Pic Spocket

It’s been a while since the last “Fauna Related Outing”. Last weekend, we did a quick stop at the Holiday Beach Conservation area for a walk during the annual “Hawk Festival”. It was our 2nd Hawk Fest since we also went in 2007.

Some of the birds on display were the same, including this owl and hawk:

And some birds we did not see before:

Walking around, we had a chance to see some other animals from up close, including thse frogs and a turtle that crossed a path just before us:

But whose big nose is that, ruining my picture???

Newton! But how can you be mad at such a pretty face hehe

More pictures and larger versions in the album….

Hawk Festival 2010

Me and Craig have been anticipating the Muskoka Half Ironman for a complete year. This was our first race on our calendar for 2010. Ironman Muskoka is known as one of the harder courses on the 70.3 circuit. The bike is quite hilly and the run is also on rolling terrain. Pros like Craig Alexander and Miranda Carfrae are using this race as a tune up before the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii in October. Click this link for a YouTube video of our race day in Muskoka by the local Cogeco station. We can see me swim on there at the end (more on that later).

Because the bike course is longer (94 km in lieu of the regular 90 km) and because the course is so difficult, there was no chance for a PR on the Half Ironman distance. But I still wanted to perform well and have an agressive goal. I am already qualified for Clearwater, and therefore I could afford to take more risks. If you have read the race reports from Florida and Steelhead, you have seen that in both cases I throttled down for the last 20 kms of the bike to be on the safe side for the run. I was not planning to do that this time around… So to keep me motivated I actually went ahead and posted optimistic but realistic goals on my facebook page before the race:

• Sub 5-hour finish
• Top 8 in my Age Group
• Top 75 Overall

As mentionned, these goals were realistic, but still demanded that I do my best performance so far, a very good race execution and that everything goes really well during the race.

We drove to Huntsville on the Friday with Craig, Tracy and Baby Turner in the minivan filled with our equipment.

Huntsville is a really nice little town. We stayed at the Hidden Valley Ski Resort, which was only 1 km away from the race site on the DeerHurst Resort property, but more affordable. They lacked a bit of the “Ironman Spirit” and the rooms were just OK, but the location was hard to beat. We had the lake just at the bottom of the hill for swim practice on the Saturday (see pic below), and we could walk to the race site in less 10 minutes. Here is the view from the hotel balcony on Saturday morning with the fog hovering over the lake.

The Friday and Saturday were just awesome weather days. Cool but sunny! We went to the Ironman Expo on the Friday and took care of registration. The evening, there was the “welcome buffet” which was pretty good for a buffet. We had the chance to see the Pros from up close. It’s nice to see they have to go through the same steps we do with registrations and all. On Saturday, Craig and me did a little bit of race preparation: a small swim/bike/run session as per the coach’s instructions. We swam in the lake by our hotel. Water was really cool but awesome. I am just glad we had wetsuits!! We passed most of the afternoon sun bathing by the lake on the DeerHurst property. Cool!

RACE DAY

I actually had a pretty good and long night sleep before the race. What is nice about staying near the race site is that you can sleep longer in the morning (no 4AM wake up!) and simply walk to the transition area with your gear. So me and Craig headed out the door no earlier than 6:00AM, which was PLENTY of time. We could easily have left 45 minutes later and be OK since the race started at 8:00AM. But I like to be early in transition, take time to setup and go to the toilet 3-4 times It rained during the night, and it stopped so we could setup our gear without being rained on. Light rain came back later during the race though.

During the days before and the morning of the race, I had the same hesitation: I could not decide what to wear for the bike split because of the cool weather. I finally decided to go with arm warmers only and setup my transition area accordingly. Before too long, the girls were joining us and we were heading (LATE!) to “swim start”.

SWIM - 1900m - 31:14   > Garmin Connect

Awesome swim course. Very nice and flat lake. Cool water temperature, perfect for me to keep my cool!

I really followed my race plan here: start easy in a position wide to the left flank to avoid contacts, then build up pace. I let “natural selection” occur on the first straight line and I successfully avoided most contacts. After the first turn, I actually spotted another “red cap” from my wave, slipped behind, and enjoyed the draft for a good portion of the swim. Somehow, I lost him after the last turn to the finish gate. Here is my wave start.

