starting back up.

I try to start getting back into a small groove of training. I've yet to do a run since the marathon, but I did get on the TT bike the other day. Felt good, did a few longer intervals, which was just me going faster for 3 miles at a time. I have 3 weeks to get ready for a duathlon in Arizona. I'll need to run sub 6 min/miles, and ride 21miles in around 50minutes.

The big news of the week is my best buddy, Mark is having a baby. Uncoiencidentally, he's getting married too, this Wednesday. I hope he doesn't have to sell his boat.

I'll get to see Jason this next weekend, via the internet and a camera system hooked up to it. But it will be good to at least see him by a live feed.

The marathon

The week leading up to the Houston marathon was not what I had planned. Instead of getting in runs, I did 3 spin classes and zero running. I called it a really hard taper. Every night I would go out to my lake and see if I could shoot anything that moves, with my bow and arrow. I'd put out some marshmellows, and they'd be gone the next day. So I knew their was activity, I'd just have to see it.
So with my lights I'd see a raccoon, an opposum, some deer, a red fox, and something in the water. A nutria rat. Several nights I've seen it, and so I moved to a different spot JUST to kill it. I think most of my energy went to killing that huge rat than getting prepared for a marathon.
SO I am out, trying to not wake the neighbors, so I have to use a bow and arrow, a two handed mechanism. Well, unfortunatly I needed to hold a light too.
Magan was volunteered to hold the light. The night we saw it, I didn't shoot. It was too far and not a good shot. I didn't feel like losing an arrow for no reason except a 10 percent chance of hitting it.
The next day I get permission to use a gun from Vicki, my neighbor.
But, I'm off to Houston in this timeline of the week, and going to Justins to spend the night.
Before I get there, I do some errands, and pick up my packet for the marathon. I'm running under the name 'wink;)'.
Wak up at 5 and eat/get ready to hit the marathon.

Justin ran with me the whole way. I had unfortunatly lost the ability to wear any shoes since doing primal quest, because a huge blister would grow if I did. SO I was stuck with using the Nike Free's. By mile 6 I was feeling the Free's and not doing anything for a solid week, plus some from the week before(2 total weeks with one run).

The calves were the first to go, feeling tight and like I needed a stretch. But no stopping while running. Mile 10 had some slight fatigue in my quads. Nothing bad though, almost half way done!

We saw Wooch and Jill on the course, and the thousands of cheerers, and passing everyone....it was very motivational! At mile 13.1, we were half way. I was feeling tired, but not really. My quads and calves were toasted, and blisters on my feet(in normal places) started to appear.

Mile 16, we see Justin's girlfriend, Allison and give a quick hug, and we have motivation for some more miles.

Around mile 20, we see Shaun and Patti. YEAH!. They rode next to us for a bit and time really flew in that section. The legs were really feeling tired, but I was still able to run. My longest I've ever ran straight was 18.5, so I was crushing my personal record with every step.

From mile 23, it got tough. We picked up the pace and my legs hurt. After running an 8:30 pace for 23 miles, and picking it up to a 7 min/mile pace WHILE my legs were fatigueing to the point of no return. The calves started to really flare up with lively pain. Could this be what not training properly will do to you? Will my calves rip themselves off of the bone?

I would tell Justin, that I wanted to get home and kill something after doing something for so long. I was getting ready for tonight.

Mile 24, I hear some Rocky music and pick it up to a 6:30 pace. We're cruising past lots and lots of runners.

Mile 25 and I'm hurting bad now. Not just my legs, but I'm starting to breathe heavy too. But I hear another Rocky song and hit that last mile with a good stride. Feeling stronger.......almost done now! Dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun......FLY!!!!!!!

Mile 26, we cross the line, under 3:40. Good enough for 635th in the race.

I head home, pick up my new tandem from BIKE LANE, and get ready to hunt.

I'm out, I took the bow and arrow, and my 30.06 with Varmit bullets and a couple of lights. We wait and within 5 minutes I see a raccon 30+ yards at the end of the lake. I take the bow and make a hard to see shot. The red lens cap on the spotlight took a lot of the visability away. I shot just under him, and lost my arrow tip in a stump.
5 minutes after that, we(Magan and I) hear the nutria swimming to our right. We switch positions, and spotlight it. It's around 60 yards away, swimming back and forth....all I can see is it's head.
Then it comes up on a shallow peice of land in the water. BOOOM! I take the shot.

One nutria rat dead.

Unfortuantly the 30.06 woke all the neighbors, and make a tremendous ECHOOOO!

