What a week. I was pumped up to do the Dave Boyd memorial Texas Dare. The race was at Double Lake this year, and had no zipline. The team would be myself, Shaun Alimghty, Patti, and a HART guy-Johnathan.
Waking up early and getting the drive wasn't so bad, as it only took 45 minutes. Getting to see Charles, Sarah, John Abrams, and Judy(Dave's family) was neat. Cheryl even showed up for a bit, which was great to see her too.
Our team had great transition support, with Magan, Peggy and Nancy going after it. Feeding 4 hungry team MOAT members isn't so easy.
The race started off with a 3 mile run. Then a 7 mile run to the boats. We took over the lead from Vignete during this leg. Then we got in the 4 man boat, and proceeded to an island. We were talking and paddling good....but the wind was blowing like crazy. The waves were big, and coming from all directions. Shaun, the boat guy, was really worried, and thought about turning around and forgetting the points....it was too dangerous. But we kept going. Then about a minute after I took a big hit of water on the lower half of my body, we flipped the boat. In the middle of Lake Livingston, we flipped the boat.
The initial shock of very cold water over the whole body was taken pretty well. Since I was in front, I turn to see Patti freezing and eyes bigger than the moon. She was so worried. I gave her my paddle, and her and Johnathan started drifting to shore, while Shaun and I hung on the boat...unable to flip it back over. We sat there. Slowly letting the current push us to shore. Shaun was so cold his little legs started cramping. I too started getting the shivers really bad. Then we saw Vignette coming, in 2 boats. They paddled straight to Patti and Johnathan to help them out. I thought....WTF? Why not help the boat out first. Then I saw Rick Sanders(the race director) and John Abrams coming to our aid in a john boat with an 8 horse power motor. They grabbed the front string, and slowly....VERY SLOWLY, pulled us to shore. They were out there to tell everyone to turn around, the water was too dangerous to paddle on. So when they saw another team just coming out of the cove into the open water, they left us to go tell them to go back. We sat there for another 5 minutes and finally got pulled to shore. We were soaking wet for at least 20 minutes....probably around 30.
Vignette was nice enough to make sure we got out of the water, with the boat, before leaving to continue racing.
MOAT on the other hand, was border line hypothermic. While we took off our wet tops and put on Jackets from Rick and John Abrams to get warm by a bar-b-que pit at a house we 'borrowed', we noticed the rescue boat had flipped! John Abrams and Rick were up their waist in water!!!
We sat by this grill, using it to warm up, as we shivered violently. Until a neighbor was wrangled up into giving us a ride to the start of the paddle leg in his suburban. Once at the start, we sat by a fire, just starting to stop shivvering and starting to 'feel' warmth....key word is FEEL!
We decide to keep racing at this point, and just as the last place team is running up to check the point.
The 7 mile run back was brutal. Legs were numb,and the blisters I got on the way out were in full force on my soft feet. We manage though....we are like Spartan men, taught to feel no pain, show no mercy, and never retreat.
We passed a few more teams, and was treated to a bike ride on the next leg. Several dismounts, and remounts later, after crossing log after log. We pass a few more teams. only to have Johnathans chain break,and have them pass us again. We get going, and repass them once again. And the last bike section was riding around the course....which we passed Vignette. Only for me to have my handlebar taken out by a vine. I felt like Lance Armstrong on Luz Ardenden with the musset bag. We put time in on the other teams there, but the last leg was a run/nav. We were with Vignette during the start, and were chasing a team 10minutes up. Somehow, we got stuck on point 14, only to roll through the rest. We figure another 8 miles of running was enough to cap of about a marathon worth of running during the race. We ended up getting 3rd, with HART getting 2nd, and Vignette taking the well deserved win. Peggys food was eatten in mass after the race.
I was in bed as soon as I was home, and out again the next day, doing the Cross Through the woods in the Woodlands. I was sore. I've never ran that much. But I wanted to support the cross scene in the Houston area.
The turnout could've been beter, but the course was SPOT ON! Dave would've loved it.

Kevin Koen goes off the front early, while I do my usuall warm up during the race, only to pass everybody and then start racing. Lawson and Aaron rode strong, but I wasn't going to let them be dragged up to Kevin so easy. I attacked on the barriers and got a gap and started bridging up to Kevin.

I thought the time was only halfway done, after getting his 30 second lead cut down to 15. So I took an easy lap to recover from some harder efforts. Then I saw one lap to go, and knew it was over. I rode in after having a really fun race on a fun race course. Roots, sand, dirt, grass, pavement, turns, straights, mud, and hills....the course had it all!




So I wake up early today(monday) to get a hunt in with Robin Messina, my karate instructors wife. We're hunting pigs, unless she sees a deer, which you might just assume is dead as she is jonesin' to get one!
I see nothing all morning, and I walk to Robin to go to the truck. She tells me she was right next to them, but they woke up from bedding down and she never saw them. So instead of walking to the truck, we walk over to where they might be. We walk silently, and have full camo on. Then, about 10 yards away we spook two pigs! Robin squats, and I have my gun on them. We stay still enough, and they don't see us. They're just sitting beind some brush. I ask if she's gonna shoot, and she's waiting on me. Well, I didn't have a good shot, so I walk slowly to get a beter position. Then more pigs are showing up out of the high grass. They are starting to move away from us....so I have to take a shot.
Now before you read the rest, you must know I am shooting a 30.06. It's a single shot gun, that I normally use hollowtip bullets. I recently bought some hard tips, and don't know how they perform....I was hesitant to use them, but decided to give them a go.
SO.....this pig I shoot at is walking away, not even close to being turned sideways(like I'd prefer). I shoot. I hear squeeling as I see the other pigs starting to run to the woods nearby. My gloves hamper me from getting another bullet in quickly. I reload, and walk a few feet to see the pig I shot with guts hanging out, and hurting. I aim and fire again, ending it quickly. I see something fly in the air about 25 feet off the ground. Hmmm?
I run in the woods to see if I can get another pest. I don't see one, so Robin and I do a quick loop and come back to the pig.
When coming up close, the intestines were hanging out(I didn't put this picture up, as it was very graphic). The bullet went in clean on one side, and ripped a hole about a foot wide in the other side! The second shot was in the head, going in right behind the eyeball to exit on the other side, with brains spilling out.....and his ear removed! That was what was flying up in the air. Here's some proof....

I don't know how much meat will be good, but we got one pest out of the woods, and it only suffered for 3-4 seconds(for those that care). Next time, I might jump on one and ride him and shoot his little friends, then take my knife and get him too.

I can't believe the Dallas Cowboys. The game was 13-3. A ten point lead. Then Pittsburg kicks a field goal, and it gets lucky and goes in after hitting the post. No worries, 13-6. Then the officials make a bad call, the ball hits the ground and they call it a catch. Pittsburg knows this and hurries the next play, and why Dallas never calls a timeout or challenge is beyond me. So Pittsburg then goes and gets a big yard play. The next play is a 3rd down play, and the ref's mark it a foot more, and so it's 4th and inches. SO they go for it, only to really make about 1 inch, and they give them 4. So go figure they go and score that drive, and then Romo hucks another interception. IF they just get to the playoffs, they'll be good to go. If not, I'll be more pissed than a bull at a Red Day Parade while getting a cattle prod up the butt.

Errr. So Thursday I tought Karate. The parents love me. I must really teach kids the good morals and values they deserve to be taught. I see lots of tallent in those kids. And some could use a bit more. But they are all fun to be around, as long as they're laughing with me, and not at me.
I skipped hunting on Thursday, to hunt Friday. Go figure, Scooter couldn't go. So I practiced shooting some with the Bow. Then watched a movie that night. In the middle of the movie Scooter and Emily come over, and give gifts to JT and Jennifer and Grandma(Magan's Dad, mom, and grandma). I wonder WHY, and soon realize it's not for Christmas. They gave them baby shirts that say I'm the best Grandparent. So, Emily is pregnat!
Saturday was my first cross race this year, besides yetticross. I wasn't expecting much out of my legs, as I had only ridden a month ago at Adventure Race nationals, and have only done runs since then. After starting in the back, I move through the 20 guys and settle in 4th. Brian Fawley was killing it, and Mitch Comardo was chasing. I had Kevin Koen a few seconds up, and a big group on my wheel. I took two laps to realize that I wasn't going to hurt too bad, and had some power in the legs. And after learning the course a little beter, I picked it up and got a gap on the big group. I passed Mitch, as he flatted, and rode the rest of the race in 3rd. I took the last 15 minutes and took a strole to the finish line, pushing minimal amounts.
Sunday the course was cool. Some drops, climbs, twisties. Unfortunatly I didn't have my skills dialed in yet, and had to lose time in all the skillful sections. I think if I rode more that wouldn't be a problem. But, I was with Fawley, who was killing it again, Koen, and the boy. Fawley opened the gap on the first lap, and we rode around fighting for 2nd. The boy ended up dropping back to who knows what place, and I practiced some skills on the twisties. The open sections were easy, and I never pushed super hard. So things seem to be working in my master skeem of things.
I'm super pumped about doing the Texas Dare on Saturday, in memory of Dave. Unfortunatly, I'm filling in for Carlos, and Justin is now out of the picture too. Where is Jason when you need him! I'll let Shaun figure out the teammate thing, thats out of my league.

