Monday, April 19, 2010

SD Update



A few highlights from the past month out here in San Diego. Back in May, my colleagues from the VeloNews office in Boulder flew out to ride the Gran Fondo. The ride started in Little Italy, went over the SD-Coronado Bridge and then completed an out-and-back loop around the Cleveland National Forest for just over 100 miles. It rained 100% of the time! The photo is from the night before the race where I defied all odds and parked in the smallest parallel parking spot possible in Emily's VW.




Italian World Champion and Athens road race gold medal winner, Paolo Bettini, was at Mission Bay Park the morning before the Gran Fondo for a photo shoot with Briko. He was very gracious and had his manager snap a photo of us.




I've been living with Emily's sister in Mission Valley and last week we went to the Padres second home game of the season at Petco Park downtown. It was military appreciation night and Kendra's service in the Navy allowed us to get within sniffing distance of the field.




Last weekend I raced at the Superfrog Half Ironman, the longest running half distance triathlon in the world at 32 years straight. Emily and I have competed in this one since 2006 and besides being one of the toughest run courses around (80% of the race is on the beach and soft sand pits), we have made some great friends with the organizers including race director Moki Martin (right). Moki was one of the original triathletes with Tom Warren, completed Ironman Hawaii numerous times, is a retired Navy Seal, and puts on one hell of a great race.

More in the future, I promise...

LF

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Abu Dhabi and back in Boulder


Lars and I went to Abu Dhabi a few weeks ago for a race and to see his parents. They are only a 45-minute flight away so it was great that they could get the day off work to spend a few days with us.

Lars' bike only arrived at 2AM the day of the race. He was putting it together after two hours of sleep and only 4 hours before the race was to start. He had a great swim and a great start to the bike but it turned out that his brakes were rubbing for the first loop of the bike course. At about 117 miles into the bike he decided he had had enough and dropped out. I have watched a lot of Ironman races and all I can say about this course is that the athletes looked the worst I have ever seen when they were coming off of the bike. They all looked miserable.

The night before the race we went on a little adventure out into the desert and drove around in Land Cruisers through the sand dunes (and thankfully never tipped over). Following the tour of the desert we had a big Middle Eastern feast, including shawarmas, and watched some belly dancing.

I've been back in Boulder now for a week. Right after we got back from Abu Dhabi I got a call from my former boss asking if I could come back and help out here for a few months. I wasn't doing anything in SD yet, except walking the dogs and enjoying the nice weather, so I accepted the offer. I'll be here working until the beginning of July when our friends get married up in Vail.


I miss Lars and the dogs a lot but I will be going home every 2 weeks to see them. Here is a picture of the pups on their second swim in Mission Bay, taken by Lars on the morning I left. On his first time there, Thor loved it but the salt water didn't agree with his stomach and he ended up puking it up all over my sister's house.

My friend, Jen, from Minnesota, just had her first baby, Sienna Mae, and I was able to meet her when she was just 3 days old. I thought I would have to wait until she was much older so I am glad I was back in CO for that.

I'm heading home Thursday night and can't wait to be back in San Diego for the weekend and watch Kendra and Lars race the Superseal and Superfrog.