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

FOR SALE: 2008 58cm Cannondale Six13 Frame
If you need the parts and wheels too, I think we can work it out.

I'm needing money to start a new sport. Rollerblading. I have the outfit. The helmet. I just need some skates, and my old hockey skates I used when I was 12 years old mysteriously disappeared over the years. And the cheap pair Jason got me at wal-mart last year was disingrated in the first ride. Ride? That doesn't sound right. The first roll? The first skate? Or would it be skute?

I finally ran this morning. 8 miles. 1 hour. I think I ran around 8mph average.
I haven't ridden all week, but I'll have to spin classes on Friday that will get taken care of direct.
I'll also get in a good full body workout in an adventure race at Inks lake on Saturday.
Then a go fast motorpacing session, sans motor, at Reimers Ranch. I hope my bike holds up to the poundings I put on it....poor Noel is too strong for his bike, and split it down the middle! Some monsters just aren't cut out for riding.
Lets see if Jason finishes this race in 1st. I'm saying his legs will. Now if his bike holds up, and he stays upright.

http://www.ouachitachallenge.com/course/images/big_racemap08.jpg

Did the Ouachita Challenge, 60 mile loop. Well, it was condensed to a 54 mile route, due to all the rain and flooding of a river.
Dave, Carlos, Shaun, Leslie, Patti, and Bonnie(and myself) all competed in the 60 mile race, and Magan did the duty of feeding us all.

It started off on some miles of road. Easy. I sat top 5 most of the time, and on the first steep gravel road, I got a gap by just riding my pace. I knew I had legs then, so I just needed to not screw it up by doing something stupid.
So, the first thing I do is almost get in a wreck, with the Trek guy who braked to get in the trail that nobody knew was there. I literitly T-Boned this guy because of a late brake action from about 30 guys in the lead.
Dave was up there, riding strong. And I went from 5th, passed Dave, to 4th. Guy had a mechanical and moved to 3rd. Then the guy leading missed a shift, and broke a spoke, which let Trek guy get a 20 second gap, and held me behind him. A couple of miles later, he pulled over because something wasn't working right, and I moved into 2nd.
2 guys were on my tail and I bridged up to the leader.
Perfect timing as we hit the bottom, and crossed a bunch of creeks, and was some flat trails. I noticed I was carrying much more speed with the Superfly that the Trek guys Fuel, and did a quick pass to take 1st. Around 15miles in I'd guess. I quickly built up a 20 second lead. Then had a PePe, and stopped to tighten my front skewer. But to my surprise, nobody caught me. So my lead was around 10 seconds(I'm estimating these, could be more, could be less). I pass a few 80 mile guys, and do some passes in the woods. I soon lose sight of the chase group.
Feed station number 1. I'm heading right, and Magan thankfully gets me to go left, for a quick feed and a 6 mile road section. 44X11 in a TT position and I make quick work like Fabian Cancellara, and can't even see the 5 man group behind(which Dave was apart of). So I knew I had a good lead.
I hit more trails, and was feeling good. Yada Yada Yada.
Then the back section, a LOOOOONG climb and some rocky sections, and I was hurting, walking, and zoning out. Did a big switchback loop, and I was almost at the top, and heard two guys about 300 meters down the mountain hitting some of the rock gardens. It was probably around 4-5minute lead as they'd have to not only climb that 300 meters, but also ride the loop around and ride the technical parts too. I got unzoned, and hit some gas.
I had no clue where I was and it felt like 50 miles already, so I kept saying right over this hill....ok, right over 'this' hill......no, well then it has to be right over THIS hill!
Then I saw a photographer, on foot. So I was kinda close. Then I hit feed station 4. Magan tells me I have about 15 miles to go, and I take my last water bottle. I ride the next section with some old Wink style flava. I shread the downhills, and used some skills that I used to throw out.
FINALLY, I pop out of the single track. Get my last zip tie tag. And the guy says, go down the gravel road for about 6 miles. And you'll stay to the left, and take the left on the highway, which will take you to the finish.

Now, if you check out the map this is the furthest left on the top, heading back towards the start finish. I'm about where the little biker dude is. So I ride. Thinking, 6 miles? Then a few more miles on pave? No worries, just ride, and you'll be there.
Well, check the map out again, and after the biker dude, you can see a split in the road, where the blue/yellow dots go right and another road goes left. I take the left. All the way to Brushy road, the next right. And then to a course marshel close to the red lightening bolt(to stop people from going down this way and cutting it short). He tells me which way would get me to the finish fastest, and I turn around.
I'm almost at Brushy creek road, and see Dave and another dude going the route I took. I tell them to turn around and we ride that Brushy Rd(which isn't part of the course) in the headwind all the way to the finish.
We came up from behind the finish and had to do a U Turn to 'finish'.
I got 3rd. Dave 4th. Carlos did good and did it in under 6 hours. Shaun flatted, and still finished with NO training. Leslie got 2nd. Patti got 3rd. Bonnie was still out when we left.

