A P R I L

WED

Temecula Triathlon:   On your mark..get set….FREEZE!!

APRIL
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
			1 Pizza Nite 6:15 PM : )	2	3	4 FM           7:00 AM
5	6  6:15 PM TRACK	7	8 Pizza Fac   6:15 PM run	9	10	11 FM 7:00 AM
12 Drip Springs 8 AM	13  6:15  TRACK	14	15 Pizza Fac   6:15 PM run	16	17	18 SRP     7:30 AM
19	20  6:15 TRACK TMS	21	22 Pizza Fac   6:15 PM run	23	24	25 FM 7:00 AM
26	2 7   6:15   TRACK TMS	28	29 Pizza  fac  6:15 PM run	30	1	2 FM           7:00 AM

Legend:   Pizza Fac:  Pizza Factory       TMS:  Temecula Middle School

FM :           Farmer’s Market  (old town )           SRP:   Santa Rosa Plateau

Per Ingy:       TRACK:  The track workout at Great Oak fizzled when there was a track meet in progress, forcing us to go back to Temecula Middle School. I would guess that we’ll stay at TMS through April and we’ll discuss at the May 6th meeting.———————————————

APRIL BIRTHDAYS 03–Anthony Flores 04–Matt Jefferies 12–X-terra girl 19–Sandra McCormick 22–Kiki Burnick 26–Glen Koch     MEMBERSHIP EXPIRATION (Dues Due) Kiki Burnick Sandra McCormick ===============================

HEY BETH…THAT NEW LOGO LOOKS GREAT UP THERE!!!!   —————————————————– Following comes from Eric: Dripping springs is now open again w/ newly paved road and parking area and, even better news, the bathrooms are open.  ——————– NEW JUST IN:  Scan down below the Diamond valley bike ride to find out just how  not nimble Jack was swimming the super Frog half ironman and just how quick he was during the run.  Tagged onto the bottom of his story’s a quicky blurb about Kimmie’s team and the SuperFrog.  Also new: Photo of Carlsbad Redliners courtesy of Doug. IT’s IN:    Kim, Glen’s and my Paddle, Pedal, trip N Plod  Renegade Adventure race. EXCUSE THE WIERD FORMATING…I’m clueless how to correct it. I tried a re copy minus photos at the bottom of the newsletter and the sentences are a bit more readable but it still has problems.

BOULDER CITY HALF MARATHON :  WHO IS THAT UNMASKED MAN??

STEVE:

“IS THIS WHERE THE LINE TO AUDITION FOR AMERICAN IDOL STARTS??”

This was a great Half.  It is called “six tunnels to Boulder Dam” because the course runs along the railroad that was built to haul materials to the dam during construction.  The old railway is now a rail trail and includes six tunnels and great views of Lake Mead.  My friend “fasteddie” and I were the only Elvii in the race and had a lot of fun.
Steve

——————–

Diamond Back Doug’s Diamond Valley Lake  Mt Bike N’ snake watch Ride

(Photo’s  by Noni/Eric )

 

Sunday at 8 AM a 6 pack of Redliners met at DVL and cruised thru the 22 miles in temps that started out cold enough to freeze  a  snake to it’s burrow.  Happily,  just a few  miles of effort and sunshine warmed everyone up.   By the half way point some of us were shedding layers……

Noni, Linda, Doug (Tapping Mother Earth:  IS ANYONE HOME??), Tracy, and Ingy the Snake Snack.

Answer to Doug’s question….    One BIG YES:

,,,,, and by 3/4 way round, Speed  bumps started popping up  on the path. The above speed bump was fat  N’ sassy N’  big enough to think about eatin’  Ingy for brunch if Ingy dared tap  him with the whimpy whimpy whimpy itsey bit of straw that Ingy thought would make the perfect snake stick.  

Mr Western Diamond back,  sub species ‘Red’, checks out his brunch menu.  

One of the nifty things about these bike rides is that one gets to  chat with each other better then on runs.  As a result, one learns some interesting things.  I learned two things about Ingy.  One is that if he tried out for the Valley’s American Idol competition, he’d probably win, so long as he could sing The Skunk Song.  This song was goin’ thru his head since he’d heard it enroute to the ride.  Several  of us had never heard it before (for better or worse and probably for better,   per Ingy) thus Ingy belted it out for us.  And he did a darn good job!!  The second thing I learned about Ingy is that he needs to do a race to Oz, as in where the ‘Wizard Of’  lives.   That’s because when it comes to  rattle snakes,  he needs to find a brain, not a stick. Happily he ultimately dropped his  piece  of straw  and vamoosed with the rest of us.

 Technological miracle plus incredible balancing act = photo  of all of us. (it only took 35 tries and if you felt the earth shake, that’s  when the camera, balanced on Noni’s helmet which was balanced a top a round trash can lid plummeted to the ground.)

Thanx Doug, for  organizing this ride and thanks Noni/Eric for the great   photos ..more can be seen at this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/noninierenberg/DiamondValleyLakeBikeRide32909?authkey=Gv1sRgCJrQifjYvYLP_gE&feat=directlink. 

…………………………….

Editors note:  Jack provided below input about his first half ironman experience. Jack’s clearly an ‘outside the box’ thinker (Read that “whacked out insane “). Most folks doing their first half iron sign up for one that’s got as user friendly a course as possible. Special note to Jack :  They DO exist.  After hours spent training in 80 degree swimming pools with .5 inch waves, Jack signs up for the Super Frog.  Second special  note to  Jack:  The Super Frog ain’t  one of ‘em. Perhaps all that chlorine impacted his brain. Here’s his story:

My First Super
Frog Experience, by Jack (The water-logged) Lenzo.

