The 2011 Gear Guide

Kovas may not believe this, but I actually do like gear.  And as I've gotten more involved and a little better at the sport, my gear has evolved too.  But as you know, replacing and/or upgrading is expensive.  So I always ask the question "Will I really use it?"  If the answer is an honest yes, then I'll go ahead and make the purchase.  I'd like to think that this self diagnostic keeps me on the less severe side of the otherwise neurotic and/or impulsive behavior that quickly takes hold when I see some piece of equipment that I like.

Do I always get it right?  Not a chance.  As a righty, I've definitely purchased a fair share of "left handed wonder tools" that now either sit in the garage or barely managed to sell on eBay.  But as my performance has improved, I think my gear choices have improved too.

Here's some of the stuff coming with me to San Diego:

ORCA EQUIP WETSUIT

I started my triathlon career in a 2XU sleeveless wetsuit.  I originally went sleeveless because I had absolutely no open water swimming experience and had read tons of horror stories about how people would put on a wetsuit and completely freak out the minute they hit the water because it felt like they couldn't move their limbs or breath due to the tightness of the suit.  I hoped that a wetsuit sans sleeves would only be half as bad.  Though I've gone on to have plenty of trouble swimming, I never have had any trouble with a wetsuit.


I wore the 2XU for my first two seasons.  But towards the end of last fall, a funny thing happened - my arms started to get really cold on swims.  I've always been a wimp when it came to cold water, but suddenly even 65 degrees was unbearable in the sleeveless.

So earlier this year I bought an Orca Equip full-sleeve suit.  I also tried on suits from Tyr and Blue Seventy but this one fit the best.  And it's been keeping me nice and toasty in the water since March.  San Diego will be the second race in which I've used it.

Other swimming gear:  Tyr Tracer swim goggles.

SPECIALIZED TRANSITION

The Bianchi is no doubt jealous, but I am loving the Specialized right now.  As I mentioned in a post earlier this week, I've recently replaced the saddle with a Fizik Arione Tri 2 and the aerobars with Vision's Trimax model.

When I bought the bike, it came with a Shimano 105 gruppo.  As it stands now, I'm running a Dura-Ace/105 mix.  The rear derailleur, cassette and bar end shifters are Dura-Ace, the front derailleur and crankset are 105, and the brakes are still whatever came with the bike.  My wheels are Mavic Carbone SL and the tires are Vittoria Rubino Pros.

After some consultation with Jeff from Dangle The Carrot, I'm going to go with a Speedfil hydration system this weekend.  At first I was concerned that even though I wanted to start test racing the set-up I'll be using in Santa Cruz, using the Speedfil on what amounts to be an 18 mile bike ride would make me guilty of some pretty severe douchbaggery.  But Jeff came back by saying that under the circumstances, testing trumped all and that I was bound to "see guys with 6 GU's duct taped to their frames and carrying 3 bottles of water/nutrition so the Speedfil won't even register on the poser scale."

He's probably right.

Other bike gear:  Giro aero helmet, Louis Garneau triathlon cycling shoes.

ZOOT ENDURANCE TRI SUIT

This suit was one of those deals that was too good to pass up.  I got it on a promotion and it's about as simple as triathlon suits come.  For starters it's mostly one solid color, and I don't mind the black accents around the leg grippers.  Most suits out there have multiple colored panels that I'm just not a big fan of.  Secondly, it's designed specifically for short course races so there are no extra pockets that I've found are usually the first place a suit starts to wear out.  It's just a really simple suit that fits well.

I'm still debating whether or not to run sockless in my Zoot 2.0 racing flats or take the extra minute to put on socks and run in my Newton Distances.  The Zoots make for a very fast T2 but the Newtons are just more comfortable.  I'll decide soon.

Other running gear:  Home made Andreas Raelert style headband, Oakley Jawbone sunglasses.