One thing about Leslie is, she likes to eat chocolate chip cookies. More so, she likes to eat MY chocolate chip cookies, that my mother makes me. Then she likes to make fun of me for having a mom that does stuff for me, while eating MY chocolate chip cookies. If you threaten to cut off her supply, she goes ape shit. Really, she goes Sheep shit over it. I'm serious....she goes 'baaaahhh'listic over it. She throws an 'ewwww'mungous temper tantrum.


Then one day I noticed, she ate 3 of the 4 turkey legs I brought from my Dad, who cooked them. I don't know if she likes my parents food. Or if she is a long lost Winkelmann sister. She rides well enough to be a Winkelmann. Shes tough as nails, like a Winkelmann. She hates paddling like a Winkelmann. She likes to laugh too....very much like a....you guessed it, like a Winkelmann.

I have more pictures of her eating....which is funny, because now that I think about it, thats all she does, eat and make fun of me....I guess I need to cut her energy sources once and for all and hopefully stop the onslought of jokes....I wonder how many times she's cryed from laughing about Primal Quest???


Anyway, here we have a shot of Shaun and I with our 1st place trophies at the Huntsville adventure race. It was a fun day in all. We went to El Chico afterwards, and Leslie proceeded to eat her meal(made for 2) and a Chocolate Cake with Ice Cream, and Apple Pie with Ice Cream.....then got something to go.


LOL. We love Leslie:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM Per Leslie's request

As for the past week, I've started Running, pretty much every day. At least 6 miles. I do it in a 7:30 pace, and will try to do for at least a month, to build base. I'll forgo riding, unless I feel like it, or its with a group....or at a race.
Thanksgiving was fun. We got to see Kerri and her 'fat' stomach. We ate lots, and watched the Cowboys win again!
Friday we were supposed to go to the Ren Fair, but held off because we thought it would rain. So Mark, Kelsey, Magan and I played Defend Your Castle. And Defend it we did!
Saturday we went to the Ren Fair. Weather was cold, damp and dreary. We should've gone on the sunny, warm Friday! We had fun, watched some shows, and I even saw Joe Noak get insulted by the insulter!
I got a solid 8 miles in on Sunday, while working out on the rings too. My chest is still having some pains when doing certain exersizes. That wreck last week really did me in.
I also ordered a bunch of winter clothes to hunt in. So next week I'll be ready to head out in the frigid outdoors to shoot stuff, with Gun and Bow! They'll never see it coming.

JailBreak

This weekend was the Huntsville Jailbreak. I was able to get MOAT out with 3 teams this year. Shaun and I would race 2 person Male. Leslie and Ric would race 2 person co-ed. Magan and Bonnie would race 2 person Female.
We took 3 teams that 'could' win each division.
Shaun and my race went great. Besides me nav'ing a little off course in the first orienteer leg, we ended up in Transition area in 2nd. We left in 1st, and had a 10 minute lead in the first paddle section. Until we hit CP(Check Point) 6. We went to where it was, and didn't see it. So we went further, again didn't see it. Shaun checked the map and we fiddled around with where it should be. We see 4 teams barreling towards us....they haven't seen it either! We look around. Finally we determine it is not there, so we leave.
Our lead is only 4 or 5 minutes at this time and we get to the next O section(orienteer section). We hit the first one, of 4, easy. Then we go for the next. We can't see it! So we go back to the first one....Shaun takes a heading on his compass, and we were just to the left of where we went first. Again, no CP. As we head back, other teams catch up to us, and THEN we see it. Shaun's asmuth was set to Georgia still(everything would be too far right). And the next two went the same...we were too far right.
We get back on the boats and have 4 other teams with us here. But it's Shaun and I, arguablly the best paddlers on MOAT right now. Well, at least better than last years winners! We get a minute gap at CP 11, and start for 12....where we apparently opened up a bigger gap.
The next leg was biking. We plotted the points, and headed off.
We rode kinda fast, enough to keep our lead, and ended up winning in 3:19. 2nd place was a Co-ed team, 9 minutes back, and 3rd was co-ed 2 minutes behind 2nd.
Ric and Leslie started the race great, they were in 1st and hit the trail 1st. They were the fastest team there. But running around the lake(7 miles) while everyone stays on the correct side of the lake, really hurts their chances. They made up lots of time, but that extra hour run really put the hurt on their overall time!
Magan and Bonnie SMOKED it! It was cool to see them as they were paddleing and biking, making up the time and taking a SWEET 2nd place. After getting 2nd, Bonnie was super tired from being up ALL day working, and Magan was happy to finish her first race! They said afterwards, that they could've gone faster on the first section, where they lost 20 minutes!!! It's awesome to see them do well.

Sunday was supposed to be the Dirty Du. I opted out because I didn't want to get up at 3 in the morning. So I went for a ride with Randy Hickl and Devon(his soon to be brother in law) and Magan. The ride was to the State Park and do a lap, then return. Just under 30 miles.
I ended up towing Magan, as her legs and back were hurting. And poor Devon has never ridden so far. While doing the loop, I was leading Randy and ?Matt?, and came around a corner, a bit tooo slow, and knocked a stick in my front wheel.
I proceeded to fly over the bar and do an abrupt endo! I cracked my neck, hurt my fingers on my left hand(somehow) and hit my sternum REALLY hard, knocking the air out of me. I was really nervous, as I just thought about Dave and his sternum. I toughened up and finished the ride, but with a sore chest the rest of the day. The ride back home was GREAT, Devon went to his friends house by this time, So it was just Magan, Randy and I. I towed Magan in a downhillish, tailwind for 6 miles. So much easier than a headwind, uphillish ride!

This week is Thanksgiving, so have a great one to all that read, and especially if you are in IRAQ!
The day after T day, Mark will be in town with Kelsey, so we plan to hit the Ren Faire(renaisance festival). Do a 10k run on Saturday, with some extra training afterward. Hopefully a good ride on Sunday, and start prepairing for the Texas Dare on the 13th of December. I might hit a few cross races the weenend before to get in extra fit shape.

USARA Nationals

Quick story. We pulled out at 13hrs because of a rear flat that would not keep air in it. Well, not just one flat, we had 4 flats! Go figure it was my bike. Shaun was pressured into doing ALL the nav, even on the bike. Which is where Dave normally did it. We paddled like MOAT does, making up big time. Even the cold river couldn't stop my blistered hands from holding the freezing paddle. I HTFU and did it. Now getting out and carrying the boat had some pains shoot in my back as the team switched off lugging the 80 pound boat on land.
Dart/nuun did a great race and won. They told us they kept looking behing on the boat and bike legs because they KNEW we were coming.
After getting warm and sleeping all night, we woke up Saturday not knowing what to do. Leslie and Shaun decided that staying for the awards and handing out congratulations was the right thing to do. SO we sat. And waited. Finally we decide enough of this and went out for a hike and some Nav practice. I did get us lost, but I still don't understand how completely!
We show back to the hotel,and find out that we're late to the awards. So for us we are on time. The awards was outside, at night and I can't tell you how cold it was with 4 thick layers on my top. We talked to HillCountry Bicycle shop and ate some pretty decent food. Cheered on all those that did the race, as they suffered for the good part of a full 24 hours.
Troy Farrar invited us over to watch the Tech vs Oklahoma game and Leslie was more inclined to go when she heard their would be liquid drinks available. The game was good, with Tech winning, and everyone watching was from Austin, was against it, wanting Texas Longhorns to be higher in the rankings.
We then discussed some rules and what if's with Hartley and Patrick. Then watched some funny youtube videos. What you are about to watch are some of those videos.

Thanks Chance: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/154bc4bd1b/drunk-history-vol-25-featuring-jack-black-from-drunk-history-jack-black-and-derekwaters

My halloween costume was brought up and this video was shown: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoID=819185764

And Leslie was enjoying all the Flight of the Conchords.....business time, if thats what you're into, the most beautiful girl.