Note:  I
made many rookie errors this being my first half iron. (Ed.  Note:   You’re being way too hard on yourself…I only spotted one:  namely signing up for Super Frog vs any one of the other 200 half irons held in this neck of the woods -you know, the ones with lake swims and non sandy runs)  Hope this write up helps any future participants! My times are as follows:

Short Story:

JACK LENZO

MURRIETA

SWIM 0:43:16

T1 0:05:24

BIKE 3:19:43

T2 0:02:34/         RUN 2:06:54/          FINISH/ 06:17:51

 The Swim: Never
mind the 55 degree water and 8 foot waves; when the horn blew I got right into the
surf with all the other Crazies out there…(Read that:  Jack gets his first reality check:  he’s no longer in a swimming pool in Kansas)

 I was in the first wave, registered as a Clydesdale. (Yes
Bob, I’m still over 200 pounds). I was able to ignore the cold- if not for my breathing
being completely arrested. Both salt water and fog were getting into my goggles
and confusion set in rather quickly, between GASPING for air, and lack of
vision. ( Ed. Note: So I guess that idea of visualizing yourself in a calm, happy place kinda got sucked down the drain fast?) I couldn’t see where I was going at all. (That’s OK, The sharks probably could) I was making strange noises I
didn’t know I could make. (Those are called shark calls) I was convinced I was being water boarded. And this
was after practicing in the ocean and hundreds of laps at the pool.

“Anybody seen where Kansas went??”

 I was contemplating my first DNF right
then and there. I resorted to the “Zig-Zag” swim method, (Guess he watched Kimmie’s  demo tapes). I took my goggles
off, which got me redirected several times by race officials in yellow canoe’s asking
“Are You Okay?!! The Shore is THAT WAY!” This coping mechanism did cost me
time, but kept me moving forward at least. At this point, I felt completely
over my head.  What did I get myself into??  I was cursing my friend who convinced me to do such a calamity. This had to be the worst of it, I hoped.  I could not have my wife simply “pick me
up with the truck” either, so I was resigned to tough it out. I’m glad I did. All
in all, as horrific as the swim started out, I did manage to get “comfortable” on
the last lap, and was in a groove.

“Where’s the Beach??”

Unfortunately I was now catching elbows and feet
from the next wave behind me. (Attracted by all your commotion, the sharks probably were too) Somehow, the 1.2 mile swim felt like just a half
mile swim, much shorter than a 1.2 in the pool. For me, the swim was not about
time, but survival. No pool training could have prepared me for the surf and
salt water entry.

Even though I did practice ingress and egress at the beach in
Encinitas with the wetsuit, I had forgotten my goggles that training day, so
those problems never came up before. My step son, Kendall, who was in the same
wave (15-29 age group / along w Clydesdales), was having the same problem, only
he opted to swim with his head out of the water the whole way, and swam a
timely 34:09! (That’s darned impressive for turtle style swimming!)  When I got to the
bike rack he was already gone… Up to that point, I was considered the stronger
swimmer. Ha! I had trouble getting out of my wetsuit too, even though I did well
in practice drills. My Velcro kept re-securing itself over and over! LOL!  I was
stuck in a bad joke…  Out of
desperation, I had a spectator help me un-latch the Velcro. (Am I disqualified
now?) To my credit, with gobs of Vaseline I avoided the dreaded “ring around
the collar” chaffing burn, which my step son forgot to do, so now he’s got a wetsuit 
souvenir hickey around his neck. (That aughta impress girlfriends and teachers alike.) Burns like hell too! (But worth it, I’ve no doubt.)

  Wedding Ring note:    Make sure you take off
your wedding ring: not only will you not lose it in the chop (or inside some shark’s tummy), you can pick up
more chicks while on the bike and run. (Just Kidding!) Seriously though, right
before the start, I tucked it under my wetsuit ankle, having forgotten to take
it off.  The guy standing next to
me said that he lost his ring in just the same way, and to tie it to the
zipper-pull instead. Luckily, I had just gotten done tying it when the whistle
blew!

 

The Bike:
Coming out of T1 from the swim, I followed two guys on the bike just ahead of
me who made a wrong turn. There was no indication they were off course, until
the absence of other bikes made it obvious.

“The tasty one’s have arrow bars”

Only then did we get told how to “get
back” on course by this laid back volunteer guy. (A sign with an arrow pointing
the way would have been far more effective than the labyrinth of cones you have
to make sense of), but then again a sense of awareness is part of the race too.
I get back on course and start cruising along on my modified road bike, losing only
about a minute or so for having gone off course.

What jack and Jack’s ‘Modified road bike’ were up against -the real reason he didn’t come in first place. Or second…or…

Soon enough, the wind kicked up, and 20 mph became 14 mph,
and sometimes 12 mph. Me and my large self caught every bit of wind. Pro’s
were zipping by me, literally, like I was standing still! I was quite distracted
by all the exotic tri-bikes that were rolling at 30 mph. They looked like aliens on a
mission, or maybe like comic book super heroes come to life. Their foiled wheels made
these whirring sounds, and I heard “On your left” at least 10 times. So I
stayed right the whole way. I also lost count of how many laps I did, and was
told I was done at the 3rd lap when I actually had yet another lap
to go. I only knew I wasn’t done since riders who pulled ahead of me still had not
yet finished. (The bike course is Out and Back, four times). (Jack gets extra points from Beth for honesty)

The last 30 miles were done in pure agony.  My left knee developed lactic acid over load. I tried everything: standing up, changing gears,

un-clipping to shake leg out, you name it. (Amputation??) I was LOATHING the bike ride at this
point, sniveling salt water out of my nose non-stop like a faucet.

What jack felt like on his less than significant bike in the more than significant winds

 Then, on what I thought was the last lap, I see my step son pass by
me in the opposite direction, now a whopping 8 miles ahead of me! I shouted,

“Are you kidding me!??” This was (yet) another low point. I switched between dropping all
manner of “F-Bombs” to whimpering on and off. I got completely owned by the
strong head wind, constant salt water nasal drip from the swim, and chronic knee
pain.

What Jack needed

I swore, I am NEVER doing this again (join the rest of us who’ve said that!), but of course, I will, to beat my
time, right?.  (You got it). And, gotta’ break 6 hours! It took a couple of days to reach this conclusion
after the race, but it did happen. Knowing the course, at least for me, is a huge advantage, and I am confident I will
break 6 hours next year- knowing what I know now. (LOL) Then the phantom knee
problem suddenly went away, as if by magic, and I finished the bike without
incident. Good thing too; back at T2 I noticed I left my spare tube on the
ground! Another rookie error…

The Run:
My nutrition was good on the bike at least, a combo of Gatorade and Accellerade,
and I was glad to get off the damn bike, so I was already smiling putting on my
running shoes. (Apparently no  one told Jack most people doing half irons dread the run) It took me about a half mile to shake off the bike’s muscle
memory, and to get into running form. I felt pretty good, and did the second lap
faster than the first. I never ran a race long enough before to have to take
water. That’s when I found out it’s difficult to drink out of those Dixie cups and
run at the same time without stopping. (It is but it’s a great way to replace the salt water in your nose with fresh water.) On the second lap, they offered a 1
liter sports bottle which helped a lot, half of it being dumped on my head to
cool off, as the sun broke free of the clouds. Another rookie error:  I didn’t grab my hat when I took off
running! So now I’m all sun burned :0    I  took off in the wrong direction, until somebody
redirected me. Luckily only 20 feet was lost. This happened to others too. (Usually does)

There were no portable bathrooms on the run.  I discovered the body won’t let you go while running, I tried that! There was one porta-potty behind some obscure sand dune, out of sight of course, or so I was told; so I invoked “The Tree Method.”  The 1 minute delay cost me about 5 minutes on the road, to catch up to the German guy I was pacing with. From there, I started to pick it up and passed a number of people.

