The Grapes of Wrath- VINEMAN

Brett getting ready to complete his first Ironman!




This past weekend I went out to Sonoma to race the Full Vineman Ironman. The whole build up to the race was a disaster and caused a bit of stress and "wishy washy" feelings in regards to what I should do. A little over three weeks prior to the race I broke my rib and it put a halt to training. I did what I could and waited for the damn thing to stop hurting enough to train. Long story short I was really under baked for this race and the week before tried to microwave myself and salvage something and hope for the best.

JZ always felt I should just have done the Aqua Bike division due to what happened and I suppose she gets an "I told you so" added to her credit. I had nothing on race day. The swim wasn't "hard" as I totally hopped on David Glovers feet and did as little work as possible. You're a good man David Glover! We came out just under an hour which is my worst Ironman swim to date. It still really took it out of me and I had a hard time pulling it together to get on the bike. Glover put a min on me just in transition. I never saw him again.

The bike was really cold for the first few hours. I didn't have a power meter and really didn't know how I was riding. It felt bad from the start and I never really got in a groove. The rib was bugging me on a very minimal level. But everything else just felt flat. I came through the 1/2 way point in 2:35 and was in the hurt locker big time. That is pretty slow so I knew things were off. I tried to stay positive as I knew the conditions were hard that day. Head winds all day and the air felt very "thick" to me. Lots of moisture so it was hard to move through it. I gave myself some credit and said "Well you are a good rider so maybe the guys up front are going to blow up???"

I started having inner leg cramps on the bike towards the end and my neck was burning for the last 30 miles. It just sucked. I still figured I would try and run. A training buddy of mine from a while back once said that he got off the bike in an Ironman feeling like pure ass and still ran really well. I was banking on that. I forgot that banks close early on Saturday and when I got to the run my legs were really feeling like crap. I shuffled along and when I got to the turn around I realized that I wasn't running that slow. I was still on about 3:01 marathon pace and after a huge session of slamming about a litter of coke at an aid station, my energy levels felt the best they had all day. It makes me wonder if something was off nutritionally on the bike, but I was taking plenty in so who knows?

Around mile 7 my left leg started twinging near the lower calf when I went up hills. I stopped and stretched it out for a second but it just kept bugging. I walked for a bit to see if it would go away but it didn't. I stopped again and saw a goat looking at me through a fence. "Should I pull out little goat?" He totally nodded! That was enough for me. When animals start communicating with you it is time to pull the plug!

I have never dropped out of a triathlon before and prided myself a bit on it but since I was considering doing the Aqua Bike I had less issue with it. And, I don't run through "that" kind of pain that I was having. I have two crippled parents who smashed their bodies up from years of running marathons. I am not looking to be like that. So I walked it in and enjoyed seeing the other competitors out there and encouraged those that were having a tough time too. I wasn't upset about the situation at all. In fact I thought "Wow! I really did get my Pro card, I'm dropping out of an Ironman!" Pro's drop out all the time! I laughed at that a bit.

One of the forces that made me want to go to Vineman and try was the fact that I had several people racing that I wanted to support. My dad decided to do the Full Aqua Bike but pull out at the 1/2 way. He wasn't ready for the full ride but wanted to do the entire swim. He had a rough day too from getting really cold after the swim and then having some horrible allergic reaction on his lip. It swelled up so bad that he looked like Angelina Jolie after a visit to the plastic surgeon. Good on him for still finishing his plan. Apparently I passed him on the bike but I never saw him. He just said I barked "On your left".

Grant, a guy I coach and whose real name is Sprinkles, is just getting into the sport. He did the Full Aqua Bike and won his age with a really good ride just under 5 hours. The course was so hard that day that a 5 hour ride was really impressive! Now if we can just get him to swim a bit faster he will be set. The guy runs really well even though he thinks otherwise. There will be more to report on Grant after he does his first IM in Cozumel this November. I'm excited for him.

Wadley of course had to sign up and do the Full Ironman because he has a disease that makes him sign up for all of the hardest events that he can find. I passed him on the bike at about mile 50 and all he said was "MAAAAAN. This sucks!" I agreed! Wadley won the swim portion....duh!....and actually looked really good on that first run loop. Ran into some issues later in the day but he got that shit done! More than I can say.

Jake Taylor did his first Full Aqua bike in preparation for Ironman Cozumel too. He just added to the list of people that thought all that head wind was some serious BULL SHIT!!! ALLLLLLLLL DAY! I think I had maybe 2 min of coasting time during my 5 hours and 17 min of torture. Oh man, I need to take a break here and not think about it. I am having Vineman PTSD!

Last but not least of our group comes Brett Johnson. Brett is the ultimate trooper in sport. I have never met someone who can take on challenges with such a positive and calm attitude! I met Brett about 5 years ago and he did his first tri with a group of us and really got into training for all kinds of races. He wanted to run a fast marathon and we worked on taking him from a 4:30 PR to a 3:11 PR in his 40's! Then he took on the challenge of doing the AIDS LIfe Cycle several times and somehow got bit bye the Ironman bug after doing the Vineman 70.3 . I knew he was very nervous and intimidated about the distance and concerned that he wasn't going to get it done on the day. Considering how hard that bike was on the day, I started to get concerned for him! But of course, Brett is able to just put his head down and get it done. The highlight of my day was seeing Brett finish this thing! I was really impressed with his effort and excited that he can check this of his list and never ever has to do it again!!!! But I suppose there is always Ultraman in Hawaii to think about!

As for me, I came back to Boulder early instead of driving back to LA with Wadley for a week visit. I want to keep the ball rolling and get myself in a better position for the REV 3 Ironman which is September 12th. Vineman was a good prep for that and if I can make sure the ribs are all healed up and everything else feels good I do look forward to stepping up to another Ironman start line this year.

Thanks to everyone who came out to support and to my mother for making some kick ass biscotti for all of us. It's world famous! Congrats to everyone who finished and a major thanks as always to Dave and Amy Latourette for putting on such a great event!

Cheers,
bdc

IRONPLAN

I told myself that I would make a decision on the 4th of July if I was going to do the Full Vineman Ironman this year. I had to set an actual date because if I waited until I "felt ready" I would probably never do another Ironman again. Of course, to celebrate my decision that I would race this distance again I went out on my roommate Roddys boat and tried wake boarding for the first time. That way I could ensure that the next day I would wake up feeling like a truck ran over me. Nothing like having "Popeye" forearms and being aware of every muscle in your back less than 30 days out of an Ironman. Not to mention I took such a face plant that my eyes still feel like they are in the back of my brain. Other than that, I was pretty good and will have to monitor a new addiction!

One of the things that will be different about this Ironman is that I am not going to have a race done leading up to it. All of the Ironmans I have done in the past has had some form of triathlon race completed about 4 weeks out. However, my little wake board incident has left me feeling similar to the way you feel after your first race. So I am just going to let that be my "breaking in" for this race.

Everything has been going pretty well since I started training again and so many of the things that have been bugging me in the past have started to go away. It is a very pleasant feeling when you go to work out and the only thing that makes it challenging is the fact that it is challenging. Hopefully I will have lined up enough challenging days in a row to make Vineman a successful experience.

Now that I have taken my pro card back I have been asked more than once why I am going to go race Full Vineman rather than one of the larger WTC Ironman races. As a "pro" you can get into any of these WTC races whenever you want unlike age groupers that have to sit at their computers ready to sign up as soon as the race opens to ensure they can get in. This is usually a year in advance. How one plans an Ironman a year out is beyond me! Anyway, my reason for doing Full Vineman is because I want to do a lower key race as my intro back into Ironman and also, Full Vineman is a true test of the Iron distance.

At Full Vineman there will not be 20 guys getting out of the water and riding a train for 112 miles. The race is going to be a true time trial test. The two times I have done the race it has been me and my bike the whole way. It is the oldest Iron distance race on the mainland and is one of a small few Ironman races that has not been bought out by the WTC. I really enjoy the ambiance of this race!

As well, the last time I did this race I had two flat tires and only one spare. That didn't go over so well and caused a major delay on the bike. I have some unfinished business at Vineman. This year I am expecting better luck with my tires!

In addition to Full Vineman I am going to be racing the new Rev 3 Ironman. Rev 3 hosts a series of triathlons and will now be introducing the Full Iron distance this year. Again, it is another non WTC event. If these two races go well and don't leave me feeling trashed I will hop on the WTC band wagon and race Ironman Cozumel. It seems that it is going to be an iron year. I have no 1/2's on the schedule and don't plan to put any on it. I may do one Xterra race in between but that is it. After that it will be break time and gears will shift a bit.

Okay no more boring blog typing. My poor arms are worn out from the typing due to the fact that wake boarding has left my hands in a fist for most of the day. I think I will take that activity off the schedule until early August....

AIDS Life Cycle Recap

Another AIDS Life Cycle has come and gone. The week was one of my best training blocks that I have had in a while and the energy of all the other riders was beyond awesome. The weather was perfect (minus a few days of head wind) and deciding to ditch the tents and "Princess" the whole thing turned out to be a very good decision!

We all started early Sunday morning just outside of San Francisco at the famous "Cow Palace". I was well rested having had an amazing home stay with my buddy's Dan and Andres. Nothing like being able to chill in a private roof top hot tub overlooking the Golden Gate bridge the night before a week of tough riding, running and swimming.

On the morning of our first ride out the plan was to meet up with Dope Peddler, Michael Gray and his brother Robert. They had rented an RV and Robert was going to be the driver. This was the true VIP treatment as I would not have to use the ALC staff for luggage transport. Hotels and an RV.....That goes beyond the "Princess Tour". But in my defense I did the tent thing twice and twice is twice too many times! But others love it and this year had no rain so I am sure it was fine for them.