A couple of weeks ago, Troy Fraske called me to see if I would do a race with him, Kevin Koen, and Ric Tinney. SURE! We would race under Bike Lane, for 24 hours at Rocky Hill Ranch, in the Expert 4 man division.
Well, Kevin got sick a couple of weeks ago, and was bummed, so I called up Noel Rueter, all around good guy, and super strong bike rider to take Kevin's spot.
We started the race with the best support system in the world. Peggy(mom) and Magan(girlfriend) were brought to the table by me. They stand alone to do the best job as support. But added to that, was Laura, brought by Ric. She brought another level of support. And Kevin Koen came and helped set up, and brought Cameron.
Race time, was 12, noon. I started the lemans run, and with idiots wanting 50bucks they outkicked me by 10 yards, but was soon blown past by me in the ally. I take the whole shot with Pete Stewart rubbing my back wheel on the first climbs(literitly). I rode conservativly, trying not to overdo myself the first lap, and to ride smart and learn the course. I came in around 3 minutes ahead of 2nd place, Austin Bikes' Sol Frost. We got off to a good start.
Ric would ride second, then Noel(who showed up late after watching his kids' sporting activities) and then Troy.
Ric wound up taking the fastest lap so far, with a 50minute romp in the woods.
With around an 8 minute lead, Noel went out and stomped some power and put a good 10minute gap with Troy getting in some good times to keep a lead.
Lap 2 for me, lap 5 for the team... I take off going for a fast lap. I big ring everything, pushing hard on the climbs....not as hard as I used to push though when doing the fastest lap. I felt more in control, never breathing heavy, just letting the legs work. I soon caught some slower riders, most of whom would get out of the way, but 1 out of every 5 riders didn't know what to do....or was just stubborn. I ran into 5 riders this lap, and none of them were at a good time....at a bottom of a hill, in the mix of a single track with the tightest turns, in the creekbed and roots everywhere. I love how they hold you back, then when you pass them, they want you to hurry up and get by fast. I stay on trail most of the time, taking the wrong line a couple of times, but end up getting in under 49 minutes. Good enough for the fastest lap.
After everyone got in a single lap, twice. We switched off for 2 laps a goround. With darkness looming, it would allow for a longer rest time, and the ability to stay warm after getting warmed up. I got in the dusk lap, where light is so weird, and it is super hard to see anything. And the first real night lap. Afterwards, around 9pm, I got some food in me and took a good 5hour rest. I woke up and was ready to roll at 2am. I got my bike in order, put chammy cream on, did some stretches and finally got the pass off from Troy. I head out, feeling good. The legs weren't sore or tired, and I wasn't sleepy. This was going to be a peice of cake. Then about 10minutes in, my stomach growled. I haven't eatin for over 5 hours. Normally 3 is too much for me. I could feel the power decline, as the legs just wouldn't push the gears. I relied a lot of skills to keep momentum high, at such a slow speed. Eventually I finished the first lap....in an hour or something rediculous. But, I had to go out again, feeling the hunger, almost a bonk feeling, I slowed way down. Eric Hess came up and I tailed him for a while, before somehow passing him. I finished as strong as I could, and knew my 6 laps were done. So I just needed to let the team do it's thing now. I got some good food in me, and proceeded to sleep until morning.
The team was doing great, taking there 2 lap pulls and allowing each other to relax and hang out. I ate some more, as it looked like I was going to need to do another lap.
I set up the single speed, and got ready.
The last lap was fun, I RAILED the single speed out there, and although I lost time on the jeep roads, the single track was OWNED! The great thing about the single speed is the quiteness. I ride up on riders, super stealth like, and then let the rear hub(which is super loud) make the bzzzzzzzzzzzz. Most riders move out of the way then, feeling bad I guess as I coast while they pedal....uphill. But then again, 1 out of every 5 riders 'THINKS' he is fast enough, or that the hill we are climbing is short enough for me to wait. One guy in particular made me laugh. We're on the back section, when you are doing a little climb, and are encountered with a steep rooty climb that is one spot where you might have to walk. The guy is on the lower slopes(of a shallow rise) and knows I'm there. I'm being patient, and riding very slow and at a low RPM. This guy, after 20 seconds of riding, tells me to let him know when is a good time. Right after, he takes a line to the left of a big root, which is the exact line I take. He slows down and I am even with him. I tell him I'm on his right, although it was an accidental pass, and the guy goes towards me, messing up his line and taking mine. He kinda gets pissed that I didn't do something, but I just laughed as he killed all the momentum, that would've wasted maybe 1 second if he just pulled off and let me by, instead of wasting 5 seconds after 20 seconds of slowing me down.
I think that lap time was around 49minutes....the scoreing was messed up, but It was a good lap.
We ended up with 26 laps, we probably could've done 27, and won the race.
Sean Ansley did Solo Sport and ended up 3rd. Brutal performance. Sleep tight:)
The Cowboys lost again...to the Rams. I'm not sure what is their deal, but it needs to switch PRONTO. My fantasy team, which is pretty good on paper, SUCKS. We scored 11 points. An average total would be around 30. Some guys score 60. So yeah, I'm not even caring about that right now.

This past week, I've done a lot of good training. I hope that makes for an easier 24hr race!
Wednesday, I did YettiCross, felt superb, but a rear wheel that doesn't spin for some reason lays culprit to me missing out of the real race....at the front. Afterwards was a blast, as Magan and I, met with Shaun Almighty, Bonnie, P, and Cheryl(with the girls), and Ric and Laura at Double Daves pizza, for some Kareokee. I signed Shaun up to sing Johnnie Cashs' Folsom Prison. He even did the "Hello, I'm Johnnie Cash" before the song. All the girls ended up singing "I like big butts" by Sir Mix A Lot.
Friday I had two spin classes, and felt good about doing two, as I missed my long run on Thursday that I had planned. I opted for some BBQ at a Repulican party, with Lois Kolkhorst. BBQ sauce on everything.....NICE, REAL NICE! Then instead of going home to do the run, I was lured into watching a new Office and then followed by a SNL on Thursday(about the presidential elections). Tina Fey looks just like soon to be Vice President Palin.
On the early morning hours of the weekend, I was able to get a good training race in the half marathon. I felt good and was pacing myself in the begining. At mile 2, for some reason, my PQ knee hurt again. So, I pulled off to the side, did my stretches for a minute then proceeded running. It still hurt. So I pull off again, do some more stretches and wait for Magan. I jog with her for the next few miles and around mile 4 is when I decide to just finish what I started. I was way back in the pack now, but I wanted to get a good run in. I ran my pace, never breathing hard, not hurting in the legs, and the knee felt fine. I kept going, picking off runner by runner. Then the second lap, I just kept going. People would comment on how fresh I looked, and I felt that way too. I figured I was running about an 8 minute pace, with the effort I was putting forth. When I got to the finish line, my legs had a little fatigue in them. My knee didn't hurt. So I gave my finish medal to Peggy, and went out to find Magan. I ran another 4 miles with her and got a solid run in 2.5hours worth of time.
My 13.1 mile time was 1:43. My 17mile time was 2:17. Although my legs felt the last 4 miles more, even though I was running a slower tempo. Magan did great by gutting it out to finish with not much training, but ended up getting dehydrated in doing so and was bed ridden the next day.
Sunday's training was the Lake Bryan MTB race. The hip flexors and calves were a little tight, but I felt I should do two races...the PSE and SS. I ended up just riding the PSE class. I didn't have much fun trying to 'race' out there with so many turns, no flow, and just a few spots to really pour it on. That is a course that would be fun to ride, but I just don't find it fun to race on. I ended up 8th, after 2:15 of riding.
Luckily Shaun was there, and we got the canoe of his truck and got in a solid single blade paddle. We worked on technique, and even had some fun poking at Jason's horrible paddle skills.
I try to end my weekend by cheering on the Dallas Cowboys to a victory. But wouldn't you know it, the Cardinals somehow run back the first kick, and the offense can't get it together. Folk misses a FG attempt. And we still end up coming back to tie the game to go into OT. Dallas gets the ball first, and does nothing with it. Try to punt, and get blocked and the Cardinals take it in for a score. The Boys need to get there game back....better to lose now than later, when it counts.