Much of the run is on the shore line, so if you are not watching it you could get a surprise salt water foot bath. I was caught twice.

And you have to dodge the frequent sea weed patches too.  There are two very sandy spots going on
and off shore to access the Navy Base where it is like “running in place” because
the sand is so soft. The only good news is that it’s the same for everyone else
too, and it’s not that long, maybe 50 feet, but it feels like forever. I really
enjoyed the run a lot. (Proof of my “Whacked out insane”  comment in the header) I over trained for hills that did not exist on this
course. I could see my step son’s yellow jersey getting brighter and larger as
I made ground on him on the way back. I always knew it would come down to a
foot race…

The Finish: The
last 3 miles had to be sub 8 for me. (Now that IS Amazing!!) With just a half mile to go, I could see
my step son walking and jogging, looking over his shoulder for me. He later
told me I was like a boogey-man chasing him down, and I was. He never ran 10
miles before; much less 13.1 on sand, so the run was toiling for him. He turned
it on just enough to beat me by 30 seconds, but it was a spectacular moment. My
family and friends at the race did not know I made up all that ground, until the
very last minute when they saw me turn the corner right behind him. I had made
up almost 20 minutes that I lost to the bike. It made for a great finish! AND,
it was all caught on video too. I finished in 6 hours, 17 min, and 51 seconds. It
was an EPIC experience, definitely a love-hate ordeal. To do a full Iron Man, now that is crazy.

Thanx Jack for this great re-creation of your experience.  Many of the problems you experienced are part and parcel  of the triathlon experience, and they aren’t limited to beginners!   

I see where Kim P., who soloed the Super Frog last year with some outstanding splits (after almost visiting the Titanic on the swim) , made up 1/3 of a relay team this year  that took 2nd place in mixed teams and 48th over all with a time of 5:00.23.  I know Kim biked, I don’t know who her cohorts in crime were but their splits were 36:03 Swim;  .43 (that’s like in seconds!) T-1; 2.38.19 bike;  .48 T-2; and 1.44.30 run

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CARLSBAD  5000  Photo by Doug : )

Say, “FUN!”

Just about as many Redliners showed up for the Carlsbad 5000 as for the Temecula tri.  I haven’t heard how most people did but Boston Barb, at home in the cool morning air,  beat her last years time by about 13 seconds, giving her a 23.10.  Monica blitzed thru in a tad over 20 minutes but she’s shooting for a tad under so her goal continues to allude her.  Maybe a pair of 3 oz shoe, .5 oz socks and no hair barrettes will do the trick!  Dina mean while shot for 25 minutes but got some extra seconds  in her time too…but she still  managed to trim 45 seconds off her previous 5 K time.  Isn’t that like about 10 seconds or more  a mile off??  I’d call that a sizable improvement! Taimi ran at around noon by which time the temp had heated up so  she may have left some scorched foot prints imbedded in the pavement if she went at her usual pace.  

————————————- 

R E N E G A D E   ADVENTURE   RACE N’ Hobble

“What fools these mortals be”  (If you don’t recognize the quote, re read Shakespeare)

Photo note: Some of  the photos (like above) aren’t us but they depict parts of the race nicely.

Basics:  .5 mile paddle , 8 mile mt bike, 5 K
run.

Our splits: 33.56
paddle= 23 of 48 total  teams

1.31.54 bike = 31 of
48     46.05 run =18
of 48

we took 8th
of 11 in coed age group of  3 ages
=ing “over 100”

We were 28th
of 48 teams over all.  That’s much
better than we thought we did and I’d 
insert a big fat happy face if I could!

The nitty and very
gritty details:

Sat. Glen stole Mr.
Damaged-Goods- Doug’s identity and took Doug’s place beside Kim and me to
paddle, pedal, trip and plod our way through our first true adventure race. Jealous
Doug still came along as race handy man, prepared to help any and all with
every thing from pre race set up to post race team reconciliation services.

 

The race took place in the oak and cacti studded vistas of Bonelli  state park, roughly 73 miles away in San Dimas.

After we signed out lives away we got
two pages worth of detailed squint- to -read do-or-die instructions and three
pages worth of  We’re- Gonna- Be- Sooo-
Lost maps, 1  oriented North,
2  oriented who  knows??  (My perspective). 
We also got a classy high tech shirt not slaughtered with ad’s and enough
carb bars to keep lost souls alive for 24 hrs.

The pre race briefing
clarified the instructions. Scattered through out the course were 5 “challenges”.  Interspersed between those 5 challenges
was 1 gear check and 11 punch card check points.  The Zinger: 
Everything had to be hit sequentially to avoid disqualification and all
challenges had to be completed to avoid 20 a minute penalty. Each.  

The briefing ends 15
minutes before blast off.  In the
last 60 seconds of the briefing they drop the most important info of the
day:  Our starting order.  To avoid course pile ups at challenges
and check points, the pack is split into thirds. 1/3  start with the run , 1/3 with the bike, and lucky Team Going
Going and Gone gets to start with the Paddle.  That would be us. Maybe strike the term ‘lucky’. We have the
most difficult activity sequence.  After paddling, we bike. Then on legs either nicely warmed
from the bike (if you’re Lance Armstrong) or totally toasted (if you’re us), we
get to run.   We glance
around.  1/5th of the
park is dead flat. That’s the part that’s water.  As for the rest, not so much.  

Teams now have 14
minutes and counting in which to sort out the half ton of stuff dumped in the
transition area into the correct order of use, grab what they need for their
first race segment, and check  maps
to see which pathway they need to take.