Dream Ironman Race

I was reading Jeff from Dangle The Carrot's post today in which he was talking about two new Ironman races - One in Quebec, Canada and one in New York City.  Right off the bat, I decided that the Quebec race sounded very appealing but the New York race sounded appalling.  Quebec is beautiful, almost European like.  It sounds like a perfect place to race to me.  New York is beautiful too, but in it's own unique way.  And in the spirit of New York's "own unique way", dealing with an Ironman within the city limits (never mind crossing in to New Jersey) seems to me like a frustrating proposition at best.

I had an hour to kill on a flight from Oakland to Orange County this evening, so I started to think about what the perfect local Ironman might look like.  Since I live in Huntington Beach, I naturally decided that focusing the race in downtown HB made sense.  Has anyone run the Surf City Marathon?  The transition area would be where the marathon's race expo is, and the finish line would be at the pier.

Laying out the swim and run was easy.  For the swim, I worked backwards and found the point 2.4 miles down the beach from the transition area.  Presto! I had my swim start.  For the run, the distance between the Santa Ana River and The San Gabriel River is conveniently just over 13 miles.  So the run is one big loop - bookended by two rivers - along Pacific Coast Highway.

Mapping out the bike course would be the hardest part because judging 112 mile cycling routes in and around Orange County isn't something I do every day.  But I though about it for awhile and figured out something I thought would be pretty close.  And it was - except for a few confusing twists and turns in the last 10 miles, it's one big loop and worked out to within a half mile.

Since this is a fantasy race, I did take some liberties.  For example, part of the bike course is on a freeway.  Also, I'd either have to be the absolute best salesman in the world or have Jedi Mind Tricks at my disposal when pitching the course to city and county officials.  Because I doubt I could get them to come close to shutting down the roads I would need closed for the day.

I plotted it all out on mapmyride.com, check it out:

THE SWIM

As I mentioned, the swim was pretty easy to figure out.  The buoy line would be about 300 yards offshore.  This is far enough out to be well beyond the outside surf break, even on the most epic of surfing days - Huntington Beach is "Surf City USA", after all.  Here's a bonus - the prevailing currents tend to move north.  This will be a fast swim.

THE BIKE

Sorry about all the markers on the map, it makes it a little confusing.  But let me explain the course to you because it's pretty awesome, and also pretty tough.

From the transition area, the course starts by heading south down Pacific Coast Highway before turning inland on the Santa Ana River trail about 2.5 miles from the start.

Then for the next 26 miles you are on a bike path.  The good news is that it's fast and flat.  You'll probably also have a tail wind.  The bad news is that it's narrow - so if you get caught behind slow riders, passing could be tough.

At about mile 28, you finally get off the path.  This is where I took my liberties, and you now turn south onto a freeway.  But it's a freeway over a small mountain range, and for the next 6 or 7 miles you are climbing.  When you finally crest, you've got a few miles of downhill before turning southeast into Santiago Canyon.  And once in the Canyon, you've got a good 30 miles of circuitous and undulating terrain as you make your way back to the coast at Dana Point.

From Dana Point, you head north.  You are now back on Pacific Coast Highway.  This means another 10 miles of undulating terrain through San Juan Capistrano and Monarch Beach.  Though it's very scenic, you most likely will be riding into a headwind.

When you reach Laguna Beach, you'll head inland again through Laguna Canyon.  It's a slight but steady climb for the next 7 miles.  But from there, you'll get a nice downhill into Irvine and then it flattens out, at least for awhile.

At about Mile 92, you'll hit the last climb on San Joaquin Road.  It's short - maybe a mile.  But it's steep and probably the last thing that you want to see at this point in the race.  Luckily, when you hit height-of-land, you'll take a right and bomb down Newport Coast Drive back to Pacific Coast Highway.

From there it's nearly a straight shot north back to Huntington Beach.  There are a few detours into Costa Mesa to add some distance, but you'll know you've got two miles to go when you see the Santa Ana River.  You've just done about 4500 feet of climbing.