Mike and I walked into the Cow Palace towards the end of opening ceremonies. Again, we have "been there done that" and wanted the extra sleep so we skipped it. They don't let you into the bikes that you parked the night before until opening is done so we just waited in the hall outside the packed auditorium. Of course I get the urge to go to the bathroom for the 5th time so I tell Mike that I will be right back and jam to find one. I walked all the way around the stadium where there were ones with no lines. As I am in there I can still hear Lori Jean, the head of the LA Gay and Lesbian Center, giving her yearly "HEEEELLLLOOOOO RIDERS! Pep talk". She likes to talk and does it well but it sounded as if she was about to wrap it up. I was trying to hurry it along so that I could get back to Mike before Lori was done but didn't pull it off and when I came out the halls were being flooded with riders walking to their bikes. For some reason they held everyone in the hall for a while and it was total claustrophobia. I lost Mike and had no way of getting to him so it looked like ride out was going to be solo.

I started about 1000 riders back which is kind of a pain in the ass because it means a morning of "On your left". Not to mention there are a lot of stop and starts the first hour and everybody wants to race. That made for a really hard morning as I don't like to have 400 watt bursts like that. But I needed to get out of the mix and find some open road. My little joke about "On your left" is that when you pass a gay guy they tend to say (use the gayest voice possible) "You didn't say on your left loud enough. Why are you riding so fast?! It's not a race!" And when you pass a lesbian you get (use your butchest deep voice) "HEY. Nice pace. Mind if I try and sit on your wheel for a sec"?

Once I started to get out of town and find a rhythm I noticed that I had a guy on my wheel. When we stopped at a light he said that he was also a Dope Peddler. I was happy to find another fast rider. We hammered the first day and made it to Santa Cruz in no time at all. His name is Chris and informed me that he was only going to be on the ride for 3 days as he had to get back to work. In fact, when we got to Santa Cruz he had to drive back to San Francisco to put on the musical "Wicked". He is the head electrician for the show....and no, he is straight. It happens. Anyway, he and I had a blast riding for the first three days. Day two was 107 miles and I felt like I was on fire and hammered pretty hard. It was nice to have some company!

Day three we were off to Paso Robles which has the dreaded "Quad Buster". It is not the longest day but there is some good climbing. Another buddy, Zach, decided to ride hard that day so he joined us at ride out. We actually had a few riders in the AM. It seems like there is always a group that wants to get to the base of the climb so they can race up it. Zach was riding really fast and I was trying to sit on his wheel so I could actually get a warm up in. When you sit on a wheel and your power is in the 300's you know the pace is pretty strong. I could tell early on that Zach was a climber so I figured he would want to smack it. As we got close he said he wanted to drop back and rest up a bit before we hit Quad Buster. Thank God! I was hoping we could slow it down for a bit. We hadn't even been riding an hour yet.

We all clumped up and when we hit the base of Quad Buster the race was on. I held back at first because one, my legs felt like ass, and two I could tell right away that Zach and Chris were going too hard. The climb was super foggy and you couldn't see the top. I knew how long it was and that it got pretty steep towards the top. About 1/2 way up my legs decided to show up for the ride and I attacked. To my surprise I was able to hold them off and get up the climb first. Both of them are really strong guys. I think they just played their cards wrong on that one. Zach decided to go back down and ride up again with some of the other riders. Chris and I kept on to Paso and I happily sat on his wheel the whole way. My legs were done and needed an easy day.

Before Paso we stopped in Bradley, which is a really small town and they have a BBQ for us that raises money for their school sports teams. It is the only fundraiser they have to do all year since 2,000 hungry riders come through and buy burgers from them. Chris convinced me to stop and wait. They were not ready for us yet so we hung out and chatted with roadies and the people cooking food. Eating a big burger and then getting back on your bike is a very hard task! Not to mention, I missed my morning glory. The last 20 miles felt like crap. Literally.

I met up with my parents in Paso, as they live there, and my mother was kind enough to drive me to the pool. They have a fantastic 50 meter there and I got a great swim in. Then I took her out to get a foot and neck massage for her B-Day. It is kind of scary that she is now 61! She looks like she is in her 40's. I hope I get that gene.

The rest of the ride I was without my buddy Chris sine he had to go back. Luckily I enjoy the solo riding. I did get some quality time in with a few of the other guys and made an effort to stop at the rest stops that put on a little show for us. I even had some ice cream at Paradise Pit in Santa Barbara. The town comes out and brings a huge truck full of free ice cream and other treats for the riders.

The whole ride was a better time than I could have imagined. I was fortunate to get in some quality runs and swims. I had written a few weeks ago about some of the issues that I have been having with my left leg and, knock on wood, they all seem to be going away. In fact, when I got to LA my Frontrunner friends convinced me to run the Pride Run 10K the next day. I managed to win the whole thing with a 35:20. Not too shabby for 20 miles a week and no speed work! And today nothing on me hurts! Something this last week clicked and I am just going to go with the explanation that it was "magic".

Thanks to everyone who supported my ride this year. Not only have you helped a wonderful cause, you also gave me one of my best training weeks to date! I look forward to keeping this momentum up and racing Ironman. Congrats too all the other riders that made the journey. Not only were there some really hard days, everyone managed to raise the money required in a very tight economy. I am planing on doing the ride again next year and if you think this is something you want to do and would like more insider info please feel free to contact me.

Cheers,
bdc

It's Not a Race....Or Is It?

For the last few years I have incorporated the California AIDS Life Cycle into my triathlon training. It is a fantastic way to bump up my cycling a bit, as it covers 600 miles over the 7-day trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and I have been able to line up pools and plenty of trails to run on all the way. It is the ultimate triathlon training camp for a great cause.

Every year as I get ready to leave for the trip, people always say to me "Good luck at the race" or "I hope you win." It makes me laugh because there is no "race" involved but everyone who knows me understands that I can and usually do turn ANYTHING into a race. "I need to go to the bathroom".....WANNA RACE?!

It is true that there are a select few on this ride who have been known at times to turn it into a hammer fest. I would say that I am not the prime instigator and would probably blame Ben Armstrong (his last name says it all) but then I would be lying. I guess I just need to come clean and say that I am a "race-aholic." But still, the reality is that the AIDS Life Cycle is not a race. And I keep telling people that.

Today when I was on the phone with one of my good friends, Ms. "John" Miranda, he just laughed and said "Oh shut up! It is totally a race!" Before I could stop him with some half-baked notion that it isn't a race, he went on a long rant as to why it should be.

In John's mind, this event needs to be a race to symbolize the urgency of things. He expressed how passive everything is becoming and that nobody has a sense of urgency anymore. AIDS is not over and the lack of an "IT IS A RACE" mentality is causing a situation that one day will blow up in our face just like HIV did in the 80's. It is URGENT that we educate the youth out there who are becoming positive in alarming numbers. It is URGENT that we find a vaccine for this virus. It is URGENT that we prevent further cuts to funds for people living with HIV and AIDS. It is URGENT that we let people know that HIV is not the new diabetes and cannot simply be handled just fine with medications in all instances. (Although the drug companies might disagree with that one.)

We have lost our sense of urgency, not only in matters of HIV and AIDS, but with everything! I mean, take the situation in the Gulf right now. There was no urgency to make sure those wells were safe or fixable in the first place. Now there is urgency, and guess what? Too late! There was no urgency to make it mandatory to have a double hulled ship carrying oil until Exxon hit a rock and screwed up Alaska. That seemed like a no brainer to me! I am only using the oil example because it is on everyone's mind right now. But what else out there, if we actually take the time to think, could use some urgent attention? How about the obesity crisis in kids or the school systems? Maybe the energy crisis, if you even believe that it exists? And if you don't, I am thinking "Drill Baby Drill" is out for a while. How about the fact that I am loosing my hair? Okay, that is a selfish, vain, of no real importance issue but I'm a gay male so it makes it URGENT!

My point here, and John's as well, is that we all need to get up and start racing! So for me, this week, as I ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, it is a RACE! A race to symbolize the UGENCY of HIV and AIDS related issues in the United States. If you would like to support my RACE you can go to http://www.facebook.com/l/f49ae;www.tofighthiv.org/goto/brandondelcampo and if this cause is not "your thing" you can still do something by getting your own ass up for whatever you feel is of an urgent matter AND START RACING!

Cheers,
bdc

Triathlon Update

I had to take some time before I posted this one, considering every single person in Boulder was right about my last post. When I told my buddies that I wasn't going to race triathlon this year they all laughed in my face and started making bets as to how quickly I would be back at it. The total time away was 3 months. And in that three months I really found out how much I actually love training and racing in the sport. I also was fortunate to reunite with my real true love which is skiing! Aspen, Taos, Mammoth and Eldora were hit pretty hard.

What I don't love is injury. While I made the remarks that my main reason for stopping was so that I could focus on my real estate business, I kinda lied about that. Obviously I knew that trying to build up a business and train/race would be a bigger challenge, my main reason for stopping was that I was ALWAYS injured. It is a hard thing to accept.

In this spot, the athlete is in a constant battle with "something". With me that something became chronic and not totally diagnosable. My running rant about that whole issue has been that I have a male pro right leg and female age group left one. I wanted to see this time around if the time off would help clear up the issue and then also see what happens when I start back up. It is a major downer to try and become better at a demanding sport like triathlon and have to constantly miss workouts and have pain not only in training but day to day life.