ANYBODY GOT MAP QUEST??

In our case, that’s
easy.  Bright yellow rafts and a
lake full of water are pretty hard to miss.  Per pre race strategizing, I struggle into wet suit while
Glen turns the maps this way and that, orientating them so we know which way to
bike after we complete the swim.  Last we saw of Doug, he was headed down to the life guard
tower with binoculars around his neck, face slathered in sunscreen, ready and
willing to volunteer for bikini watch. 
How charitable  of him  : )   We 3 trot to the
start.

Twenty feet and 3
minutes from the start, I realize I’d had a ‘loco’ moment. I’d pulled my wet
suit on over my dog collar.  That
wasn’t a typo.  I’m wearing a Bull
Mastiff sized collar around my waist. 
Why?  That’s coming shortly.

 As Jack found out in his Super Frog
race, when you want a wet suit to come down fast, 9 out of 9 times it won’t.  Kim and I de-suction the wet suit inch
by inch from my skin as the seconds tick by. Tick, peallll, tock, pulllll, tick
pealll and umpfff. We get it half off, dog collar gets unclipped and re located
outside the suit. We scrunch my torso back into the suit, zip me up and Velcro
me in.  My required life jacket
gets cinched on tight.  I feel like
the Boston strangler’s got a chock hold on my chest.

The gun goes off and I
can barely breath. The pack splits as teams head for differing pathways.  About 16 teams head for the rafts.  We can be recognized because we’re the
one’s who look like Michelin Tire men, running with life jackets on over
wetsuits. This attire is not designed to help one set a PR.  Neither is the fact that 1 member per
most teams is either barefoot or wearing super thin swim socks .  Distance to water:  ¼ mile plus.  We tip toe fast.

PADDLE / SWIM ?  : 0

Kim, Glen and I arrive
lake side well ahead of the pack.  In
the next 2 minutes, we promptly zip into close to last place.  That’s because our pre race strategy
had a few errors in it.

 At the lake, teams get a rubber raft
sized to fit two midgets, one paddle just big enough to spank a minnow, an
inner tube big enough to drive Doug’s truck through, and enough rope to lasso
13 horses. Our mission:  get those
items and ourselves across ½ mile of (freezing) water. 

“What’s the load limit on this thing??  Two 5 year old kids??“

Piranha bait in the making?

“Load limit’s less than 2 adults, for sure!”

Our pre race
strategy:  Tie the rope to the
tire, tie the tire to the dog collar on Tracy’s waist, let Tracy swim while
Glen and Kim use the paddle and their hands to move the raft forward. 

Reality check 1 :  We ended up with enough spare rope to
anchor the Titanic and it took ‘a while’ to get that coiled up and secured on top the tire.
I’m not confessing how long ‘a while’ was but Doug offered to bring us Mai Tai’s
and some of his sun block. LOL. As we lingered, other teams simply plunged into
the water, 2 people per raft and 3rd person often on top the inner
tube, rope unused.  They’re off, we
aren’t.  

Looks like the Loch Ness Monster’s not gettin’ feet for lunch

Reality check 2:  Attired in a wetsuit and life jacket
that   compress my lungs to
the size of a dime store goldfish’s, there’s no way in Hell, or in this lake,
or in any other body of water that exists, that I can out swim a raft Glens’
paddling.  Any of you looked at his
arm muscles recently?  What’s that
guy do in his spare time?  Bench
press his BBQ?? And of course there’s that inner tube getting a free ride to
nowhere fast 2 feet behind my feet.

Inner Tube’s:  Not Small.  May fit Jolly Green Giant’s Truck

 We inched our way across the water, Glen
taking one paddle stroke for every 50 of my arm strokes. Kim kept turning
around to spot me as I putt putted through the water. Lesson learned:  Next time either the raft pulls the
tube or maybe better yet, the tube forms a necklace around Kim’s neck.

About forever later we reach what felt like Never never land and find our first challenges.

 These beach challenges consisted of a balance beam, a 4
ft tall wall, and a cargo net the teams go under while their equipment goes
over.  We trot to the beam, then stall to a stop.   We have to wait while
3 females cross the beam at a speed 3 legged turtles could beat.  Kim and I then cross light as twin
Tinkerbelles.  

Next comes so not a ballerina Glen.

The raft is balanced on his noggin, blood tries to flow back into his lower legs, the legs that were crimped in half for the 30 minute paddle.  His speed is impressive.  His balance is not.  Kim and I take 5 while Glen and the raft practice beam repeats. Three tries later, he and
we are off to a 4 foot wall.  Glen
and raft soar over.  Kim, the inner
tube and I sort of tumble across on his heals then head for the last obstacle, the short cargo net.  We toss our
stuff on top the net as we dive under it. 
Grap our stuff and hoof it over to the check point.  Beach mission completed, our card gets
punched and we head for transition to bike. 

BIKE:

We transition at about
the speed of lightening bolts minus the lightening part.  My wet suit’s got a death grip on my
swim socks and my swim socks have suctioned themselves to my feet like
barnacles to rocks.  That’s OK
though because this gives Glen plenty of time to re –exam our bike route and
Kim ample time to get her pony tail through her bike helmet hole.  Doug doesn’t offer us any more Mai Tai’s but I suspect he was thinking about ordering us pizza.

Squint hard:  Yes, that’s Glen, me half hidden, and Kim in Blue leaving T-2

We launch the bikes
toward the bike route, pedal 1 block, then make the first of 15 Tracy
stops.  A ‘Tracy stop’ is a pit
stop all   team mates make
because control freak Tracy’s confused about our route. Each stop took about 1
minute.  You do the math : 0

 So Gentleman Glen pulls out the 3 maps
for Tracy.  I look a little like a
psychiatry patient trying to interpret a Rorsch ink blot. “ Where’d  North go??  No, no, I mean on the map…”  I twist the map 360 degrees.   It’s facing back the way it first was.  Oh, that’s better. “Wait!! NO! This is
the run map, not the bike map!” 
Opps%&^*!

Glen, who spent half
an hour in the raft paying attention to which way bikes went while my head was
pointed toward Nessie in the depths below now calmly suggests we follow the
path he saw 50 other bikes take. Uh, OK. 
Lesson learned: Trust your partner’s  knowledge and instincts.  

Tracy:  ”North’s still UP?”

