Tennis is a sport I will never understand...

Apparently not a problem for this guy!! Thanks to A-Russ for posting!

NB 1/2 Iron Relay Hilarity

Yesterday was the 15th annual New Balance Half-Iron at Elk lake, and a great day was had by all!!

As I am still struggling with my shins and a serious lack of running, I was racing the relay with my roommate Myke! As per the pattern for my season, I was doing the swim and the bike while Myke was brining it home with the run.

My portion of the race started of pretty well. I got a much smother start to the swim then I usually do. I was able to hang on to the leaders feet until right around the first buoy, at which point they slowly started to pull off into the distance. I settled in to a good rhythm though and came out of the water feeling strong.

The bike was great!. Noa and I had discussed a couple of key points coming out of Shawnigan including bringing my cadence down from my normal hill crushing 105-110 to a more maintainable 85-90, and adjusting my pre-race nutrition. Keeping to the plan kept me feeling strong and hammering hard right to the end. My bike time was right on par with the leaders, so I managed to get Myke into a good position for the run.

Here are a couple pics from the bike, Thanks to Mari and Adam!

Myke pulled out a great run, and brought us home in a very respectable fashion. We had been hoping to repeat my win in Shawnigan but in the end we were cleanly beaten by some seriously strong teams and finished 2nd overall in the men's relay division. So my goal for the west coast series goes from four wins to four podiums, but I'm still really happy with the day ;)

A huge congratulations goes out to Adam O'Meara for pulling out his first win! He is one of the most dedicated athletes I know, and truly deserves his success!

Thank you to all the Volunteers who were helping out on the weekend, and all the organizers for a great race!

What happens when training gets boring

I bet this guy doesn't worry about traffic to much...

A weekend in Wasa

I have been feeling a little antsy lately so I decided to accompany Leif and Kamal up to Cranbrook last weekend for the Wasa Lake Triathlon. The trip served two purposes, first it gave me a chance to get out of Vic and get a little variety in my training, but mostly it was an opportunity to share a trip with some good friends and support my teammates!

The weekend couldn't have been better. Seeing as I was just there to train and watch the race, I was able to relax and enjoy the fantastic 30 degree weather (a nice change from the "summer" here in Vic).

A wonderful Morning for a race!

Kamal in a great mood before the race

Sprint Start

At the end of the day Victoria a athletes faired well, with Leif posting the run of his life and a top ten finnish! Unfortunately, Kamal wasn't in quite as good a mood after the race. I was able to get some great training in, with a couple nice open water swims at the race site, and some good rides around the area.

I wish I could say I was impressed with the race, but other than the fantastic location I didn't find it to be very well organized. I would be interested to know why the RD made some of the decisions he made regarding transition set up and scheduling, but I don't think Wasa will be a race I will be making the trip for again.

I'm a movie star!!

and by star, I mean you might see me flash by the camera for about half a micro-secound!

Through the bike shop grape vine I heard about an opportunity to make a little money for once!

The new lifetime movie "Bond of Silence" was in Victoria and they were looking for cyclists to stage a bike race scene. They were offering a days worth of free food and a little cash so I decided to check it out.

It ended up being a pretty fun day, lots of familiar faces from around the biking community. The work was simple enough, they just had us riding our bikes around getting shots of group riding and a "finishing sprint". Of course they chose the one rainy day in the middle of our sunny streak, but it actually worked out pretty well for them since it was supposed to be December in California!

Overall it was an interesting experience to see the movies from the other side of the screen. Lots of hard work goes into making even the smallest scene. The crew is impressive to watch, turning downtown Vic in summer to a Christmas scene in California in a couple hours!