Triman

 My day went like this:

4:15 alam clock
4:45 Leave house on bike, backpack with change of clothes and running shoes
5:28 Arrive Walter E Long Park, glad I didn't have to take the car and bus, I'd have been late
5:30 Change, sign-in as volunteer
5:35-7:45 - Standing on road outside transition entry shouting, "body marking first please, straight down on right"
7:45 -08:00 Clear transition help last few athletes pump tyres, clear out, last minute body marking.
08:00-08:15 Under direction of USAT ref, move any bags sticking out into walkways between transitions lanes
8:15 10:00 Bike Mount line(I Can bee seen in this News-8 Austin video)
10:00-1pm - Bike dismount and movin crowds back from road
1pm - 2:30pm - Walk run course in reverse collecting sponges and cups into piles around course, encouraging athletes
2:30pm-2:45pm Helped find water and ice for final aid station on run course
2:45pm-3:15pm, track down friends and finishers
3:15pm change back into cycling gear
3:25pm-4pm Cycle back home

9-hrs, 15-mins Volunteer time, 54-miles cycling

Despite having arrived as requested at 5.30am, and worked in transition and the bike mount/dismount area for 7-hrs 30-mins, we were only bought 1-bottle of water, and their was no mention of food. When three of us gave up on the dismount line, and walked backed to the volunteer tent and asked about food, they didn't know. One of the yellow-shirted organisers in the finish area said we should have been given a voucher at check-in, none of us were. Hopefuly not all the volunteers were treated like this, especially those out in the middle of the no where on the bike course. This was a shambles.

Also a shambles was the bus control to get athletes onto buses to get from the Expo to the Park. While early the first few buses only had competitors on, after that they seemed equally busy with friends, families etc. This clearly delayed athletes getting to the park, and thus delayed the start. The medical tent had NO Blankets at all. Plenty of dehyrdated people shivering and turning blue, sigh.

There was no FAQ for the volunteers and a couple of times, people came from the volunteer/info tent to ask us question having been told they people in the tent didn't know. For example, where did the bus go from while the race was on? Where was lost property? etc.

Assuming the swim was short as many said based on their times, I probably could have made top-5 overall in the Aquabike but wouldn't have made top-25 in the 70.3 Clydesdales although would have been in the Clydesdales Bike Top-5; if I could have held it together on teh run, might have made top-20 in my AG; Tim Terwey and David Hoffman burned up the bike course in my AG; volunteering was fun though, especially time spent on the dismount line with alkaloids .

Lisa had a good swim and great bike, top-10 in her AG, but blew-up on the run, finishing in 5:43. Looking at the results and based on what she said, I'd say too hard on the bike and not enough fluids. Still pretty good for a first HIM/70.3 race and only 3rd over sprint distance. Andy Golden, who came over from the UK for the race, suffered as expected in the heat, struggled on the run as well, finishing in an impressive 5:38; Patrick(Mr Triathlon Meetup) finished in a solid 6:02, Drews results look wrong, didn't talk to him afterwards but he was flying when I saw him; Will catch-up with others later in the week.

Well done everyone that finished!

I'm way behind on training reports, life has taken over. So I'll skip most, except to note that last Saturdays Longhorn "shortcourse" training was a fun outing. I left the house in the dark on my training bike, currently undergoing a maintenance refit down at ATC. I wasn't sure how long the ride up to MLK and then out to Decker Lake would take, I'd never driven that way before and the last time I rode out there, was via 290 and the airport, a much longer route.

As it was I was there just after 7am. @Tune was already there and before long we were joined by patriathlete and then Michelle and Lisa. I was expecting a queit weekend up at the lake, too close to the race for their to be anyone out doing the bike course, apparently not, there were a few. However, the park was packed for a High School Cross-country track meet. We found a corner of the lake, I guess the S East corner which had "no wake" bouys. We swam for 30+ mins. Tune and  Patriathlete both did well.