The swim felt awesome. I did not swim very aggressively by choice, since I wanted to keep my energy levels for the tough bike and run course. Still, I was hoping for a 30:xx swim but went over that goal by a little bit. Still, I placed 67 out of 863 participants for the swim, that’s top 8%. And in the top 10 of my AG. I am really stoked with my swim performance this year compared to last year. You would have told me at the beginning of the year that my run would be my weakest sport at the end of the season and I would not have believed you - but it is now!!! Here I am at the, finishing my swim (forefront of each picture):

You can actually see me swim in the Cogeco video linked below. If the video is stopped at 1:54, I am in the position indicated below near the middle of the screen and closest to the camera (I was really swimming wide). At 1:56 in the video, I go with a dolphin jump and start swimming. It’s funny to see myself swimming. I felt like I was starting easy, but the stroke rate we see on the video seems quite fast… Pretty awesome though. I almost look like a “swimmer” hehe!

Here are some other pictures by Corinne at the swim:

Here’s one taken by the event photographers:

T1 - 3:56

Pretty slow time there. First step was something new for me: wetsuit strippers! Volunteers were there to help you rip off your suit. Too bad, another swimmer came out just at that moment to obstruct Corinne’s view:

But here is how it looks like:

Then we had a crazy hill to run up to reach the transition area. Somehow, the surface was hard on my bare feet and I could not run very well. I got passed by several people going up. Then, putting the arm warmers on wet arms took forever despite my practice the night before. It feels like I lost a minute just trying to put them on. And then, off to the bike we were.

BIKE - 94 km with over 1000m Elevation -  2:43:49   >Garmin Connect

Normalized Power: 264w - Not bad! My best effort so far this year for such a distance.

OMG.. the bike was tough. Makes me scared for Lake Placid next year…

Looking at my power numbers, I think I did pretty good or even “better than expected”. I did push quite hard. I saw at the mid point that I was averaging over 271w. But the last 10 km hit me REALLY hard. The hills in the last section were something and the energy tank level was starting to run low.

Over the whole course, I only got passed by a couple of guys, but I did not pass a whole lot of them either. That’s what happens when you leave in one of the first waves. I did pass a PRO women near the end of the bike.

For the last 25 km, we were a group of 4-5 playing “switcharoo”. The rolling terrain made it hard (or impossible) to stay legal as far as drafting rules goes because I would always get passed on the way up, but these guys would be coasting (well not really coasting on the crest and downhill sections were I would try to keep the same effort so I was passing everybody again. (then repeat)… Falling behind 10m at the top of each hill would have killed my momentum and strategy.

It is clear that nobody is “drafting” when climbing a hill, but I do not remember seing any provision to that effect in the rule book. Since we had a Draft Marshall on a motorcycle with us most of the time on the last 30 km, I got nervous a few times but everything went OK.

I actually got pissed at 90 km, when I just remembered the course was actually 94 km long (which I knew but had forgotten…)

My quadriceps started giving up in the last 2 km, which I thought was not looking good for the run…

It’s usually hard for Corinne to position herself to get good bike pictures since you need to be out on the course for that to happen. Corinne and Tracy went to the intersection where the run and bike course were splitting, a few kms away from transition, and she could get nice pictures from there:

T2 - 1:27

Not bad considering that when I jumped off my bike, I could barely walk let alone run. I was more “hopping” to my transition spot, and slipped in my running shoes. I actually had the greatest transition spot ever, on a straight line with the bike and run gates.

Running out of T2, I looked at my watch and saw I was at 3h20 into the race. That meant that to reach my goal of a sub 5-hour finish, I would need to run better than in Steelhead, but things did not look good: I was feeling fresh going into the run at steelhead.

RUN - 21.1 km - 1:39:15    >Garmin Connect

I was a bit scared when I started the run because my legs felt trashed. It seemed like I was starting the run in “damage control’ mode already. I had doubts I would be able to run the whole course, but headed out running at a surprisingly decent pace. After a small downhill section, we had to climb the first of many hills already. There was no really big hills, but a lot of rolling terrain.

I stopped for a pee break at one of the first opportunity I got, loosing a minute in the process. I thought my sub-5hr goal was now really out and thought that my new goal would by sub 5h05.

I guess my training prepared me really well because despite having trashed legs, the kilometers were passing by, and the pace was still good. I got passed a few times but I also passed a few other people. Just before the turn around, passed a PRO women, which felt pretty good. I never passed a PRO on a course before that day. 5 minutes later, the PRO woman I previously passed on the bikes flew by me. Oh well..