THE RUN

In contrast to the bike course, the run is pretty simple.  Once out of the transition area you'll head north for 10 miles through Sunset Beach and Seal Beach.  At mile 10 you'll u-turn, head back the way you came, pass the transition area and run along what was the beginning of the bike course.  At mile 23, you'll u-turn again and run the last 3.2 miles to the finish at the Huntington Beach pier.

Sound any good?  Let me know.

And if you have the time to obsessively plot out a course and then post about it, I'd love to see what you could get going in your corner of the world....

Real Men Race Bicycles

That's me on the right, white sleeves w/ yellow trim

Don't worry (to the extent that you would even do so), I'm not giving up triathlon.  In fact, I registered for the Solana Beach Sprint Triathlon in July today.  Solana Beach was the first race I ever did, and I'm excited to go back for the 3rd time.  I'll also be registering for September's Big Kahuna 1/2 Iron Triathlon in Santa Cruz as early as tomorrow - I just need to sort out a scheduling thing.

But, I did my second criterium last night at El Dorado Park in Long Beach and I must say it was extremely awesome.  Since it was the second time I raced, I was more relaxed.  And since I was more relaxed, I had more time to take in what was going on.  There is no doubt going 25 + MPH on a bicycle in a tight pack is thrilling.  Not that racing in triathlon isn't thrilling, because it is.  But my initial impression of bicycle racing is that the thrill is more immediate.  Also, bicycle racing (especially criteriums) are more tactical than triathlon.  Again, it's not that triathlon isn't tactical - it certainly can be.  But criteriums by their nature are tactical propositions every minute of the entire race.

The training benefits are enormous.  As TRI714 rightfully points out, racing in a criterium is probably THE best interval workout you can get on a bike.  Think about it - guys are constantly attacking off the front and the rest of the peleton immediately reacts by speeding up to chase them down.  These attacks happen constantly over the course of the race.  So we'll be cruising along at 24 or 25 MPH, an attack will go off the front and we are all suddenly chasing, hitting speeds in excess 30 MPH for a few minutes.  This is hard.  Eventually, the break is caught and we all slow down until it starts all over again.  I don't know about you guys, but I couldn't achieve this kind of intensity riding alone.  And it's doubtful that all but the most intense Saturday morning group rides are this fast.  Jeff Irvin would love this, and I now completely understand the concept of pro cyclists racing their way into form.

Me, left.  A grimace, not a smile.

Doing this second race was definitely a new high water mark for my cycling.  First off, I finished right in the thick of the lead pack - stronger than last week.  So this perhaps suggests that my decent finish at the first race was not a fluke.  Secondly, and as I mentioned earlier, I was more relaxed.  So I was able to take in more of what was going on, watch what other riders where doing and keep my head in the race.

And as I speculated might happen in a post last week, I made it to the front of the pack last night.  Just up the course from where the picture on the left was taken (though I don't know if it was on this lap) someone attacked, so I reacted by shooting off along the outside.  Almost immediately I realized I was alone about 50 feet in front of the peleton and about 50 feet behind the attack.  I was both surprised and confused as to why I was alone as I assumed we'd all attack.  While I was processing this information, I must have "blinked" and slowed down, becauase within a few seconds I was overtaken.  I shouldn't have blinked and I should have kept going.  Clearly I'm not quite a real man just yet.

We covered 24.1 miles in an hour and two minutes.  My Garmin showed an average speed of 23.4 MPH (though we where running neutral for a lap and a half) and a top speed of 41.5 MPH.  You can check out the ride details here on strava.com.  By the way, strava.com is awesome and anyone who rides should check it out.

One last thing.  I never got a chance to tell my triathlon joke in the peleton.  Last night's race was a little more serious than last week.  Next time....

Seriously Warm And Fuzzy

It all started yesterday when I upgraded to Firefox 4.0 Beta.  Once I installed it, my homepage defaulted back to a mozilla.com page.  And on this new homepage was a link to Firefox Live, which is a page dedicated to streaming live video of Firefoxes cubs in their habitat at the Knoxville Zoo.