The bike course was
more challenging than I expected. We tackled 8 scenic miles of some quite rocky
ups followed by many delightfully swooping downs.   Kim learned on
the fly to lean forward to keep her front wheel planted while each of Glen’s
1,345 bones got rattled to the core on his hard tail style bike.

Half way through the
bike we swing up a hill, round a corner and see this gimpy mirage that turns
into Doug!!  Apparently bikini
watch wasn’t that great. He’s managed to intercept us and note he didn’t need
any map to do it.   I’m so jealous
: ) 

 He films us coming down a sweet spot on
the trail, then hops  or is that
hobbles over to catch us as we dismount the bikes and launch our brains into a
puzzle challenge.  I’ m blind
folded, Kim and Glen direct my hands in their placement of puzzle parts.  The puzzle challenge is a divorce
lawyer’s dream but Glen and Kim manage to get through it still married.  We head for T-2.

RUN:

Not Flat:

We get through T-2 and
start traversing trails of hard pan 
interspersed between solid rock inclines, and rich mulchy descents. That’s after a nice volunteer gets us turned around and headed back in the right direction 1 block after we left the T area.   

Glen followed by his following

Half way through the 5 K my
right foot lands square on top a round rock.  The rock rolls backward, my body flies forward, then dead
down and Mother Earth goes AUCH!  No soft mulch here. 
5 seconds later that 6.4 earth quake hits Italy. Kim scrapes me up off
the ground as Glen zips by. I start spilling blood from both hands, both knees
and one elbow.  Kim and I take off
in hot pursuit of Glen.  That
lasted for 1.5 steps. That because the other .5 of a step is when the knee that
kissed the earth should’ve swung forward but couldn’t.

Tracy and Kim:  “Whoa GLEN….Got a clean up on isle hand, elbow, knees!”

 The hot pursuit turned into a slo mo
limp and Doug could’ve run circles around me.  We yell to Glen to ease up in the speed dept but it’s not
til a quarter mile later at the next check point that he sees I’ve changed from
mostly tan to muchly bright red. 
Any hopes of a fast finish vanish. Since we were out to have fun and not
collect brass, this glitch didn’t matter. 

We eventually cross the finish line, all holding hands as required and Kim pleaseeeee keep your thumb out of that crater in my palm!!!!.

Team Going Going and Gone re-named:  ”The  Rolling Stoned”

Kim and Glen:  Now in search of new and better bikes 

Me:  Now in search of bigger better  band aids

AUCHO!

 We learned several things about team
compatibility for this sort of a race. I had assumed matching fitness levels
amongst partners would be top priority for any team.  After this experience, I’d drop that down to forth in
importance.  For me, tops is a
compatible attitude, followed by the right combination of  brains (to understand tasks quickly),
imagination (to think up short cut solutions to tasks), and personalities (so
you don’t kill each other and can swallow your ego and accept help when you
need it).  Then comes fitness level.  

All three of us had a
blast and hope to do more races like this. the future.  And yes, we made a great team!!

……………………………….

THE     T E M E C U L A   5 K   SPRINT  and  TRI  and   TRY   Again

           A  slew of Redliners  showed up for these two popular events.  Most were trying to out sprint or out tri their last year’s times.  The weather Gods had to  find a compromise between Doug’s devilish desire for pouring rain  and Barb’s angelic wish for sunshine. I guess Barb must’ve connected with them a bit better than Doug (why does that not surprise me?) because the sky didn’t really let loose until after Barb neatly parked her bike during T-2.

   I think you’ve all heard  that  my attempts to cam cord the run failed.  That’s a shame since most everyone waved, called out, gave me a thumbs up, or did a cart wheel as you passed me.  But none of those antics were as impressive as what Tino did while entering T-2 on the bike, which I did catch on tape.  He was so intent on spotting where to go with his bike once he entered T-2 that he failed to realize his bike had totally stopped just outside of T-2.  He got a quick lesson in physics, and the lesson was that stationary bikes fall  over and so do their riders.  Plomp.  AUCHO!

 Tino quickly drew from his childhood bike riding days, got himself and his bike righted, then kind of wondered into t-2, over to The Right Spot,  and proceeded to remove more layers of clothing than ducks have feathers. Judging by the speed at which he did this,  I think his brain was badly in need of oxygen and he temporarily forgot he was in a race.   Removing all those clothes gave his brain enough time to start properly using air again, he went back into race  mode and  sped out of T-2 for the pool. At that point he was out of my sight but Doug and Barb would shortly move into it.  Below is Doug’s account of The Amazing Race between  Barb and him : )

    

Kimmie:  ”Ya know,  it’s a whole lot colder watchin’ these things than doin’ ‘em.”

Doug’s account:

As a few of you are aware Ive been on the injured reserve list for the better part of the past two months. I hurt myself lifting weights. Pretty sure its Sciatica. That said,  I’ve done the Temecula Tri for quite a few years now and didn’t want to miss this race even if it meant crawling around the course on my hands and knees. So I waited until the last minute to enter. Of course that meant getting hosed for an additional $10 on race morning but I digress.  

I came into the race having only ran 2x in the past 6 weeks for a total of 5 miles. (editor’s note: sounds like Doug’s not exactly out pacing Kim N Glen’s yard tortoise)  I’d swam a few times and gone on two mountain bike rides. Yep I was well prepared .    

Race morning comes with threats of rain and I was doing my rain dance as I absolutely love racing in the rain and or mud. It also seems to slow everyone else down.  Well race morning was dry as a bone.  But the skys did look a bit threatning.  I was pleasantly surprised to see so many Redliners there (we are the Redliners right? I’m still seeing Trotter shirts everywhere I look and even this website still says Trotters but once again I digress...   Redliner/Trotters present: (or at least the ones I know) Karrie, Brigid, Tracey S, Tracy E (with camera in hand) Barb, Kim K, Kim P (with Pom Poms) and Dina.  Eric, Tino, Victor L, Victor F, Dan, Maurice, Glen and Dougie, hope I did’nt miss anyone.

”   BRRRRR…..Who turned on the AC??”

The race got off on time and I could have sworn we had a much smaller race this year but checking the results and I can see where we had 5 more in the Tri and about 25 less in the 5k.  Now I’m a sloooooow runner, that’s not news, but I was expecting to be at the back of the pack. And I didn’t disappoint as I was nearly at the back but I was sure I’d go 35 minutes in the 5k and managed to go 31 so I only had to spot the field from 6 – 11 minutes on the bike.