At 7 km, I crossed path with Dave Sharrat, my coach’s brother in law racing as a PRO. He recognized the LPC outfit I was wearing and waved me. I was surprised he was not farther up ahead. I guess he ran into some issues earlier in the race.

The whole time I had a big smile on my face, and it seemed to be surprising to the people at the aid stations because I heard them commenting about it hehe! I was just happy to be there and be racing hard.

At the turn around of this “out and back” course, chatted a bit with a Swiss guy that came from an area near Zurich, where we lived for 6 months in 2000. He was pretty far away from home!

At ~15 km of the run, I ran into a rough patch and got passed by a guy in my Age Group during that time. I tried to keep up the pace during the tougher time, but I did slow down a bit. I knew the sub 5-hour finish was still within reach afterall, but my mind gave up for a brief amount of time going up a tougher hill at 19 km, where I walked for 15 seconds. Then I resumed running. It sucks because that’s the only place I walked. At the 20 km mark, looked at my watch, saw I was running short in time to meet my goal, and started to run faster and faster. The last 500m, I was sprinting, with the crowd cheering, keeping me going. It was awesome. In the crowd, I saw Craig’s parents calling my name and I wave them on my way to the finish. But it seems like the finish line was never coming! We had to go around the complete transition area to the back side to finally reach the finish chute.

I crossed the finish line, reaching my goal VERY closely, with only 19 seconds to spare! Awesome feeling. On the other side, my coach James Loaring and Rob Tranter from theLPC were there to greet me. (Finish line capture by my coach). After a small chat, I joined Corinne and Tracy who had just missed me running down the finish chute, unfortunately.

Event Photographer’s picture:

RESULTS 

I had an awesome race, meeting all my goals. The race by numbers:

>> Official Results 

That 6th place in my Age Group was good for an automatic spot for Clearwater!!! I got my spot in Steelhead, but it was the result from a roll down process. Pretty proud of that. I am really “clearwater material” now!

>> Pictures by the official photographers ASI

CRAIG 

Craig was quite nervous in the days leading to the race, you could feel it. The problem is that he did not train for it. It’s almost like waking up one morning and thinking: “Hum… I think I’ll race a Half-Ironman today”… Of course he had done all of the small sprint triathlon races with me this summer, but with not much training in between. I think his longest bike this summer was like 30 km. Crazy! I think as the event got closer and closer, he kind of froze about how to train for it and making time to train with the new baby and all. When it got really close, he just thought it was too late to do anything. But Craig is tough and there was no doubt in my mind he would cross the finish line. It’s just that it would take a bit of time to do so.

And I was right! He did pretty good, especially since the course was so tough. He improved a lot his swim this year, making for a great first split. Here are some pictures from him racing. Look at the tongue on the bike. I think he was trying to reach powerbar crumbles in his beard hehe!  In the run, he his cheered by his nephew.

 Way to go Craig! Our traditional finishing picture. I had 1.5 hour to rest there and Craig just crossed the line. You can tell he is completely exhausted.

As usual, many more pictures and larger versions in my album.

Ironman70.3 Muskoka 2010

I have posted a few pictures already of my race bike, my Kuota K-FACTOR. Here it is again after the ‘Autumn Colors Triathlon’.

I recently got some time to take a picture of my ‘new’ road bike. I actually got it last spring, just never had the time to shoot it

Last year, I went quite often to group rides with the group ESR (East Side Riders) and while it worked OK with the time trial bike, it was not optimal since the shifters are at  the end of the extension bars. Also, the handle bar position is quite aggressive, which is not really comfortable for long group rides where I have to hold the base bar.

So last spring I decided to shop for a new road bike. I wanted something decent, with a carbon frame and Shimano Ultegra group or better but without breaking the bank. It’s hard to get such a bike for less than $3000, which was outside my budget for a bike not for race use.

That’s why I was happy when I ran into a deal online at RealCyclist.com on a brand new 2009 Look 566 road bike. There was almost no difference with the 2010 model just coming out: the new ultegra group has internal cables for the shifters, and the color scheme was a bit different. Nothing to justify the $700-$800 price difference for the 2010.

The Look 566 is an entry bike for LOOK, but it’s got a full carbon frame, fork, seat post and handlebar. The bike is also built with a full Shimano Ultegra group, actually better than the mixed group I have on my race bike. Bike companies often use cheaper cranks or brakes with higher end derailleurs to appeal to buyers. The Ultegra group is just below Shimano’s top of the line ‘DURA-ACE’ group.

