Interbike!

Hello from Las Vegas! I'm here at Interbike schmoozing with industry folks and eyeballing the latest and greatest of what's coming out in 2009. It's been a blast!

We got in Tuesday late afternoon after a bumpy flight and went straight to eat and sleep. No Outdoor Demo days for us. Wednesday and Thursday we went to the show, Friday fly back. We're stopping in Flagstaff because we have the mountain bikes with us and it's too hot to go straight to Tucson right now.

The show is unbelievable. For the manufacturers and distributors this is their chance to show off the '09 product line. For the retailers, it's the chance to see what they'd want to carry in their shops and get ready for their preseason orders. For the rest of us schmoes it's a way to hob knob and network.

Actually, Interbike is a great opportunity to meet those sponsors who've helped out Grasky Endurance and give them a handshake of thanks, and to talk to other potential sponsors and partners.

So how'd it go? I'll have to tell you later. Exciting stuff indeed, but nothing's finalized yet. Sorry to keep you hanging.

Highlights of the show...

Bikes:
- Scott's Plasma 2 is my pick for the hottest bike at the show. Very stiff, very aero, very beautiful. The Cervelo P4 was the hype, but it looked flimsy and goofy to me.
- For Mtn bikes, Scott takes it again with the Spark. Velo Vie has a cool MTB carbon hardtail in the works, and Litespeed is always a good bike.
- For custom, go Rue Bikes. Beautiful carbon work, beautiful paint, sick light.
- Didn't see Cannondale there. Bummer.

Components:
- SRAM is about the same, Shimano is coming out with a carbon version of Dura-Ace that look nice. I still like the SRAM better. more comfy. I didn't check out Campy. Sorry.

Wheels:
- Zipp has some pretty cool innovations out for '09 like adjustable bearing pre-load, stronger hubs, and color options. It's a very nice wheel for '09.
- Reynolds took the already-lightest wheelset and made it even lighter. Their DV46 is in the realm of sick-light now, at just above 1000gm for the set (yes, for a 46mm rim). Their 32mm rim wheelset is under 1000gm! (Check out the media section of Reynolds' website!)

Nutrition:
- Hammer has a great new flavor in their HEED and Recoverite...Subtle Berry. MMmmmmm!

Stuff:
- Zoot has training shoes now!! The are introducing the industry's best compression gear, and their cycling gear is going to be top-notch. I was highly impressed with Zoot's '09 line!
- Genuine Innovations is always the leader in CO2 inflation!
- ESI Grips is coming out with white and pink colors for '09!
- DuMond Tech has a new "Green" chain lube and grease that's biodegradable and environmentally friendly! Look for this at the '09 GEC Training Camps!

One of the coolest parts was the racing. Wednesday night was a huge cyclocross race. Man, that's exciting to watch. All the names were there, including LANCE ARMSTRONG! He had a rough starting position (you don't get points when you're retired) but moved up well. He finished about 14th or so. Still very exciting to see. Then on Thursday night was the USA Crit Finals. Owwie. Huge pros, everyone there, and tight corners means rough crashes. (Did you know you can smell burning flesh after a crash at 35mph on pavement?) And holy cow to those guys move! I even got Jill to stay up past 9pm for this one!

Oh, but if you want to attend an almost equally exciting show (and one for consumers) check out TRIFEST. TRIFEST will be in Tucson in March and will have all the elements of Interbike's trade show but directed toward consumers, but will have speaker sessions--including top pros, coaches and industry folk--for 2 solid days, training camps, and a bike ride up Mt Lemmon with over 100 riders including big-name pros.

Until next time, rubber side down.

Shift Up!
Brian

Collegiate Triathlon

The kick off of the school year here in Tucson means the University of Arizona TriCats are getting revved up and going again. This will be my third season as their head coach, a job I look forward to each year. It’s not without its challenges, but I thoroughly enjoy watching the students grow in triathlon and in life, through the challenges that triathlon brings.

I learned a lot about managing a team of 65 my first season. Sometimes it was herding cats, but all in all it was good. Coaching a team was new to me, but as long as the 65 stayed 65 I was fine. The second season started at 100 TriCats. Wow. Now this year it looks like 120 or so. This is good growth—and we’re all growing in our ability and relationships.

The leadership this year is good and motivated. They have some great ideas and look to be working to make them happen. I’m excited to be working with them.

The highlights from last year were the weekend training camps and the USAT Collegiate National championships. The camps were a blast, and a good way for the athletes to learn more about triathlon—and themselves—in such a short period of time than they had all season up to that point. We culminated the fall training camp with a mock race and the spring camp with a real race—the Desert Classic Duathlon. We’re planning similar camps this year.

Nationals were a great time and we performed well. From Kathy placing (read about her on my site) and Alex doing very well, to the other members of the team who all either PR’d big or overcame huge obstacles to finish, I was extremely proud of the team.

We’re also looking into a winter break camp for the collegiate teams in our region. This will be a great opportunity for those schools under snow in January to come to the perfect triathlon playground of Tucson for some winter cycling, running, and swimming.