I started things up about a month ago and to my surprise, I was REALLY out of shape. But to my even bigger surprise, the out of shape thing didn't last very long. Neither did feeling injury free. It only took about 2 weeks for that mysterious issue in my left leg to come back. I wasn't sure if I was even going to bother seeing someone about it because nobody could ever give me a clear answer before. But I did with a little push from the ever optimistic JZ.

The conclusion was either that I had a nerve in my lower back that was "shutting off" my leg, which then led to injury because smaller muscles would have to take the load of my whole body, or that it was from my hip surgery that I had in college. I broke my femoral neck and had it fixed. The nerve in the back is something that can be dealt with but the surgery is what it is.

One of the biggest places to look when it comes to a nerve being pinched is in your bike fit. We spend a lot of time in the saddle and if something is not right you are going to have problems. So I went in and made changes and it actually made things even worse and now my left leg really started to shut down and continued to atrophy. Well, that was depressing at first, but turned out to be a good thing because we at least knew that something wasn't right on my bike. JZ made me come over and deconstruct my bike. I swear that women could charge top dollar for bike fitting if she wanted to. In only a few hours we had made some serious progress due to her changes. I think the biggest change was going back to the Adamo saddle. Yes, I know it is ugly and not "cool" but I really don't care The thing works and keeps my junk from going numb!

I also saw Bob Cranny, The Wizard of Boulder, and Sara Berg my Chiro and they both got to see that my left ass was not working and I could barley get my calf to fire. Clearly a nerve! Everyone had hope about things at this point but me. I know that sounds pessimistic but I was at the "Show me the money" point. And they did. Over a few weeks time the leg has improved. I can run about 20 min now which is not ideal but I can bike and swim without issue and that is a good start. I have a running background so I am going to be calm and patient about it and see what happens. At least now, on the bike, I don't feel like I would be better off with a prosthetic. That is no joke.

I really want to race Ironman this year and am going to give it my best shot. Full Vineman at the end of July is what I want to do followed by either the REV 3 Full or Ironman Cozumel late November. It is hard to say what will happen as my confidence in this issue clearing up for good is not super high yet....but it is there. My main goal, I suppose, is to always be able to train which is what I love the most. Racing is just the icing on the cake.

AS part of my training this year I decided to do the AIDS Life Cycle again and raise money for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. The ride is the biggest fundraiser of the year and is always an amazing event. It is from June 6th-12th so if anyone reading this would like to sponsor my efforts you can go to www.tofighthiv.org/goto/brandondelcampo Everything helps!

Now that I am back at it I will keep things on here updated a bit more, especially when on the ride! Hopefully there will be a good story to write about, as Blogs like this last one I just wrote put me to sleep!!!! Let me see if I can end it with something funny....hmmmm.....Holy crap. Nothing funny has happened lately. Maybe Carole will read this and put a potato at the bottom of the pool during masters that looks like a turd. Now that was funny!

Sleeping With The Ex

I'm sitting here after a long hard day of.....reading. I have been told in the past that I was crazy to train for an Ironman. And rightfully so! But I must say that people who sit behind a desk all day are equally crazy!! I just got done with a nice 6 hour chair stint reading and reviewing material that will get me ready to pass the CO Real Estate Exam. I have not put this kind of study time in since I was in college. I forgot how draining it can be and my final assessment is that I would WAAAY rather have my ass glued to a bike saddle than a desk chair. With head wind!

I bring this up because I have made some changes to my 2010 plans. For the next year I decided to take a break from my pursuit of triathlon in order to build up a real estate business. I thought about doing both triathlon and real estate but after careful analysis I felt that, in the beginning, neither could be done to the standard at which I want them to be done at. So I had to make some tough decisions and come up with plan B.

Plan B (better) is that I will just focus on running. I come from running and I have never trained for an open marathon so there was some solid intrigue there. I joined up with Steve Jones running group here in Boulder in an attempt to have some team structure. Man I MISSED being on a team. That is where triathlon falls short. There are very few team dynamics out there. What we had going on last season with JZ and company was pretty close but still missed a true "team" feeling by a small margin. Maybe that is why they call it Tr"I"athlon???

Anyway, with the new running and real estate adventure came some adjustments. I had that "what the hell am I doing?" feeling for a good while but then I started to notice my running was getting much better and that feeling went away. Then I also realized that since I was taking a break from triathlon and nothing serious was in the immediate future regarding running that I could take a bit of time and become a "real" person again. So I decided to go hit up the Gay Ski Week in Aspen. I lost my gay card a while back because I never "did" anything anymore so I assumed that a week in Aspen with a bunch of homo's ought to do the trick.

Sure enough, I got my card renewed and I was officially "gay" again! I only had to say "Heeeey Girl!" once (thank god). I forgot how fun and funny that many gays at one time can be. It was a total blast to get back to some of my skiing roots as well. By day two we were hitting the double black tree runs until our quads wanted to explode. Unfortunately I think mine actually did. I came back with a bit of ITB knee pain most likely from all the hard skiing. I also ate shit on the board one day (I was cheating on skiing) and that may have triggered it. None the less, I am back in Boulder not running.

Hmmmmm??? Well if I can't run I suppose I could always get on the bike or go for a swim. Seems like a logical idea. Especially since I am sitting inside all day reading and going stir crazy!!! The idea wasn't as logical as I thought. Who knew that thinking about swimming or riding was going to cause such emotional chaos? All of a sudden, out of nowhere, the idea to go to the pool made me feel very strange. It was like I was about to sleep with an ex boyfriend that I had recently broke up with! No joke. I am sitting here right now coming up with all the reasons why I shouldn't go swim.

I suppose that it is because over the last few years I was given an extraordinary chance to experience something so wonderful and challenging. I traveled the world, met some of the greatest athletes in this world, developed life long friendships and pushed my own body and mind to limits that I never thought was possible. I feel in love with triathlon. And now, I seem to be feeling like we are breaking up. Yes, let me have my god damn dramatic moment THANK YOU!

I never imagined I would be feeling this way about it but obviously I am. I truly believe that we need to allow ourselves to have the feelings we have and deal with them rather than shoving them in a box and pretending they don't exist. I have tried that approach. It doesn't work at all for me.

So here I sit, broken hearted over triathlon, hearing the pool that is only a 2 min walk from my house call out my name. "I know you can't run. Come swim in me!!!" Sorry Charlie. I just can't do it right now. Give me time and maybe in the near future we can be friends again.

I know I must sound crazy, but this is the best analogy I could come up with as to how I feel regarding all the transitions in my life. I know that getting a business up and running will allow me to come back to the sport the way I want to. But for now the focus is going to have to take a shift. I'll keep you posted though, as there are odds all over town stacked against me that when the snow melts and the sun is shining that you will find me on the back of a bike train huffing and puffing my way up to Estes Park. I guess we will just have to see!

Cheers,
bdc

Thoughts on Clearwater.

Where should I begin with this commentary on Clearwater?  I guess I will just start from the days leading up to the race as they played a key role in what went down.

 JZ and I had gone to Clermont the week before to escape the weather in Boulder and get some training in at sea level.  We had a nice apartment right by the pool and got in some fantastic riding.  I really love Clermont!  Anyway, about mid week we started to take notice of the tropical storm brewing in the Gulf of Mexico.  It seemed like there was going to be a very high probability that the race was going to be affected. 

Sure enough, when we got to Clearwater the weather was cold and really windy with scattered showers.  The ocean was extremely rough.  Knowing these races have had serious problems with the swim portion when the weather is bad, I figured it was going to be cancelled. WTC had a contingency plan and the day before announced that the swim would be moved to the bay.  They announced that the swim for the age group waves was going to go off Time Trial style with one athlete being sent off one at a time in the original printed wave start.


Upon first impression, this seemed like a potential solution to many of the drafting issues the race has had in the past 3 years. This was not the case, however. They loaded the entire field in the water way faster than planned; in fact everyone was in the water in half the allotted time from the printed schedule. The organizers were concerned about opening the unforeseen closed roads. Instead of a nice spread between waves, chaos ensued on the bike course with even more packs than normally seen. The maximum occupancy of the course was exceeded! Athletes need to stop blaming each other for drafting, as this was inevitable, but instead need to find a solution for the future.



The Pro Field was also robbed of a fair race. The Pro men and women went off in two waves as a mass start.  The women went off at 6:45 and then the men went off around 6:53. I have tried to come up with logical explanations for this decision. As an aficionado of conspiracy theories, I have come up with the following explanation. Since Clearwater 70.3 already has a reputation for SUPER fast times, they wanted to set it up so that a female Pro could break 4 hours.  JZ came very close last year so the possibility was clearly there.  With the Pro men going 8 min behind the women it was known that they would pass the Pro women on the bike after about 50 min of riding. The strength of the riders in the women’s field made it impossible for the men to go by without them getting an inadvertent free ride. The top women ended up in the mix with the boys and got off the bike with them.   Had the men gone off first they would have never seen the women and then both fields would have had a better chance of riding legal on the flat, fast, narrow course. This also added issues to the safety of the course. When the men and women merged it created more riders in a smaller amount of space.


This race doesn't deserve the title "World Championship" and dialogue needs to occur on how to make this event worthy of such a name. The venue in Clearwater is beautiful and the swim and run courses are top-notch, but the bike course has been mismanaged. A viable solution to the bike course situation has not yet been addressed, but that does not mean there isn’t one. Alternatively, a new venue could easily be chosen out of the other multitude of 70.3 events on the calendar. 


