Gave the road bike a day off...

Today I hung up my road shoes and traded them in for my mountain bike shoes. I vary rarely get out on a mountain bike (I don't have one yet) so todays ride was a fun one. My mom told me yesterday that her and her friend Terry were planning on a horseback ride for today and wanted to know if I would want to go with. My first thought was sure, I will just use my cross bike and go out with them....then I remebered that I have road tires on my cross bike and don't even have my cross tires anymore (I need new ones). No need to panic though, my best friend Jenni and her husband Mike own Vertical Earth, the local bike shop here in Coeur d' Alene, I would just rent a mountain bike from them and head out. I ended up getting one of the demo bikes they have and out I went. We went out to 4th of July pass and rode around the trails out there. I have been out there only one other time and that was this winter when we all went snow shoeing. It was a lot of fun to be out there in the hot weather and enjoy the beauty of the area. All in all I probably didn't put many miles in but I was out there for a total of over two hours. We stayed on the main forest service road for the most part but while I was waiting for my mom and Terry I would take off on some of the 'lesser traveled' trails and enjoyed a bit of mountain biking:) Like I said before I don't get out on a mountain bike that often but when I do I sure enjoy it. I will have to get one sometime soon. Here are a few pictures of todays ride....

The view from the top, hard to see but there was still a bit of snow on top of these mountains.

My mom on the right, and her friend Terry, taking a beverage break.

Ironman Weekend

Here are a few pictures from this weekends Ironman.

This is the pro start, bright and early at 6:25am. The water was a little cold (59.5) but MUCH warmer then it has been the past week. One week ago the temp. was around 52. Many of the athletes that I talked to said it wasn't too bad, cold but not as bad as earlier in the week. Other than the water being a little cold the weather was about as perfect as could be. By the afternoon the temp was mid 70's with a little cloud cover. I was down for the start and then headed out onto the bike course to work SAG at one of the aid stations. SAG is basically someone to take bikes and or athletes back to the start if they crash and are out of the race or no longer want to continue. I didn't have anyone take themselves out of the race, but did have a few bikes to take back to transition because of crashes.

After I was done at the aid station I got some lunch and then went downtown to watch the finish. Its alwasy inspiring to sit downtown and watch everyone finish, seeing the joy on their faces and their families there cheering them on is great. Around 8 o'clock I headed down to the massage tent where I would be working for the next 4 hours. For the past 3 years I have been down there working on the athletes once they finish. Its always fun to be there and talk with them right after they finish, I don't know how much I am really able to help them in the few minutes I work on them but they enjoy us being there and its great to hear the story of their day.

The beach start of everyone else. 2200 people getting in the water at the same time is amazing to watch!

Why not?

My dog Maggie

So I figured I would go ahead and start a blog here. I have one on Myspace but after seeing that a few of my friends have joined this page I figured....Why not? Since not that many of my friends have a myspace account and therefore can't view my blog on there I thought this would be a better way for my friends and family to keep up with whats going on in my life (which to be totally honest isn't much )
I am looking forward to this weekend, it is Ironman weekend here in Coeur D' Alene, ID. I will be down there for the start bright and early, its so amazing to watch all of the athletes get in to the water and start their journey to becoming Ironmen. After the start I will head out to the bike course and work as a SAG volunteer picking up any cyclists who choose to withdrawl from the race. Hopefully I won't have many athletes to pick up. I will be taking pictures and will post them here once I get a chance. After I am done out on the bike course I will be in the massage tent working on the athletes once they finish. This in my opinion is one of the greatest places to volunteer. They are so happy to finish and so grateful that we are there to work on them it truly is an inspiration.