I’m looking forward to some great performances out of the Arizona TriCats this year. Keep up with them throughout their season here.

GEC Sweep!

Today, Tucson's Davis-Monthan Air Force Base held an aquathlon today as a memorial to a lifeguard who was killed in a flash flood a couple of years ago. Angela was a sweet girl a fun lifeguard and was missed by the entire base and Tucson community.

The aquathlon is a cool way to remember her--her friends and coworkers put it on and did a great job. The 800yd swim and 5k run were on the base; in te outdoor pool and along the flat empty roads.

I'm glad to report that GEC atheltes took the top three finishing spots overall! (OK, there were only a handful of people there, but that's not important!) I had a decent swim and exited first, about 100yds ahead of second. Caryn was out in third I think, and Brian (GEC webmaster) soon after. When I saw them on the run, Caryn was in 2nd, Brian in 4th. At the finish line, I had won, Caryn was 2nd, and Brian was slightly back in third! GEC on all steps of the podium! This isn't the Olympics, but we'll take it! (Note: I think this makes Caryn undefeated in the season's aquathlons for women, as well!)

It was a fun day and a great time for a little race to get the blood moving.

-Brian

Ahhh, Vacation!

I’m up in Glacier National Park this week on a family vacation. My folks live up near here and once a year we get the family together (two older sisters, one younger brother and their families) for a shin-dig in Glacier.

We decided to try our hand at fishing today. I used to fly fish quite a lot but it’s been a while. The wind was picking up and the water was too cold to wade out too far, so we took the rubber rafts across the lake to a calmer spot. My brother, relatively new to fly fishing but an amazing athlete in every sense, pulled in a little 10” Rainbow on his first cast—I’m not kidding. Not to be outdone, I spent the next 2 hours casting while the rest of the crew sat on the shore. Nothing. On the way back across the lake I tied on a spinner and trolled. I pulled in a little 12” Cutthroat! Ha! (No camera on the boat, dang it!) Since the mountains are still patched with snow, the water was too cold for swimming. Besides that, I’m on vacation!

Also a few GEC athletes did some fishing this weekend—fishing for podiums and PRs! Bec and Scott P. both qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships at Vineman—HUGE CONGRATS—and Brian and Caryn both PR’d (Brian by 36 minutes!!!) in Olympic Distance at the Camp Pendleton Int’l Triathlon. Congrats!

For me, it’s more fishing tomorrow and I’ll try to bring the camera!

Brian

First Race Back

This past weekend I was lucky enough to be in San Diego for work—July is a good time to be away from Tucson. It just so happened that Sunday was a day off—and the Carlsbad sprint triathlon was that day. This is one of the oldest continuously run triathlons in the country, and is held on beautiful beach-front roads with nice pavement and a lot of spectators. Not a bad place to make my comeback into racing after 15 months off.

[Note: For you who may be reading for the first time I decided to see how much force it would take to rip one’s foot off their leg in a mountain bike crash 15 months ago. It took 6 months on crutches, 5 surgeries, countless medications and antibiotics, several setbacks, and a few thousand prayers, and only last month was I able to fly again. I’ve been able to swim and cycle regularly since March, and am only now running. This was my first time putting the swim, bike and run together since then.]

The race started in waves, and I was in the first wave with the pros and all the guys in my age group. This is a good place to start! The swim went OK—as good as I expected for not swimming much in the last few weeks--it's been a busy few weeks and the swim lost out. (I guess the once-a-week aquathlon exclusively isn’t the best swim training...who knew?!) I was out of the water feeling good, but was a ways down in my wave. The water was a bit cold, but the Zoot Zenith wetsuit was great!

My ankle was tight in T1, but once I got on the bike I felt great. There was a longish, steep climb right out of T1 and a good descent at the top. I didn’t understand those who put their shoes in the pedals in T1—I passed 5 of them on the climb out before we got up to speed! I immediately passed more people and held a good pace on the ride and pushed for 280 watts on the flats and descents, and going to 300-310 on the climbs and accels. I love the Slice paired with the Reynolds SDV66 wheels—it’s solid and fast. Average power = 274 watts.

In T2 I again had to deal with the tight ankle, and running barefoot isn’t my favorite thing anymore. As I started on the run I twisted my ankle on a timing mat and thought I was finished. It began to loosen up slowly, and by the time mile 1 rolled around I was feeling good and was able to pick up the pace and run well. I left T2 with the top woman and lost quite a bit in the first mile, but held my position after that. I don’t have time splits on the run, but it felt like a 9 minute first mile and 6-flats after that. Surprisingly I was only passed by one guy—a pro. Pace = 6:25. (Oh, if you don't have Zoot Ultra shoes, get them!)

At the finish line I really felt good. This is a good feeling—to be “back into it.” The excitement of the race I hadn’t felt in a while was refreshing and exhilarating. I finished 2nd in my age group with a mediocre swim, a top-10 overall bike split, and a descent run. To have my first sub-20 minute 5k on a rolling course after a hard bike ride was a victory to me. To see old friends on the race course and spectating was sweet. To have Jill yelling and having a good time was wonderful.

I’m back!