Afterwards we went and did T1/T2 practice. Tune had been ribbing me for months that I should show her, and I finally caved. Given the success of the session, I'm going to run a full blown Transition workshop in the new year, rent some proper racking etc. After a short discussion about transition, the objectives, imperitives etc. I did two full  run throughs of T1 with running mounts, and T2 with running dismounts. Then, one by one Tune, Lisa and Michelle all managed the same thing, not once but twice. It was pretty rewarding to watch them.

After that, we went out to ride the Danskin/Couples bike course. Rather than just go and ride it though, Tune, Lisa and I lined our bikes up, walked back to the corner of the street and on "go" sprinted, did racing mounts and sprinted off down Decker Lake Rd. After about 7-miles, Tune and Lisa had left me in their dust. Lisa is looking good for an AG place at the Longhorn, and if Tune can hold it together on the swim at the US Open in Dallas, she's looking good for a place.

MY training, as it has all year, been very hit and miss. I go from having a great ride or run, to having a disaster of a swim or run. I'm really not sure what to do with the rest of my season yet.  After the end of the ride, I took an easy ride home, making a 52-mile round trip.

Next up: Sunday I'll be volunteering at the 70.3 race;  Saturday 11th I'm doing the skirt chaser 5k; Saturday 18th the TX State Championships, Olympic Distance; 25th October I may race in Flroida either HIM or IM Aquabike or the Sun Coast Triathlon Sprint. 

If anyone's reading that wants to come along and do some practice at the site of next w/e's Longhorn Austin 70.3 race, tomorrow morning at 7.15am at the entrance to Decker Park.

A few of us are going to meet-up, find somewhere safe to do a 30-40 swim, do some transition practice, go do the Danskin/Couples bike course once or twice, and then maybe do an easy run.

Feel free to come along, none of it will be race pace or race distance, if you are a first timer for Longhorn I'll show you where transition will be, we can look at mount dismount strategies for the bike, and you can have a go in the lake to see what you'll do come race day. We can look at sighting techniques for the swim and anything else you are interested in.

I'll be biking over from downtown, so maybe a few minutes late, especially as it will be dark when I leave.

NOTE: Meet-up is on the grass verge next to the entrance, not where we were meeting for the bike course rides!

I got a couple of emails and a txt message on this. If you want to see the elavation profile for the bike course. Check the scale on the left, there are really only two "hills" and a couple of places where the course is rolling...

You can click through the picture below until you get the fullsize version.

Mostly, I'd say here is the schedule for the final Austin 70.3 training rides.

The plan is to do the normal course this week, starting 7.30am, again as a non-stop ride.

I'm thinking about doing the Great Floridian, which is a half/IM race at the same time, and doing the IM distance as an AquaBike, or as they have it, an Aqua Velo. It's the full 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike but no run. To see how I'd do, since I've really only done one sort-of century ride this year, I'm planning to do the 70.3 ride steady on the 13th twice, with probably a couple of stops, once in Webberville on the 1st lap, and once in Elgin on the 2nd lap. So, you can either suffer through both laps, or just go out steady on the first lap and finish hard. Race ready!

Details of meeting location, directions, route etc. See past blog post entries. http://triman.livejournal.com/tag/austin+70.3

I won't be around on the 20th of September, the meetup group may ride then, but the following week, 27th of September, is really too late to do a course ride, it should be the start of a taper/light week. I may ride on the 27th, and even the day before the race just for my own fitness and especially if I'm going to do the Great Floridian at either half or full distance.

So last week I failed to do the 6-mile run after the 70.3 bike course and decided not to enter. Last week we were 3:07 for the course, and when Lisa and I got back to the car, my left foot hurt so badly I could hardly walk. No idea what the problem was, asides from the cramp it seemed to be. I tried to run it off, but only managed 3-miles.

