Deschutes Dash 2008 Video Three

Deschutes Dash 2008 Video Two

Deschutes Dash 2008 Video One

Patrick took a couple short videos at the Deschutes Dash a couple weekends ago. Here is the first in the series.

A Crack in the Foundation

Sunday morning, after my race, I notice a crack in my bike frame around the seat post collar. Today I stopped by my local felt dealer, Veloce Bicycles, to hear my options. So far things sound somewhat promising, but you never can tell how these things are going to work out. Stay tuned for more updates. This should be interesting.

Race Report: Deschutes Dash Olympic

Deschutes Dash Olympic Triathlon

Date: July 19, 2008
Swim distance: 1.5k
Bike distance: 25mi
Run distance: 10k

Wake Up time for this race came at 545a; not bad. I got a good night sleep, for the most part, considering it wasn't my own bed. As soon as I woke, brushed my teeth and took care of some other necessary morning duties, I started to ingest my standard 600 Calories of Endurox. I have recently switched to Tangy Orange flavor due to the limited availability of fruit punch. I would prefer fruit punch. Dacia and I arrived at Race at 630a, parked and proceeded to get set up.

At some point after arriving the race director made an announcement that we had all parked in a fire lane and would be towed. This incited a mad dash of spandex and lycra clad athletes to road to move their vehicles. Classic. My Pre race Warm-Up included a 15min run about an hour before the scheduled race start. I was not nervous. I felt really calm, maybe too calm. I spent the morning joking around with Aleck and Jake.

The swim took place in the Deschutes River. We had to walk about a 1/2 mile up stream for the start. It was cold but like Boise I went for the double cap. This was a good idea. I started the swim at the front of the pack, but since it was a down current swim a couple people thought that meant they needed to go out hard. In the process they went over the top of me. The current also led to some strange pacing. The current just pulled me along, but it also messed with my form. I wasn't always sure how fast I was swimming. I was in open water the whole time after getting out of the pack. There were a few people in my wave who were certainly faster than me; behind me by 15-20 yds was the next person. Sighting was very important. The river is curvy and to stay on track in the middle of the river I had to sight constantly. That was the basis for some form problems. I think that if you swam the section more frequently you would be able to keep your head down more consistently. That was not my case.

Swim Time/place/AG place: 15:29/14^th/2nd

On the bike I went out hard as my coach, Scott, suggested. The course was pretty flat until about the six mile mark then things took a steep turn up. I pushed it up the hill, but it was tough. I saw 10 mph at one point in the climb. I can’t remember a time when I saw a race speed so slow. Heart rate was low coming back into town. It was downhill the entire way into T2. The second half of the course was screaming fast. Averaged, that's right, averaged over 30 mph coming back to T2. For all the pain going up, it was fun coming back down.

Bike Time/place/AG place: 1:10:18/6^th/1st

I Cramped a little putting my shoes on in T2. That pretty much sucks and I lost a couple seconds in the process. I will continue to practice this in all my spare time.

On the run I went out smooth as usual to get my legs under me. The legs felt good and strong. It was a two lap run course. The first lap was hectic. That is the best way to describe it. This run was kind of xterra-ish. Dirt Trails. Under a bridge on a 10inch wide path. Across some soft grass. The second lap I knew what I was in for and pushed it. I can’t say for certain, but I am pretty sure I negative split the second lap. I felt strong the whole run. My legs felt good, strong even. My lungs on the other hand burned the whole time. The altitude stung.

Run Time/place/AG place: 37:18/5^th/1st

I felt pretty positive throughout the race. There were some fleeting moments before reaching the apex of the bike climb where my legs burnt and my head was not clear. Luckily the turnaround appeared and down the hill I went.

Finish Time/place/AG place: 2:05:29/6^th/1st

In general I am pretty happy about this weekend. I won my age group. What is not to like about that.

A Weekend of Bend, OR

This weekend we traveled to Bend, OR for the Deschutes Dash Olympic Triathlon. It was a great weekend, I had a great race and will post a full report sometime in the next couple days. One particularly bad coda to this overture is that I have crack in my frame around the seat post collar - probably not under warranty but I will visit my local Felt dealer to confirm the bad news. Here are the details from the race.

Time: 2:05:29
Age Group: 1st
Overall: 6th

Tour de France Commerical

Classic. Let's hope this bears some truth.

Tour de France - Brand New Start

Reading Rejuvenation

Those that have known me for very long know about my passion for reading. Books. I cannot remember a time in my life when I didn't have at least one book going. It started at an early age and continues today. But...as with most things a person can find important there exists the possibility for drudgery. Staleness. The feeling of slogging through without purpose. For the past couple months this has been the case with me and my reading career. I was not inspired in my reading. It has happened before, but rarely for longer than a couple weeks. I didn't like anything on the shelf, bookstores were filled with either books I didn't want to read or already had.

I decided to reread Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. Say what you will about Hemingway, I will always love him. He was the first author who truly inspired me. In my most impressionable youth he had the ability to instill radical thoughts in my head and taught me the power of sentence simplicity. (Although, I feel I continue to develop my own style, one far from Hemingway's, there is at times shades of his diction in my own.) He has always occupied a special place in my own cannon and A Farewell to Arms was always near the top of every list I have ever made. There is romance, wonder, pain, and finally tragedy all wrapped into one complete tale of chaos and emotion. It was the perfect book to rejuvenate that passion for books I had recently lost.

Buying books has always been ritualistic for me. Sometimes I know exactly what I want, other times not. The process always includes a quiet meander through the fiction section usually starting somewhere in the middle of the alphabet, progressing to the end, looping back to A to finish where I had started. I rarely collect books along the way, but usually retrace my steps to pick up around three titles and head to the register.

This time, in the effort to get back to basics I went to the Barnes and Noble in Vancouver, WA. Although it is hard to calculate but this store, my home town bookstore, is amongst those I count as being the greatest recipients of my hard earned dollars. It was a great day when Vancouver had a bookstore that carried more than romance novels and dime store westerns. I bought all the books I could for my Senior AP English Class there and after college worked there for about six months. I discovered Bowles, Maughm, Greene, McCarthy, and O'Brien on its shelves. There are other stores worth mentioning, but few hold a more symbolic place in my consciousness. Included amongst these are:

Powell's City of Books
Brookine Booksmith
Harvard Bookstore
University Bookstore

I digress down reading memory lane. In this trip I picked up the following:

The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett
Barbary Shore, Norman Mailer
You Can't Go Home Again, Thomas Wolfe

Half way through The Maltese Falcon I can say I am back. Reading again is a joy and just in time. As training gets harder and lines of reality begin to blur. As time becomes a premium and is sucked into the vortex of swim, bike, run; carving out that little bit of time to ingest a few lines of prose will prove invaluable.

Required Reading

Read this now!