Iron Eagle Pictures

Thought I'd post these pictures of last weekends Tri while Blogger still allows. As you can see, it was very wet. In the end, I was glad I wore my cycling jacket and gloves, even though it slowed down my transition.

I'm very comfortable in the Aero position, and it seems to increase my speed by 1-2 mph. Since this was a sprint, I didn't need to carry much in the way of nutrition. The Bento box seemed overkill. I had a bottle of Gu2o on the bike and taped a packet of Gu to the stem of my bike, where it was easy to get to. I taped the top part making it easy to tear off/open. I ate that about 10 minutes before the end of the bike and stuffed the empty package into the hem of my bike shorts.



Here is a shot of me trying to ditch my coat as I pass Urs. This area of Washington State is very diverse. As you can see in the photos, if I go one direction from my driveway, I'm in the trees. If I turn the other direction, I'm in wheat fields. Lots of beautiful country to ride the bike in!



I've got another Tri lined up for this next weekend, and I'm not quite sure what to expect. This race was initially suppose to occur at a location about 1 1/2 hours away. Just a couple weeks ago I got an e-mail that the venue had been changed to a location about 15 minutes from my house. I guess the race director didn't get his race permits filed in time and another group was granted the right to hold a triathlon during that same weekend.

The change of venue isn't a big deal, in fact, it works out quite well for me. What is somewhat disconcerting is the emails I got, via my bike clubs member list, to avoid this race director and his races at all cost. Whomever wrote the email was doing their best to bad mouth this guy and put him out of business. Even with internet links to "proof" of his wrong doings, from what I could see, the only thing wrong he has done is to accept entry money for races he had yet to obtain all the permits for. In the end, he always put on a decent race.

The hate mail had me doubting whether I wanted to do this race or not, but I'm not one who likes being told what to do... so race I shall. Because of all this, I'm not sure what to expect at Sundays event. I looked at the list of entrants, and there is only about 160 people... and that is to be split between two days. Looks like this is going to be another small race.

That's ok. At least this race is chipped, so I'll get accurate splits and transition times.