Oceanside 70.3 pictures

Getting ready for the swim in the pacific ocean!!!

In T1.

On the bike-still feeling good and enjoying the race.

On the run-still feeling good!!!


Yeah, I did it!!!

Tour of the Gila

JR left yesterday to travel to Silver City, New Mexico to race in the Tour of the Gila. The race is a 5 day Stage Race with a TON of climbing!!! Check out the race bible for all the race courses and all the profiles: http://www.tourofthegila.com/register/2008_race_bible.pdf .
I am staying in Flagstaff :-)

GOOD LUCK TO JR IN THE STAGE RACE!!!

Angi

Success for Successful Living

I'm breathing fresh, clean, thin mountain air in Flagstaff, AZ. I got back on Sunday night and I've been wrecked since I got back. After my last race in Monterey, CA on Saturday we drove 5 hrs to Ventura. I went to bed at 12:30 am and was up at 4 am to drive to LAX. I caught a 6:50 am flight to Phoenix where Angi picked me up. The race, little sleep and the travel was enough to wreck anyone but now I'm also trying to adjust to 7000ft of altitude. Recovery is ssslllooooooow.

Enough complaining. Here is the good news. WE WON. It was the first NRC (National Racing Calendar) victory for the team this year. Not only did we win but we kicked butt - we had 3 guys in the top 4. The short story is that a break formed with myself, two teammates (Brad White and Brian Jensen) and one Rock Racing rider. Brad White secured the King of the Mountain and Sprint jersey while in the break. It came down to a sprint finish and Brad volunteered to sacrifice himself in the lead-out. Brian was gracious enough to lead me out from 200m to 50m to go and I came through for the win.

Drivin' the break up the climb.

My teammate Brian Jensen and I on the top 2 steps of the podium.

Brad White getting his moment of glory for being crazy strong. He won two jerseys!

I'm framing this jersey.

So next is the Tour of the Gila in southern New Mexico. It starts on Wed. next week. Its a super tough stage race - over 24000 ft of climbing in 5 stages. We are hoping to continue on this wave of momentum and get more good results. I also would love an opportunity to pay back my teammates for their efforts and selflessness.

Stay tuned.

Hanging out in Ventura

I've been hanging out in Ventura, CA since last Friday. We raced in Santa Barbara on Saturday and in Ojai on Sunday. We lead out one of our sprinters on in Santa Barbara and got the win. In Ojai after a tactical race in 95 degrees heat myself and two teammates were left in the main group of 20 riders. We did our best to lead out the fastest finisher, Alessandro, and he came in fouth.

This week has been good for training. I did a couple long rides with good climbs and yesterday I spent an hour motorpacing along the coast. Living the dream. I'm so tired today that I can't seem to get off the coach.

We're racing Sea Otter in Monteray, CA on Saturday. Our team won the race last year so there is a bit of pressure to repeat. With some of our main competition doing the Tour of Georgia the field will be a softer than normal. I hope we bring it home.

Peace

Oceanside 70.3

I did my first 70.3 race on March 29th in Oceanside, CA, and it was a great experience!!!
I went to the race all alone at about 5 am, got the bike out of the car and put the race wheels on. I rode to the transition, which was about 1 mile away from parking with my coffee, wetsuit, and all the other equipment in my hand. My age group was in the water at 7:20 am. I was really surprised-I really enjoyed the ocean swim. The 1.2 Mile loop went by in no time, run through transition, do the cyclocross hop onto my TT bike and I was off on the bike course. The bike course was great. There were 2 no passing sections and unfortunatelly those 2 sections took a long time because the person in front of me went really slow...I ended up riding a fast 2:40 hrs (including the slow section :-(), the fastest female split was 2:30 hrs-I think that I might have gotten close to that if I would not have started in wave 13, the hold up in the no passing sections and also if I would have known how to pace myself-there was a bit of energy left over!!!
OK, then the 13.1 Mile run-it got a little bit warmer and I ended up running a little bit slower then I wanted...but that's OK, it was my first Half Ironman and only my second Half marathon ever!!!
I ended up winning my age group and qualifying for Kona and the 70.3 World Championships!!! I turned Kona down, but I took the 70.3 Spot-I AM GOING TO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!
The greatest part is that I would have won the next age group as well. I ended up being 5th Amateur.
It was a great and fun experience and I cannot wait to do my next Half Ironman!!!

Tschuessi,
Angi