2011 Levi Leipheimer's Kings Ridge Gran Fondo

A phenomenal day in the saddle at the Levi's Kings Ridge Gran Fondo.  The best part of the ride was being able to spend the day with family having my sister and family all out on the road in Santa Rosa participating in the event for a second year in a row.

We had a great day including a mechanical for me with a broken spoke and extended repair time but all in all it was a great time with an incredible BBQ and fun-filled aftermath in downtown Santa Rosa with 6,000 of my closest friends.

Any day on the bike is a good one and this one didn't disappoint!  Keep Riding and Keep Smiling!!!

2011 Tour of the CA Alps - "Death Ride"

Completed the Tour of the CA Alps ...AKA "Death Ride" this weekend.  Was truly an Epic Day.  Covered 129mi, including 5 mountain passes all over 8300ft, and encompassing >15K ft of climbing ($15.3K per the Garmin when it quit 7 miles from the end).

It was a clear hot day in the saddle for a total ride time of 8:31 which was good enough to be the 10th registered finisher of all 5 mountain passes.

Some stats from the day:
Calories burned - 10,681 Kcal
Consumed - 4910 Kcal including:
14 water bottles

10 Infinit drink packs @ 250Kcal each
2 GU chomps
2 Sport Beans
12 fig newtons
30 pretzel twists
2 cans V8
4 lg chunks watermelon
3 bananas

Napa Valley Vintage 1/2 Ironman Triathlon

Competed at the Napa Valley Vintage 1/2 Ironman Triathlon for the second year in a row this past weekend to kick off a nice vacation with family.  It was quite a different race day than a year ago with very different conditions and quite a different experience.

Before getting into the race details I must say that sporting the MultiSport Ministries Race kit now for the 2nd straight event has been enlightening.  Just by wearing the kit I am engaged by people with many questions and connection opportunities that I would not be having otherwise.  It's been a true blessing to offer support for others as an outcome of being part of this sport.

So ... for the race day I first have to say that I feel very blessed to have ended up in 2nd place in Division after having what I can only describe as a pretty rough day.  It all started out about 20 minutes before the gun kicked off when the wind really began to kick up and the looking out over the lake all one could see was whitecaps and wind waves.  I should have known.  The buoys were moving in the water and the first turn kept moving further out as the less speedy (read me) swimmers were making their way toward it.  After the turn we headed straight into the wind and waves and let's just say that enough about the swim as the organizers began to rescue and pull people from the water.  Fortunately all were safely accounted for.  The average swim times were about 13-15 minutes slower than last year and mine was about 20 minutes slower.

Fortunately I finally got to move on to the bike leg where there were many desperate souls out there requiring encouragement as the winds had kicked up to 30 mph gusts with the first 35 miles either block head wind or pretty vicious cross winds.  I felt very blessed to be in my personal comfort zone on the bike even if the average speeds were quite a bit slower than a year ago.  I felt pretty good on the bike overall considering the extra energy spent in the swim but realized it was a much different ride when with almost 4 miles left of the 56 mile bike I was already passing the time elapsed during last year's entire bike leg on the same course.

Got off the bike and began the rolling hilly run starting to feel the effects of being out there much longer than just a year earlier and really having to dig deep and remind myself that everyone, at least on this day, could use some encouragement so I set my mind on just that.  I focused on wishing people well and especially talking up those I passed who were walking.  When I finally reached the finish line and crossed underneath the banner I really felt a sense of accomplishment unlike many previous races.  This was hard but in many ways that just made it better because the conversations afterward continued about the race team and I connected two guys to the site and gave them my info.

Keep training for His service!!!!

Devil Dog Duathlon - Camp Pendleton Races

An amazing day at the 5K/30K/5K Devil Dog Duathlon on the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base in sunny north county San Diego.  It was a tough month leading into this race as a workout incident in the gym left me with a cracked tailbone a few weeks ago just after I had committed and signed up and paid for the event.

Once again I simply gave this one to God, asked for tons of prayer, and allowed him to work it out as to whether I would be able to complete or not.  Just Monday this past week while traveling on business I went out for a tough 8+ mile hilly run and it hurt quite a bit which gave me some doubt as to what would happen today when I lined up.  For the first time I actually think I wished there was a swim involved in this thing.

What it did was it made me stop, pray, and realize that no matter what my body would do I would be able to see a huge number of fit and interesting people of all ages coming together to test the limits of the abilities God has given them.  And of course represent the COLORS of MultiSport Ministries as a witness as to why I race and what really matters.  It was great to be sporting the new race kit and being so bold it had the effect; even before the race during the setup I had multiple people asking me questions about it and allowing me to point them to the website and offer my contact info - praise God as he always shows up.

So with the conversations and distractions I had forgotten completely about my sore backside and just got final preparations for the start completed.  The airhorns went off and we were on our way.  The race itself is inspiring for all the Marine Corp volunteers and also the work by MARSOC, the Marine Corp Special Operations Command, who support the race and make sure everything goes off without incident.  My body outperformed my small-minded human limitations and carried me through a great race.  I finished 1st in the Clydesdale division in 1hr 35min including a 23.4 mph average speed on the rolling bike course.  It was most certainly way above my expectations; shame on me for limiting God.

But even better than that was connecting with Scott, a MARSOC recruit screener, recently arrived from Michigan and looking to connect with local athletes and a Christian community - Praise God as I connected him with http://www.multisportministries.com.  Also connected back with Pat Thomas from the Challenged Athletes Million Dollar Challenge ride from 2009.

All is well when God has the reigns!  

Calico Ghost Town Trail 30K/50K

What a gorgeous Sunday for a trail race in the Southern CA desert.  As Psalm 118:24 says "This is the day the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it!".  After weeks of unusually wet and cold weather here in Southern CA, the past week has been utterly amazing.  We had temperatures of 75 at the beaches this week and even up to 80 inland.  It was welcomed as we needed the trails to dry up because they become mini-rivers when it rains. The historic Calico Ghost Town is just a bit outside of Barstow and near Fort Irwin, CA. It sits in the high desert at about 2500 ft elevation. It's a very interesting place, having been dedicated to be preserved by Walter Knott, creator of Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA. The race itself is put on by Discovery Trails and is done to support the ongoing efforts to maintain and preserve the town and the surrounding trails and natural landscapes in the area. In fact, 100% of the effort to put on the race is by volunteer to maximize the amount given back to the town.

The race kicked off bright and early at 7am for me and about 240 of my closest friends.  Its a split race in that there are two simultaneous races going on at the same time, both 30K and 50K distances.
Trying to recover from a nasty head cold I opted for the 30K and it was a blast.  For those who don't have a calculator that's roughly 19 miles; per my Garmin it came out at 19.2 miles.  I went in with no expectations and just planned to enjoy the day, meet some new people, and find out whether I could finish with a stuffed up head and occasional cough.  I met some great people along the way - shout out to Eric, John (Nice 2nd place division finish), Dave, and Moshe who I hung out with after the finish waiting for the results to be posted and talking about why we do these crazy things.

Turns out I had an OK day with a 15th place overall finish and 5th in the 40-49 age group division.  Amazing thing about Trail Ultras, the fastest guys are in the 40-49 age group and in this race that included the overall winner.  My time was 3 hrs 8 min per the Garmin or a 9:48 per mile pace, which wasn't too bad considering the trail included over 2900 ft of vertical climbing and a great deal of it soft sand which makes for tough going.


In the end it's always about the great people you meet and the common connections you find and if your fortunate, you get the opportunity to help someone out or offer a prayer in time of need.

Keep Training and God Bless!!!