Today, Lisa, Cathy, Drew and I set off to do a no wait, ride, Patrick and the rest of the meet-up group followed along. We got round the course without incident, stopped twice at lights, and took a quick break at the gas station in Webberville to get some water. We got back to the car in 2:54:02. Subtract maybe 4-mins for the lights, which makes in 2:50 not counting the dead-time at the store in Webberville. [Last years actual Longhorn bike course was 2:47 for me.]

Thats more or less as fast as I think I can do this course. I drafted off Lisa a few times, and vice versa. Obviously none of that during the race. But then in a race add the adrenalin and focus. Back at the car I felt fine, no cramps, no aching, no bloating. We went out to do the 6-mile run, Lisa and Drew soon dropped us, after a short while Cathy was disappearing down Blue Bluff ahead of me. I got a bit further than last week and then blew up, feeling exactly the same. The pain in my knees, the lack of drive, so thats it. Definitely no 70.3 race for me this year.

I won't be riding the course next week, I'll be doing the Austin Triathletes Expo at the Austin Triathlon, come see us. Then in the evening I'm doing the Nike 10k, I won't call it the Human race, as I worked on the crew for the original one. I'll be wearing my shorts for the race. I don't think I've got a Human Race t-shirt though. John want to send me one ??

So I think my season is going to go like this:

Nike 10k
Volunteer at Austin Triathlon
Volunteer at Austin 70.3
Texas State Championships at Canyon Lake
Volunteer at IM Arizona
{If things have settled down at work] Sign-up for IM Arizona 2009 [Must do one IM branded race before my knees give up, which I think are starting to go...]

Well there was only me and (insert name here) from the regular crowd, everyone else had decided to do a shorter ride ahead of Sundays Austin Triathletes open water swim. However, about 12-people were there, including seven who'd driven up from Huston!

We all set off around the same time, me and (insert name here) had agreed to pace each other around the course non-stop, and then run 6-miles afterwards. The ride went pretty well, we stopped at a couple of lights, briefly for bike adjustments, and I have to say she's a strong rider. We got around in 3-hours 4-minutes according to my replacement Garmin 305, but had 5-minutes stopped time. So that made it 19MPH for the 56.7-mile ride. It's definitely a slower, harder course than last year.

When I got back to the car and off the bike, the outside of my left foot was cramping/painful, I could barely stand. After a long "T2" putting the bikes in the cars, refuelling etc. we set out on the run. The pain eased a little, and I got further than I have so far this year, just over 5k, but just at the crest of Bluebuff Rd where you can look down for a mile or so, I just didn't have the will to do it and dropped off to the side of the road and sat in the shade.

(insert name here) ran down to the turnaround and caught up with me by the time I'd walked back to Decker Ln and Bluebuff. We walked togther mostly back to the car, jogging the last half mile.

So thats that. No Austin 70.3 for me this year. Sure, I could try again next week and maybe I'd do the 6-mile run, maybe I wouldn't. But sometime this week general entry is likely to close, and it will be a waste of $200 if I can't run it the whole way and finish in a sub-6hr time I can be proud of.

Yes, I could finish. But after 9-years of triathlon, it's not about finishing anymore. It's about pride in a result from a good race. So, I've signed up for the TXTRI 08 State Championship at Canyon Lake on October 18th, and will be doing my best to improve on my lowly 51st place Ranking in the USAT Soutwest Region.

I will be out again this coming Saturday, August 23rd, but not the 30th since I'm doing the Nike 10k that w/e. Why not come along!

Just a quick confirmation, I'll be riding Saturday, possibly with a smaller group from Austin because of Sundays Austin Triathletes/Rocket Science Open Water swim. However, theres at least a few people from Houston coming up to to the ride and the swim!

So, as always, I'd like to start the ride promptly at 7.30, this week I won't be sweeping, I'll be doing the ride non-stop followed by a 6-mile run up to the park and then down Blue Buff Rd and back to test out my fitness and decide on entering before it's too late.