State RR

Well, I got back to the race scene this past Sunday. I'm not saying I was a racer, I was just at the scene.
The past few weeks have been hecktic. It started with me 'supposed' to do the state RR a month ago, then the following week do Huntsville. I was on target for both after spending some time at altitude the previous weeks. Then the hurricane hit, which canceled the races. I was resting the week before and took the week of the hurricane and most of the next week off. I lost all motivation, except for doing some cross races midweek.
I just found out that I am supposed to do a 24hr adventure race nationals with iMOAT's, Leslie and Shaun. So I hit some longer bike rides, 2.5hrs and 3.5 hrs the past two weeks. And started running again. When I found out that the state RR was rescheduled I wasn't sure if I 'could' do it. But planned on doing it just for grins.
Well, on Saturday night I was supposed to get together with 5 friends and play some dice games, and relax and eat lots of candy and cheese dips. A 7 o'clock start time was agreed on. I show up at 6:45 hoping to be home at midnight. NObody else is there. One guy is called out to find a kid who ran away from home, a kid whose father screwed our karate school a couple of years ago. The other two were at home dealing with a drunk driver who crashed in their yard. The wife of the guy who got called to find the kid, was home hanging a wild pig who was shot by a friend earlier that day. They needed to skin it and get the meat for the winter.
Two show up at 7:30 with the wild drunk story, and keeps us occupied telling how Mr. Hyvl, a heavyset, shorter, funny man had to tackle this guy.
The guy tracking the kid shows up with his story, and some words on how stupid the dad(guy who screwed the karate school) is. This was at 8:30. I go out and help hold the light so he can skin the pig.
At 10:30 we start playing. I get home at 3, wake up at 5, do the drive at 6:30 and get signed up at 8. I start the race at 8:20, and we finish at 11:45ish. Now you can see why I am late to things that start at a certain time....like YettiCross. Showing up 20 seconds before a race is just what I do.
86 miles of racing is way different than a 3.5hr ride around huntsville. I somehow had plenty of power, which is normally my limiter. But at mile 83 I had some issues with my hamstrings getting tighter than a poor guy on a budget in a recession. I lost contact with the main group(with 2 guys up the road), and was now stretching and hoping that the 20 guys who just left me(the group was whittled down significantly) would somehow slow up for a moment to allow me to catch on.
Well, I ended up getting gapped too much, and with minimal power to put out due to cramps if I did put some power out, I got on with a 5 person chase group. I knew the race was over then, so I wanted to at least win out of this group. We come to the finish hill, and Tyler Jewel is leading strongly. Eric Benz takes off and starts putting a gap. I react, and catch him as a suburban is blocking the finish, to beat him to the line. I had the power, but lost because I couldn't keep from cramping. I had a fun race, and got 86miles in my legs, which I wouldn't've gotten otherwise!
My fantasy football team is sucking. I need to just wait for next year. Maybe this guy playing tonight will score me lots of points!
And to supliment my training, I'm going to do something Jason would do. Probably go do a run later after work, like 8 miles. Then some karate if I have time. Do some yetticross on wednesday. Some other long run on Thursday. Two spin classes on friday. A half marathon on Saturday, then the MTB at Lake Bryan on Sunday. A couple of weeks of schedules like this and I'll be ready to race on Nov.8th(24hr AR).

Getting my life back on track

The past few weeks have been crazy. Like a five year old, thats eaten a lot of candy during Christmas crazy. If Dave passing wasn't bad enough, the next week through a hurricane our way. That wasn't so bad, as the wind and rain was at night. But once I woke up we had no power. That wasn't so bad, it was daytime, and I spent the day outside getting bit by fireants, and occasionally picking up limbs from my yard. Then it started getting rough. While we had the generator hooked up to the fridge, at night we would hook it up for a movie to watch. My family had my adventure racing stuff to use, headlamps, lanterns, and stuff to make it through nights beter. But then a curfew was in effect so I sat inside doing nothing besides watching movies.
So we finally get power, a week ago, emails, forums, and learning how to type again, it was all coming back to me. Then I was reminded about Dave. His memorial was Saturday. It was great. It had his bike, packs, shoes, clothes, and even the helmet he was wearing when he fell. That was tough.
I showed a little early, and saw tons of folks from the biking community, and adventure race community. The doctors and family I didn't know, but could tell he impacted there life pretty well. I sat next to Presley, and she was entertained by a picture book of Dave. She would point out pictures saying "theres you, and Dave!" That was hard.
Then evenone talked and spoke about Dave, Shaun and Patti hit it on the head, and Tommy and Dr Katz spoke of times I've never knew Dave experienced. I'm glad I met Dave, hung out with Dave, learned from Dave, and was able to do everything with Dave. I know a lot of people weren't that lucky.
This past week was full of getting back to work schedule, while picking up a 5 o'clock spin class to boot. I even got to do yetticross after not riding for a week and a half. The course was awesome, and I was glad I was bored to tears in the hurricane aftereffects to go for a run here or there. There was effectivly 3 spots where you had to get off and run. Which is where I attacked to get my gap.
I need to get to work now, and should post again sooner than last time.

RIP DB

I suck at putting pictures, but you get the idea. Dave was so excited about being able to hunt Elk.
Dave and I summited San Luis the Friday before he fell. You can see the view from the camera, but climbing 14ers in person really makes it sweeter. Note how the clouds build up(we had to run down to get away from light snow/hail....and luckily no thunderstorms.

Those who've hiked with Dave see this view a lot. Not even a mountain could slow him down.

Dave and I take a break in a river while riding Hermosa Creek...a trail I've never rode before after all my time in Durango. It was amazing how peaceful it could be while out there in the middle of nowhere. He ripped it on the single speed on the way home.

Dave a week before the fall, climbing the exact mountain he fell on. You have to go up this road, a monstrosity that a 4X4 has trouble with. Dave apparently rode his bike half way and hiked the rest that fateful day.

So I messed the picture up, but you could see Daves lighter side, and like always thinking of others. He thought Aubrey and Presley would love to see him and Bugs together.
I think this is Culebra. The 1st 14er we climbed on the trip. I kinda forced Dave into these pictures sometimes, and I'm glad I did now.

Now I will explain exactly what happened. From what we gathered and were told. First I'll show you the mountain he fell off of.

<< Where the blue line is where the trail is. Where is comes out of the trees, that is where he was at 1pm and decided to climb. If you go straight up from where the blue comes out of the trees, you can see a little notch in the mountain. this is is where he fell, 200ft down to the scree where he was found.

Now that you have a picture of WHERE he fell, and what the mountain looks like, this is what we've peiced together(This is more than likely what happened, given everything we know about Dave, his GPS, what people have said, and what we concluded)

Dave started climbing early that Wednesday morning, around 5:30. He took his Spot tracker, and it automatically updates every 10min, unless the signal gets obstructed(trees, clothes, rocks can cause this). He rode his bike, or hiked his bike up the trail, as there was a bike missing from the RV, that I was riding earlier that week. He apparently locked it somewhere, as I know he bought a lock and used it when we climbed San Luis on Friday. He hiked up 2 mountains, Ellingwood, and Blanca and at 1pm he was where I showed you the blue arrow comes out of the trees. He must've decided the weather was good and had enough time to climb. He was going, at a rapid pace apparently, and got to where it says "summit" by 3pm. He was wearing his climbing helmet, as he said he was worried about rocks falling from climbers above him. This mountain apparently is a 'sketchy' one, with loose rocks, steep ascents/descents, and they even have some ropes to help you in some places.

We read on 14ers.com that a couple was climbing and saw Dave....HAMMERING, and they said a storm blew in around 3:30 that day.

Dave was not hurt, he was not distressed pushing his Spot button for help, he for some reason(probably the storms fault) either couldn't see, got blown around, slipped, or something of the like, with the fact that Dave was probably hurrying off the mountain. He fell, and was instantly killed from his sternum breaking and puncturing his heart. He was found Friday morning, and had several injuries, from a broken ankle, nose, cheek, jaw, teeth. It is frightening to tell you what his helmet looked like. To see the abuse that his clothes took, his helmet now looking like a golfball, I just cannot fathom what went through Daves mind those last moments. It often keeps me up at night playing what happened over and over in my head. I follow it up with thinking of good thoughts, which is easy to do when you think of Dave.

It was a sad day indeed when we heard the news, I feel very sorry for Cheryl, and his family. I know just being a friend of Daves is hard to handle.

I plan to help finish Daves list of 14ers for him, 16 more. And I will add one more for sure, Little Bear. RIP Dave.

I took so many pictures, my camera is dead. I was up in Colorado/New Mexico climbing 14,000 foot mountains. I went with Dave, Joe, and Ric. I ended up getting about half the time climbing on Foot and the other half on the bike. By weeks end my legs could feel it.
The worst part was coming home....I was a little 'sick' with sinus/allergies when I went up there. Then while there, I felt beter. Until I hit Durango. My left ear was stopped up and I could feel my throat hurting. It all got beter as we left and went to higher elevation. Then I went to Denver, a lower elevation(6000ft) and flew out, to Houston. My ear popped during takeoff...then while landing I was in very bad pain, as it was like it wanted to pop but wouldn't. I was basically deaf in that ear the rest of the night. Then when I went to bed it cleared up. I woke up 2 hours later, with my right ear, the opposite one, hurting bad. Ear aches suck.
I ended up going to the hospital and got it checked out. Got some meds and took the rest of the long weekend coupped up inside.
So I missed some crucial time training, but I did however fix up the singlespeed for the next MTB race. I lightened it up from the previous weight.
Bar-40g saved
Stem-10g saved
Cranks-140g saved
Shock-1.7lbs gained-pending this shock works, it's .2lbs lighter than my previous shock, with beter mojo.