Now the guys who got 1st and 2nd, knew that I was 5 minutes up, and was asking what they'd get for 2nd/3rd. But were informed that they had won/2nd. The organizers knew something went wrong. We discussed and for a 2nd time this year was awarded a "co-1st". I know I could've won, and some guy asked Magan: "if he was lost why didn't he just turn around"....well DUH, I didn't know I went the wrong way! I guess next time I'll just stop at a point like that, wait on the next guys, and then outsprint them? Then I'd probably go the wrong way again, and get screwed because I waited.....ah, my life....what a shame.

Mulletmania!

More than likely, if you see a redneck....you see a mullet. And if you see a mullet, then you're probably going to see a guy with no shirt on. Most of the time these individuals are driving a truck of some sort. Usually an 80's style pickup. This guy proves my example:

While being a redneck doesn't apply just to the male species. Women too have succumed to the inevitible force that is Redneck, and either showing off what Male Rednecks oggle over, or waving a flag over bodyparts that don't need to be seen(unless of course you are a Male Redneck). The later subject can also be seen with the redneck weapons of choice...a beer and cigarrette in the same hand.

Even Rednecks are embarrised of tattoo's from a long night of drinking many moons ago. Here, this subject show's the hairstyle to cover a tattoo of kinds....by you guessed it, a MULLET!

No mullet talk can happen without a Redneck midget:

Now for those of you wanting to grow a mullet, which I highly discourage(unless you live in Europe, ride bikes REALLY fast, or you are of course....a Redneck), I'll throw in some hints and basic rules that you'll need.

1. Decide what kind of look you are trying to achieve. “Mullet” is a broad classification of a type of hairstyle - there are a number of sub-classifications.
Is most of your time spent in business meetings or meeting clients for lunch? Think about The Business Mullet.

Do you spend a lot of time at Wal-Mart? Is your drink of choice Bud Light? Consider the Mulletino.

The Mulhawk is a classic combination of the Mullet and the Mohawk. (as seen with the midget mullet).

2. Once you’ve decided on a “style” for your mullet, head to Wal-Mart or your local pub at 11 AM to see some mullets up close and personal. Get to know the style, because it’s not just a hairstyle, it’s a lifestyle.
3. While at Wal-Mart, pick up a few sleeveless t-shirts, or if you want, have a friend rip the sleeves off your t-shirt - this is best done while you’re still wearing it. Or get a wifebeater T shirt if weather permits.
4. Next, you’ll need a good pair of boots. Though you’ll be spending a lot more time barefoot, a pair of boots is going to come in handy for trips to Wal-Mart.
5. Buy an old junk Camaro to park in your driveway. Try to keep it under $600. Spend as many hours as possible drinking Bud Light with the Camaro’s hood up.
6. That’s really about it. Oh yeah, if you have short hair, begin your mullet by no longer cutting the hair on the back of your head as it grows out. This could take any where from 3 to 6 months to achieve the proper lengths. If your hair is longer - you lucky dog - grab a Bud Light and have your cousin cut the hair on the sides and top of the head short.

Of course, if you are more artistic, or have experience with a mullet already, you can create your own style of mulleting. For the newcomers, stick to the basic style mullets.
Now, if you do grow your mullet for Redneck reasons, know that riding a bicycle is off limits, and driving your pickup truck and throwing old beer cans at cyclists is kosher.

So get out there, and enjoy your mullet....no more sunburned necks, and you always have the party going on in the back!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Z-mYy3mCYJo

CHECK IT! LAUGH. ENJOY!

pics

This is my group on Sunday coming in. If you look to the right of the picture, behind the big sun that looks like a lady, you can see Magan and Mom worrying why I'm not there.

My TT position. Fully decked out, and full speed option on. You can also see my training wheels on the back wheel.

From the Velosimo website. I'll be saving around 53.82 watts when I drop the stem and get lower. Thats equivilant to crapping a small child...or a large cat.

Oh, how de-lightful! Thats dubious of you to say that! I bid you goodday.