You can find meetup details, comments by using these Livejournal entries http://triman.livejournal.com/tag/austin+70.3

We had a big crew out for yesterdays 70.3 ride, some 17-started, Tune, and Annik along with one other guy decided to cut short and do 32-miles and headed off once we got to the turn on Lockwood. We went on, I played sweeper for most of the ride, it's actually good fun being sweeper on training rides, you get to take it easy to go back and make sure the last person makes the next turn, and then sprint ahead to catch the others, or even right to the front.

At one stage while the group waited, I went back to get someone, turns out they were already with us, and when I'd gone about half mile down the road, I figured I should go back and tell the group to ride on, only to see the person I thought I was looking for.... d'oh.

As the ride wrapped up, I decided to try for a run, put on my shows and lead the group out on the road. I only managed about 3/4-mile before fading badly. I can't get to the bottom of this, its exactly the same feeling I experienced in the race last year, and it never happens in sprint or Olympic distance triathlons. I'm guessing its just prolonged exposure to high temps and having to drink so much fluids. Yesterday was around 99f when we went out for the run!

Sunday. This morning was a long run on the trail. I started with Philip and Guin, we soon split though, Philip was doing 17-miles, Guin 4, and I wanted to see how far I'd get. I managed a full 6.95-mile lap of Town Lake without any pain, I managed to finish strong, but I sweated a ton. I forgot to weigh myself before going out, but was 199lbs afterwards. I figure maybe 2lbs down this morning, only a 500ml drink while running and then another bottle afterwards.

Next up: Monday early swim, probably Deep Eddy; Tuesday RunFar Time Trial; Wednesday 5k run; Thursday swim(may make the meetup Deep Eddy swim but probably travelling); Friday day off; Saturday Austin 70.3 Course ride and run at race pace.

Just to confirm, we will be riding in the morning, 7.30am start, please bring maps, we currently have 11 signed up, of all speeds, so there should be someone for everyone to ride with. http://www.ironmanlonghorn.com/longhornmap.html
Either Patrick and/or I will sweep this week to make sure no one gets left behind or lost!

I'll have some printed in B&W to make them easier to read as well. Bring enough fluids, gels etc. We'll poll at the start on the ride into Elgin and rest stop, it's going to be hot Saturday, another 100 degree day.

Bring running shoes to run off the bike. You can go as far as you want, 2-miles to the park and back, you could also go past the park and do the big hill on the bike course in reverse, and then turn around and do it uphill just like race day! Legend has it that whyiron did it last year, but I was too tired to go with him...

If you need to get in touch with me for any reason, you can txt via LJ http://www.livejournal.com/tools/textmessage.bml?user=triman remember to include your number so I can get in touch.

This week includes TGIF, my review of Taste Select wine bar is here on Austin Metro blogs.

Saturday I was up early and out for the Austin 70.3 course ride.

Saturday pm, Tune, Randy and I watched the Tour de France final TT, Tune was good enough to bring yummy BBQ and Belgian Chocolate Ice Cream. I had a desperate time staying awake though.

Saturday evening was diner at III Forks on Congress with good friends Nigel and Laurie. I have to say the company was great, the food was, well I've had better. I decided I wouldn't write a negative review for metblogs though since I know that III Forks is held in high esteem in certain circles, and they do sponsor KUT who I'm a great fan of. Maybe it was just an off-night ??

Late Saturday I was trawling through my spam folder looking for the reply to an email when I found a Livejournal message from effendi  - He was up to the Sunday ride out to New Braunfels. I desperately messaged him back and remembered you could send txt msgs through Livejournal but given it was nearly midnight, didn't expect to see him.

Sunday 6am came all too quickly. I woke when the alarm went off and yay, effendi had already called.

Total Distance for the w/e: 151-miles

Next up: Monday GuppieMax swim at Hippie Hollow(meet at the Oasis 6.15pm); Tuesday pm, run in Central Park NY; Thursday Austin Meetup Group swim and run, Deep Eddy Pool; Friday-Saturday rest day; Sunday Jacks Generic Triathlon New Braunfels.

