enthusiastic!

We went to the press conference to hear what the pros had to say about the day. Everyone showed up but Macca while we were there. They all agreed that it was hot! We went and cheered in all of the athletes until the midnight cutoff arrived. Chrissie was there to congratulate the participants. She has great sportsmanship. We went home to crash. This morning, I feel like I raced. My body feels beat up. I am exhausted. This watching stuff is hard!

Kona. Again.

What a great last few days. (Get ready for plenty of links for non-tri people.) So much has happened. Lifesport and Blue created a lounge for people to hang out in during the week.

Here is Moj with the new Triad SL.

Blue showed off some bikes and allowed us to demo them. My buddy Nguyen flew in from O'ahu to hang out and help volunteer in the water with us. He owns Momentum Multisport. We demoed a couple of Cervelos today. I got on the new P4. It felt very skinny. It didn't climb as well as my Triad. It was nice, but I wouldn't spend the money on it. While riding we met a pro from Spain. Over the last few days, I have hung out with Marky V, met Amanda and Michael Lovato (cool people), yelled at Mitch Thrower, saw Macca giving interviews, Chrissie signing autographs, all kinds of cool things. We hung out a the K-Swiss booth for a while as well as the Avia booth.

Maarten van der Weijden picking the winners.

We got to attend a party at the BlueSeventy house organized by Slowtwitch. It was cool to put faces to names. There was a raffle where lots of people won prizes. Maarten van der Weijden was the Olympic gold medal winner in Beijing for the swimming 10km. He picked the names of the winners. He is huge.

Chrissie touching herself while giggling at me.

Rudy Garcia-Tolson.

If you don't know who Rudy is, check him out here. Luke Bell was also wandering around so I snagged a picture with him. I like his Zoot suits every year.

Luke and some guy.

We have been hanging out with Erica while in Kona. We went snorkeling at Kahalu'u. Tomorrow, is race day. I am excited to see Terenzo, Macca, Lieto, Crowie, Rudy, Ian Charles, Nick Kaiser. Everyone! Going to bed now. We are getting up early for water patrol. Sunday is Ben's race. What a great weekend.

LA Triathlon.

I was able to race the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Triathlon presented by Herbalife. I should rephrase that. I participated in the race this weekend. Checking the results, I was not too disappointed. The only thing that I have to blame is my lack of fitness. My guess is that it might be a direct result of the lack of training. I did swim with Courtenay a couple of weeks ago, but apparently that didn’t carry over to this race. I felt like my arms weren’t pulling me through the water, but were just going through the motions. There was a little swell and plenty of people had some difficulty. I hate when people complain about conditions in the ocean. If you are scared, don’t enter a race in the ocean. Know what you are signing up for. There were plenty of lifeguards and I never felt like it was too dangerous. I was able to catch a couple of waves in at the end of the swim so that must have saved me about 4 seconds.
The bike wasn’t as exciting as I thought that it would be. I love racing in cities where everything is shut down. There were lots of volunteers, cops everywhere, and the plenty of people wondering what was going on when they woke up Sunday morning. We rode through Korea Town and ended near the Staples Center. My legs felt constantly tired and I am hoping that it was uphill most of the way. After all, we were heading away from the ocean. It looked pretty flat however.

The run was great. Except for one big hill. Up was bad, down was scary. I loved the run though. I never felt like I had any “pep” out there. I felt very flat the whole day. Like I was just going through the motions. I liked the run course because we got to run past a Disney building that I saw in the movie “The Soloist”. It was also fun because it was pretty close to an out and back and we did two loops. I like out and back courses. There is something that makes me happy when I know that I am on my way back. After the first half, everything seems easier, no matter what the distance is. I was glad that I got to do the race. We left LA a couple of days later and now I am sitting in the Honolulu airport. When I publish this, I plan on being on my lanai looking over the warm part of the Pacific thinking about how hectic this next week will be and how happy I am that I am not racing. I look forward to a full week with a few thousand friends.

Kirland and last WA races.

We are now in Los Angeles. The only thing nice that I have to say about it... well we are leaving in 3 days. I can't wait to a) get out of here b) go to Hawai'i. We drove for 3 days straight to get here, have been busting our butt at work and tomorrow I get to race the LA Tri.

This is from the sprint in Kirkland a couple of weeks ago. I was laughing with my new friend Cody. He used to be stationed on O'ahu so we got to talk about Hawai'i while racing. I think that it made me faster, but he still beat me. I like talking to people while racing. Sometimes they like it too.

The following week, I ran a half marathon. Here is the only (bad) picture that they took of me. I think that every race should have plenty of photographers and a coffee truck. I don't drink coffee, but they make a killing at every race where they show up.