Mozilla has put together a pretty impressive set-up.  You can watch the feed from any number of angles, including "Cub Cam - Frolic", "Cub Cam - Snooze" and Cub Cam - 360 Cute".  I started with "Frolic", but didn't see anything.  When I switched over to "Snooze" I saw one of the cubs, but it quickly moved out of the frame.  So I started to experiment with "360 Cute",  using it to triangulate where the action was and then switching to the other cameras as applicable.  I stayed on the site for an hour.

It's an hour of time I'll never get back.  But that's OK - I don't want it back.  Because watching Firefox cubs basically do nothing was oddly entertaining.  And as the site's tag-line suggests, Firefoxes ARE seriously warm and fuzzy.  I like me some warm and fuzzy from time to time.

But the problem with my brain is that it wanders.  I started wondering how easy it would be to set up my own live stream.  A quick Google search answered that question and within 5 minutes I had an account on ustream.tv and was streaming video of me talking to my boss on the telephone.  True, not that exciting.  But the video feed is only part of the equation.  You also need an audience and an event.

A big part of success in social media is leveraging the crap out of all your assets.  I have this blog, which has a bit of an audience.  I also had my crack team of web marketeers - Jeff from Dangle The Carrot, Mandy from Caratunk Girl and Kovas from Midwest Multisport Life to start a blistering Twitter campaign.  "Blistering" may be an overstatement, but then again hype is a-ok when it comes to marketing:

@17281posse @jeffirvin Beavers on Bikes? Life Altering Event Happening http://www.theroadmultisport.com Sat 10 AM to 10 PM PST! Please RT!

The event part is easy.  Following the logic that hype is a-ok, creating an event can almost be an afterthought.  All you have to do is convince everyone that the event that took you 5 seconds to think of is pure awesomeness, perhaps even life changing.  Don't believe me?  Search YouTube.  Anything goes.  Everyone is Spielberg and mediocrity is regularly rewarded.  And I have mediocre down.

So perhaps for the first time in blogging history, I have created a Bike Cam.  For the next 12 hours, you will be able to watch my bikes sit in my still as unfinished living room.  I have also strategically placed the dog beds in the shot.  So if you park yourself in front of your computer all day and/or check back often, chances are you'll get a glimpse of Natasha and Joe.  That's my seriously warm and fuzzy.

Please spread the word.  Let's see if we can take the wind out of the sails of those damned Firefoxes, at least for a day.  PS - sorry about the commercials.


Free live streaming by Ustream

New Personal Best

Jeff Irvin, you can't step to this one, brother.

Today I mowed and edged my yard in 25:38, besting my previous record of 30:04 by 4 minutes and 26 seconds.  It was one of those days when the stars were aligned and I had a rock solid focus on what needed to be done.  Being that I was so on my game, I seriously doubt that this record will be bested anytime soon.

THE MOWING:  I was out the side door and to the garden shed fast.  I grabbed the mower, got it positioned in the back yard, checked the gas and oil levels and primed the engine.  She started up strong with one pull.

I mow the back by starting on the perimeter and cutting on inward circles until I am in the center of the yard.  This went fast, and when I was done I immediately transitioned to the front yard, stopping only to empty the clippings bag into the green waste bin.  I mow the front with a series of linear cuts parallel to the house, working my way curbside.  This too went quickly.

I then rolled the mower back to the garden shed and grabbed the edger.


THE EDGING:  This is where I made my first and only mistake.  I had left the edger's battery in the charging cradle.  The charging cradle is in the garage (see diagram above), so I had to go get it.

Perhaps because I was so very confident that I was on track for a personal best, I decided to stop by the coffee maker (see diagram above) to warm up my cup after I grabbed the battery.  This only took a few seconds and I was quickly back in the yard.

I grabbed the edger, slammed the battery in place, and started edging.  I'm probably better with the edger than I am with the lawn mower, so I knew that if I kept things steady and consistent, I would not lose any time against the clock.  I made clean cuts against the retaining wall. I was cautious around the aloe plants and took caution around the cactus.  Soon I was done.