I'll definitely be doing the 70.3 course again on Saturday, although would really like to leave on time at 7.30 this week to miss an hour of the heat! I expect to have anetmarie and a few others along and so we'll take a detour into Elgin to the Texaco Gas Station on the corner of 290/95, they have decent bathrooms and space to take a break.

That will add about 7.5-miles to the ride. This week will be the last no drop week, ie the last time I'll be riding and waiting, next week I'm racing at Jacks Generic and won't be riding; the weekend afterwards marks 8-weeks to race day and its time for some speed work. As I said to Tune last night at the RunFar Time Trial, you can't just cycle and then hope to show up on race day and average 22MPH over 56-miles if you have not done it in training. Which is funny, since I actually have not signed up to race yet. I figure that if I can't do the course hard and run 6-miles on August 9th then theres no point in entering.

Hopefully though by Saturday 9th August there will be enough people out on the course to form like minded pace groups and ride together!

I"m 80% for the Sunday ride down to New Braunfels, it isn't hilly, but coming back in Austin from Buda can be a struggle in the heat, my motto, it isn't the hill ahead that wears you down, but the grain of sand in your shoe. Watch here for updates!

Friday: Full moon yoga class, another good stretch. Off to Barton Springs with Tune, saw alkaloids lots of howling, moon never appeared until 10-mins after pool shut, no music, disappointment.

Saturday: Up early and over to Decker lake for 70.3 ride; Tune, Amy, Gene and Patrick the organizer of the Austin Triathlon Meetup group also along; left 45-mins late for various reasons, a HOT ride; stopped at both gas stations on the route, also stopped for 5-minutes to make sure that Carolyn who was out with her husband and had crashed, was ok. Gave her my card/number and told er to call if she was unwell and could finish to call me and I'd race back, get the car and come back and get her. Ride took 3hrs 38mins, average speed of 15.7MPH; tried to run from start point to park entrance and back afterwards, completely bonked after less than a mile, reason for this was obvious in hindsight.

Home and had an ice bath, couldn't sleep afterwards, kept getting cramps; laid on living room floor and caught up with the tour! Weighed myself after shower, lost 6lbs from prior to the ride despite drinking 6x bottles on the ride, 1-pint hot chocolate milk while in ice bath, numerous other drinks and food; am starting to think that I just shouldn't consider racing in hot weather... my sweat rate is phenominal and I struggle to drink enough... new tactics next week. Water only on the ride with electrolyte gels. The problem isn't getting the electrolytes etc. its the shear volume I have to drink...

Went down to 6th Street to see LA Band Fourway Free; they came highly recommended, confusing web site info, Dirty Dog Bar said the band was on from 8.30-9pm, the bands myspace page said 10-11.30pm, the door man said not before 10.30. It was 8.35, a sign of getting old is rather than hang out on 6th St, I walked around the corner and went at sat in the lobby of the Hilton and read the Chronicle. Went back at 10.25, no sign of the band, sat and watched cage fighting(yawn)... waited, asked the barman, he said the band came and decided not to play and left. WTF!

Sunday: Early morning bike ride over to Stacy, spoke to Cassidy for a while at the end of her swim session; set off to discover new pool; I'm over Stacy. Found Mable Davis... nice. 50m pool, 3x dedicated lanes, outdoors, city run, $3 entry fee. A bit tired but managed a good 1500m interval session; will definately be going back! Biked home via Sonic, stopped for a large diet cherry limeaid.... hmm. Sunday pm did yrad work, cut front and backs lawns, trimmed bushes, sweated more... went grocery shopping; did baked Talalpia with butter and lemon, Couscous and asparagus for Tune and I for dinner; watched the 5-hour TdF recording, dropped dead in bed.

Next up: GuppyMax swim at Hippie Hollow tonight; RunFar bike TT on Tuesday; rest of the week not planned; Saturday Austin 70.3 course ride, Possibly Sunday ride to New Braunfels for Roque Womens Triathlon

Just confirming it's on, interest is starting to grow, who knows someone other than me might show up this week ;-)

Departure point is here: http://pininthemap.com/a147c3b57dc3e9cad
Please arrive in time to leave at 7.30am.