In addition to the other issues mentioned, Joanna had a horrible crash at mile 49.  Clearly Ironman has implemented the "Tara Norton" policies and procedures when it comes to this.  What exactly is the “Tara Norton Policies and Procedures”?  Well, Tara was hit in 2008 by a volunteer on the bike while in 4th place at mile 80 at the Hawaii Ironman.  Medical sent her home, WTC didn't give a shit and she ended up having 11 broken bones and was NEVER taken to the hospital by the race.  They even reneged on giving her a medical spot the following year.  Joanna never heard from anyone at WTC or the Clearwater staff after the crash. When you have a top athlete that you know very well, who has been in the sport for years, and who in fact won your “World Championship” race the year prior, that crashes because of a volunteer on the bike course, it raises a red flag when nobody from the race contacted her.


Just because we all sign a waiver, does that waiver allow a race to not try and make changes to some of the faulty areas?  I really think something needs to be done regarding aid stations on the bike.  While I love the fact that volunteers get out there and give us their time and spirit, they are not safe.  It’s a bad situation for not only the athlete but also the volunteer.  I know the one Tara hit was really hurt and could have been killed.  The kid that took JZ down probably feels horrible for what happened.  Something needs to change.  I have plenty of ideas on how they can do this and will share them in a later blog. 

In closing I would like to say that I was very excited to earn a 30-34 age group title. I know there were a lot of people, including myself, who were disappointed with how the race transpired. As athletes, let’s stop blaming each other and channel our negative energy towards finding positive solutions for the Clearwater 70.3 World Championships.

Cheers,
bdc

Update

So I think I forgot that I actually have a blog. Figured I would write a quick update on things since it has been a good while. It's funny because I think I stopped writing about anything after the 5430 1/2 as the body just fell apart and I wasn't sure if I would even continue doing triathlon. It was a really hard time because the "injury" in the left leg was so bad that I had issues walking and it was topped by a good two years of issues with my left foot. I think there was a part of me that was just "over it".

This sport can be really challenging when you are dealing with injury. The biggest part has got to be what goes on in your head. I remember reading an article where Brett Sutton was interviewed in and he said one of the main things that makes top athletes different from those just below, is how they mentally handle injury. The fact remains that if you train hard and push the envelope, things are going to arise. My biggest challenge has been remaining positive during injured times. It didn't start that way for me, but developed when an injury turned chronic and just kept leading to other problems. This last issue that came up started to raise a lot of questions in what the hell I was doing with my life.

If you are to make a jump from where I am in the sport you MUST be injury free for a long period of time and train consistently. Without that, I will just float right around where I am. I think most people would love to be where I am when it comes to racing but I want more out of it. The challenge, for me, is gone when you stop progressing.

I had a nice sit down a while back with JZ, who has been the most wonderful coach, training partner and friend, and we went over everything that was going on. I think a big part of me wanted to give up on finding a solution as it had just gone on way too long. I would make progress and then BAM something would fall off and start hurting. JZ is not one to back down from a challenge and she pushed me pretty hard to see some new people and look into the idea that a lot of the left leg issues could be nerve related.

So with all that I went to a new resource that has been getting a big buzz from many people here in town. He is one of the team docs for the Garmin Chipottle cycling team. I met with him for a good hour and gave him the laundry list. He looked at me after the long narration and in a somewhat "cocky" way was like "so is that the only problem"? I wasn't impressed with that because I felt that he was more concerned with letting me know that he is the shit and can fix me like it is no big deal. Not fully understanding that over the last 2 1/2 years I have had these issues. But I was desperate and agreed to come back and let him try and work some magic on me.

In my second visit with him he got right to work finding a million imbalances in my legs. Then he did a few things and before I knew it, things were feeling "different". I wasn't sold that it would have any long term effect but had nothing to loose. He gave me some notes to relay to Joe, our strength guy, and work it into the gym routine. He also had me go to Colorado Multi Sport and have Ignats do another bike fit/check. I did all this and kept seeing him and before I knew it things felt better than they ever have. I was SHOCKED! Even that crazy heal pain that I would get in the AM that WAS NOT Plantar Fasc even went away. That pain seemed like it was going to be life long.

Long story short, I got back on track and have been able to run without pain. I have also noticed that my legs feel "equal" when riding and the left calf is almost caught up to my right in size. I don't know exactly what he has done for me but I am extremely thankful that it worked. And as JZ likes to say, "Who cares how it works as long as it does"! I agree.

So next on the list is Ironman 70.3 Resurrection (I mean Longhorn) and then I am going to Ironman 70.3 Redemption ( I mean Clearwater) JZ and I have renamed the races as we both went through the ringer mid season. I am looking forward to racing again! I will make sure to post a report after I get back from Austin. I have a few specific goals for these next two races so hopefully I will achieve them.


Cheers,
bdc

5430 1/2 Ironman Race Report

Well I survived the dreaded fear that everyone around here seems to have about racing in Boulder. I never really understood the big deal. I mean, it's not like people don't just go online and stalk you when you race somewhere else! I actually enjoyed racing here and felt 5430 (The soon to be 70.3) was one of my favorite 1/2's to date.

The race was actually very eventful for me. I had more things come up than I would in an Full Ironman. I suppose that is a good thing considering I felt like I raced well. Handling adversity always leaves me feeling good.

The fact that the race was just down the street from me threw me for a loop in the amount of time I would need before hand. I left with enough time to get ready but didn't realize that T1 would close at 6:30 on the DOT! I almost wasn't allowed to set up and then forgot to put my running shoes in. I had to use the force to convince them to let me back in! It almost didn't work...

After that rush I got the "call". You know, "the call"....I had to poop. And in a big way. Well 90% of the porta loo's were in T1 making them useless. The 4 or so that were available had a line around the parking lot. That was not going to fly. I found some TP (it was like a sign from god) and took matters into my own hands. Literally. Circling around like a dog looking for a spot to crap, I found one and then once done my hand fell into it. I know this is getting way too gross for the average reader but hey- Shit happens. I fell into it because as I was in mid poop a lady walked up on me. If you can't laugh at stuff like this you really need to check your outlook on life. Just my opinion....

Anyway, at this point I am now rushing to get my skin on ( I opted out of wearing a wetsuit as the water was just too hot) and head to the water. Don't worry, I got my hand cleaned ;-) Cicely was there and was no help as she was still laughing at the fact that I had gotten shit all over my hand.

Once down to the water I got in and did a flash warm up. I like to get the heart rate nice and high before I start and didn't have that much time to do it. Then I realized I forgot my pre swim Gel and also noticed that I seemed to have a "round two" of crap wanting out. SHIT!

I have never gone to the start of any race, any distance with the feeling of needing to take a crap. I have heard of this happening and knew, at this point that there was nothing I could do. I was going to have to hold er in.

I had lined up next to Shane hoping that I would be able to use his feet. He has been swimming well and I figured it made sense. So I just looked at him and said "Go out hard. I want your feet." Why try and be slick about it??? I saw Drew Scott across the way and he seemed like he picked a better position to the far right but it was too late for us to change. We were dead center like a bunch of idiots.

When the gun went off I blasted and Shane did not go out hard enough. I was scrambling to try and figure out who was in front, but again, was having issues seeing. I was boxed in pretty bad but was remaining calm about it until I went to sight and got whacked in the back of the head pretty hard. It caused my ears to start ringing and then of course I panicked. Fuck!!! I have had issue with panicking in the water before so it wasn't anything new, but combine it with the altitude and the fact that I only had my skin on, I was being swamped and felt like I couldn't breathe. This is probably the worst way to start a race and I knew that I needed to recover from it or I was going to have problems. I had to slow down and try and find some open water. It took way longer than I wanted to get calmed down. Eventually I was able to find a rhythm and not be so freaked out. Although, I knew my swim was going to be a shit time even though I was back on some feet.

The whole rest of the way was spent climbing over AG swim wreckage. I was actually in a good mood about it because I felt accomplished that I survived the panic. It was the worst one I have had in the water and getting through it made me feel stronger. I wanted to quit at first.

Exiting the water I was just glad to be done with it. I was in shock that Shane was out just behind me. I was in even more shock to find out later that Drew got our 90 seconds ahead of me. I swim circles around Drew in the pool and Shane has been swimming circles around me. We were all mixed up!

In transition Shane and I had all our friends there heckling us. It was pretty funny as we were both trying to get out first and having issues with our stuff. I exited first but Shane came up on me and passed me pretty quickly on the bike.

Shane has been ridding very well so I thought I would use him as a gage. If I can keep him in sight and have my numbers not too high on the meter I think I will be fine. I passed him a few times on the downhill sections as I had more gears than he did, but for the most part he was off the front. We chatted quickly a few times during a pass just to see if we both felt okay. I made sure to keep twice the legal distance between us as much as I could. The fact is that we are both very similar in ride ability and started together. We were going to be near each other for the whole ride and I did not want to get pegged with a penalty. I could have rode in front but I think Shane gets a bit "antsy" in the back LOL.

The whole ride felt really easy except for the fact that I still had that major poop in me. I wasn't able to take much in on the bike. I got about 200 calories total but didn't have a choice. I guess I could have stopped but I wasn't willing to do it. I figured I would just have to when I got on the run.

Once I rolled up to T2, Shane was about 45 seconds up and I ran passed him right away. He dropped some encouraging words telling me to go smoke the run but I was a bit unsure as I had this poop issue to figure out.

I was running at a good clip and things felt okay in the stomach so I thought I would just wait until it felt different. I was a bit dizzy in the head from lack of calories so I went right to the coke plan. I think I felt that if I went to the bathroom or took in anything major, that I was going to have problems. The coke seemed to help the dizzy head right away.