I guess people are pissed about this awesome movies funniness. I mean, Robert Downey Jr dresses up like a black dude and people are calling him or the movie racist! I find it hilarious.
"I'm just a dude, trying to be a dude, playing another dude."
How's this, if you call that racism, then you yourself are racist for the pure fact that you take a comedy and turn it into something to complain about.
Plus Jack Black is on fire in this movie. And Ben Stiller does his normal funny dumbass guy thing. The opening minutes of the film had me cracking up, and Mathew McConneguhgheee and Tom Cruise was actually funny, but trying to be, not like that time on Oprah when he was jumping around for Scientology.
This past week Huntsville held host to the Stan Musial World Series. I hit a couple of games, saw some good baseball: some guys hit good, some guys caught good, some guys got hit in the head with a pitch, and some guys got kicked out by the ump. Typical ballgame. I was nursing a sore throat and drainage, so I was spitting up stuff a lot, and fit in pretty well there. I didn't fit in very well on Saturdays ride though. I stuck out pretty hard, getting yelled at twice.
The first time was for spliting two guys that took up one lane. The guy told me he'd knock me off my bike the next time I did that, and if I wanted to ride like that go ride with the race team.{Which to my defence, I tried finding, but I can't keep up with who's where and when}. I wonder how he'd go about knocking me off my bike? That would suck to get knocked off the bike by some older guy, and break my colarbone.....it'd suck worse than not being able to jump a curb and breaking my colarbone.
So with lots of work done on Saturday, I tenitivly went and rode Huntsville on Sunday, with the single speed. I raced hard the first lap to catch the bikelane guys, then on the second lap had the wood layed to me by Mitch riding his SS. If he gets a good start, put money on him at Hville!
And finally, I start my first Fantasy Football league tonight. I wanted to pick the Cowboys, but they told me that wasn't possible. So, I guess I'll just pick the Dolphins instead.

GET SOME!













I'm a procrastinator. Plain and simple, here is some primal quest stuff that I just found on tube you:


This is what they showed us a day before the race, just a little preview of what we were in for.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmA9zOnLtyA





Here I found a video of the lone river section. I'm in the red helmet at the beginning....procrastinating on paddling.{not really, cause I know Jason will say something about me not paddling and looking at the freaking map again, but the boat behind was supposed to be the lead boat, so I was just keeping it strait until they passed us}


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bXIyo3nrJw&feature=related





This video is just a warmup 24hr race we did to get ready for PQ.....I'm procrastinating to show the last video.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as8Khh9kOnE&feature=related





OH JESUS CHRIST!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-cKc9_tJG4



Well, this blog is lost without a sum up of my past week.
Last Friday I drove to see Andy....what was his last name? Slimmy, Slappy, Swammy, Spammy, Sp..., Speer? After a fun night, and eating at Babes, we hit the sack, only to wake up early to drive to Garland to do a group ride at 7:30. My first 55mile ride in a couple of months. One bottle won't cut it next time. While riding a rider, Mario, said he was going to the wedding I was going to later that night. Turns out, he was freaking a murderer, and killed everyone on the ride(figuratively speaking of course).
So at the wedding, we go to the chappel for a quick sermon with the vows or whatever they call it nowadays. Short and sweet....it was a good wedding!
Then on to the reception. Magan and I came in ready to party. We gave the waiter $20, in case we wanted seconds and ate and drank a little until JMac and MRS>MAC arrived. It was cool to be at a cyclists wedding, as the table we just talked about stuff that was actually interesting to me! Plus there were more skinny people there than the normal hippos that show up. ARRRRRRRRRR{chewbacca noise}.
So we ended up cutting a rug once all the older folks left, and I dance and sang Lil'Johns "get low"{to the windoooooow, to the wall, wall, til' the sweat drop down my ba.........}you get the idea.
The next morning Magan and I left, said our goodbyes to Andy and Meaghan, and were gonna hit another group ride. We show up, on time for once, and don't see anyone. So we drive home.
Waiting for us is Cheryl, Aubree, and Presley. We hang and play, and swim, and ride the wagon for 5 hours. Then I watch the olympics.
The rest of the week is normal, I think, besides getting sick and not riding any. Mom did have a bad dream and woke up screaming and hitting my dad. It was kinda scary.
Anyways, there is more fun going on out there, and I'm gonna live it up every bit I can!

State TT

I wanted to do the TT. Then again, since I had no training I had serious thoughts about not going. Over the past year and a half I have gotten pretty good on my TT bike. However, not being on that particular bike in the past couple of months, and trying to do a longer type TT is a bad idea.
So knowing that I'd be going at 11ish, I figured it would be hot. So I put my resources together and got a very cold camelback bladder under my skinsuit.
Last year I did a 56:36 or something. I had been on the TT bike some last year, but didn't do any specific intervals for TTing.
This year, I knew what the course offered and brought knowledge to the table. I started smart, and kept my heart and power low. I kept a steady pace of about 28 mph for the most part, until my legs wouldn't produce power, or get tired from the constant pedaling. A steady 26mph would get me recovered to get back to 28. I was also saving some for the headwind return. And after making the turn in just over 27min I felt good. My legs were tight though, from the awkward position, or maybe the 2 minute warmup I got to do because I showed up late.
Non the less, I saw around 6 guys infront that I 'could' catch. About a minute to two minutes ahead.
I hit the headwind and felt that 24mph was a reasonable pace. Nothing would go below this, and I would get spurts of 26mph. I passed some blown riders, I think the heat really got to them. My camelback was freezing my lowerback at this point, that and my bodys natural tendancy to like heat, made me feeling ok.
The last few miles were the rollers, and I picked up my pace to catch 4 riders, and almost my 30 second man(who was around a minute at the turnaround).
I finished in just under :57 minutes, but still felt ok. My hamstrings were very very tired/sore or whatever. I was only :20sec slower than the previous year, somehow. And this year I was riding out of the aerobars for sometime. Final results are still pending.
After the ride I needed to find my Team for the Team Time Trial(TTT). I drove around and found them sitting on a tailgate of a truck. 3 seconds later, I pull off the road to go talk to them, and I find my truck in a 3 foot culvert. The right wheel is touching the bottom, the left front, and right rear are touching the ground, and the left rear is sitting 18inches off the ground. It was so crazy how close I was to flipping the car. Mom and Magan were in and yelling in my ear, "why did you do that???". It was obvious that I wanted to test my trucks capability of not to flip! Uh, I didn't see it.
Magan had to crawl out my window, Mom sat in the back hyperventalating. I heard several people cleverly inform me that a tow truck just pulled someone out of the same culvert! Luckily, James from Southern Elite pulled us out with his 10 ton pull capacity truck. I have pictures, I just need a download to show the monstrosity of it.
It later turned out that my team couldn't race. One guy had a sons birthday, one felt he was going to be a weaklink, and the other was ready, but I was just too bummed to do anything about finding 2 more guys.

I heard from Mark, and he got 3rd on his latest sail boat race. I hope he at least named his ship the Derilict ship. And he needs one of those eyepatches too. Oh, and a little parret would be cool.

Nnamdi was down for his last week in Texas this past week. He's moving to New York. So we did what any good old friend would do, we fought. We put on pads and had a night of tough love. I got a black eye, and learned I was not very flexible anymore. We hit up the Main Event, and found that it's not unlimited games anymore, just $10 worth. They do have this very cool game that took several of our dollars. It's a punching machine to see how hard you can punch in newtons. I ended up getting the highest speed(71kph), breaking the previous record of the machine of 66kph. And the highest newtons of our group, 910. The funny thing was there was a bigger(muscular) UFC guy there who hit a 901. He was around 10 other people and was egging them on to beat his 901. Weak little Wink steps up and impressivley shows his skill with a 902. Just enough to shut his mouth. Nnamdi shut him up even more with some impressive kicks that were as hard as his punches(only weaker because he had to kick to the head level, and no follow through). Anyway's, Nnamdi and I had a time, we played volleyball, made a snowman, ate an iccee. I'll sure miss that guy.

So it's been two months....

Thanks to friends, I finally remembered about updating this blog of mine. Which is wierd, because over the past two months I've done more things to talk about than normal. I mean, when talking to people, they normally ask whats up and I don't have anything to talk about. But now, it's a new ball game after telling them about Primal Quest. I still suck at conversations, but I can tell what happened at PQ pretty good.

I guess I can start off by catching, those that aren't in the know, up.

Jason has been gone for a couple of weeks now. Living in hotter than hell Iraq, and I'm not talking about the ladies. He say's it's like 140 degrees over there. So the 4 AM run he does doesn't sound all that bad afterall.