Wheels are just basic, in the shape of Fulcrum Racing 7 wheels, but it’s usually the case. I also did not care because I have my ZIPP 606 with power meter available if I ever need better shoes.

I swapped the saddle for a Specialized Toupe and the tires for Michelin Pro Race 3 tires, reducing the weight by 1 lbs. The bike now tip the scale at ~17.5 lbs (with bottle cages but no pedals). Not feather light, but pretty good for ~$2200. I also added Look 566 full carbon cages.

Here is the overall bike:

It’s looks even sharper with the ZIPP wheels on. I just wish the color scheme was a bit more layed off. You wonder why they feel the need to put the company name 12 times on the bike?!

I never noticed before now, but now that I look at both bikes, I notice that they are both compatible with the LPC colors!

I like the bike, but I have to say I did not get to use it much. The summer is almost gone, and I only put a few hundreds kilometers on it. My training was really focused for triathlons, and I did not do many group rides. Also, I did not have much luck on it: fell in the gravel with it (my only fall so far), and broke a chain playing in the hills around Guelph with my coach one night.

Now that I have only one triathlon race left for the year, I may get to ride it a bit more

Here are more pictures and larger versions:

LOOK 566 BIKE

The beast is breathing.. or actually it would be more accurate to say that it is spitting fireballs - it is so fast

But let’s back up a bit. I’ve been wanting to change my home desktop computers for over 2 years now. The Dell Precision 360, a Pentium 4 2.8 Ghz I had was simply painfully slow in general and even more so when dealing with handling and editing large photos such as generated by our 50D Canon Camera (each picture file RAW is ~15 Mb). It started to be sluggish even browsing flash-heavy websites such as TrainingPeaks and Garmin Connect. While we have a bunch of desktop and laptop computers at home (I lost count), I have actually never purchased a new desktop computer before. I always either bought used machines on Ebay coming from lease returns or bought old computers from Corinne’s workplace. I bought 3 Dell computers like that, and they worked for years without issues other than they become outdated.

In the last few months, I kept an eye out for PC deals but never found what I was looking for at the price I wanted. Since I had good luck with used Dell computers in recent years, I was looking at them but I was never happy with the component selection they offered or the price. If I was to purchase my first new PC, I wanted the thing to be really fast and “future proofed” for a long time with good components in general. I wanted also to have space for upgrades such as free memory and card slots.

Early on, I made the decision to go with an Intel core i7 860 processor for the best value for price versus performance. I always go with Intel processors. But I simply could not find what I wanted with Dell. It always ended up too expensive, and the latest technology (such as USB3.0) was not available with their offerings. Also, if I wanted 8 GB of RAM, they were doing it with 4 bars of 2 GB, filling all the available slots preventing any future upgrade.

Then I got the idea to build my own PC. While I have played with basic hardware in the past (add memory, replace hard drives or video cards), building a PC from scratch seemed like a daunting idea. But I thought it can’t be really complex. The advantage is that you can obviously select each individual component of your PC to meet your needs and budget. The trick is to do your research well to make sure you select the right parts for compatibility. So after a bit of reseach, I ordered all the parts I needed from newegg.ca. Few days later, a bunch of boxes arrived home. Nice puzzle!

I ended up going overbudget (what a surprise… I always do regardless of the project!) but I did a careful selection of the components based on what was important for me. I could have built a cheaper version for sure and still have a decent machine.

It turns out that the assembly process was really simple when you have the right components. In no time, I had a booting computer and I was installing Windows 7 on it. 

Main Hard Drive: This is where I went over budget at the last minute. Actually, I had received all the components when I decided to add and order a Solid State Drive (SSD). A SSD is a hard drive with no moving parts. It’s is basically just a bunch of memory chips. Since there are no moving parts, access time is ridiculously quick. It increases MS Windows responsiveness by a huge amount. The effect is so clear that people have reported that replacing their Hard Drives on older PC and laptops by a SSD unit simply brought them back to life. I am quick on the mouse and I hate waiting for computers to react so I just had to get one of these if I wanted the ultimate experience in responsiveness.

