It's Kind of a Tri Thing, Pt II

(Me, pumped, waiting for Casey)

On the Road Again

So after I took the time out to take a quick pic and NOT turn on my Strava, I noticed a couple guys pass me, and thought I better get back after it. Back up the trail I went, after the guys that had just passed as I was playing the part of a tourist on vacation, taking pics of the scenery. The switch backs were over, and there were a fell hills to climb before getting to the camping area that is about half way up the mountain. The first hill may be the shortest of the three between me and the camping area, but it is also the steepest. Up I went, and off the bike I went, needing to take 15 steps or so at the steepest part before I could get back on the bike and continue riding. (The part of the trail is fairly compact, so I will be back, and I will be able to ride through that part SOME DAY!) I didn't even mind that I had to walk the bike here for a few steps, most people did. The problem I had was that I had a couple young kids run their bikes by me while I walked mine up. We had more climbing to do and needed to pace ourselves, didn't they KNOW that!? I am sure they did, but they were half my age (Man, that feels REALLY bad to actually be able to write that now) and they could go for days.

Luckily, I was able to tackle the next couple hills on the bike, and may have even gained a spot or two back in the process. I made it through the camping/picnic area, crossed over the paved road, and got to the best (or more like worst) part of the trail. As I rode past a power line tower, the road turned to the right and back up again. This time, the trail had extra powder from the recent leveling of the road to clean out the overgrowth. Once again I felt like it was one of those dirt bike shows on TV where all these riders try and go up this super steep hill, in effort to see just how far up they can get before they have to bail. As I approached the hill I could see guys walking their bikes up, and I kept working my bike up to where they were already walking. "Yeah, gonna get further than they did. Keep going, keep going, keeeee, ah crap, I'm spent." And back to walking until the road gets to a point that you can get back on the saddle again.

A couple more hills and I was to the top. The downhill portion was fun, but I am still working on just letting the bike do its thing under me, and keeping it full throttle. That said, I was happy to report I only had one person pass me on the way down. Again, this was a kid. Their bodies heal faster, and they don't worry about going to work on Monday, so I was okay with that. Besides, I gained some ground back on him when we got to the paved road on the way back to the transition point.

Off He Goes

Daniel was waiting and ready to go as I rolled back into the parking lot. He took off running, and I had two thoughts. 1) How far back is Kenny? 2) What is that smell because it is making me want to puke!?

1) Kenny would end up being back a bit, but that is a story deserving of its own post. And as such, should be my next post.

2) The smell ended up be the Tommy Burgers truck getting our lunch ready. I knew I would be hungry in time, but the mixture of them prepping the greasy, delicious burgers, added in with the chili they make to go on them, was almost enough to make me puke. I quickly dropped the bike and put some distance between me and the truck.

In He Comes

After waiting, looking for Kenny for a few minutes I had to get back over to the end of the run. As we did the triathlon as a team, we were supposed to finish as a team. They asked each of the teams to run the last 100 yards or so together. Casey had left, and so I walked and waited. This I would do, walking a bit further out every couple of minutes, telling myself I had rested a little more and thus would be able to run the rest with Daniel when he came through. I will admit, I didn't go far.

Finally, Daniel was in sight, and we were off to the finish line. Daniel had had a good run, and I am sure only gained ground on those in front of him. (At least that's what I'll tell him.)  

Surprises, it's Prizes

Seeing as we were just finishing our burgers (now feeling much better, they hit the spot), they were ready to announce the winners so we stuck around. Not surprisingly, the overall winners were a few lean and mean teenagers that killed every leg of the race. However, to our surprise, we did end up getting 3rd in the adult team category. I will admit, we were a bit surprised as none of us had really trained for the event. And though there were probably only 15 or so teams we would have been competing against we never thought about beating anyone. With that said, I felt the fool to find out we had missed 2nd by 18 seconds. All of the sudden that stopping to take a picture was coming back to bite me. Doh!!

We anyways, we didn't take home any major winnings (this was Scouting fundraiser after all), but I was stoked to be rocking my medallion!

It's Kind of a Tri Thing, Pt I

This weekend was a sport triathlon that is put on by several local boy scout troops in the area. As I have been involved in the Scouting program here for a bit, this was my second year to participate. As I am not a runner, never want to be a runner, and hate to even think about running (unless I'm playing basketball), I was sure to get a couple buddies and make a team. 

The Course

Let me start by saying, the bike part is the hardest part of the race. I say this not because this is the part that I did, but this seems to be what those that participate in the race have to say.

The race starts off with a 400 meter swim in Castaic's lower lagoon, with a quick run up to the transition point in the parking lot for the bike. The ride is only a 5.5 to 6 mile loop, with ~1000 to 1100 ft. of climb in it, but it is steep and the dirt on much of the trail's climbing sections is loose. Once back from the ride, there is a 5k run to finish the race part way around the lower lagoon and back. The run is pretty flat. 

(Me with my bed/helmet head, Casey keeping it modest, and Daniel)

The Race
The race was off and Casey was killing it in the water. I say that, but I have no idea. They were too far away for me to see when they started, and once they started I went to get my bike and be ready at the transition point. But within a few minutes Casey came running up and I was off. He had made what appeared to be good time, with only about 10 or so guys in front of him. Thus, he must have killed it.

I started out strong on the bit of pavement before the dirt turn off. Last year I passed a few guys on the first section before we got to any of the climbs, but last year I started a bit further back in the pack. Right as the trail turned up I passed a couple of kids before the switch backs started. Just before I reached the top switch backs I realized I had made a major mistake, and I was mad...I forgot to start my Strava!

Strava
Much can be said about the pros and cons of Strava, but for me it is predominately pros. And this would be the first time that I would actually be racing the entire loop, and I was excited to see how I stacked up once the race was over. I will admit that I wasn't very far into the ride when I remembered, but without the first climb, I felt like the rest of it would be worthless to have. Well, now I REALLY was just riding it to have fun, and I may have not pushed quite as hard as I could have. Okay, I probably did, but I like to think things would have been different had my Strava been going.

Picture Time

With the annoyance of not turning my Strava on I decided that I should at least take a pic of the view, seeing as how this wasn't going to show up anywhere for others to critique me on. So, here's a shot looking down over some of the switch backs:

(I lost a couple spots taking the pic, but it was worth it.)

Okay, I wasn't thinking this was a two part-er, but I want to get this posted and it is running long...[To Be Continued]...