Assuming business travel doesn't get in the way, assume I'll be riding every Saturday until two weeks before the race. Except for August 2nd, when I'm racing in Jacks Generic Triathlon on the 3rd.

At least for the next 4-weeks, the rides are no drop rides. That means I'll wait for you pretty much, however slow. At some points I may sprint off, but I'll always come back or wait at the next turn depending how far it is. I expect next week (7/26) to have some more riders out. Sunday 27th I'm considering biking from downtown Austin to New Braunfels to go watch the end of the Roque Womens Triathlon. It means leaving Austin around 6am and is a 80-mile round trip, I did it a few times last year. Let me know if you are interested in coming along.

The only thing for the Austin 70.3 course rides, depending on who/how many show up, there really are not any good rest stops on the course. Theres a gas station around mile-12(too soon) and another around mile-42(too late), so I maye ride the whole course without a formal rest stop, in which case bring enough bottles and food or if we get a crowd we can take a detour into Elgin around 30-miles for bathrooms and refuelling...

I woke up late and treated the garage like T1, I was in and out and gone. I arrived over at Decker Lake by 7:30, and proceeded to put my bike together, last week I forgot my track pump and biked with tyres down around 80psi, this week I didn't. Last up it was cycling shoes, oh cr@p, I forgot them.

I briefly considered driving back home and getting them, it would be a 40-minutes round trip, or I could go home and cycle from their, or I could just put my running shoes on, including the "big boy" and ride in them. Seemed like a good idea, but after 10-12-miles I was cruising at 19MPH along Blake Manor and I could feel the start of a whole new set of aches and pains from trying to keep my feet on the pedals. So I decided to cut the ride short, head straight from Blake to Taylor, down the hill, around 969 and back to Decker Lane. 25-miles, Average MPH 17.1

While riding though I could tell that I cut put more power into the right pedal. I decided that despite having ridden for 7-years with a doubled-up Look cleat, along with the "big boy" running shoe, now was the time to built a proper lift or wedge for my cycling shoe. After the ride, I headed over to Michaels and bought some modeling clay. I'll build and sculpt the build-up first in clay, then make a plaster cast and then mould the wedge using epoxy resin. Sounds easy...

I'm definitely thinking about doing the 70.3 ride after the Couples triathlon next week. Anyone else fancy doing it ?? Otherwise, next ride 19th July.

I'll be doing it on the 5th, same time, same start place, 7.30 from the parking lot behind the stores on the corner of Decker Lake and Decker Lane. See the earlier posts for Google Maps. Brings running gear as well if you want to do a brick run afterwards!

For the 12th I won't be riding. I'm doing the Couples Triathlon with anetmarie on the 13th. I could be convinced, depending on heat and other decision points, be convinced to go ride it after the race.

I got out yesterday morning and did the Austin 70.3 bike course again. It was hot and windy at various points, I tried to do the course as fast as I can but really didn't do so well, coming in at 3:25:20 for the 58.9 miles I did yesterday.

Why 58.9 ? I was cruising along Littig, not really paying attention and went straight passed the right turn onto Monkey. Yep, thats really its name, there is no street sign at this end but there is at the other end. Overall I was pleased with the improvement over last week, but I still have a long way to go to get back to anything close to the 2:44 I did at last years Longhorn course.

At one point when I was struggling to get going in the wind, I spotted another cyclist ahead and raced for a couple of miles to catch him and then cycled alongside for a mile while we talked. He wasn't doing the 70.3 course despite making a few of the same turns. For me, the fastest section of the course is the left turn onto Parsons and then the right turn on Littig. This is one section that is the reverse of last years course and has one of the longest downhill sections on the course.

