Iron Star to Oil Man

It’s been a long time between drinks. 2007 was my first experience racing with OUTLOUD! and I’m dating myself as Oil Man was then called Iron Star. Due to renovations taking place at La Torretta Lake Resort and Spa, the race was staged that year as a point to point with the swim and bike start staged at the Lake Conroe Marina and the run through the Lone Star Parkway developments finishing in downtown Old Montgomery. My wife, Emily, and I were over the moon to sneak out of town after managing a pair of overall wins that day.

Besides the name and venue change from that ’07 race, much has also changed in my personal life in that time period. Emily I travelled in from Boulder, Colorado, where we were living at the time. We now live in The Woodlands. Back then we were newlyweds and spent significant time training and raced as neo-professionals. We trained like pros, often putting in 20-30 hour training weeks. Now we have two beautiful and energetic daughters and we choose to spend the majority of our free time with them. We now put a premium on quality of training instead of quantity of training.

A few significant advantages came from living and training in Boulder and coming into Conroe to race back in ’07. While the terrain is considered hilly in comparison to other areas in Houston, we logged most of our cycling miles in the Rocky Mountains. Riding in the mountains, made those country roads outside of Montgomery and Conroe feel flat. Additionally, we lived at 5430-feet so racing at sea level made breathing feel like we had massive supplemental oxygen tanks on our backs blasting excess oxygen into our system instead of the feeling of breathing through a straw like in the high mountains. Now we’ve lived in the area for a full year and when I ride outside it is typically on the country roads used in Oil Man’s bike course. My legs certainly notice the hills these days!

There are some advantages I feel to being a townie now versus a visitor. I know the roads like the lines on the back of my hand. I ride with a boosted sense of pride knowing these roads provide me with a home-field advantage over those traveling in. Despite being staged in November with potential for chilly race day conditions, training and racing a season through a Houston summer has hardened me up to face tough conditions - hot or cold - and taught me to be a better manager of energy distribution throughout a race.

The biggest advantage, besides the motivation of post-race libations awaiting at the finish, is sharing a course with friends and training partners. When you’re out pushing your body and mind to the limits for four-plus hours, it adds significant motivation and happiness to go to the well when seeing familiar faces throughout the day.

I can’t wait to zip up the wetsuit on Sunday and get after it and no matter what the day brings cross the finish line with a smile on my face! And maybe grab an extra beer.