As I ran along I saw a guy running up the road that looked to be moving at a decent clip and thought I would try to catch him. As it turns out, it was David Thompson, who was in 4th overall. Catching up to him made me feel that I was probably running well. It is hard to tell with that run course because the gravel is so loose that you feel like you are going nowhere.

When we got to the back side of the course, I was running a bit faster so he tucked in to avoid some of the wind that was out there but as we came closer to the finish he picked it up. I had another loop to do so I tucked in behind him. He is much taller than I am and makes for an excellent draft! It's funny that I was running with him as the same thing happened on my first loop at Lifetime.

Starting the second loop, I wasn't sure how I felt but I just decided to keep plugging away, and if I crapped out at some point I would just have to accept that. I did roll up on Keri Wvlad who was on her first loop. She is a quick runner and went with me for a bit of the back side. I told her to tuck in but she fell off the pace after a min or two.

I finished in 4:11:35 ( I had said 4:10 but when looking at results I didn't follow the line across properly LOL! I guess I do need to get these glasses!) and was very happy with the effort. I ran straight across the line to the bathroom and FINALLY dropped the kids off at that pool. OMG what a relief that was haha! I can't believe I did that race with that much in me and taking in only 400 calories. Who knew???

Confidence is up a bit more and I think I have gained some fitness from the event. I was only 4 min down from the top AG'er who with no surprise was Tim Hola. I love having that guy out there. He is an excellent marker for top Age Group racers. I won't lie, I want to take him down once this year! All in good sport of course!

I have 2 Olympic distance races coming up. Not sure how they will go but I have to remember that this whole season is just about prepping the bod to be able to handle the Ironman run load. I really feel like I am getting there and am excited to put an Ironman on the calender. It may come sooner than we predicted....

Good job to everyone that raced and thanks for all the support from those spectating. It was a really fun and challenging day!

Vineman 70.3 Race Report

Well I am back in Boulder after a successful trip to California. The weekend involved my second 1/2 Ironman of the season as well as my Dad's and friend Brett's first 1/2 Iron race. I also found out after the race the my friend Roberta raced her first 1/2 too. I was so honored when she told me that it was I who inspired her to do this a few years back when she watched me race my first triathlon in LA. Go Robbie!

So the week before the race was not the greatest. I wasn't in the best head space. In fact, Thursday before the race, JZ, Billy and I went out to do some intervals on the bike and I couldn't even do them. Billy was doing 2x20 getting ready for Ironman Lake Placid (which he will probably kick ass in this weekend) and JZ was doing 2x10 in prep for Vineman. All I had to do was 4x5min. I got SO dropped by both of them. JZ and I had to have a quick chat about weather or not doing this race was going to be a good idea. The issue was that I was not having consistently strong workouts and just raced like crap the weekend before. The whole thing was stressing me out and I honestly didn't know what the right answer was.

I believe that if you are going to race you need to be ready to give it. Granted, you won't always be able to, but you should have the ability to put your best effort out there on the course. I didn't know if I was going to be able to do that. My fear was that I was going to get out there and have nothing from the gun and then have to "get through it". I'm not a big fan of dropping out. Haven't ever done it and really don't ever want to. I am not in the league of folks that can go to a race and make $5,000.00 dollars so I also don't qualify myself as someone who can drop out so I don't "waste the effort" and go make money the next weekend.

Anyway, I had to figure out what was in my control and start making decisions based on those items. The ability to make a decision is very underrated. You can't have athlete ADD. You need to sit down, evaluate and make your decision. So that is what I did. I decided that while things haven't been going as well as I wanted since I got the infection, I did still have fitness in me and would go into the race relaxed and try to pace it a bit slower so that I can hopefully have a strong complete day. I think I also had to come to terms with the idea that my best effort right now may not place me as I high as I like but it doesn't translate as a bad race. I want to race Clearwater this year and in order to do that I need to do a 70.3 and get a slot. Not a hard task as there are plenty of them and they roll down like a fat kid on a grass hill. But none the less I would have to do the race and finish.

Saturday before the race, JZ and I went to the river to swim 20 min, then bike 1/2 the course and run 30 min. Quite the opposite of what I did the day before Lifetime which was nothing. When we got into the water I was surprised that I could hang on her feet. Granted, she wasn't swimming super hard, but JZ doesn't really have a "slow" speed. So that made me feel good. Then we got on the bike and things felt "crisp". The run also seemed fine. I really needed that boost. Just to know that I didn't feel like dog pooh on Saturday made me excited to race.

Race morning I woke up with a freaking kink in my neck. Honestly I had to laugh. I was pretty much of the mind set "Big fucking deal. I'll just breathe to the other side or something." It was the lamest thing that could be happening but I will say that it is almost the following Saturday as I write this and I still have a bit of kink so it wasn't some "pre race" fake injury thing.

When I got to the water I opted to not use my wetsuit. The water was too hot and I would overheat for sure so I used the Speed Suit instead. My wave started at 7:10. 40 min behind the pro wave. We would have a ton of people to climb over on the way back. While I was floating in the water waiting for the gun I was really just trying to relax and cut myself some slack. No pressure, just see what happens. Oh and remember now you are breathing on the left side!

When the gun went off I hit it hard and scoped out the fastest guys in the wave and got on their feet. it turns out there were only 3 of us. We had a 3 way line going with me on the back. It was fast enough to drop our wave but those two guys were not fast enough for the kind of feet I wanted. It was so relaxed and enjoyable but I had no desire to go around and try and swim harder. The energy to do that would be wasted.

When we hit the turn it was so shallow and crowded that we had to stand up. The guy in second started to walk slow while the guy in first took off. I had to give him a slight push and said "Yo! Get on yellow caps feet!" He picked it up and we were back face down. They were pretty good at navigating all the Tri Wreckage. There were a lot of slow swimmers from the prior wave. It was a mess.

Once out of the water I was very happy with how it went and got on the bike and started rolling. I finally got my SRM to work again and had it for the race. JZ told me not to look at the numbers as we don't totally know what they should be but after a while I just tried to keep it around 275 and 315 for the climbs.

Around 8 miles into the bike I was getting ready to pass a women from an early wave and at that moment it looked like she was going to pull over for something. She went in the middle of the road and started to stop. I was passing on the left and was like "What are you doing!! Don't stop there!" I went around her on the right as I was going pretty fast and as soon as I turned the corner a big "OH FUCK!" came out of my mouth. I slammed on my brakes as a decent sized Oak Tree had fallen into the road. It was blocking the entire course and as I got off my bike I realized that a rider was under the tree and two others were also down on the ground. The one rider was actually hit by the tree. The back end of his bike was smashed and he was in bad shape. The other two looked like they ran into it after it feel. This was a bad situation.

There was one spectator there already and I wasn't sure what to do. There was nothing I could do for the injured riders and to be honest I thought that the race was going to be canceled or majorly delayed. I knew that all the people in my age were already up the road. There were two waves in front of mine and the one I was in was the last and I was in second place. I had to think fast because I didn't want to be out of the race. I looked at the tree and noticed that I could crawl under it. So I did that and then dragged my bike under and just said "I will tell the very next person that I see what has happened and send help". The one women there was tending to the hurt riders so that was the most effective thing I could do for them.

Off I went as I tried to get back into my groove. Kinda hard after what I just saw! The rest of the ride was uneventful. I never got passed and was solo except for the slower riders on the right. The whole ride felt great. Complete opposite of last weekend. I think part of that was that I raised my saddle height. My quads were not loading up at all. The mistake I made on the ride was that I didn't get enough fluid in. AND I had on a camel pack on. 100% my fault. I had a minor stomach cramp so that may have been the reason I wasn't taking in the fluids.

When I got off the bike my SRM had me at 2:18 for the ride. "Damn! Where did that come from???" It felt so easy. However, the lack of hydrating left my legs a bit flat. I was behind the 8 ball and thought I could make it up on the run. I peed as I ran through transition and it was a short stream of yellow jello. Not a good sign but doesn't mean that it is game over. The legs were a bit heavy and maybe I rode too hard? But I settled into my pace and tried to get fluid in. It was blazing hot out and the run turned into a shuffle for me. I still had an okay run time of 1:25. I thought it was going to be a 1:32 but it wasn't that bad.

There was a bit of comedy on the run. I'm sure JZ doesn't think it is funny but she did bring it up today so I figure it is fair game to write about. People that know us understand we are a harsh crowd. I made jokes about her IM AZ dnf about an hour after it happened. To her face! Anyway, I dropped my salt when I was on the bike and didn't have any. About 4 miles into the run I see JZ in the distance on the ground. It was disappointing to see this happen again but I kinda knew something was up as I had not seen here on the way back yet. The funny part is that I didn't say "are you okay?" or make any reference to what happened. All I did was yell a bit before I was going to pass her. "Joanna! I need your salt!" If you could only see the look I got. Dropping your salt pills on the bike: $12 dollars. Asking JZ when she is on the ground dropping out of a race for hers: PRICELESS!

So the run didn't go well but I gutted it out and was happy with the overall race. Plus, when you take the tree into account I don't get chicked! A goal this year was to not have slower times than any pro women. I think the tree covers that! And I don't plan to do any races with Chrissie in it! hah!

I also think that even though I was only 6th overall armature, that I made a mistake giving back the pro card. While I am not as fast as the top pro guys, when you are in the AG waves you aren't even in a race. None of the guys that beat me were in my wave. If you look at the pro guys times, the swim and bike are all the same for so many of them. And not THAT much faster than what I did. Granted they ran me into the ground but I know in the end, I am actually a runner.

