your services are no longer needed

This week was the last one in the “four in four” races that I have been doing the last month. This week’s segment was in Rye, New York. It is about an hour outside of the city. This race did not go as well last week. I had a great swim and gave out in the middle of the lead pack, and stayed in the front pack for the duration of the ride. I started the run in contention, but my heel injury flared up. I have been struggling the past week with a hematoma/bone bruise on the bottom of my heel. I thought I would be able to race through it, but not so much. I was limping from the get-go, and decided to call it a day after about 1k into the run at the risk of jepordizing the rest of my season. I did make the front pack, though, which was a good indicator of how things are going.

Through connections of connections me and a few buddies made it down to Manhattan after the race with a driver and a car. Nice. New York is always a fun city to see, and it was a nice diversion after the disappointing race. After the shenanigans we headed back to Rye were I crashed at a “holistic retreat.” I think I hugged a few trees last night, and finally made peace with my inner child.

Well four weeks have gone by and brought me to Switzerland, Boston, California, and New York. All were great experiences. Some of the races went well, some not so well, and one race (Boston) didn’t even go at all. Anyways, gotta get back to Lincoln, actually do some schoolwork for a change, give the old heel some rest, and resume training to get ready for Scott Tinley’s Dirty Adventures in two weeks………

Cheers,
B

pg

After the debacle at the Boston Triathlon last weekend, I was ready to race. Bucky Schaffer was also at Boston, and decided he wanted to do the Pacific Grove Triathlon, so he joined me for the trip. We flew into San Fran on Thursday night to get ready for the race on Saturday. Race-day came, and I was ready. I have had a pretty disappointing season thus far, so I was looking to turn things around. Well, they did turn around!

The swim in PG is crazy. There are thick kelp beds throughout the swim, which make it seem more like an obstacle course than a swim. I had a decent swim, exiting right behind the lead pack in good position. I was a little concerned for the bike, because our pack consisted of some very strong cyclists (it was a draft-legal race), but they were content with sitting in the pack and not breaking away. I just tried to stay out of trouble on the bike and remain fresh. I had a great T2 and exited in 2nd place. I was quickly joined by my travel buddy Bucky and David Thompson. I hung on for a few k's and then they gapped me. I tried to bridge back up, but I was fried. I ended up holding my 4th place to the finish, which was really difficult because there were 7 guys within 15 seconds behind me. It was by far the best professional result I have had to date. By my calculations, the result should move me into 3rd place for the Tri-California Professional Series. Hopefully I can better the result this weekend when I race the ITU Westchester Triathlon. I need world rankings points badly, and another good result wouldn't hurt the old pysche either.

Cheers!

me, a mexican?

Well, the Boston ITU race did not happen. They made the decision to cancel it the night before the race, and of course, the weather was not that bad on race morning. It was raining on and off with little wind. It was not the ideal conditions, but definitely raceable. The worst part of the whole trip is that I was stuck in the middle of the city with no place to train, and my flights were horrendous both to and form Boston. Hopefully next week I can actually produce a race report.


I did get to meet Raul Cordova, a Spaniard triathlete. He stayed with me at our homestay. It was fun to practice my Spanish. Someday I will become fluent! Anyways, he said that I talk like a Mexican and look like I am from Bratislava. I found that quite funny. I been called quite a lot of names and been told I sound like many things, but never been told I look like I am from Eastern Europe and sound like a Mexican…..Nice combo eh???

Cheers!

ernesto cometh

Currently I am sitting in a trendy Boston flat just a few minutes from the World Trade Center. Tommorow morning we race. Maybe. Tropical storm Ernesto will hit Boston tonight and we are expecting tons of rain and winds upwards of 50mph. Hopefully it will clear by the morning, but unlikely. No matter what happens it will be very cold in the morning. Ces't la vie, and there is nothing i can do about it except relax and hope for the best!

Cheers,
b