The SSD drives used to be REALLY expensive, but now they are more affordabe. Don’t get me wrong: they are still far from being cheap. While you can get a decently fast 1.5 TB (1500 MB) traidtional hard drive for under $100, I paid over $230 for a 80 GB SSD. So I use that drive to hold Windows and program files for performance, and I use the traditional drive for holding all my documents.

Windows 7 has a special feature called “Windows Experience Index” that rates your components by performance. At this time, my primary SSD drives rates at 7.8 out of a maximum of 7.9.

Motherboard: The ASUS p7p55D-E Pro features the new USB 3.0 connectivity and the new generation of SATA 3 hard drive controllers (higher speed). Both these features were missing in the DELL offerings at the time I looked. I have not seen USB3.0 devices out yet, but I’ll be ready! Also, there’s a lot of options in the BIOS for overclocking. This allows me to run my processor at the speed of higher priced processors or more.

The only inconvenient with this board is the time it takes to pass the POST (Power On Self Test) when you first power up: it seems like it takes ~20 seconds before anything happens. Overall, I am not too bothered by it since I leave my computer ON all the time and use the ’sleep’ mode.

Case: The HAF-922 is a monster. It’s actually bigger than I thought it would be. Here is is against my Dell Precision 360 machine it replaces.

It’s got plenty of front ports for connectivity, a lot of aeration and fans. The front fan has a red led in it. While I did not care for it, it does look mean when it’s running.

One of the very nice features is the cable management. All the extra cables ae stashed behind the right panel rather than being in the main component area. Here is the mess behind the cable management area:

But here is the comparison between the main component area of my Dell Precision 360 (mess on top) and the new PC build (below). A clean component area also helps a lot with cooling.

Graphic Card: I went with decent but cheap solution. I do not play games on the computer, so no need for a 300-400$ graphic card. Editing large size photos does not need a powerful graphic adapter. My computer is always running 24/7, so I went with a fanless card to have a quieter computer.

Processor Cooler:The Intel Core i7 processor came with the factory Intel cooler, but I decided to install an aftermarket unit to keep the processor as cool as possible. The Zalmann CNPS9900ALED had very good reviews, so I ordered one. What a surprise when I opened the box. The cooler is ridiculously big and fills the component area pretty well as seen in the previous pictures. I am glad the case I selected had plenty of space. The unit has a blue led, that looks pretty cool too when running.

I have made a test loading all 8 threads of the processor at 100% CPU for 10 minutes and the processor temperature never went above 50 deg C (which is quite low) and that’s with the cooler in “quiet” mode(limited speed). Awesome!

Windows 7 Pro 64 bits: So far, I am pretty happy with this operating system. The transition from XP is really not bad and I did not have too many software compatibility issues yet. The computer is so fast that I can now use the “sleep” function when I do not use the computer (it only takes seconds to recover) so as a bonus, my setup will be more power efficient compared to my previous machine running 24/7.

Here is the layout of the components in the case:

I re-used my keyboard and main monitor from my previous setup, but I did replace my second monitor with a newer widescreen unit. I have been working with Dual Monitors at home for a few years now, and when you are used to it, there are no going back. I have recently did the same thing at work and most of my colleagues were so amazed at the possibilities, they all bought a second screen as well hehe! Imagine.. you can have 2 documents side-by-side, or Photoshop opened with the picture to edit on the screen on the left and all of the tool windows opened in the secondary screen, etc.

Another addition is the dual monitor stand I got on Amazon for quite cheap: it cleared up a lot of desk space and evened out the 2 monitors nicely. I made a few custom desktop wall papers out of pictures I took in the recent years, and Windows 7 rotates them automatically every 30 minutes. Here is the setup with 3 different backgrounds (Hawaii, DTW airport, bridge of Avignon):

I have been using the computer for a few weeks now and I love it. It’s the most responsive computer I have ever used. Just for fun, here is a time comparison of various tasks between my previous PC and my new one:

It is clear from that picture that it’s much more pleasant to work on the new PC. When it was time to select a network name for the new PC, I had to choose something reflecting how fast it is. I named it ‘Crowie’ - Craig Alexander’s nick name : the fastest long distance triathlete of recent years.

Bigger versions of the pictures (1000 pixels wide) in the album below:

New core i7 PC

Last week end, I had to choose between 2 triathlon races I did last year: ‘Autumn Colors Tri’ in Michigan and ‘Bulldog Triathlon’ in Ontario. I really liked both last year, but Bulldog was moved forward by one week compared to last year, and Autumn Colors by almost a month, creating conflict.