Eric, in about 7th place, followed by the center of mass pack, followed by the behind the center of mass folks, followed by Doug.  Doug the Mathematician:  How MANY bike MILES to make up how MUCH time to catch Barb??  

That shouldnt be too hard to make up right? LOL.  I figured on the bike my injury wouldnt be such a hinderence and it wasn’t but it was apparent afterwards that I was out of shape.  I pedaled that little red bike for all I was worth. It hurt. My legs burned the entire ride. Well they did cool off just a bit as it started to sprinkle a bit.  I managed to come in about 5 minutes slower than last year. ARGH!!.

My goal for the day was to try to catch Barb. Barb is a much MUCH better runner than I and also a much better swimmer. The only place I have her covered is on the bike. But Barb ran a 24 minute 5k so I had 7 minutes to make up.

Well fortunately for me Barb dropped a chain. (Editor’s note:  90 second stop N fix on Barb The Bike Mechanic’s part.) That allowed me to close in to about 3 and a half minutes at the half way mark. Once I realized where she was I pulled out all the stops (something Im still paying for as I write this on Wednesday morning, semi paralized in my computer chair).  I could see at the top of Night hawk that I’d closed to within 2 minutes. When I got back on Red Hawk loop I put it on the big ring and started hammering for all I was worth. It was then that I got a big knot in first my right calf and then my left. I stretched quickly and tried to ignore the pain. As I came back down the hill towards the school I still couldnt see her. Then as I approached that last turn around near Perchanga blvd I could see her less than 10 seconds in front of me.  And her body language was saying she was out of gas. But I too was running on “E”.

 I managed to close and pull up along side as we turned at the baseball diamond with maybe a 1/3 mile to go. I tried to put her away but I know Barb, she got out the big shovel and dug deep.  As I pulled into T-2  Mark Fanelli and Tracy were standing there and I could hear Tracy hollar something like “its Doug, he’s passed Barb!!!”  and then as Im hopping off  my bike I hear her hollar “and here’s Barb!  ….This should be a great race!!” (Ed. note:  Barb jetted into T-2 barely 7 seconds behind Doug, and headed for her  ’T-spot’ at a quick trot just as Doug got to his T-spot).

  Now at this  point Im having Deja Vu as we had this very same scenario at the Tinman last June where I caught Barb on the bike only to have her sprint by me as I gimped to the pool. Well this time I was going to go for all I was worth. I had a nearly perfect T2 (Ed note: About 30 seconds total) and from what I understand Barb had a bad T2. (She tried to out do Tino in the slow mo multi clothes removal dept.) But the run to the pool was long and homey don’t run real pretty without shoes on. But damn I was gonna try. I got all the way to the water and looked over my shoulder and she still wasn’t coming. Maybe I could pull this off.

I got in and started swimming hard. But after only one of six lengths of the pool I was tired. After the second length I was spent. Normally the swim is uber easy for me. Today not so much. I had to slow or drown so I opted for slowing. I think it was on my 3rd or 4th turn that I saw this tiny figure go by me mid turn. It was either a pool otter or Barb. Turned out to be Barb. ARGH!!

 I was soooo tempted to reach out and grap her ankle. But that would only be funny to me so I passed. I tried to hang on but she left me like a discarded pool toy.  We’d finish 123rd and 124th out of 231.  When we were standing in line at the finish the skies opened up and the spectators started running for cover.  Well thats the race thru my eyes.  

Pool Otter Barb:  Ready for some Sun shine!

Many Redliners did really well (as usual) Here’s the rundown:

5K RACE:

I think all the Redliner women ran with friends today and took it easy. I say that because I saw most of them on the run, running and yaking with friends and thats not the norm, they are usually not even in the same zip code as I am. Still that said;

Kim K took 2nd AG
Dina  also took a 2nd AG
Tracey S took 6th in the largest AG out there.

Victor F won his AG
Glen won his AG
Maurice won his AG

In the Triathlon it looked like this:

All the Redliner women brought home hardware

Brigid won her AG and I think was 2nd OA Woman
Barb won her AG
Karrie took a 3rd in her AG

Way to go ladies

Dan was the fastest Redliner, he was 3rd in his AG and went 1:08:17
Eric was close on Dans heals. Eric was 1st in AG and went 1:08:40
Victory L went 8/25 and had a really good race but a tough AG
Tino went 9/16 and…
Dougie went 9/11

Check this out: Tino beat me 1:24:38 to my 1:31:32.  Yet I beat his Bike time by 1:07 and his swim by 1:23.  He KILLED me by almost 10 minutes on the run.  Last year my time was 1:22:23.  Get training Tino, ( In my best Austrain accent) I’ll be Baaack in 2010.  

Conspicuously MIA at this race was the Ingster’. He opted to go do an Xterra race at Black Mtn.  If he’d been there Barb and I might have had an added dimension to our race.  Next year.

  Thanx Doug for the blow by blow account : )

For all of you who enjoyed reading that, remember it’s your submissions that make this the outstanding publication that it is. (Sometimes more outstanding than others, I confess.)

___________________________

WED. NIGHT CLUB  MEETING:

1.  AS USUAL, INGY EMPHASIZED GET YOUR POINTS TO BETH -REMEMBER TO  INCLUDE THE JESTER RUN.

2.  IT WAS DECIDED TO RE START TRACK WORKOUTS ON MONDAY NIGHTS AT 6:15 AT TEMECULA MIDDLE SCHOOL ON MEADOWS (SAME PLACE AS BEFORE)  MOST PEOPLE WOULD LIKE  INGY TO CREATE A WORK OUT SCHEDULE FOR THE TRACK WORK. INGY WOULD LIKE  HERMON TO BE IN CHARGE OF TRACK WORK OUTS.

3.  SHIRTS WE ORDERED ARE IN, EXTRAS CAN BE BOUGHT FROM INGY FOR 20 DOLLARS.  THEY LOOK REALLY NICE AND RUN A BIT ON THE LARGE SIZE.