I used to think getting up at 4 AM sucked. And it does. But I also know that it's better than getting up at 2 AM. After doing PQ, I don't sleep like I used to. I want to, but I am up at 11 or midnight thinking about doing stuff. I make myself go to sleep, and wake up at 6 or 7.
Oh, and here's the whole shindig of what went down at PQ:
We started Monday morning. I felt good, a little too good. As we raced up the mountain I knew that the race would take a long time. I mean the 'cutoff' was 10 days. We made it to the top in a good spot, top 20. Then we headed down. Going down sucks more than going up, in my opinion. After making the first TA(transition area) in a couple of hours, we still had quite a bit of meat left on the bone to the next TA. We jogged, walked, and jogged some more. It got dark. We thought it'd take around 33 miles, but ended up being around 50. At 1AM we've been up a total of 15 hours, and got to a Checkpoint, with 6 miles to go. It was a river crossing. The rivers by the way, were up and flowing. They flowed more than MLK Street on 2Pacs birfday. We tenativly walked in the gushing river and found footing to be tough to get. My legs at this point were tired, and achy. But the ice cold water soon sent bone numbing chills throughout my body. My legs got numb and the pain went away! But it was dark, around 40 degrees and I was cold. So we jogged. Then had to cross another river. The next 6 miles were spent jogging, more to get the blood from freezing than anything else. We passed a couple of teams and got to TA in 6th or so.
We got 2 hours of sleep that night.
Woke up at 4 and was paddling by 5.
Dave and I in one boat, Shaun and Leslie in another. Did I say boat? I meant, a big blue rubber raft for two.
Now the river was on our side, pushing us along at 10-12 mph. We were making up time on other teams,as paddling is a strong suit of MOAT's. The rapids were tough, but we had dry suits on which kept us nice and dry in the frigid waters. I don't know when it was, around mile 17 I think, we hit a curve with a huge rapid that threw Dave and I out. We both were holding on to the raft and kept our feet up from avoiding getting caught in the rocks beneth us. Then I say something, but no response. Dave is gone. I don't know where he is, and I think that he's under drowning or something. I hold on and won't let the boat go. Shaun and Leslie though have already saved him....and left me out by myself. I take it upon myself to do or die....but more doing and less dying. I flip the boat. Unsuccessfully. Try it again. Didn't work. Then one more go, and I flip in over, and climb in. Find a etty(sp?) and get Dave transferred in. We finish the paddle around 8 AM and get ready for the river swim.
I get my big river board, suit up and hit the river. This part of the race was absolutly the funnest. The river pushed us again, and we only kicked to keep us in the good flow. I would try to hit all the big rapids, and you'd get bounced around and splashed and all.....but it was sooooo much fun. Shaun apparently smacked his thigh on a rock, making walking a difficult task. This 8 mile section of the race took 2 hours to do. At the Guadaloope in Tx, a 4 mile run took us 3 hours. Thats how much faster we went!
Once done with this section, we started another hike. This is where I started getting confused on what happened and when. I know it was a long hike. I know it was a hilly hike. I know it was a fun hike, besides that my feet were hurting and my IT band on my right leg started killing me. So I was down to a crawl with Shaun. Downhill was way more difficult than uphill now. I just wanted the bike leg to start soon. A bit of HTFU and gritting my teeth and we hit TA....on day 3, at 10 in the morning.
It was a bike leg! We started strong, on a gravel road. Then I flatted. Fixed it. Started strong again. Then same tire goes flat....for a different reason. Fix it again. We fly to the next TA and get some support here. I think this is when I ate a buffalo burger the size of a kitchen plate, and had some mighty fine fixin's. Then we headed out into an afternoon storm that had wind blowwing hard, and some rain. This was the only bad weather there(good for us as we picked up a tailwind for 15miles!). My knee started hurting as I feel off the pace, and was actually towed to the next CP. This is where a shot was delivered to my knee, giving me 3 hours of numbness, and only 20 more miles to the next CP where we'd hike again.
130 miles of total riding and we hit the last CP. Off to another hike starting at 2AM(day 4).
OH SNAP. Dave and I have the same pair of shoes(Montrails). I took a different pair(brooks) and he took the Montrails. He's a size 14. I'm a size 11. He got one of his, and one of mine. There was only one thing to do. He cut a big hole for his toes to hang out. We continued on and were walking when the sun was coming up. It was spectacular. Horses started running by us, and I shot some pic's with my camera. Then more horses came by and a lady yelping on a horse. I think we took a 5 minute catnap to recharge for the day here. But I know soon around here, by leg gave out. I had to stop. Shaun and Leslie were tired, and sat on the ground. Dave and I were talking....Dave:"We're quiting" Wink:"I'm not quiting". Dave:"You can't walk". WInk:"Just let me work it out". Dave:"Wink, think of all that we still have to do, we still have at least 3 hikes this long, and we just started this one, plus bike legs, and an O course that will be on rough terrain" Shaun goes and rubs out my leg. Wink:"I'm good." and we move on.
I started to figure out how to get rid of the pain, by stretching and rolling it out. I also figured out that if we kept moving the pain wouldn't come back, but once I stopped it got painful. It still hurt, and going downhill was the worst no matter what.
We made it along, hit another bike leg, and was moving along quite nice. I know this leg we kept getting tired, as it was day 5 and the sun has yet to come up. Dave was handing out caffine tablets, and everything else to stay awake. I sure didn't know that 2 equivilant shots of expresso had hit me. Found out that caffine doesn't work on ol' Wink. We hit a little bit of climbing, and some very cool roads in a canyon, saw tons of deer....literitly we saw hundreds of deer in a pasture. It looked very much like Jurrasic Park when they all ran away. But instead of dinosaurs, it was deer.
Then we hiked again.....I'm getting mixed up here. But I think it was a mountain range. Go figure! I am confuse with the Crazies, and the other range. We hit both, and both times I was a zombie. I know one we were lost, and it was getting dark. We had to get to TA and going downhill was tough. I think we ended up on the 'M' Trail. A downhill/uphill, swithback beast of a stupid trail. I was halucinating here....at stream crossing, I saw small crowds cheering for me, only to cross it and see they weren't there. I raced Leslie, unknowningly, at the hiking championships in Germany. I had a little leprechaun friend. ????Tell me about it! I know we were going so slow though. Dave started cracking the whip, keeping me moving. My knee was limiting us to only 1 or maybe 2 mph!!! I felt bad for slowing the team down like this, but I had no choice. I was lucky to still be able to walk! The craziest thing I encountered on this hike was my brain was so out of it, that I actually thought I was on this 'M' Trail which I've hiked before! I've never seen it, yet I knew I'd been here before! Deja Vu to the max!
We had to go on the climbing leg next, with an O course in the middle. It took 4 hours to climb 900 feet using our ascenders. I was kinda scared but it got dark and I couldn't see anything. The top was a razor edge, with 900 feet on the left/right and you had to walk using lobster claws about 100 feet to the actual mountain. We hit one point on the O course, that was on the way to the rappell. Leslie found a huge, 5 foot Elk anter, that weighed 80pounds, and Dave and I carried it back, SHuan rappelled with it, and we got to the RV for the next leg.
Then we biked again. Up a mountain, rode through some snow, hit a very cool downhill. Leslie would want us to wait 30 seconds then go. SHaun, Dave and I would talk for a few minutes forgetting all about Leslie, then we'd go and catch up to here. I didn't were any gloves this ride, and on the way up the mountain, I got some sun on my hands, on the way down, I was starting to get hand blisters. That downhill was cool though.
Then we hiked again. Either the Crazies(a mountain range) or the Bridgers(the other one, I get them both confused). This one sucked too, and it was out last hike, on day 6, and we actually were out until dark. I was getting pretty emotionaly here, as we climbed over thousands of trees, tried to find a ranger station(to this day I still don't know where it is) and ran out of food again(yes this is the third hike I ran out of food!). My knee hurt, and I was out of it. Again, we came to a downhill swithback that dropped us 1000ft, and I swore I have been there before...but never have I been there!
We got to the river, and Dave was leading us. Whipping us again. Keep moving. Don't stop. And we felt lost(I did), but I trusted Dave. We got on this road, and saw this big SUV driving to us. It was around 4:30AM on Monday(almost a week) and the sun was just coming out. The car got closer, and we saw Cheryl in the drivers seat! Dave ran up and they kissed. Then I saw Magan in the passenger seat. And Dad popped out the back seat! THey arrived a day or two earlier. They could see our lights moving down the mountian they said. Then they said, "2 more miles and you're there!". My heart dropped. My feet hurt, my knee hurt, I was tired. I was hungry. When we did make it, we ate. I opted for a little 30 minute nap before heading to the last 30 mile bike leg to the finish. No team was in front(that was catchable). So we did.
The last 30 miles sucked for me. Having the legs, but not able to use them because the knee hurt, or falling asleep on the bike. I was very low on morale here. Dave would want to tow me, but my legs didn't need a lift, my brain did! Then when we did get going, my knee would act up. I also had to take a dump. When we finally arrived, it felt so great to have finished. I was so happy. It ended up that our last bike leg was as fast as the top teams!!!! With all that went on we still moved along.
I ate, showered, and slept after that. For 3 days. I would wake up. I would eat. I would then proceed to slumber. It took a week and a half to 'catch' up on sleep. And I'm still out of it when it comes to that.
Well, besided telling that story, I will have nothing else to talk about....except my blog now!

Erronious

Friday started the weekend with a bang. The church softball team won another one, and my excuse for not knowing the rules still works. Jason even got to play a round. I mean Inning. Got on base and everything.