I weezeled my way in this one

Road racing.....it's kinda fun....and it's kinda not fun. I did my first race in 6 months at Fayetteville. Luckily for me, the first race was 3 races in one weekend.
We started with 68 miles on Saturday. Peice of cake....had I trained on the road bike any....and not eaten all the cake. I sucked, I was happy to hang on, and need to work on riding up hills and in winds.
Then we did a 6.6 mile Time Trial. I actually did good. 14:56. Again, 40 seconds off Travis' time, who won, with a 14:15. Well, not exactly 40 seconds, but I think I slowed down too much in some of the turns. That ride put me in 11th overall. If it wasn't good enough I'd've went to waco and mountian bike raced on Sunday.
Well, lucky me, I stayed in the road race, where the guys I race(not all of them) were little whiney bitches,as Jason would put it. For example, I'd pull into an open spot in the peleton, and just because I didn't see the guy behind me who was going for the same spot, and would get an earful of "GOD DAMMIT!" or "F*CK"....more like "F**********CK!". Sorry dude, you have breaks don't you?
Then when we'd pass a big John Deere tractor pulled over, guys would yell at the group "SLOW DOWN GOD DAMMIT" and for good measure, follow it up with a "F*CK!". I noticed a pattern here, it was guys not getting there way. Like when a guy was breaking the law on the left side of the road, and he'd hear the motorcycle beeping for him to scoot over.....he wouldn't hit his breaks, or look for a spot to come in. He'd keep his spot and yell at the peleton to scoot over. HA, what an idiot.
Soooo, that is my next point. The yellow line. I got screwed again, and one day I'll have the knowledge to get unscrewed. But the officials said they'd DISQUALIFY people for crossing the edge of the world. Well, I tried my ass off not to, unless some guy came at me and was forced to avoid the accident...but was over to the right ASAP.
The final 2k, I was gapped because of the yellow line, I suffered for 94 miles to stay with the group. And this final bit where the top 5 guys were on the right, and the other 20 were on the left....and me trying to play by the rules on the right at the back.......ahhhh crap......non of those guys got penalized, and if they did, it was for 5 seconds. I lost 30 seconds to that, and ended up 19th overall.
Maybe I can talk the referees in to giving me a QUALIFY card, to dis disqualify me from another race in the future. Or it might be good for up to 5 yellow line violations? I think I can think of a good deal here.

My training will hopefully consist of some running now. Injuries suck, and I hope to be in the game again soon.

Whose the mother flippin'?.....

I'M THE MOTHER FLIPPIN'.

I hate that lady on the cell phone.....the one that talks to everyone. You know her, and I'm sure you've listened to her. I know you've listened to her, she never lets you say a word, and if you do, she won't listen. The derilict world of phone companies. Please get a phone message person that doesn't irritate people with the same phrase every time I try to make a call and get the voicemail. Bahhhh.

I took yesterday off work, to go out and get stuff done. I took two of Jason's bikes down to the shop to work on them. I love going to the shop. I get in the back, and a guy brings a Huffy in and Ken yells at me to take the wheel off of the $50 bike, while he's working on a set of $3000 wheels for a $5000 bike/work of art in the form of a Pinarello Prince. While the backup Colnago sits getting the Zipp's put on. GEESH. I did my job, and did it well.....maybe that dude with those bikes liked my work ethic???

So after the shop, I get in downtown Houston traffic to go visit the muesem of art and science. Well, I'll go in detail here to show the full effect. Huntsville, my current location, is lone wolf territory.....I think Corey Ray is the only other guy that has rode competitively here.....there is not group rides, runs, or get togethers. While Houston, an emerging hotspot for bums who ask for cheeseburgers(witnessed first hand) and cyclists, runners and many other types of peoples. So this much bigger city I'm driving through has many, MANY bad drivers. Or maybe they're all really good, and I'm the bad one....but using a blinker was a good thing....or so I thought. Add that fact, with the one that I have no idea where I'm at....or really where I'm going.....and the fact that I am very lost when it comes to direction. As you can see just getting there was a story in itself.

Moving on, to the actual Science muesem. How cool was this? I never knew it had so much usefull information. I mean, I've been there as a kid in school. But geesh, I learned about Space, dinosaurs, mummies, and saw butterflies(pictured above). The blackhole movie in the planterium was spectacular and awe inspiring. Or I was inspired by it's awe.

Then it was off to the art muesem. It was ok. I saw some cool artwork. Then I saw some stuff that I don't know how people claim to be art. But it was neat to see all the Picasso's and.....well, it was neat to see.

I'm pumped about Fayetteville....a little tired, as I've gotten up at 4AM for 3 days this week. But somehow I think it'll be good for adventure racing. Speaking of which.....

MOAT has a website up, and looks neat, check it out: www.peak.com/teammoat

I held a course record!