4. IAIN TALKED ABOUT THE RAGNOR  RACE AND I GATHER WILL BE SENDING OUT COORDINATING E MAILS   TO THE TEAM MEMBERS SO I WON’T COVER WHAT WAS SAID HERE.  HE  DID STATE THAT TEAM MEMBERS SHOULD TRY TO TRAVEL  LIGHT SO DON’T BRING EVERYTHING BUT THE KITCHEN SINK WITH YOU.  DO BRING HIGH CALORIE ENERGY PACKED SNACKS.  YOU WILL BE ABLE TO STOP AT STORES/GAS STATIONS WHATEVER TO BUY STUFF IF NEEDED.  BOTH TEAMS HAVE ENOUGH VOLUNTEERS NOW. 

R E N E G AD E   ADVENTURE   RACE N’ Hobble

 

“What
fools these mortals be”  (If you don’t recognize the quote, re
read Shakespeare)

Photo
note: Some of  the photos (like above)
aren’t us but they depict parts of the race nicely.

Basics:  .5 mile
paddle , 8 mile mt bike, 5 K run.

Our splits:
33.56 paddle= 23 of 48 total  teams

1.31.54 bike = 31
of 48     46.05 run =18 of 48

we took 8th of
11 in coed age group of  3 ages =ing “over 100”

We were 28th of
48 teams over all.  That’s much better than we thought we did and
I’d insert a big fat happy face if I could!

We were 28th
of
48 teams over all.  That’s much
better than we thought we did and
I’d 
insert a big fat happy face if I could!

The
nitty and very
gritty details:

Sat. Glen stole
Mr. Damaged-Goods- Doug’s identity and took Doug’s place beside Kim and me
to paddle, pedal, trip and plod our way through our first true adventure
race. Jealous Doug still came along as race handy man, prepared to help
any and all with every thing from pre race set up to post race team
reconciliation services.

The race
took place in the oak and cacti studded vistas of Bonelli  state park,
roughly 73 miles away in San Dimas.

After we signed out
lives away we got two pages worth of detailed squint- to -read do-or-die
instructions and three pages worth of  We’re- Gonna- Be- Sooo-Lost
maps, 1  oriented North, 2  oriented who  knows??  (My
perspective). We also got a classy high tech shirt not slaughtered with
ad’s and enough carb bars to keep lost souls alive for 24 hrs.

The pre race
briefing clarified the instructions. Scattered through out the course were
5 “challenges”.  Interspersed between those 5 challenges was 1 gear
check and 11 punch card check points.  The Zinger: Everything had to
be hit sequentially to avoid disqualification and all
challenges had to be
completed to avoid 20 a minute penalty. Each.  

The briefing ends
15 minutes before blast off.  In the last 60 seconds of the
briefing they drop the most important info of the day:  Our starting
order.  To avoid course pile ups at challenges and check points, the
pack is split into thirds. 1/3  start with the run , 1/3 with the bike,
and lucky Team Going Going and Gone gets to start with the Paddle. 
That would be us. Maybe strike the term ‘lucky’. We have the most difficult
activity sequence.  After paddling, we bike. Then on legs either nicely
warmed from the bike (if you’re Lance Armstrong) or totally toasted (if
you’re us), we get to run.   We glance around.  1/5th
of the park is dead flat. That’s the part that’s water.  As for the
rest, not so much.  

Teams now have
14 minutes and counting in which to sort out the half ton of stuff dumped
in the transition area into the correct order of use, grab what they need
for their first race segment, and check  maps to see which
pathway they need to take.

(Map photo)

 

ANYBODY
GOT MAP QUEST??

In our case,
that’s easy.  Bright yellow rafts and a lake full of water are
pretty hard to miss.  Per pre race strategizing, I struggle into wet suit
while Glen turns the maps this way and that, orientating them so we know
which way to bike after we complete the swim.  Last we saw of Doug,
he was headed down to the life guard tower with binoculars around his
neck, face slathered in sunscreen, ready and
willing to volunteer for bikini
watch. How charitable  of him  : )   We 3 trot to
the start.

Twenty feet and
3 minutes from the start, I realize I’d had a ‘loco’
moment. I’d pulled my wet suit on over my dog collar.  That
wasn’t a
typo.  I’m wearing a Bull Mastiff sized collar around my
waist. Why?  That’s coming shortly.

 As Jack found out in his Super Frog race, when
you want a wet suit to come down fast, 9 out of 9 times it won’t.  Kim and
I de-suction the wet suit inch by inch from my skin as the seconds tick
by. Tick, peallll, tock,
pulllll, tick pealll and umpfff. We get
it half off, dog collar gets unclipped and re located outside the suit. We
scrunch my torso back into the suit, zip me up and Velcro me in.  My
required life jacket
gets cinched on tight.  I feel like the Boston
strangler’s got a chock hold on my chest.

The gun goes off and
I can barely breath. The pack splits as teams head for differing
pathways.  About 16 teams head for the rafts.  We can be recognized
because we’re the one’s who look like Michelin Tire men, running with life
jackets on over wetsuits. This attire is not designed to help one set a
PR.  Neither is the fact that 1 member per most teams is either
barefoot or wearing super thin swim socks .  Distance to water:  ¼
mile plus.  We tip toe fast.

PADDLE / SWIM ?  : 0

Kim, Glen and I
arrive lake side well ahead of the pack.  In the next 2 minutes,
we promptly zip into close to last place.  That’s because our pre race
strategy had a few errors in it.

 At the lake,
teams get a rubber raft sized to fit two midgets, one paddle just big
enough to spank a minnow, an inner tube big enough to drive Doug’s truck
through, and enough rope to lasso 13 horses. Our mission:  get
those items and ourselves across ½ mile of (freezing)
water. 

 

“What’s
the load limit on this thing??  Two 5 year old kids??“

Piranha bait
in the making?

“Load
limit’s less than 2 adults, for sure!”

Our pre
race strategy:  Tie the rope to the tire, tie the tire to the
dog collar on Tracy’s waist, let Tracy swim while
Glen and Kim use the paddle
and their hands to move the raft forward. 

Reality
check 1 :  We ended up with enough spare rope
to anchor the Titanic and it took ‘a while’ to get that coiled up and
secured on top the tire. I’m not confessing how long ‘a while’ was but
Doug offered to bring us Mai Tai’s and some of his sun block. LOL. As we
lingered, other teams simply plunged into the water, 2 people per raft and
3rd person often on top the inner tube, rope unused.  They’re off, we
aren’t.  