I hit stop on my Garmin and saw confirmation that I had just beaten my previous record by an eternity.  Victory was mine.  I had covered just under a half mile.

Lawn Mower Porn

Edger Porn

I made these two watch...

Later in the day I went out and ran 12 miles in 1:40 or on a 8:20/mile pace.  Good but not good enough; I want to run the Surf City 1/2 Marathon in under 1:45.

An open e-mail to Jeff at Dangle The Carrot

Date:  Aug 14, 2010

To:  jeff@danglethecarrot

From:  patrick@theroadmultisport

Re:  What tires are you using?

Hey Jeff,

Hope you are having a good weekend.  I saw your post "It's Kinda Like Fight Club" a few days ago, and I have a couple of comments.  First off, that's some pretty nice mileage so far this year but then again I'm not surprised because you are a triathlon training machine.  Secondly, that's pretty interesting about the flats.

I've ridden, I dunno, 1800 miles this year.  I can think of 7 flats off the top of my head.  That said, it could have been 5, because on two rides I flatted twice because I got lazy about checking the tire and rim for metal shards or whatever had caused the first flat just to puncture again like 20 minutes later. Lame, I know.  By the way, today was one of those days.  Picture below.  This is me (obviously), pissed about the second flat but having enough presence of mind to record the event for posterity's sake.  Plus, I was already drafting this email to you in my head and figured the picture would come in handy.

Don't take this personally, but I'm kinda annoyed that you are not flatting.  Cosmically speaking, there is someone, somewhere on a late night AM talk show about UFOs and other psychic phenomena that would have a pretty good argument that says if you had flatted twice this year, the net result for me would have been adjusted down in kind.

Right now for I'm rolling on Continental Gatorskins which are supposed to be the "Kevlar vests" of bike tires.  Apparently they are not though, huh?  Any advice on what you are riding on would be helpful.  Maybe if we are both using the same tires we can cheat the cosmos together.  Because after all, rule # 4 of Fight Club is two guys to a fight, and you just may be my only hope.

Yours in multisport,

Patrick

Hi Jeff, is this better?

Jeff from Dangle The Carrot left this comment on my post Triathlon Gee a few days ago.

June 19, 2010 10:44 AM

Jeff - Dangle The Carrot said...
Dude is that a pic of your gun and your compression socks because if so neither of them is as shocking as the amount of hair on the legs ... you need some manscaping my friend!

Also, you are lucky you didn't grab one of the RockStar Energy Drinks or a Red bull ... he would have tased you on the spot!

When I read the part about the "shocking" amount of hair on my legs, I wasn't sure if Jeff was goading me on or giving me some good old fashioned advice.  On the one hand, the use of the word "manscaping" possibly suggests an ever-so-slight dig.  On the other hand, leg shaving is not uncommon in our sport.  For all I know Jeff might be the world's most dedicated leg shaver, and has committed his life to spreading the word on how incredible it is.

But does it really matter?  I had mentioned in the Roadology Post last week that I would streak down the street a half mile for $100,000.  Actually I've already done it - and didn't get paid.  It was in Bremerhaven, Germany on New Years Eve in 1994.  But that's a story for another time.  The point is, I really don't have any physical hang-ups.  And the question as to the intent of Jeff's comment is a complete non-issue - Jeff put a thought in my head and I was feeling impulsive.

So within 2 seconds I was Googling "cyclists leg shaving", and the second link that came up was exactly what I was looking for.

My wife tried to talk me out of it.  But it was not because she really cares about the hair on my legs.  Rather, she wanted me to be careful of what I was wishing for and warned me that maintaining shaved legs is a pain in the butt.  And if I ever decide to let the hair grow back out I should expect some pretty serious itchiness.

Whatever - I'm not going to sweat the small stuff.

Getting started by shaving off as much as I could with the buzzers...

 Step 2...

Finished.  Contextual shot with the bike shorts on.