For 20 seconds, I held the WCCRT TT course record. For a 10k, I pulled a 14:09, a course record. I was so happy. And I literitly got 15 seconds of glory. As T-Rav started 1 minute behind me, he smoked the course, and took revenge on me taking his previous record, and came in at 13:32.
Afterwards, I spent the rest of the day sleeping on the grass in a park. A rugby guy almost hit me with his ball. That would be a bad way to wake up. Hell, it'd be a bad way to go to sleep!
Then I went and learned that I eat wayyyy to many carbs. Well, if carbs=sugar. I want to try to eat correctly, so I'll be crunching numbers to find out what all I 'need' to eat, and cut out all I 'want' to eat.
So while in the Woodlands, I went over to T-Rav's house and tinkered with my TT bike some. Got the front end looking beter than before, so it's all good.
And as soon as I started eating correctly, I ate bad. Shaun, Magan, and I went to Tortuga and ate for an hour or so. Talked the talk, and drove home.

As for Saturdays ride....I mean race that I rode in. It was tough riding the Single Speed for 60 miles. I finished right under 5 hours. I think that should seal up the deal for the Texas Marathon Championship. Yay.

I did happen so see the new Will Ferrel movie, Semi-Pro. It's ok. I think comedys nowadays try too hard. Yeah, you can get a laugh, but a forced laugh isn't the same as a ; I'll never forget this moment laugh because I cried and got a hernia from laughing so hard. So funny that people around you start laughing out loud, and people you don't even know around the back of the IHOP start laughing at you because it's so funny. Thats the kind of funny that will always be remembered by those that fought with me in Lazer tag!

If I was stuck in a battle for middle earth, I'd probably make sure this guy was on my side. He probably takes a crap that doesn't stink too. Just one more thing the girls love about him.
I finally got to race with Dave. I need to HTFU if I'm gonna race with him some more. We came out with the "W" on a very awesome course in Waco. I actually contributed to some navigation. I actually can say I didn't, I repeat DIDN'T, get us lost.
Mark apparently got his dingy all wet this weekend, and got 5th for doing so. All that went wrong was he lost a fingernail. That dingy must've been out of control!
Jason was going to win in Bar H, but flatted with 2 miles to go.
I had my business socks on, and you know what that means.....it's business time! I ended up 4th, after a shorter race of not warming up. Eh, next time I'll hopefully get a top 10 callup, instead of the back row. Maybe the leaders won't get so far ahead and I'll actually be able to race them.
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/227537
This reminds me of the wind we've had at the last two races.

I had to go to the dentist yesterday. My last checkup was great, 0 cavities. But last years checkup wasn't so great. This is about the time I was eating about a pound of candy a day. To say the least, I had 7 cavities filled.
Yesterdays visit was due to the fact that this 'cavity' wasn't fully developed....or to put it plainly, the dentist didn't want to make it 8 cavities, if this little one could make it and possibly go away.
Well it didn't.
So I sit for a short visit, and get the novacaine in the deep back part of my gums. Yeah, it numbed me up, but after 15minutes of letting it set, I was bored. So the dentist came in and drilled a bit.
OWWW.
More novacaine please. So 5 more minutes, and we try it again.
OWWWWWWWW.
MORE NOVACAINE please! Let it settle, and now I have had over 10 different shot sites in my mouth.....I didn't feel the second half, but I could see the needle getting situated....then plundged deep into my mouth.
Something like this is a scary site right over your eyes:
What if he dropped it right on my face?
I think it'd be neat though, to have been going through that ordeal again, but "I wanna be sedated" some on the stereo speakers.
Now I'm just recovering from some bruising where the needle went in so many times. I kinda feel like a fresh fish prisoner that took the wrong shower. But not really. But kinda.

I'm planning a race.

not just any race. a long race. well of course it'd be a long race, since my body has the reserves for such a race. this race will consist of many miles, and many racers. i will no doubt be by myself for some of this race. well i'd have to be by myself in a race against the clock, or an individual time trail. so yeah, fayetteville here i come. jmack better be glad, and don't push me too hard when we get in a break together.....this old body of mine isn't used to the road.
between having a sprint adventure race coming up on march 1 in cameron park with the diety of adventure racing himself. and saint jo the next day. and no lago vista(yay!). i really don't see any pre road races to fayetteville in the horizon. i don't even know the last time i was on my road bike. this could be bad......this could be michael jackson bad.

now to what grinds my gears:
you know what grinds my gears? litterers. however you spell it. people that litter. litterees. what makes someone think they can throw stuff away on someone elses property? but then again, dumpsters have a fine if you put your trash in them.