Both races seems to be usually made out of a relatively small and not very deep field of competitors. Bulldog is a really fast sprint course on flat land inside Rondeau Park while Autumn Colors is about twice the distance, and much more of a challenge with a 3 loops hilly bike course and a 9 km trail run on rolling terrain as well. Since my next big race is Ironman 70.3 Muskoka, a rolling course, it made sense to go to the Autumn Colors Triathlon for a more specific preparation.

Last year, Autumn Colors was my last triathlon race of the year and I had a great race, finishing 8th out of a small crowd of 90 competitors. Based on my improvement this year as seen in the evolution of my finishing times at the T-REX serie, I had potential to place quite well. My friend Craig had injured himself in the run last year (twisted an ankle), so we would both need to be careful on the run to not jeopardize the Muskoka race.

So at 5:50AM Sunday morning, we loaded all the equipment in the Turner’s minivan and we (me, Corinne, Craig, Tracy & baby turner) headed for the US Border. Here’s Tracy and baby turner at the race site..

SWIM - 1000m - 16:35 (Wetsuit) - RANK:10

Swim start was something new for us: a time trial start. Each swimmer was leaving one at a time, after crossing the timing mat on the beach, at 5-15 seconds interval. We were pre-sorted prior to ’swim start’ based on our expected swim times. I put myself in the ~16:20 time slot. It seemed like there was maybe a dozen swimmers in front of me in the line. Before too long, it was my time to run the mat and jump in the water!

While it was nice to not worry about congestion in the swim, the format of the time trial start made me start a little bit too excited. Before 50m, I was already on the previous swimmer’s back and passed her soon after (first picture below). I passed another swimmer or 2 on the way out towards the middle of the lake. But I started too strong and kind of ran out of steam on the return back to the beach and ended up stopping twice briefly to catch my breath. This may also be due to the fact that I seem to have allergy problems lately. So I reached the beach about 15 seconds later than expected for an average swim. Still, that’s 2:30 faster than last year. Woo hoo!

T1= 1:40, within 1 second of last year’s time. I am pretty consistent with my transitions. I would need to find a better trick to remove my wetsuit quickly if I want to shave time here. Seems like I am always struggling a bit.

BIKE - 30 km - 50:17 - RANK:1

Yeah.. That’s right: the fastest bike split of the day! The course was tough starting with a decent hill to climb out of the transition area before reaching the bike loop, but I paced it very well with almost equal splits on all 3 laps. I would not have been able to do a 4th lap at the same pace. Almost 3:30 faster than last year: I am very happy with that! This is definitely where I gained positions. So while I do not feel stronger than last year on the bike, I definitely am. Here’s the winning bike after the event…

T2= 0:38 - 3 seconds faster than last year. I did take the time to put socks on with my regular training shoes as I did not want to risk injury using my ZOOT racing shoes (sockless) in the trail run due to the lack of support.

RUN - 9.25 km - 43:15 - RANK:7

The run course is quite challenging and technical. It’s 85% trail run with rocks and stomps and a lot of rolling hills and some more abrupt hills. Sometimes, there would be sand pits in the bottom of the hills, making the footing quite slow on some sections. Still, I was expecting to have my best time improvement on the run split. It turns out I only cut ~1:30 on the run split. Cutting minutes off the run is quite hard it turns out. I may have pushed a bit too hard on the bike too, but I do not regret it.

FINAL TIME: 1:52:12 - 3rd overall (small field of 54 competitors for the Long Course event)
Almost 8 minutes faster than in 2009 and my first podium ever in a triathlon race. Cool!

>> RESULTS

Craig also improved a lot on last year’s time, and managed to stay injury-free. At the start line of Ironman70.3 Muskoka in ~10 days, he may wish he twisted his ankle again at Autumn Colors, while he has the pre-race jitters hehe! Here he is, running over water. Hard to be more excited at the starting line!!

He always comes up with crazy ideas, and this time was no exception. In addition to his traditional push-ups in the middle of the race, he actually did his bike with a cowbell in his jersey pocket and when he reached the girls (Corinne and tracy), he pulled it out and rang it before throwing it to them (note to Craig: that’s ground for disqualification at the Ironman race: abandoning equipment).

Here is our traditional finishing picture.

As usual, more pictures and larger versions in the album.

Autumn Colors Tri