Near the end of July when I was doing all my riding. Barry Miller at work mentioned that he was doing the Jordanelle Triathlon this year. We got to talking and put together an ARB team to compete against him. Darren did the mile swim, I did the 25 mile bike and Tom did the 5.2 mile run.

This was kinda fun. It was held Saturday 25 August and took a big chunk of the day. It was very cold when we got to Francis. I was glad I brought a sweatshirt. There was much standing around waiting for the start. But, I entertained myself chatting with the other Olympic Relay cyclists.

By the time Darren got to the transition after the swim I was the only one in that group left who hadn't started yet. I did manage to pass five of the relay riders on my leg because we came in fifth overall and there wasn't anyone on the run who was significantly faster than Tom. The ride was tough. The route had a slight incline on the way out. They say on a TT that you should hold back a little for the first third or so. But, knowing it was a slight downhill on the way back I felt I should push about as hard as I could. Still, I didn't want to blow up.

I managed to keep my average heart rate quite close to my maximum. I maxed out at 173 and the average was 167 for the whole race and 169 for the first half. There was one rider who I was behind for several miles trying to catch and pass. It was a 56 year old woman. So I gave her some praise and encouragement when I did pass her. I did the ride at a 20.8 mph pace which was second overall for the Men's Olympic Relay. I averaged 24.66 MPH for the second half. Results are here.

The shuttle system after the race was really backed up with a long line. So, I rode my bike back into Francis to get the car. There was one climb on this route that I wasn't looking forward to. Many people were riding back. But, most of them walked their bikes up the hill.

I saw the Buckwalters, Scotty Johnston, and Bishop Workman who was there cheering on a son and son in law. Maybe we will do this next year. I hope to have a TT bike by then.

ITT

After the 1000 mile month in July, I took 2 days off from riding and then on Friday 3 August I did a time trial to see if I could better my best average speed for a 20 mile plus ride. I stayed down in the drops the whole time and tried to concentrate on keeping my shoulders low and using a low cadence. I managed to do the ride in just slightly over one hour and upped my best average speed from 21.8 to 22.3, which seems like a significant increase, meaning I can do better still. I got up to 35.6 mph in a dead sprint while merging into the left turn for Vine Street. Then on the little rise up from the creek near the Church I also sprinted and just about blacked out.

San Clemente Redux

This year at San Clemente was marked with good weather (very little cloudiness) warm water (in the low 70's most of the time) and perhaps a little less noise and confusion around the apartments because of the maturing group of kids.

We stopped in Saint George and stayed with Grandma and Grandpa both on the way there and on the way home. I flew home Saturday the 11th and back early Monday the 13th, so I wouldn't miss three Sundays in a row and so I could attend Tyler Schumann's missionary farewell. I saw Shauna Robbins and her daughters on the way home and Missy's Dave on the way back.

I haven't flown since the increased airline security of a couple of years. Boy, what a hassle. I'm surprised there hasn't been mass revolt.

We were awakened about 7am the first Monday morning with construction going on right next door. We were reminded of our Italian vacation and how the generous landlord dealt with a similar problem.

The first night I was repeatedly awakened by Ameer who was pounding his head on the floor because he couldn't sleep. We fixed that real quick and told him to quit doing it.

Despite some attempts I didn't see Chris or Stuart or Toni this trip. We borrowed Ed's very nice new unused surfboard (10'2" Robert August) and the two boards that we usually borrow from Sean and did as much surfing as possible. I think we might have missed two days. The best day for me was the second Tuesday when we went to "Old Man's." I had a great time and was finally getting the hang of it again. But, I was always sore; my arms and shoulders and my knees. Near the end of each session I could barely push myself up off the board.

I didn't go cycling a ton, only 219 miles and only saw one rabbit. My last ride a guy on a Carbon Kuota TT bike passed me right before the turnaround. I caught up to him. But, every time I went to pass him I couldn't fight the wind. So, I just stayed in his slipstream for about 8-9 miles.

I didn't get called an old man like last year. But, once while I was lying with my eyes closed on the hard sand near the tideline I overheard someone ask, "is he dead?"

There was really only one day where there were some OK bodysurfing waves. Of course, when I picked up the boards from Sean he said, "you should have been here last week."

Laney got braver and braver in the water throughout the stay until she was using the boogie board a little and playing in the smaller waves. On the last day I took her out to where the big people hang out and she had fun with me holding her. I got her into a little trouble with one larger wave though. I tried to get her out past where it would break. But, we didn't make it. So, I tried to throw her over it. She came up sputtering. But, not to much worse for wear.

We ate plenty of Cassano's pizza and soft serve ice cream cones. The kids went to the Spectrum one day and I went with Ailsa and Jensen to see Bourne Ultimatum one night. We have so much fun on this vacation, it makes it hard to leave.

Cute Kids at Puggas House

Brave Laney at the Beach 2007

She likes "the bumps without the white stuff."

Mini Toor day Frants (Tour de Todd)

This was a chemical free event. Not a dope free event.

In slightly under 52 hours of riding time I rode 1000 miles during the month of July.

At the beginning of the year on BikeJournal.com someone started a thread about stating your goals out loud. So, I chimed in and said I would do 1000 miles in July. As I got closer to the month I came to realize that it wouldn't be so easy.

Some of the obstacles I had to overcome:

Hottest July on record for Salt Lake Area with an average temperature of 84 degrees. This wouldn't be a big deal. But, our AC at home went out for a couple of days.

Breaking in a new saddle. Actually I had it about 2 weeks before the beginning of the month. But, when I started to ride longer distances, I began to experience some soreness. I took a couple days off and then I was pretty good.

During this time I thought my chances of meeting the goal were next to nil. I only did about 130 miles the second week. But then that second Saturday I rode in the evening and realized I could maybe still make it.

We finally figured out a sleep disorder that I have been dealing with really for years. It kinda came to a head and I couldn't get to sleep early enough to wake up early enough. I got some medication to help me sleep. Then, the problem was I didn't want to get up in the morning. After some experimentation, I am taking half a dose half as often as the Doctor said and it seems to be working great.

Had to fit in two overnight campouts.

We had bad air quality because of rampant wildfires in the State. This bothered my throat for a couple of days.

We had several episodes of season four of "24" we had to watch.

I managed to steer clear of all the thundershowers.

My knee gave me almost no trouble, which is very untypical when I increase my mileage.

At the end I was ranked 909 in BikeJournal.com for my overall mileage. I probably won't stay there.

I expected my average speed to suffer quite a lot because it usually does when I increase my riding. I kept it up though and did the whole month over 19 mph average and slightly higher than all of my solo miles last year.

It was probably a good thing to do since I was kind of aimless and lackadaisical about my riding in June.

But, I probably won't be doing this again anytime soon.