It's not that I think drafting is going on, but they are able to sit legal and see the competitors. It makes a difference. It's too bad that they don't have more races with elite AG waves to allow a race for fast AGer's that want to make the jump. But I made the decision to stay AG this year and I have make the most of it.

I look forward to my next race here in Boulder (5430 1/2 Ironman). It will be my first race at altitude. Should be fun!

I will post my Dad's race report up here in a few days. Very proud that he has been so committed to this since the initial motivation in Hawaii. Amazing to me that he got it done on such a hot day!

good times,
bdc

Lifetime Report/Pre Vineman

Well I am not totally sure what to say about Lifetime. I want to view the race in a way that is accurate and addresses some of the things that went wrong without it sounding like a list of excuses. It was by far my worst race in about 3 years and I am not going to say that it wasn't disappointing.

I think all my races in triathlon have been pretty good for the most part. Even races that didn't go as well as I wanted still had a decent result. Lifetime was the first race where everything from start to finish was off. Looking back I think there were a few things stacked against me that I probably could have prevented. And of course, as in all races, there were some things out of my control.

With that said, the first thing that I thought about after the race was "Did I push it too soon after the infection"? During the race I had NO top end and felt crummy from the gun to the line. No matter what I did I couldn't get the legs or engine going. It is hard to say if the infection played a role because there were so many other things that could have attributed to the poor race. Not to mention, I had some decent workouts the two weeks prior. I do know that I haven't felt "the same" since the infection and am not sure if that is physical or mental. Hard to explain how the experience of the infection has left me feeling in a general sense.

So infection aside, here is how the trip and race to Lifetime played out. For starters, it was the fastest trip I have ever been on for a race. My buddy Jim who raced as well went with me and we decided to make it a fast drop in trip. We left Friday, raced Saturday and then packed it up for a flight right after the race. I think that was a bit of a problem for me as I didn't really do anything Friday. JZ felt that I was too tapered and that is what left me feeling flat. I am not a fan of the big taper. I did an Epic Camp and then 2 days later did the swim and bike of an Ironman as a relay and felt fine. I swam a PR and rode in close proximity to the pro field. I think your body needs to be moving a decent amount up to the race. Mine was the opposite prior to Lifetime.

Mentally, I was feeling insecure. I hadn't raced since WF, which went well, but that was so long ago. Also, this was my first Olympic race in about 2 years and while the distance is no big deal, the pace can be. And it was a qualifier for Dallas and I really wanted to get a top 3 slot. I had a great race last time I did it and I think there was a part of me that just felt it wasn't in me right now. What came first? The belief or the reality? Maybe I psyched myself out?

The swim was going to be wetsuit legal and I stand firm in protesting that. The pros didn't get to wear them and I think if you are going to have an Elite AG wave you should apply the same rules. The water was WAY too hot. I understand wetsuits make it less risky for the majority of the racers but we don't constitute the majority. Why didn't I just not wear it then? Well if everyone else is and I am not, while I won't be hot, I swim a lot slower without one. A bit of a Catch 22.

When the gun went off I ran in and felt the bottom of my foot get cut on something. After what I just went through I had a hard time not thinking about that. I could feel the cut and was like "I'm in a disgusting swap like lake". Then I started to overheat and this is going to sound crazy but we were swimming right into the sun and you couldn't see anything and that seemed to make me feel claustrophobic. Not to mention the wave start was quite large. I was not enjoying myself, trying to stay calm while I continued to heat up thinking that if I can just relax to the first turn the sun will be out of my face and I might feel better being able to see. Unfortunately, the dialogue had started and I couldn't turn the "commentary" off for the rest of the race....shit, I couldn't even turn it off after the race!

Once I made the first turn, I was having shallow breathing and did not feel like I was in a race. Of course, wanting to do well, I knew I was going to have to have all three portions go very good. It was a fast field and the swim I was having was not going to cut it. I tried to let it go and assume it wasn't going as bad as I thought but it just dragged on and on and on....

When I finally got to the end Patrick Baldwin got out with me and that gave me a slight sign of hope. He is a fast guy and we have had similar swim times in the past. He just said "Get going. We can't let these Midwest boys get too far ahead." I was so hot I had a hard time running up to transition.

I wasted no time and once on the bike realized that I had some sand in my shoe. I could only feel it because of the cut. No joke, I was so paranoid of this cut I almost stopped. I got the infection from my shoe and was not looking to make the sequel. None the less I kept going and thought I would just keep Patrick in sight for a while and then try and turn it on.

Patrick started to pull away and I couldn't respond. My legs felt like shit and my inner quads just burned. Turns out I had my saddle height a bit low. Something that should not have happened in the first place. Every two min or so I would try to rev it up but it just didn't happen. As well, god somebody call the Whammbulance, I wasn't dealing well with the road surface and the sunlight and shadows was really making it hard for me to see. I am in denial about my eyes. I need contacts and just keep putting it off....

I had one bit of hope on the ride which was that the pro men passed me going the other direction in the exact same spot they did last time I raced here. Maybe the other guys were riding too hard??? I know that I can run so I was starting to think that I might have a shot when I get off the bike. If in fact this train wreck of a ride ever ends.

When I got to T2 I knew the shot at a top 3 was over by the number of bikes on the rack. No matter how fast I was able to run that day it was out of the picture but I still blasted out of T2 to try.

Right as I exited, Crowie and David Thompson were coming by on the second loop from their race. I was able to hop in behind David for most of the first lap but every step just felt like crap. It was pretty windy but David made a decent block for a while. I couldn't believe that I was going to have to work this hard for another 5K loop.

The second loop felt the same effort wise but was slower. I got passed by people that just shouldn't be running by me. My run time was 36 something. Ouch. Don't get me wrong, I know that is quick for some but it is not even close to what I want to be doing.

When I finished it was kinda funny because as soon as I stopped I was fine. I didn't even really feel like I did anything. I was just like "that sucked". At this point I am done debating what went wrong and just deciding that I had a crap day and hopefully I will still gain some fitness from it for Vineman 70.3 this weekend.

On a positive note about Lifetime, my buddy Jim Moriarty, that I can take credit for coaching, had a BRILLIANT day! He had a 15 min PR and was second in has age. 2:48 overall time. He is one fast 62 year old! Seriously, you should see this guy run on the track. Talent.

We both packed it up extremely fast and hit the airport for our return to Smurf Village. I shall be packing up once again this Friday to go give it another shot at the 1/2 Ironman distance.

Cheers,
bdc

Back To The Races

Well I am feeling a million times better than the last time I blogged. It seems I have moved passed the whole Staph infection crap. The last week I have really been trying to get things back up to speed and find some confidence for the next two weekends. I leave this Friday for Lifetime Fitness and then next Friday for Vineman 70.3

The race this weekend will be my first Olympic distance in a long while. I think the last one I did was actually Lifetime. Back then it was the Elite Champ race that you had to qualify for in one of the other races in the series. I qualified at the LA Triathlon by getting 4th. When I got to the Champ Race I was pretty sure that I was going to get my ass handed to me but ended up getting second. So a quick lesson in "don't discount yourself until it's over".

This year the race is a qualifier as they moved the Champ Race to Dallas on the same weekend as the Hawaii Ironman. I am hoping to make top 4 this weekend so I can go to Dallas as I am not doing Hawaii. If you qualify they pay your way and hook you up. It was a really fun experience last time. If I don't make top 4 I will have one more shot when I race the Chicago Triathlon in Aug.

The funny part about this trip is that I am leaving on Friday Am, racing Saturday AM and flying back to Boulder Saturday at 2:30. That will officially be a "Travel PR" for me. Luckily I will be traveling with my buddy Jim who is also doing the race. He rolls in style so I think this should be a smooth trip!

Once back I just need to keep things moving until the next weekend as I leave that Friday to go race Vineman 70.3. I had to back out of Racine because I missed Buff Springs due to the infection and need a race that has 70.3 slots. Hopefully it will go well. I mean I have done the 1/2 once and the full twice so I can't say I don't know the course. Knowing a course is such an advantage in my mind.

I think it was all meant to be as my dad is racing the 1/2 and now I can be there for it. As well, my friend Brett will be doing his first 1/2 there too. Not to mention JZ is racing to defend her title. Seems like this is the race I am supposed to be at.

That is the update. Hopefully I will have good news to report back this weekend.

cheers,
bdc

Curve ball.

Well there were actually 7 days on the ALC ride and I only wrote about 6 of them. Deal with it. If you want to know what Day 7 is like you should sign up and do the ride. Maybe, just maybe, you will get to experience a full police escort on PCH through Malibu with 5 other fast riders. Awesome!

My time in LA after the ride was pretty fun and I let loose a bit with some old friends. However, I think my immune was down as it seemed like I was always on the verge of getting something. I thought for sure that alcohol kills all that stuff....

I never really came down with anything and once I got back to Boulder I went back to Tri Dork and gave up the fun juice and got back to training. I had to start putting my head on about Buffalo Springs 70.3. After loading up on a big week of riding I figured I would be in great shape for it if I played my cards right in the next few weeks.

I had a nice recovery week and felt back on top of my game. SBR was all going very well and JZ and I decided to go hit Magnolia for a nice long run. My foot had been behaving and I was going to actually try and hit 1:45-2 hours. It had always been our plan to get me back up to longer runs if the foot did not act up.

JZ and I started out together and then I kinda ran off. I was feeling good and I don't seem to notice the high altitude up there that much. In fact, I think I would do quite well in a race that high. Anyway, I was moving along and had noticed that I had a slight blister on my heel. Nothing major but I could feel it. When I hit my turn around point I decided I would re tie my shoe to see if I could maybe make it not hurt at all.

