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No Shirt No Shoes No Problem

No Shirt No Shoes No Problem
Originally uploaded by jpenglert.

I’ve been home for a week and can’t stop thinking about vacation. Traveled to Belize for a few days with Meghan and a few friends. Stayed on an Island where we snorkeled, road beach cruisers, and watched kids feed whold chickens to 8-10 foot crocadiles. Then Meghan and I left the group and went into the Jungle. Lot’s of mosquito bites later we survived and are back to the daily grind.

Wildflower

Wildflower! It’s called the “Woodstock” of triathlons for a good reason. Thousands of people, live music, and an unbelievable energy fill the Lake San Antonio area. This year I participated in a relay team with friends Heidi and Andy (pictured above). We did the long course which consisted of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13 mile run. We kicked butt finishing the race in 5:37:00 to put us in 6th place out of 41 coed teams! In case you can’t tell from the picture, Andy swam, I biked, and Heidi ran. 

Yet Another Bishop Peak Sunset

Snaped this shot when I got back from class. I was about 2 minutes too late though…the sunset is a bit finicky with the fast moving clouds. 

UCSB Road Race

I entered my first road race yesterday in the Mens C category (read: the easiest category). Two good things happened: 1. I finished and 2. I managed to not crash. The race was hosted by UCSB and held in Santa Maria, about 35min south of SLO. The Mens C race was 4 laps on an 11 mile loop, don’t worry about doing the math, it’s 44 miles total

44 miles is not that long for a leasure ride but seems like forever during a race. The first lap went slowly with the peloton only moving about 15MPH. I can sum up the first lap in one word: frusterating. It’s impossible to move towards the front of the peloton because there are 50+ guys blocking the road and you are disqualified by crossing the double yellow line in the road. Everyone in the peloton makes jokes about how slow we’re going, partly, I think, since everyone has a bunch of energy at the start of the race. There were two crashes on the first lap in front of me but I managed to avoid them.

Over the second lap the pace picked up a bit and the thought of the race only being half over started to hit me. I made a few moves in excitement and got towards the front of the peloton but always got pushed back towards the end after a while. It takes alot of work to guard your position.

By the third lap my strategy changed from trying to place in the top 12 to trying to stay with the peloton. I just hung towards the rear and drafted not worrying about trying to move up in the pack. There was a break away at this point within eyesight.

On the fourth lap I realized how tired my legs were getting. I got dropped from the peloton a few times in the begining but only for a few seconds while I caught up. Finally I accepted it and got completely dropped with only 7 miles to go. I bonked (ran out of calories). I managed to eat most of a cliff bar over the 2nd and 3rd lap but it wasn’t enough. My strategy changed once again from keeping up with the peloton to finishing the race. It was tough and all I could think about was “peddle peddle and keep peddling.” Luckly there was a Bearkly guy who also had no energy left so we chatted the remainder of the race at an easy pace and crossed the finish together. About 200 yards from the finish was a big sceen with an ambulance and fire truck. Apparently there was a huge crash in the final sprint to the finish where a guy flew over the devil guard and off the road. Maybe it was a good thing I didn’t stay with the pack until the end.

Tour of California

Watched the first annual Tour of California cross the finish line in downtown SLO. Although this is one of the biggest events that SLO has hosted it was somewhat anti-climatic. The lead pack crossed the finish line and then it was over in a split second. The sprint was too close to tell who won from where I was standing. All in all it was pretty cool to see some of the big name riders. 

Rain Cloud

Rain Cloud
Originally uploaded by jpenglert.

This was the sunset from earlier today taken from my drivway. Just a standard evening view aside from the tiny rain cloud in the lower middle of the photo. It rained and hailed part of the weekend and has been super cold lately. The weather prevented me from traveling to Santa Barbara to ride with Hawk. Trails would have been too muddy. When the sun came out on Saturday afternoon I got a ride in at Montana de Oro. Of course it poured for over half the ride and I was soaked to the bone by the end! But it was still fun.

Orchid Blooming

11 buds that are finally beginning to bloom after being dormant for about 9 months. 

Fog Rolling In

Fog Rolling In #2
Originally uploaded by mikwat.

This is the view from my driveway. Thanks to mikwat for the pic and something to blog.

Lift 25

Lift 25
Originally uploaded by mikwat.

All I can think about this week is how much fun last weekend was. Cannot wait to get back to the snow. Tomorrow night is a “retro skii” themed party…I guess that will have to do. “ywwoooaaaw” Jackson on the right.

Doing a practise road race tomorrow with the wheelmen in Creston. Pretty sure I’m going to race Men’s C this season since I haven’t been riding a whole lot. Well, we’ll see what happens tomorrow!

2 Minutes into Roadtrip

2-Minutes in Roadtrip
Originally uploaded by mikwat.

Mike was kind enough to take this flattering photo of me on the way back from Mammoth. Zzzzzz.