I followed Friday with a graduation for Magan. You see her, next to that one girl with the black robe and hat on. As boring as this was, it was made beter by the graduation cake.

I've started high, and will need to go higher. Climbing at PQ will be nothing like the 50 foot tree here.

A hard days work, done inches about ground level. I'm planning on doing some higher workouts soon. I'll be super exausted then.

Oh, this picture was supposed to be first. This is what Jason and I did Friday. Taught Karate as an enrichment thingy for kids at the intermediate school. Jason goes on to play ball later, wake up, go win a National Sprint Adventure race, then drive and go finish up his Texas Mountain Bike series at X-Bar. This weekend is a 24hour at Camp Eagle.....I'm gonna be on the winning guys' team!

PQ training

The Fruits of a day's work. REST. Sleeping on the road seems dangerous, but the cars driving by actually help you sleep by killing the bugs that pester you.

Walking from New Waverly to Huntsville, via the Lone Star Trail. 20 miles in 5 hours. We planned on walking the whole time....we also planned on staying with others on the paddle and bike legs. Thats Dave logic for you.

We encountered some cool animals. This spider. A venomous copperhead. A couple of frogs, which Carlos ended up killing about 18 of them, by accidently touching them with his foot. Armadillo, which Dave still owes me a picture of him catching one.

The pack was heavy. I felt it yesterday. Still feel it today in the low back. Did you know a 70 oz camelback bladder weighs 4 pounds! I found that out. I also found that if you stop to take a picture of a spider, and the group doesn't stop, they get far ahead of you. And running a 6 min/mile pace after hiking 18 miles, with a 20 pound pack....well, 17 pound since I drank water, REALLY kills your legs and you totally feel it walking the 15min/mile pace.

So as far as training goes, this was great training for Primal Quest. We got a 10mile paddle. They did a 40 mile bike, which I opted out for. And we got a 20 mile hike. In all it took around 12 hours to complete, non race speed. SOLID.

I'm officially hooked on Flight of the Conchords. After Magan got me their CD's to listen to while driving the car. AND after she got me the first season DVD. I'm really digging the way Bret and Jemaine make me laugh. I'm going to try and learn the jiggle dance they do. Maybe even play the entry song on the guitar.

I guess if Mark ever comes home, hopefully this next week, we will be on to making our own band that writes cleaver songs. We could be named Something Cool. Or Something Like That. Or the Band That Has No Name Yet.

Ok, if anyone has beaten all the Star Wars Lego's, let me know. I have some issues with finding one blue canister in a couple of the levels.

Cinco De Mayo Holmes

Ariba. Aruba. The party for Cinco De Mayo was off the hook. Everyone that was someone dressed up. I had to leave early, which was too bad, because they destroyed a Dora the Explorer pinata.
Jason started his Best Sapper today. I don't know all the details, but it's 3 days of doing military tests. Shooting, tieing knots, and whatever else they do....like blow off doors. Good luck bro!
An ARMY of one!!!

Heaven NO, hells yeah!

The weekend started off with me trying to situate a packet pickup that was unnecessary for me on Friday. Driving 2 hours to pick up something for a race the next day just seemed crazy. A $20 dollar fee was worth it, I at least saved money on gas.
The CB&I triathlon, I had about the same time as last year, with about 30% less training. I swam good, for me. And actually might've killed a guy while doing so. I biked crappy, but still got the fastest split. I had no power. My run went good, for me. Running a 6:20 pace for a 5k. Thats about my top speed with no training, but I can do that for at least 10 miles.
I ended up 8th overall....I got beat by a girl, and a 50 year old. I was 4 minutes off 1st places time. I want to win this race, and next year, if I train hard, I'll get under 1 hour, and win the overall!!! I just need a reminder of how pissed I felt after losing(I got 2nd in my AG getting passed in the last half mile).
After the TRI, I talked to Sam and Brandon a bit. Had some fun, ate some food, and drove home to go to a wedding. I love weddings. Well, I love wedding cakes. Having been in a long term relationship, and being at the church where Magan goes to church, AND being at a wedding. It's a clear cut recipe for people to ask me the question. When will you get married? Have you set a date? Is there talk? I simply say "later". When they inquire more, I quickly change the subject to something I know I can carry a conversation with, but most people find it boring. I switch it to 1)dumb and dumber quotes 2)cycling or 3)some random topic like Peter Griffen off of Family Guy.
Later that night, {yes I was up at 4, and was doing stuff all day. } I went to Magan's house for a Ka-Bab. I told her she was the most beautiful girl in the room, and depending on the street, she was definitly in the top 3. And that she could be a part time model. I couldn't believe that I was sharing a Ka-Bab with the most beautiful girl I've ever seen with a Ka-Bab. Then we played badmitten.
We played to 12 points, and my team(Scooter and I) made a comeback from 10-2 to take a win. Don't forget, I already lost today, and was very motivated to right that wrong.

Sunday was the SS race. I HTFU, by using a rigid fork. I also wore an all black CW-X kit. Ah, I felt cool, while being so damn hott!

It was a great course for SS, and Dave and Justin toed the line with me. We started fast, and I was in the 5th spot going in the whole shot. Soon passed for 4th, with Alex 10 seconds up, Dave ahead, and Hill Country guy ahead. Dave slips up, and I get in 3rd. The last hill before the last road crossing, Hill Country guy is gunning it, and this being a place to pass, I'm unable to pass. He lets up at the top, an unpassable zone. I try for a road crossing pass, and I'm unsuccessful. I sit and wait the last curvy section and finally get around on the road(thanks Justin/Dave). Alex is 40seconds up, per Jurgens stopwatch.

I take off solo, and about 10-15minutes of smooth/solid riding, I catch Alex. I must've started sweating some, as my monkey butt hit hard, and I was soon pedaling like Fawley(legs out).

Alex must've had a bad day as, he just didn't seem to have his normal go. He let me pass on the last hill before the last road. I rode. He stuck with me the first little bit, but I'd open a gap on the rises(not climbs really, just rises).

The Last lap, was crazy. I had a 30 second gap(estimating here) and soon started to catch straglers. One lady crashes and I ran over her. I could see Alex behind me coming strong. I get back in the groove, and get out of site. Then I hit a tree. Hard. I'm laying awkwardly on the ground, and get up to have my handlebars turned 70 degrees off center. I adjust and ride them in around 5 degrees off center with a messed up front brake lever. Alex was quick to catch and ask if I was ok. I was a little sketched out, but managed to open a gap again. I finished first, but I couldn't walk afterwards.

3 Days

I've been gone almost a week. I left last Tuesday for Houston at 3pm. Was supposed to leave houston at 4pm. We didn't end up leaving until 9pm. Team MOAT calls that the Shaun factor. We drive, we rest, we eat. For almost a day it was. We arrived at West Virginia late Wednesday night. We sleep for about 5 hours, and this is when the fun begins.
We have to be checked in by noon. So we get stuff ready. Getting stuff ready for something you don't know what you're going to do with is very difficult. So I made sure I had plenty of dry socks. A couple of shirts, shoes, and a few shorts.
We show up, get the maps, and checked in. Of course we are the last team to do this. And of course everything we need is in the RV, not the van. We have about an hour to get things ready before a race meeting. The maps are 1:52000, instead of what we're used to, 1:24000. So things were a bit different!

So race start, is around 6 oclock. We worked all day getting ready, franticly, and we're prepared for the upcoming days of racing.

