Sunday, August 28, 2005

Thar's Hills In This Here City

I feel as if I have been given the secret handshake to enter the mystical area of hills that the elite cyclists and triathletes in Phoenix use to hone their craft. After three slightly different loops and some very tough grades, (PCH or better Stu I ain't lyin') we all packed it in.

Actually the term would be bonked it in. This is a record heat weekend for the Valley and during our ride the temp's went through the roof. I think I mentioned once before that on the really bad days, its not so much the high, high temp.'s but the sting of the sun (UV I think). It just hurts to be in it. On one portion of the loop the city was laying new ashpalt so for a good three mile stretch it was hot black asphalt radiating the heat back up at us.

All drama aside I can't wait to tackle the ride again.

As it turns out the doctor who contacted me is not really a triathlon coach. Rather he is in fact a pretty cool guy who is just sort of a connector. He knows about 4-8 people depending on the event and day that get together to train. Very similiar to the O.C crew led by Kahuna. For now this is great. They do lake swims and long rides, runnings on your own unless it's a mutual race. Most of them are prepping for Ironman Arizona next April which is good pacing for my own training.

I still am waiting to hear from the professional triathlon coach to see about that route which would be my perferred as he is 18/18 with clients finishing an Ironman and taken hundreds through marathons and 1/2 IM on down. He has finished quite a few Ironmans himself, Kona included as an age grouper, non-lottery.

Drove the minivan today to grocery shop. I called tremendous attention to myself my not knowing how to turn off the car alarm. Yeah I'm that guy.

4 comments:

Dr. Iron TriFeist :) said...

Sounds like you have a solid training grou set up. Best of luck with the coach and car alarm.

Wil said...

Heh! I've done that, too. The whole parking lot looking and you -- yeah, that's fun.

How cool about the coach - keeping my fingers crossed on that one for you, he sounds awesome!

tri-mama said...

Sounds like a great ride. This is so cool that you have a group to train with, it will help to build your confidence and keep you motivated that much more.

Now that you're a minivan owner you need to go to a Mighty Mo recital or other. The first time you pull into a parking lot lined with minivans and walk into a performance to stare across a sea of video and digital cameras you might want to run from the room yelling, I'm not a cookie cutter aaaggghhhh! or something like that. We went from a Geo tracker 4X4 soft top to a mini van. It took 5 years to finally sell that Tracker-it was the last vestige of our free and kidless days.

Welcome to the world of minivan.

Comm's said...

Trimama,
I don't need a minivan or recital for all eyes to be on Mighty Mo. That kid has a gravity that pulls kids towards him.

Other parents have to rearrange their schedules because they only want to go to private care when Mighty Mo is there.

I just found out that our friends will have long conversations on the phone about our son. I thought that was a bit weird but, then I looked at the source of the question.