Five steps later and I was not able to walk. Something happened after I stopped and the blister just went bananas on me. DAMN! JZ had gone on as she was running further and now I was up at Mags stranded about 7 miles from my car. The road up there is not heavily trafficed so getting a ride might be hard. I did try to run on it but that was not in the cards. I had my shoe off and the blister was massive.

I was so pissed that I was missing this run. It was my best to date and now I am trying to hitch hike. Several cars went by me like I was some kinda of mountain man rapist. Not even an "are you okay"? Finally some guy picked me up and it turns out that we had met on the track a week ago. He was coached by a friend of mine and I met him at a session on the track. Small world.

Once back at the car I waited for JZ to return. My foot was actually throbbing but I had nothing safe to pop it with so I just had to wait till I got home. Being a "picker" that was the first think I did when I got to the house. Needle to flame. Lance!

I was impressed with how much blood came out. It seemed like it was going to be okay now but I wasn't sure how it would fair on the long ride the next day. None the less, my buddy Billy Edward's was getting married and I had to cram it into a dress shoe and get to his wedding.

Seemed okay until I woke up the next day. It was extremely sensitive. So what do I do? Cram it in my bike shoe and ride to Estes Park of course! It was going to be a fun ride as we had a good group going. Denny and Matt were going to join and Belinda and Justin Granger were in town and I had not seen them in long while. Also, Marlyin McDonald was joining us and of course training wife JZ. I really didn't want to miss the ride with this fun group. So I grunted it out but every pedal stroke it just got worse.

The pace was a bit slow for a good while and I decided, in all my pain, that I would just get her done. I went off the front and started on my own pace. I was riding great minus that fact that my foot felt like it was going to explode. When I hit Glen Haven I was wondering where the hell Denny and Matt were. I wasn't riding that hard and I figured they would catch back up. Eventually they did and the three of us hit the Devils Gulch climb which is pretty damn steep. Nothing new to us, but a hard effort for the fittest rider.

Once at the top I almost passed out with pain. The foot was done. I must have used up all the endorphins on the climb. I couldn't even put the foot on the ground. I tried to ride into Estes with my feet on top of my shoes but even that hurt too much. Finally I had to stop. Eventually JZ and Marlin came up on me. I had a minor moment and then they helped me hitch a ride into Estes. From there my good buddy Jim Morriarty was on his way to come get me. He started with us but was only doing 2 hours so he was already home. A friend that will drive out to pick you up in Estes Park because you are too fucking dumb to not know when you shouldn't start a ride is A GOOD FRIEND!

Jim took me right to Urgent Care where they had to cut out the heel and inform me that it was loaded with Staph. Lab results would later confirm all this but they went right ahead and gave me two shots in the ass and some orals to start taking. The blister really looked bad now and it would appear that I was going to be out of everything for a good week. I was NOT happy.

The next day I went back to urgent care to get it re wrapped and checked out again. It seemed a bit better but I was feeling "off". I had a massage that day with Kim so I went up there but the massage was horrible. Not because of Kim, but because something was not right with me. My skin was hurting lightly all over. Long story short, I was having severe chills and fever within hours.

Cicely was at my house and had dinner with me but I made her come back when all this started. My fever was getting really high and I could not move. My legs had this ache in them that I had never felt before. I figured I had the flu but was curious about the feeling in my leg.

I made it through the night but around 5 AM all Hell broke loose and I started vomiting. I knew then that something was really wrong so we went to the ER and sure enough they were telling me that I had an infection that had now gotten into the rest of me. It was not pleasant and they said I was gong to have to be admitted to the hospital for a few days. Fun.

They took good care of me and the funny thing was that my first nurse had just had dinner with Belinda and Justin that night. Small world again! Not to mention that I had her as a nurse when I did actually have a severe case of the flu last January. When a gay guy gets sick like this twice in 6 months you go into a bit of a panic. Nobody likes to talk about it but I made those people give me an HIV test STAT and I wanted results ASAP. I was starting to go a bit mental at this point. My fever was so high and the drugs they were giving me was making any rational thought go out the window.

Once they admitted me I started to feel like things were getting under control. I had some test results back now and we were getting closer to an explanation. The big guns, HIV, Swine Flu etc were ruled out. However, they thought I might have West Nile because of some exposure to bites and I had all three of the major signs. That test takes longer to get back so we had to wait on it.

I thought I was feeling better. JZ, Carole and Cicely had all come by for extended periods of time to basically watch me sleep. When I was awake I thought I felt better but as soon as the PM rolled around things took a really bad turn. My fever went way up again and all the pain in my legs was back in full force. I was developing a migraine type headache and was starting to get a bit scared.

The night nurse started me on a Morphine, Vicodin, Fentinol cocktail. I am not a fan of these drugs at all but within a few more hours I was begging for them. It all sounds so dramatic but the pain I was getting in my legs was now traveling up my my body, into my arms and eventually was in my head. My eyes would move on their own when I would close them so sleeping was out of the question. All I could do is sit there and take it. My nurse had to come in and put me on ice and started mopping me down as the fever just would not break. 106 for 6 hours is pretty much the worst thing I have ever experienced.

3:30 AM rolls around and I had had the Morphine pumped in every hour since about 11PM. That is a lot of drugs for someone like me who doesn't even like Advil. Lucklily something magical happened. I exploded! Literally for 10 min I went into a sweat that was out of control. The bed looked like buckets had been poured on it. And just like that I felt 90% better. I took advantage of it and got up for a few, took a shower and tried to have some food. The window of freedom lasted about 2 hours and then it all came back. I spent the rest of the day with a mild form of the pain I had in the night. It was pretty bad but nothing like what I went through that night. Then later I dumped water again and the fever never came back. The leg pain was still there and all I did was sweat for the next day, but I was definitely out of the woods.

So two nights in the hospital and then another two days of bed rest at home. I was feeling better but totally out of it. Depressed and tired. The infection felt like it ruined everything. I was doing the best I could not to go to the "dark place". JZ is really good at those kinds of talks so she was on "dark place" watch LOL. The nurse did tell me that I would have some withdrawl from the narcotics I had. And that was the truth. I threw out the bottle of Vicondin they gave me to take home. I know myself well enough....

As I started to come back over the next few days I was eager to try and do something but at the same time my motivation was pretty much gone. Makes no sense I know. I had a 70.3 race lined up less than 11 days away and knew that wasn't going to happen now. It felt like my season was over. Everything hurt.

Getting a curve ball happens. The people that can still hit one have excellent control over how they react to it. I know that I have some weakness in that department so I decided that this would be the perfect time to work on that side of life. Curve balls come in all forms. Ask anyone screwed right now by the economic climate. I know that if I am to achieve any of my goals in life I am going to have to be stronger in this department.

Did I bitch about it? Sure. But that helps me. I like to express it and then try and let it go. Did I feel like it was over when I tried to go for a ride and had to sleep 5 hours after? Sure did. But after each "episode" I just let it go. I think it is good that I have all these feelings but I needed to make sure that they are kept in check and that I am the one in control. It can be hard to do when you are a crazy OCD triathlete.

As of now, each day is better and better and I think I will be fine. Did I have to get out of the pool this AM after 1K because my body hurt? Yes. Did I bark at Carole? Yes. Did I let it go and then have a great ride and run? Yes! Not so bad after all.

I think it all comes down to stress. I have Lifetime Fitness on the 11th and then Vineman 70.3 on the 19th. I want these to go well and now that I had a major curve ball it is uncertain how they will go. Really all that means is that the expectation needs to be lifted and just take it one day at a time and see what happens. There is less chance to do well when you think you have been screwed.

So we will see what happens in a week. I think I will get stronger and stronger and be in top form by my races. Then I can write about how all us crazy triathletes need more rest LOL! That is what I am banking on!

To sum up a long story- Don't pop your blisters. And if you do and end up in the hospital with an infection; don't come crying to me! haha.

Cheers,
bdc

ALC Day 4,5,6

Hello Hello from the road. Well actually right now I am in a hotel room of another rider. It is day 6 and I am not on my bike which is turning out to be a VERY good thing. I had started to feel a bit of a cold coming and last night while trying to sleep in the tent, it began to rain. The rain did not wake me up because I wasn't able to sleep in the first place as there were some extremely vocal frogs. They kept it up ALL NIGHT!. My super sonic NASA ear plugs couldn't even stop it. As well, Cicely and I had to set up the tent on a bit of a slant and I kept rolling into her. Long story short, is was a rough night in the tent and I woke up at 5am feeling pretty congested. Did I mention the tent wasn't water proof LOL! Wet pillow, wet feet, wet suitcase.

Luckily for me I have a friend on the ride that is working for a few other riders. He is helping them with all there stuff and they are in a hotel. One call and the Land Rover was on the way to pick my wet ass up. I was a bit bummed that I didn't feel up for riding because in all honesty the weather was not my issue. It was that I felt sick. However, Cicely just called me from camp (she is working bike parking) and told me that CHP has shut down the ride for the day because the rain in the mountains is so bad that they do not want riders descending. Obviously for riders at my level, the rain would not be an issue, but they have to make decisions based on the slower, less experienced riders. Boy am I happy that I am not stuck out there! That would not help my situation.