The start is a white water raft. Where they lottery drew who was going into which boat. Most boats had 2 teams of 4(8 people max). Our boat had our 4 person team, 1 two person team, and two soloists. Then, one person from each team had to do a short run, and swim to the raft. Lucky us. Instead of waiting on 2 people, we waited on 4! We started last, but made a pass in whitewater to come out in 3rd of our wave of boats.
A short paddle in a canoe.
Then almost nighttime, we start portaging. True to MOATs tradition, we started off bad. Went the wrong way, with other teams, and ended up losing 30 minutes easy. A couple miles of this and we were done, and off to a long nighttime ride on the bike.
We get to some points easy, then hit CP 5. We look, and again, with another team, we thought we just screwed up. So we went off solo, and tried to find out what went wrong. This is at 11pm. We go back, look around, look for roads, and even backtrack on a highway. We figure that we were right, just didn't go far enough. We go deep into the woods. Now a couple of hours later, all the teams are buzzing around here and there. It seems they can't find it either. Dave and I walk....I mean, crawl, hop, duck and maneuver to the creek. It's not there. It's been 4 hours, and we know we're in the right spot....so we bail...it's not there.
We come to TA and find some teams found it, and Dave has some words with Ronny, the race director. Later we find out that it WAS wrong....but this is after we think the race is lost(as some teams got it, and we WASTED 4 hours)
We do some walking, and hit the next day with a rappell. It was high....very high. I can't repeat the words that came out of my mouth, but everyone around me seemed to laugh at me....either my demeanor, or just the brown stuff in my pants.
The next day or so is all jumbled together....we did some more riding, walked some more, and did an O course the next night. MOAT trekked so gosh darn fast, that I literitly sucked at walking by the end. I'd either have to run, or slowly walk.
We took a nap here or there, when we would all get zombied, and hit a long 20min nap that second night, just enough time for daylight to wake us and find a point that would've been harder to find at night.
Then we get to the next bike leg. It's supposed to be 85 miles, but I'm VERY baddly chafed, and hurting. My legs feel good, but to ride just sucks. We decide to make the first CP, then decide what we will do(call it short and go to the finish).
Leslie and Dave start to argue, and I'm just in a tight spot. As Leslie wanted to get the points, and Dave was supporting me and going to call it a day.
We get to the point, and head home, tension was high, but we finally go to the last trail(3miles). Almost done! Well, except every tree on that peice of land was fallen over, and all the thorn bushes grew up. And we could find NO trail. So we walked, and walked, and rode the bike here or there. A couple of hours later, we get to TA!
We find out we're in the lead now(but we skipped CP's), and Leslie was glad, as the lead team was 8 hours ahead, and still wasn't in TA!!!
The last leg, the paddle/trek-nav, was easy. We paddled to the first point, climbed the mountain, got the CP, then trekked over to the next mountain, and found a CP, then down and up another mountain to find a 3rd CP. It just took 2 hours to find these....and we had 3 more. It was close to our third night, and wanted to get as much daylight as possible.
We noticed some canoes parked next to ours, and figured the lead team was a few hours behind.
We paddle on. Find the next CP, and its in a water fall. I'm leading the group, and a few showers graced us. Luckily the rocks were like ice climbing up, and after reaching the top of the first shallow waterfall only 13 feet long at around a 70 degree slope, I slip. The small ridges made my booty go bump bump bump and I land in fridgid water. It hurt. So I ask Dave, since we're not 'racing' anymore and just out training if it's worth getting hurt over....he said, lets get this and we can paddle on. Whatever you want Dr Dave!
So Shaun leads now, taking a different approach-the side of the cliffs. Hes about 25 feet up in the dirt, and is almost to the rocks. Then he slips. A 5 foot slide on the steep ground, then he has a 20 foot freefall to the rock bottom.
MOAT gasps, and luckily he's fine. Dave says "Shaun, what to you say we skip this one, it's not worth getting hurt!"
So we paddle on. And on. Sleep starts creeping in. So we pull up boat to boat and chat with each other, and Dave is cracking me up! This was a good moment as we were relaxing and racing, having a good time.
We finish the paddle right before dark, and I find out that we have a 10mile trek ahead, finishing it off with a river crossing. THATS IT!!! i'm almost done.
10 miles later, I get to the river, cross it. Then find out I have 4 miles of uphill to get to the finish. Mentally, I'm blown. I should be done by now. I sulk and creep up the hill. 1hour and 30minutes later, I'm at the lodge, the last CP. We did it.
While waiting on badass rookie support crew, Jeff, Leslie, Dave and Shaun Almighty took a nap in the hall. We got picked up, took a shower, ate, talked a bit, and hit the hay for a short night....waking up early and starting driving home.
We were the first to finish, but because we didn't hit all the CP's, we shouldn't win this race....we COULD"VE won this race, and was definitly the fastest team out there, as our bike/trek/paddle was above the other teams....but one 4 hour mistake that wasn't our fault made it for a good training day....days.

E FIX

Carlos had a loss in the family, sorry to say. I was going to run support for MOAT/Mannatech during this race. Since the team wasn't complete, it is up to me to fill in. This is what matters most. And as Mickey would say< "This is your whole life!"

http://www.checkpointtracker.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.showDashboard&eventID=135

Go there, and follow us from Thursday/Friday until Sunday. 3 solid days of racing non-stop. Leave us, MOAT/Mannatech, messages and keep up with the standings. I'll be out the next week traveling and of course racing, check for a lengthy blog when I return.

I'm SUPER stoked about being able to do this. I am concerned about a couple of things.
1) A rappell....I'm very affraid of heights....but WWDBD?
2)An icewater swim.....I guess more than heights, I'm affraid of permanitly freezing my berries off
3)How many DQ's will be on the course? I mean, 3 days....I'll probably need to eat. I might treat myself to a blizzard no matter what that sunday night.
4)OMG, I'm racing with MOAT.....I hope...I pray....I dream that I can keep up with them.

Custom bikes are the latest rage. What you wanna WOOO WOOOOO?

The long weekend

After Ouachita challenge, I was sick. I drank less than 4 bottles, and maybe one honeystinger gel during the entire 4 hour race. I ate a good breakfast, but didn't eat much after. I felt like crap. No, I felt like smelly, gooey, fresh, asstastic crap. I took most of the week to recover, and did no kind of excersize. I ran on Thursday(hint hint, MARK!), and did some easy spin classes on Friday. I was feeling better after the run, and almost 100 percent on Fridays spin classes.
Then my weekend started. I got off work, and had a softball game, the season opener.
It was rad, we won, and I didn't have to use my athletic ability too much, as I had a race the next day. We drove 4 hours that night to get to Daves lakehouse, and while taking the long detour in north Austin, after making GREAT time, we were delighted to see 10 minutes of fireworks straight ahead of us on a flat and straight road. Then we were abruptly stopped due to an opening day game for a minor league team.
Fast night, wake up early, hardly any sleep, and jumped in Daves big van. We got to the race on Shaun time, and got things ready. I raced with speedy Jason. Dave and Leslie did their thing.
It went like this: 3mile run and easy nav/ 5 mile paddle and 1 mile run with boat and hole in boat/ 10 mile bike with around 1 mile run or hike section cyclocross style/ 7 mile run with hard nav and another 1 mile run with zig zagging around cactus and sharp things, and a 200 meter swim.
Leslie was killing it the first run, and forced me to man up and not get dropped by her.
Jason was Jason on the paddle, with the Shaun coming out in me to tell him how to get it together in the boat. We Titanic'd the Futura on a tree limb that wasn't seen above the water, and hit a foot long gouge in the hull. Luckily it was after we got all the points, and we were at a point were we could portage.
The bike was rough. Jason hit a tree again, and was trying so hard to go fast. I took it easy and it felt like a walk in the park, sans the park. Getting lost was easy to do, and seemed to happen the more I got to the front.
The last run/nav was on me, I took the map, and we had a 2 minute lead over Dave and Leslie. I didn't even use a compass, and hit every point. I must say, I get by with a little help from my friends. Thanks Marty the 5th beatle for walking the ropes with me. The last point was accross this big cove. And it was walking at least another 1km in some bushy, cactus filled, vine encrusted region that would surely take about 12 minutes to navigate. OR cut accross and swim 200 meters , about 5 minutes and a good break from running, hoping, dodging, dipping, and flailing around.
We ate cake, thanks to TooCoolRacing and Robin and Art for a great series.

Then came Sundays PSE mtb race at Reimers ranch. It was flat, with lots of rock sections. I had envisioned myself doing something different and going HARD. With a new crankset via Dave's shop, I was able to keep the big ring the whole race! SWEET!
We line up, about 20 of us. The gun goes, and I'm 8th. A guy stops right before the Single Track, and I'm 7th. And finally warmed up.
Fawley flats, so I'm like 6th. Then I pass Noel "the monster"Reuter and I'm into 5th. Well 4th really. Then Matt"flash"Gordon passes me, and I'm in 5th.
The train is made, RayHall, BillyKurtz,ScottHenry,ME,MattGordon.
I try to get the HARD into the race, and try to pass Scott, and we talk about having to call out a pass. Damn, last time I did that at Hville, I got screwed. Whatever, I'm sorry.
The race goes with the first lap settling in. I can do this all day. Even though I screw up every technical section and cyclocross a few others. Lap two is the same, just faster, I might be able to do this all day with some energy. I'm hanging in there. I eat a gel, and drink some water....I dont' want to feel sick again(which BTW, I think was a virus, not just being dehydrated)
The end of lap 2, Billy gets on the front, and is drilling it. I'm still comfortable, but SHOULD've moved up past Scott here. Mistake one.
Through the technical section, Billy and Ray get a 10 second gap on the rest. Scott is on the front trying to bring it back. I take a feed, and get another Honeystinger gel in the mouth. And here is when Matt goes around us. I feel 15 seconds at this point is makeupable. And continue with getting the gel down with water, so I can stop breathing out of my defunct nose. Mistake two.
The gap soon opens up to around 30 seconds, and I'm stuck in Single Track. A short climb later, and I get around Scott. I start going faster. Pushing nice gears, and a straight chainline. I'm feeling good....but my mistakes have gotten out of control.
I ride the rest, feeling faster and stronger than I should. Ended up 4th. If that gap was 10 seconds, even 20 seconds, I could've closed it. out of sight, out of mind got me here, they just got to far away.....luckyyyyy.
Oh, the superfly is cracked during these races, on the downtube....Noel style