Run-ning

So after getting killed by Justin on the 18.5 mile run, I got out on the bike for the first time in a month.
It was a new setup for the TT bike, and I had the powertap on it. Went and did a 25 mile ride after work, only to find it took me 1:08 to do. I averaged 21mph and 200 watts. I can't wait until I actually get to go hard and see what I can do! All that running just made me MEAN!
Just for a reference, this course that I used to ride(the same one I just rode) was completely smooth. Now it has chip and seal on half of it. I used to ride it hard, and my best time was 1:06, for the 40k. This time I was out testing the powertap, taking it easy at first, then keeping it under a leash once warmed up.
I have around 100 new songs on my itunes. Thanks to Magan. And some generous gift cards for Christmas!
I got some new camo from the Sportsmansguide.com, waterproof baby! I'm really wanting to go turkey hunting one of these days.
Marley and Me, the movie about the dog, is very sad at the end. It was kinda good though, Magan and I went to see it the other night.
Last night, I taught a bunch of basics at Karate. Work hard, fight hard. Well, some of the guys wanted to grapple. Hmmmm, I haven't done that in a year or so. And I haven't even done any stand up fighting in a couple of months. So we do some grappling. Eventually I start grappling with Spicer, Chris Spicer, who is a pro at that MMA thing, 200 pounds of fighter. He was stronger and more technical than I was. But I lived long enough-5minutes.
Check out their website:http://deathrowmma.com/

Well I gotta go, Mom's birthday is today, and we're taking her out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5W58LoiSEQ&NR=1

I was crying after seeing this. The third guy is doing ballarina stuff. The guy on the far right looks like a monkey. The 6th from the right looks....slow.

It's the new year

2008 was good. 2009 will only be beter.
I was sick, kinda, going into christmas. So I didn't run or ride any. I haven't ridden since the cross races, and I've done a 15 miler the week before Christmas while running. I was hoping I could get the legs used to some long pounding miles before I trudged into a marathon on Janurary 18th.
So being sick and not training a month before something a hard as a marathon, and never having done one, I began to wonder. No worries, the sickness would be gone in a day or two and I'll be good to go!
On the 26th Magan and I left for Goldthwait, to visit her family and go hunting. I took every advantage I could to get out and kill something. I had no choice....the sickness lingered, and I wasn't going to do a run only to have 3 more days added onto the sickness.
The first day I sat on a hill, no blind, just me with the wind to my face. Deer came out, but I waited and shot a raccoon.
The next day I went back, same spot, passed on some deer and shot a doe, which is in fact a female deer. Shot through the heart! Loading her was more difficult after tracking her, by myself, carrying her down a mountain by myself, and putting her on the 4 wheeler by myself. We ended up using that doe for bait for some bobcats down by the river.
The next morning I woke to go in a stand with the big deer. Magan's cousin, Mark, who owned the land, needed to manage the population. So I was to shoot not a big deer, but a certain one he didn't want. We saw 15 bucks, most of which would've been 12+ points had they not broke off all their antlers in fighting. These pretty semi-tropheys were lucky I couldn't shoot. The deer that I was supposed to shoot never showed, and lucky for him...I was jones'n to kill again.
That night, we drove to Fredricksburg to go to the Rock Box. It's a funny show, and we saw the christmas version.
here's the doehemian rhapsody, about Texas Hillcountry deer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-rc3QPR_OI&feature=related
Jason would love it there! It's beter live.
Then on Monday, I was out again. I was in a makeshift blind in the fenced off exotic animal area. I was after a blackbuck. He was the only one left, and Mark didn't want him there anymore. I was more than happy to be out again, but I've yet to see him, and was wondering if he was still alive! We drove around, looking at areas he could be at, and saw nothing. Then we flushed him out. I saw him, and was super ready, adrenaline pumping. I was looking for a shot like a whitetail deer, but never got the opportunity. This thing was fast, and could disappear in a heartbeat. Mark told me I'd have to shoot him african style....on the run.
I'd stalk up to where he 'could' be, and eventually flush him out....he'd run, through trees, and I'd shoot my singleshot toward him. Never getting him.
Hours went by, me stalking, not trying to spook the zebra and addax, and occasionally taking a bad shot.
I came back, after lunch, to try again. I located him after an hour, and began the stalk. This time, I thought about what I was doing wrong, and corrected. I led the deer, and took a calmer shot.
I ended up shooting right behind the ribs....which is a bad shot, but I also didn't want to hit the front, as it would be a great mount. It took some good hours, and lots of energy, but this deer/antalope is sure pretty, and worth it.
Guess what, I felt beter after killing that deer.
I finally return home....not sick anymore, and get a good 9 mile run in. It feels ok. But it feels like it takes a long time....my mind isn't used to it anymore.
New Years was fun, the normal gang came over to the house....played dominos, and I played some Lego Indiana Jones on the Wii.
On New Year day...I went for an easy jog....around 6 miles. I kept going and exploring and ended up doing a 14 mile run, with some walks every 25 minutes for 1 minute, it took just over 2 hours. I'm thinking I can do the Houston Marathon in 3:30 or less. If I was training beter, and longer, I would go for under 3 hours....but starting a month and half before something that long is just too much to ask your body to do.
I was planning on doing the cross races this weekend, and missing the E2(torture test) since I haven't ridden any. But after being sick, I might miss both, and just try to get some runs.

Now I need to go plan for this weekend....and see if I need to sign up for Leadville.

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!