 

Looks
like the Loch Ness Monster’s not gettin’ feet for lunch

Reality
check 2:  Attired in a wetsuit and life
jacket that   compress my lungs to the size of a dime store
goldfish’s, there’s no way in Hell, or in this lake, or in any other body
of water that exists, that I can out swim a raft Glens’ paddling. 
Any of you looked at his
arm muscles recently?  What’s that guy do in
his spare time?  Bench press his BBQ?? And of course there’s that
inner tube getting a free ride to no where fast 2 feet behind my feet.

 

Inner
Tube’s:  Not Small.  May fit Jolly Green Giant’s Truck

 We inched our
way across the water, Glen taking one paddle stroke for every 50 of my arm
strokes. Kim kept turning
around to spot me as I putt putted through the water.
Lesson learned:  Next time either the
raft pulls the tube or maybe better yet, the tube forms a necklace around
Kim’s neck.

 

 

About
forever later we reach what felt like Never never land and find our first
challenges.

 These beach
challenges consisted of a balance beam, a 4 ft tall wall, and a cargo net
the teams go under while their equipment goes
over.  We trot to the beam,
then stall to a stop.   We have to wait while 3 females cross the
beam at a speed 3 legged turtles could beat.  Kim and I then cross light
as twin Tinkerbelles.  

 

Next
comes so not a ballerina Glen.

The raft is balanced
on his noggin, blood tries to flow back into his lower legs, the legs that were
crimped in half for the 30 minute paddle.  His speed is
impressive.  His balance is not.  Kim and I take 5 while
Glen and the raft practice beam repeats. Three tries later, he and
we
are off to a 4 foot wall.  Glen and raft soar over.  Kim, the
inner tube and I sort of tumble across on his heals then head for the last
obstacle, the short cargo net.  We toss our stuff on top the net as
we dive under it. Grap our stuff and hoof it over to the check point.
 Beach mission completed, our card gets punched and we head for
transition to bike. 

BIKE:

 

We transition at
about the speed of lightening bolts minus the lightening part.  My
wet suit’s got a death grip on my
swim socks and my swim socks have suctioned
themselves to my feet like barnacles to rocks.  That’s OK
though
because this gives Glen plenty of time to re –exam our bike route and Kim
ample time to get her pony tail through her bike helmet hole.  Doug
doesn’t offer us any more Mai Tai’s but I suspect he was thinking about
ordering us pizza.

 

Squint
hard:  Yes, that’s Glen, me half hidden, and Kim in Blue leaving T-2

We launch the
bikes toward the bike route, pedal 1 block, then make the first of 15
Tracy stops.  A ‘Tracy stop’ is a pit
stop all   team mates
make because control freak Tracy’s
confused about our route. Each stop took about 1 minute.  You do the math : 0

 So Gentleman
Glen pulls out the 3 maps for Tracy.  I look a little like
a psychiatry patient trying to interpret a Rorsch ink blot. “
Where’d  North go??  No, no, I mean on the map…”  I twist the
map 360 degrees.   It’s facing back the way it first was.  Oh,
that’s better. “Wait!! NO! This is the run map, not the bike map!”
 Opps%&^*!

Glen, who spent
half an hour in the raft paying attention to which way bikes went while my
head was pointed toward Nessie in the depths below now calmly suggests we
follow the path he saw 50 other bikes take. Uh, OK. 
Lesson learned: Trust your partner’s  knowledge
and instincts.  

Tracy:
 ”North’s still UP?”

The bike course
was more challenging than I expected. We tackled 8 scenic miles of some quite
rocky ups followed by many delightfully swooping downs.   Kim
learned on the fly to lean forward to keep her front wheel planted while
each of Glen’s 1,345 bones got rattled to the core on his hard tail style
bike.

Half way through
the bike we swing up a hill, round a corner and see this gimpy mirage that
turns into Doug!!  Apparently bikini
watch wasn’t that great. He’s
managed to intercept us and note he didn’t need any map to do
it.   I’m so jealous : ) 

 He films us
coming down a sweet spot on the trail, then hops  or is
that hobbles over to catch us as we dismount the bikes and launch our
brains into a puzzle challenge.  I’ m blind folded, Kim and Glen
direct my hands in their placement of puzzle parts.  The puzzle challenge
is a divorce lawyer’s dream but Glen and Kim manage to get through it
still married.  We head for T-2.

RUN:

Not Flat:

We get through T-2
and start traversing trails of hard pan interspersed between solid
rock inclines, and rich mulchy descents. That’s after a nice volunteer gets us
turned around and headed back in the right direction 1 block after we left the T
area.   

Glen
followed by his following

Half way through the 5
K my right foot lands square on top a round rock.  The rock rolls
backward, my body flies forward, then dead
down and Mother Earth goes AUCH!
 No soft mulch here. 5 seconds later that 6.4 earth quake hits Italy.
Kim scrapes me up off
the ground as Glen zips by. I start spilling blood from
both hands, both knees and one elbow.  Kim and I take off in hot
pursuit of Glen.  That
lasted for 1.5 steps. That because the other .5 of
a step is when the knee that kissed the earth should’ve swung forward but
couldn’t.

Tracy and Kim:  “Whoa GLEN….Got a clean up on isle hand, elbow,
knees!”

 The hot pursuit
turned into a slo mo limp and Doug could’ve run circles around me. 
We yell to Glen to ease up in the speed dept but it’s not
til a quarter mile
later at the next check point that he sees I’ve changed from mostly tan to
muchly bright red. Any hopes of a fast finish vanish. Since we were out to
have fun and not collect brass, this glitch didn’t matter. 

We eventually cross
the finish line, all holding hands as required and Kim pleaseeeee keep your
thumb out of that crater in my palm!!!!.

Team
Going Going and Gone re-named:  ”The  Rolling Stoned”

Kim and
Glen:  Now in search of new and better bikes 

Me:
 Now in search of bigger better  band aids

 

AUCHO!

 We learned
several things about team compatibility for this sort of a race. I had
assumed matching fitness levels amongst partners would be top priority for
any team.  After this experience, I’d drop that down to forth
in importance.  For me, tops is a compatible attitude, followed
by the right combination of  brains (to understand tasks
quickly), imagination (to think up short cut solutions to tasks), and
personalities (so
you don’t kill each other and can swallow your ego and accept
help when you need it).  Then comes fitness level.  

 

All three of us had a
 blast and hope to do more races like this. the future.  And yes, we
made a great team!!