I won't be missing turns next Saturday, the course has been marked on the roadside/shoulder with double arrows in yellow at every turn. Who'd have thought.

Below you can see the elevation profile, I've marked the start of the missed turn, so it didn't really change the profile much, I suspect that overall it would have come out a zero sum gain. Here at the stats for the course.

Ascending: +797ft - 4.34mi - 11.32%
Flat: -200ft - 50.75mi - 83.6%
Descending: -566ft - 3.81mi - 5.2%
TOTAL: +31ft - 58.90mi


And here it is on Motionbased

I'll be riding again this Saturday, anyone else that wants to come along would be welcome. Here is a description of the meeting/start point. I'll be there around 7.15am for a 7.30am start.

Here are my comments on the course after last weeks ride, depending on who shows up, I may or may not take a detour into Elgin for a refill/bathrooms.

I set off from the corner of Decker Lake Rd and Decker Lane right on 7.30, well at least 1.30pm in the UK, at least that was the BBC London news I was listening too when I shut it off. It was already in the high 80's according to the car.

I was riding my white 'dale road bike with a view of doing a steady ride all the way around, with no detours for breaks, refueling. As it turns out having just 2-insulated water bottles wasn't enough. The bike course starts and ends the same as last year, but soon changes direction, and although the course covers some of the same roads, apart from a long stretch on Littig, the roads it does reuse from last year, it does so in the opposite direction.

My least favorite section of last years course, the long slightly uphill drag after turning right on Blake Manor, is now done in reverse, and will require some skill come race day to make the sharp right turn onto FM969 given that its downhill there. Also, my favorite section of last years course has gone as well. The massively long and very fast downhill on Taylor is also gone.

So, it turns out it's much more of a cyclists course now. Longer sections on roads, 973, Blake Manor, Littig and 969. The road surfaces are generally pretty good, it's almost completely flat with the exception of the hills around the back of Walter E Long Park. So, it will be a tale of the wind, the heat, and those that can spin fastest for the longest. No more big sprints, rest on the downhills etc.

At least according to my bike computer it was exactly 56.4 miles.

If you are going to ride the course, I recommend taking at least 3-bottles. There are really only two gas stations or store on the route, the first is a Texaco station around 12-miles on Blake Manor, and the only other is the gas station/corner store in Webberville, around 46-miles. Next week, I think I'll go back to taking a detour through Elgin instead of taking the right on Monkey.

Stats: 56.4-miles, 3:10-minutes. No run afterwards, it was too dam hot and I was dehydrated.

On the heat. For the record I weighed myself after breakfast, I weighed in at 207.5lbs. I drank 2x 750ml sports drinks, 1quart of Powerade from Webberville corner store and an ice cream bar, ate 1x Cliff Bar, 1x PowerGel. After the ride I had 750ml choclate milk, another ice cream bar, 1x large McDonalds low fat Vanilla Iced coffee; for lunch diet Dr Pepper and a chicken wrap from ChikFillet at the mall while trying on Oakleys, a can of diet pepsi when I got back while I was cleaning and lubing the bike, then weighed my self. 204.5lbs. Wow, must have more ice cream bars ;-)

Not sure if I'm going to do the Austin 70.3 or not yet this year, however, the time has come to start weekly early Saturday rides on the bike course. It's changed a LOT from last year, the course maps are available here.

Like last years rides, I'll take a slight detour at the end of Litig and go down to a gas station in Elgin for refreshments and bathroom breaks. For the first few weeks I'm happy to go at the pace of the slowest, hopefully we can get a few people out and after that we can group based on speed, or you'll just have to go as fast as me, or vice versa.

There is a short-cut in the route this year for anyone who doesn't want to do the whole 56-miles the first couple of weeks, I'd GUESS its about 28-miles total.

I plan to get to the parking lot at the strip mall, behind the gas station on the corner of Decker Lane and Decker Lake Rd. Here is a google maps link for the area. I plan to arrive around 7.15am, ready to leave at 7.30am...

Anyone else coming ??