The last two days have been pretty good. We had a nice long day starting out of Paso Robles that took us up a pretty sweet climb they like to call the "Evil Twins". The Dope Peddlers and I had gone to coffee first and about two miles into the ride I realize I left my Camel Pack at Starbucks. That had a good majority of my calories in it. Mike waited with me as I tried to get a hold of someone at camp that could get it and take it to the next camp. By the time I found someone we were now way back and would have to pass a gazillion people. We did the majority of the passing on the climb which let me see how the other riders handled it. Lets just say I now understand why ALC gave the name "Evil Twins" to the two hills. There was some suffering going on and I am sure that having me fly by them wasn't exactly "encouraging".

I dropped Mike on the climb and ended up riding solo for most of the ride. I had waited at a rest stop after the descent but he ended up breaking his seat post and had to deal with all that. The ride was a bit uneventful. I was too far back to catch up to my crew so I just enjoyed the foggy day.

The next day was a shorter day and we made sure that we rolled out first so we could just get er done. 67 miles of some of the best riding So Cal has to offer. We went through Solvang which is very nice town. We didn't stop because we all had our sights set on South Side Coffee shop in Lompoc. We got there in just over 3 hours and then proceeded to sit there for about 4 hours LOL. It was nice and sunny and we all just soaked up the day. I could feel that cold coming though. I think it is allergies but no matter what, I definitely do not need to ride 85 miles in the rain today.

Xavier has gone out to rescue the other guys. I am going to take advantage of the hotel room and clean up. We will drive to Ventura in a bit and depending on the weather and how I feel I shall either be back in a tent or I may get a room. If I start to feel really crappy I am going to pull from the ride and have someone come get me and take me to LA. I am racing Buff Springs 70.3 at the end of the month and want to be sharp for it. Getting sick won't do me any good. Other than that I feel awesome. The riding is making me stronger and my feet are holding up. Like I said before....GAME ON!

You can still donate to the cause at: www.tofighthiv.org/goto/bdc

Cheers!
bdc

ALC Day 1,2,3.

DAY ONE:

I was way behind the eight ball in terms of sleep most likely due to travel and excitement to get this ride going. Cicely and I had been in San Francisco the two days prior and all I really wanted to do was sleep. Unfortunately that did not happen as there was much to do with checking in, seeing friends and taking care of all the last minute things that come with a training trip like this. Still, the alarm went off at the ripe hour of 4am. The thing with rides like this is that you have to start really early so the riders that who take all day have all day. Being fast, you still have to start first or you spend too much of the day saying "on your left".

Opening ceremonies takes place now at the Cow Palace. Much better way to start the ride since it cuts out any riding through the actual city. The ceremony is always a bit touching especially when they bring in the rider-less bike. The bike represents all of the people that are not as fortunate to ride because of HIV/AIDS. The bike is presented by all of the riders that are currently HIV positive. They each carry ALC flags that have been signed by people in honor of those they have lost. I signed one in honor of Doug Blasedale who was my first spinning instructor before I ever rode and my buddy Derek who passed this last month. He was 38.

Once the ceremony is over we all file out like sheep to where the bikes are parked. I got stuck behind a huge crowd and was going to have to ride out almost last. I wasn't bothered by that but I knew that it meant I would be passing people for a good part of the AM. That can be a bit annoying. More on that later.

The ride out was pretty cold and overcast as it always is in SF. The scenery is fantastic after about an hour into it. Then you end up on the PCH which is also a very nice view. I was cranking away and prepared to not have to stop at any aide station. I had made it past the majority of people and wasn't sure if there was anyone else ahead of me. Soon enough I saw some dude up the road appearing to be stopped. As I got closer it turned out to be Ben Armstrong who I met the first time I did the ride. He rides like his last name.

I was glad to see him and helped him fix the flat. He told me that there were some other fast guys up the road. I have to admit, I thought "they can't be that fast" since I was the last one out and I was pretty sure that they knew better and got out first. I had been told by some other friends that these guys called "Dope Peddlers" do the ride and that they are fast and kinda dicks. I didn't make any judgments about them as I don't know them. But I do know that in rides like ALC, the fast guys are always thought of as dicks. I was happy they were there because I knew that once we all find each other it will be GAME ON!

Ben and I rode together for a while. I had to test his fitness and see if he had progressed since I saw him last. Well, lets be honest, I had to show him how much I had progressed since he saw me last. I let him take a pull and he made it a good one. Just not good enough. I took my turn and had to drop him. The ride was on the Big Kahuna course at this point so I knew how far we had to go etc. It wasn't far.

Back in camp it turns out that we were the first ones in. We never passed the Dope Peddlers so they must have pulled into an aid station and we didn't see them. When they did arrive they were a bit shocked to see that there were two bikes parked. The butt sniffing was about to begin and you can guarantee that tomorrow the tape measures would be pulled out. We all sat on the grass and had some lunch getting to know each other as best we could. I had my bias of them from my friends but so far they didn't seem like dicks to me. They are just straight and fast.

Camp life was going to be fine for the week. I made friends with my gear truck so that they would put my luggage in last so I wouldn't have to wait. Cicely would be working bike parking so it looked like I was going to be setting up shop every day. That was fine with me as I didn't have anything better to do. I would, however, have to take camp down in the AM because she was going to be out super early to work. That was a bit of a bummer but I would deal.

DAY 2:

I got up early so that I would be ready to get out first. Ben was waiting at bike parking for me. We were going to ride together as it was a big day. 107 miles of rolling hills and wind. Normal you get some nice tail winds on this route but the forecast was opposite and we did end up with some nasty head and cross winds. There would be a lot of casualties today.

Ben wasn't feeling so hot and I ended up dragging his ass around all day. He goes out too hard. I tried to tell him that so that he would be of some use late in the day but I couldn't make contact with his brain. JZ would have a field day with him!

We blew all the aid stations and just pounded out the ride. It was probably the hardest I have ridden that far in training in a good while. Our ride time was 4:35 min. On a course like that with the wind that we had, I would have to say we were working. We still had not connected with the Dope Peddlers. At this point it was a bit like "Race For Your Life Charlie Brown". If you haven't seen that a portion of your childhood was robbed. Anyway, one in camp we did all get together and had a proper chat on the grass. We had to wait for our gear for over 2 hours as we beat the whole "city".

We decided that the next day we would all ride together. It was a shorter day (66) and I think we could all use the group. I knew there would be no break. These environments are not new to me.

I got my 9 mile run in a bit later and then proceeded to pass out by 8pm. Maybe earplugs and a tent are the key to my sleeping problems? It's probably just being down from altitude. I always sleep better low.

DAY 3:

I decided to get up really early because I wanted the help from Cicely to get the camp taken down. I was ready to ride by 5:45 but we can't head out until 6:30. Ben and I met up with Dope Peddlers and we were all ready to take the 66 miles as a group. The ride would include "Quad Buster", a hill that apparently busts quads. I have done it before. It's no big deal. Then we would end up on the back side of the Wildflower course. Kinda funny that day one and two I would be on sections of races that I have done.

Anyway, like I said before, the ride was not very tame. Quad Buster became a KOM and the rest of the ride was pretty rowdy. It was a fast pace but when you have a line going it is manageable. I like riding like that and don't get to do it that often. We all had a great ride and bonded a bit. I think tomorrows ride of 95 miles will be easier as we now have a clear group. We have to go over the "Evil Twins" which in my mind are a bigger deal than Quad Buster.

I am off to go swim now and then have some dinner with the rents. We are in Paso Robles so I get to score some more parent points! Dad was going to ride tomorrow but ended up with too much to do at work.

More to report later. Limited Internet from the road.

Cheers,
bdc

Aids Life Cycle: DAY ZERO

Well I got to San Francisco with no real issues. In fact I didn't even get charged for my bike at DIA. That is special! And now I am all checked in for the 7 day journey that will take me from San Francisco to Los Angeles. While the feat of the ride is not really that big of a deal for me, the charity attached to it IS! Over the past year, a majority of the HIV/AIDS funding in California has gone away. Events like the Aids Life Cycle are becoming more important as the years go by.

I would have to say that the "training" environment that I am now placed in is a bit different than what I am used to. I guess you could say that it is like a cross between an Ironman, circuit party and a local bike path. It's funny how you learn more and more about your comfort zone when you do things outside of the usual routine.

While I am gay, my usual routine does not involve being around this many gay people at one time. And while I lived in LA for most of my life and I have been out since I was 19, this many gays at one time is overwhelming to me. What is even more interesting, to me, is that I am not 100% comfortable around all the straight people that I train and hang with on a regular basis. I guess you could say that I am having an awakening to the fact that I am not sure where I am 100% comfortable. Growing up gay can kinda do that to you. Once you come out, it is like you are supposed to just join the whole "gay community". Or it least that is how it can feel. A little hard to explain but my issue has always been that I never thought my sexuality had to be the top thing that "defined" me. That can be a hard thing to not let happen because the reality is that it IS a huge thing that defines you. Being straight is a huge definer too. Most just take it for granted.

Anyway, Blah blah blah lets stop the Dr, Phil show before I start analyzing every part of my life on a blog and get back to the ride.

I have seen so many of my friends from LA and am excited to sleep in a tent for seven days. Okay, that was a lie. I am willing to sleep in a tent for 7 days. I am pretty willing to do a lot of things in fact. Hopefully we won't get any rain. Tent + Rain + Training all day = Credit Card + Hotel.

Better get off to bed. Have to wake up SUPER early as the ride starts at the butt crack of dawn. There are going to be some people out there all day every day and we have to start according to the slowest rider. I am going to try and find out who those people are and set up their tents if possible. See what a nice guy I can be if I want to be!

You can still donate: www.tofighthiv.org/goto/bdc

More later from ALC 8!

bdc